Flip Mino Review
The Flip Mino is Pure Digital’s newest offering in the budget video camera space. Owners will loves its new sleek, sexy and compact design. The Flip models are famous for their ease of use, and even the most technically unsavvy person should have no problems using this device.
The first thing to notice when comparing the Flip Mino to its best selling predecessor, the Flip Ultra, is that it is 40% smaller. That puts it in the same class as my Apple iPhone. The Mino comes with 2GB of flash memory which allows it to hold 60 minutes of VGA quality video. It also has a 1.5 inch screen for viewing and editing of videos and a built-in rechargable (lithium ion) battery. In my tests, I found that my Mino gave me about four hours usage per charge. New in the Mino are the touch sensitive buttons. These six buttons handle Pause/Play, Zoom, Delete and Menu Navigation functions. While they look nice, I found that they lacked tactile feedback and were slightly more difficult to use than standard old style push buttons.
The Flip Mino has the signature Flip slide-out USB arm that lets you conveniently plug the device into any computer for easy editing and sharing. The included software is easy to use and allowed me to send my videos directly to my YouTube and MySpace accounts. As a Mac user, I also appreciated the support on my computer out of the box.
The video quality of the Flip Mino is pretty solid. It obviously can’t compare to more expensive video camcorders, but it should satisfy most people. I tested the device in several different lighting conditions and my Mino had no problems in these environments.
At a price of $180, the Flip Mino might be a little expensive to some. That’s $50 more expensive than the Flip Ultra, and $80 more than the Creative Vado. Still, I think it’s at a nice price point when you consider its stylish good looks, small compact size, and ease of use.
We’ve encountered nothing but frustration with our Flip Mino. We bought it to take with us on a trip to Europe, Greece in particular. In the USA, we were able to send our very first test videos by email from any of our home computers and laptop. Now we are in Greece, and we cannot get the Flip to send by email or save for email. As soon as we choose what videos we want and click, there is a Problem Preparing the Video and we get the “Due to an unexpected problem preparing your videos, the program is unable to send your email. Please try again later.” …of course we wrote to tech support which does nothing more than send you a stock answer that is no help whatsoever, and there is no phone tech support, only email. We are hugely, hugely disappointed with the Flip. By the way, the computers that we are using in Greece are exactly the same configuration as the ones in the states.
Wow, that’s really disappointing to hear. I’ve never had to deal with tech support but it is a shame to hear they are so unhelpful.
I had a similar issue with my Mino. I recorded a 3:00 video of my son. When we attempted to send it to our parents via email, the video would compress to 99% and just hang.
Might be some bugs in the software.
We love the Flip and now with all the design you can get its even better. Of course this is no Sony HD pro camera, but for creating videos to uplad its great. Many of my friends are giving them out as gifts this holiday. We were so inspired, we create a whole lot of designs for them.