Shop For Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black)

I purchased this mainly for my wife to use when shooting our young children at events. She is not a gadget freak, so the concept of shooting high-quality video by literally pressing one power button and then toggling one large button to start and stop recording was highly appealing. The quality of the video is very good on my MacBook Pro.

However, here are some disappointments:

1) The finish is a blend of 'piano black' and 'chrome'. Unlike something like, say, the iPhone, the materials used are of much lower-grade plastic. The chromed parts remind me of the chrome runners I used to get in model kits when I was a kid. The piano black immediately attracts finger prints and scuffs and is not durable.

2) The position of the flip-out USB connector. The promotional images of this camera clearly show it sitting beside a MacBook Pro and connected to the USB port. It borders on misleading. The flip-out USB connector is higher in elevation than the ports on the MacBook Pro, so you have two choices: bend the USB connector downward to meet the USB port OR raise your MacBook Pro to the level of the connector. Just laying the camera beside your MacBook Pro will NOT position the USB connector at the correct level. It's just too high.

3) Charging. The USB connector has to be firmly connected to whatever is charging it, whether it be your computer, or the optional Flip AC charger which I purchased. This does not always work, because the torque on the flip-out USB connector is somewhat loose, which means that it's easy for the weight of the camera to pull the USB connection away from the charging source. Again, the promotional picture for the charger clearly shows the charger in a wall socket and the camera connected to it horizontally underneath. If you do this, the weight of the camera causes the it to 'dangle' at about a 30-degree angle and eventually the USB connection will loosen to the point where the charge contact is not made. My best charging experience has been plugging it in to the face of my Mac Pro which has horizontal USB slots and therefore the camera cannot dangle.

Even with these caveats, I still believe that this is a 'must have' item for it's portability, image quality, ease of use, compatibility (in my case) with iMovie 09 and the newly updated FlipShare software, which although rudimentary, allows for quick compressing, uploading and emailing of links to your videos to friends and families.

I also have a hard drive HD Canon Camcorder, which is obviously more feature laden and has higher optical quality, but it's far less portable and I am less inclined to throw it in my pocket for spontaneous moments like I can with the Flip.

So far I have had nothing break or not connect and I have successfully used the updated Flip software.

Bottom line is that you feel like you get slightly less than what you paid for in terms of build quality, but more than you paid for in terms of sheer portability, ease-of-use and picture quality. If you have a higher quality camcorder already, you may want to keep it alongside your Flip for critical shooting (like low-light conditions), but if you are more interested in just capturing moments on the fly you can't go wrong with this eminently pocketable product.Get more detail about Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black).