
I normally avoid buying items that have more than a few negative reviews, no matter how positive the good reviews are. With this Flip camera, I wanted to like it so much, I ignored the reviews from people who had charging and overheating issues, and got it anyway.
Bad idea... Mine was one of these units that, right out of the box, gave an overheating error (even at room temperature). I tried charging it, and it never fully charged. Charging terminated with an overheating error. I tried multiple times to charge it, even with the battery cover off. No luck. This was the same issue several other people wrote about in their reviews.
Whenever I tried to use it, within about 60 seconds I got an overheating error, even when the ambient temperature was 65 degrees or less. The unit never felt hot, so it was probably a bad temperature sensor. I contacted Flip, and they wanted to send me an RMA to "repair" it. I didn't want it repaired - that's like buying a refurbished one. I paid a new price for this one, and it never worked correctly, right out of the box.
So I returned it to Amazon. Kudos to them for making the return so easy. I was planning to just get a refund, but decided at the last minute to try one more time. Amazon sent me an RMA right away, shipped me a brand new unit before even receiving the old one, and did not charge me for the shipping. They made the process very painless.
Fortunately the second unit is working ok. Video looks good. No image stabilization, as expected, so you have to hold the unit carefully. Audio has a slight hum. Not spectacular, but fine for sharing short video clips with family via email.
I see now that Amazon has stopped shipping these, and is reviewing whether to keep selling them, obviously because others have had issues with them. Perhaps Amazon got a bad lot? Regardless, it is clear that Flip has some quality issues they are dealing with. Get more detail about
Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black).