I am more than pleased with this product. My aim was to purchase an easy to use camcorder with good quality video, and the Flip Ultra HD fits the bill. The moment it arrived, I took the Flip out of the box, inserted the partially charged battery, and shot video without reading the instructions. Piece of cake.
It was evening, so I shot in low light, and I was a little concerned with the quality. Later I shot daytime video, and I could tell a big difference in clarity (lack of noise) and color richness. But it wasn't until I picked up a mini HDMI adapter for $9 from my local Radio Sh_ck that I witnessed the true quality of the video on my 47" LCD ... WOW! (I already had a standard HDMI cable, so I just had to purchase the adapter.)
My other goal with a camcorder was easy sharing -- grandma is driving me nuts for video of her new grandson. This is where the Flip REALLY shines! The software is built in to the camcorder, and installs easily once the Flip is connected to my PC. (Warning: pay attention to the minimum processor/memory requirements for your PC -- only 1 of the 3 computers we have in the house is new/powerful enough for the software.) The user friendly interface has easy choices for saving/copying/sharing video, so I tried the email version right away. The software reads the video off the camcorder (or your hard drive), compresses it for upload to the 'net, and sends it to YouTube or Flip's web site with just a few clicks. I chose to email video to Grandma, and literally within 3 minutes I was done. Grandma got the email, clicked on the screen shot of the 1st frame, and BOOM she was watching her grandson online. Awesome! (Plus, her computer is nowhere near powerful enough to watch the video file created by the camcorder, so the web version is perfect for her.)
The stereo microphone seems to produce excellent audio quality as well.
For my next try, I took 8 video clips, combined them, added a soundtrack (from an mp3 file), and added a (rudimentary) title page, all made easy by the Flip software. No fancy stuff, but just enough editing power to cut out the mistakes and share the video.
Now for the drawbacks:
While we're focused on the software, I was disappointed that the post-edited video file was in a .wmv file format, and the camcorder CAN'T READ WMV!!!! So, I couldn't play one of my neat "creations" on my HDTV through the mini HDMI port.
The camcorder itself does not have zoom, which will limit its usefulness in certain situations. And the Flip Ultra HD is just a bit thicker than I'd like, but I expected that from the review's I'd read prior to choosing it, plus I appreciate the fact that it can use AA batteries (I've already used this feature as a ran out of juice during a family outing and switched to the backup AA's in a flash.) The size ultimately means this camcorder is NOT pocket sized -- I can fit it in my pants pocket, but I wouldn't recommend that.
Overall, unless you are shooting scouting footage of your kids playing sports and thus need zoom, this is a fantastic camcorder: great video/audio quality, easy to use, easy to edit and share, and just plain cool. Pick it up, and enjoy it right out of the box!
Get more detail about Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black).
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