It is easy to enjoy and share video taken with the Flip Mino. It is easy to take video with-there are no fancy controls to learn and the Mino can go from full power off to recording video in three seconds. It is easy to carry around-the tiny Mino fits in a shirt pocket and can record four hours of video on a single charge.

Both take surprisingly good video for their price and size and both make outstanding alternatives to a Flip camcorder.įor posterity’s sake, if nothing else, a portion of Spot Cool Stuff’s original Flip Mino review:Įverything about the Flip Mino is designed to be easy: Neither has the video quality up to the standards of, say, the Sanyo Xacti we reviewed. The major advantage: The PlaySport is waterproof (and thus also sand and dust proof). Among the disadvantages compared to the S30: The PlaySport only has a 4x digital zoom and a 5MP still camera and it costs slightly more. The Kodak PlaySport Zx3 has many of the same features that the Camileo S30 does.

It has special time lapse and slow motion settings and an easy YouTube upload button. The S30 features a 16x digital zoom and an 8MP still camera. It shoots in full 1080p HD at 30 frames-per-second or 720p at 60fps.

So what is the best alternative to a Flip if you are in the market for a pocket-able, inexpensive camcorder? We have two suggestions: the Toshiba Camileo S30 and the Kodak PlaySport Zx3.Ī Toshiba Camileo S30 can be yours for a cent under US$100 after Amazon’s 44% (!) discount-an outstanding value. Indeed, this might be a good time to pick up a Flip for cheap- Amazon is already offering discounts.Īs a general rule, Spot Cool Stuff is leery about perhaps electronics that don’t have active companies behind them updating firmware, providing support, honoring warranties, and so on.

It isn’t like the hardware will suddenly stop working and Cisco has promised to keep supporting FlipShare. If you already own a Flip, you can keep using it happily. Perhaps with camcorders being incorporated into an increasing variety of products-netbooks, tablets, smartphones, ultra-compact cameras, and so on-Cisco felt the Flip couldn’t keep up. Flip was a trusted brand with strong sales-at the time of writing its products ranked 3rd, 7th, 8th and 10th on Amazon’s list of top selling camcorders. Today your parent company, Cisco, announced it is will be ceasing your production.Ĭisco’s announcement puzzles Spot Cool Stuff at bit.

How much does a flip video camera cost