Flip Video Mino

Posted on 9 Dec 2008 at 11:18

Manufacturer: Flip Video
http://www.theflip.com/

Supplier: Play.com
www.play.com

Price: £102 (£120 inc VAT)

Rating: 3/6

In the same vein as the Vado is the Flip Video Mino. It's another cigarette packet-sized video camera, a little thicker than the Vado, but to all intents and purposes the same sort of thing.

It has a fixed lens on the rear, simple camcorder features, a built-in USB plug and integrated battery that charges over that very same connection. In addition, there's 2GB of internal flash memory, which will allow you to store up to an hour of footage at 640 x 480 and at a bit-rate of 4Mb/sec.

Other details, however, set it apart from the Vado. For instance, it doesn't rate as highly as the Creative when it comes to outright ease of use. The flip-out USB plug on the top won't squeeze into a crowded panel of sockets, and the screen is smaller (1.5in compared to 2in), so reviewing footage isn't quite as fun. The screenmay be small, but it's transflective, making it as easy to view in bright conditions as it is in the gloom.

But elsewhere, it's a superior product. The onboard software is more advanced than the Vado's: you can perform basic edits with it and create simple Movie Mixes, as well as upload directly to YouTube, AOL Video and myspacetv.com, and send emails.

The video quality is better, too. In particular, filming in bright sunlight doesn't result in highlights that are burned out, while in low-light conditions it's significantly less noisy than the Vado's footage.

In fact, it's a better all-round video camera than the Vado in almost every way. But that superiority does come at a price - the Mino is a hefty £45 inc VAT dearer than the Vado.

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Creative Vado

Back to: Compact video cameras

Author: Darien Graham-Smith, Mike Jennings & Matthew Spark