My New Flip Camera

I got a new Flip video camcorder, it’s not very fancy, but it’s a lot of fun. Even my wife can use it 🙂

So, technically it’s a Pure Digital Flip Ultra Series F260 Camcorder. I got it from woot for $90 (woot’s the bomb!). The “Flip” in it’s name is due to the flip-up USB connector which makes it very easy to connect to your computer. This connection also allows you install the software directly from the camera itself, so you don’t have to worry about being at Uncle Bob’s and not being able to get to your videos, although it’s nice to never need to worry about my batteries dieing and not having a charger.

It can record 60 minutes at 640×480, and uses a DivX compression format. Not exactly sure what the bit rate is, but it looks good, even in the YouTube video the rocks show up nice and clear, with little artifacting. The functionality is painfully simple, the giant red button in the back records. That’s about it, you can also playback and delete videos if can’t get back to a computer before you fill it. The zoom is so lame it might as well not be there, but it might as well not be there anyway. That kind of functionally is not what this camera is intended for, I don’t see me ever using it. Another interesting feature is that it takes 2 AA batteries, I’m hoping it won’t burn through them too fast.

I’ve got a Canon PowerShot SD500, which I love, and it takes great video. There’s just something about this flip camera that makes you want to use it. Plus, with the flip I don’t need to find an SD card to USB converter.

I’ve also included a link to the original video, for those of you that have the DivX codecs, and care.
Flip Video Test