Just a heads up...

My wife and I bought one of these Flip SlideHD's for Christmas. It is a pocket sized video camera that films in HD. We left the store and promptly unboxed it, playing with it at IHOP.
After about 10 minutes of use, it froze. I could not make it turn off, so it just sat there frozen until the battery died that night. Then I charged it and tried again the next day. I turn it on and poof.. multiple dead pixels in the middle of the view screen. But since it is not xmas eve, We decide to try it again. It was working well for all our tests, so I charged it again and took it to my grandfathers.

While there I set it up to film the unwrapping of presents. Put it on a tripod, clicked record and walked away. An hour later I learned that it froze 30 seconds after I turned it on, causing us to lose the chance to film the gifts being opened. Then on top of that, we looked at the few videos we were able to make.. They were all horribly grainy at 720p.

Save your money and just buy a digi cam that can also take movies. The flip cannot take stills and sucks as a video camera.

I don't have any experience with the Flip, altough I did briefly look at them when shopping for a small video camera. I have a Kodak Zi8 that I've been very please with. Its a competitor to the Flip, but I like the larger screen compared to the flip. It takes excellent video and pretty good still shots.

We almost bought the Kodak after this one. But instead we bought a Nikon Coolpix s8100. We needed a new point and shoot anyway and it will film in 1080p. I am waiting on it to arrive. Should be here tomorrow.

My school bought some of the older Flips a while back and had good luck with them, so we bought a bunch of the new HD ones. They are about the most craptastic purchase we have ever made. One was DOA, a couple of others worked for a few videos and now won't charge, others randomly freeze up, and the file format is not compatible with Windows Movie Maker. Our tech coordinator called their tech support and they were no help on the hardware issues we are having and when asked about how to record in a compatible format, their tech support said "You need to Google it." Now we have a dozen paperweights because nobody will use them.

quote Originally posted by Cooter: and the file format is not compatible with Windows Movie Maker.

Yea, the Zi8 records in .mov which is not compatible with WMM. The Zi8 does come with a (somewhat decent) Kodak video editing software. I usually convert the video into .wmv so I can use WMM to edit videos. The video converter I use to convert to .wmv is freeware if you want it, Cooter. I have the install package still in my downloads.

[This message has been edited by Rainman (edited 12-28-2010).]

I still use a small mini cam with "video tapes" Has worked perfect every time for the last 8 years we have had it. I have no plans to replace it anytime soon.

[This message has been edited by bristowb (edited 12-28-2010).]

quote Originally posted by bristowb: I still use a small mini cam with "video tapes" Has worked perfect every time for the last 8 years we have had it. I have no plans to replace it anytime soon.

So do I. But we both have to be aware that someday, we won't be able to get tapes anymore. And not soon after that, we won't have any devices with compatible inputs, so we'll never se our old videos again.

Isn't the "Upgrade Treadmill" great?

But, thanks for the warning on the Flips. It will be time for me to upgrade soon, and I need to know what to avoid.

We have a HUGE Collection of VHS tapes... and yep.. no VCR anymore.

I wish I had known ahead of time not to buy the Flip. t got GREAT reviews everywhere I looked. I think they were all lies.

I have the older one that still uses regular AA batteries. I dont like depending on rechargables. Ive had it for 3 years now without a single problem. I think just like anything else, there are bad ones in the batch. It even shoots decent video right off a tv screen. I have absolutely no use for a regular video camera anymore. I have a RCA VHS camcorder nearly brand new in the box if anyones interested. Yes, its the huge old style you rest on your shoulder, but its great for doing events that last a long time. Ive taped races completely from start to finish. Also great on a tripod.

That really stinks, the older Flips were pretty solid machines. sorry man.

iv used the older ones for class projects that school owns and they worked great

I got a sylvania 'flip style' for xmas and its also horribly grainy at any resolution.

It doesnt lock up tho.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: ... I have a RCA VHS camcorder nearly brand new in the box if anyones interested. Yes, its the huge old style you rest on your shoulder, ...

Hmmm... I bet with an official-looking badge hanging from my neck, and a big honkin camera on my shoulder, accompanied by a "production assistant", there might be some very interesting places I could get into.

Its actually a lot easier to tape for a couple of hours resting on your shoulder than holding out a palm size camera for the same length of time. I dont think I can even hold out an empty hand for longer than 15 minutes. Ya print yourself up some CNN stickers and wear an official looking neck strap ID badge and you can have fun. I had a buddy that used to carry a bunch of his camera gear to events he wanted to watch. He usually got free admission and prime parking spots. I went with him to a huge boat race and was amazed how easy he pulled it off.

Thanks for the heads up. I have seen that type of recorder before but never bought one.