Flip Mino HD 3rd Generation 120 minutes recording, 8GB Memory & Image Stabilisation - Black

The Flip MinoHD is an HD pocket camcorder made by Cisco, a networking and communications company based in San FranCISCO. There are two ranges of Flip camcorders available in the UK (Flip UltraHD, Flip MinoHD) and each range has two models (4 GB 1 hour, 8 GB 2 hour). This particular product, the Flip MinoHD 8 GB (3rd generation), is their latest top-of-the-range model and currently the second Bestselling Camcorder on Amazon.com!

The Flip comes beautifully packaged in a luxurious little (12.1 x 4.7 x 6.8 cm) black box which contains the following seven items:

- Flip MinoHD Video Camera (black)
- Wrist Strap (uncomfortable plastic coated wire)
- Soft Protective Case (soft black pouch)
- User Guide (very short and easy to read)
- Important Safety Instructions
- Warranty Information
- Battery Charging Reminder (4 hours prior to use)

The Flip itself is tiny at just 5 x 10 x 1.9 cm. This truly is a product you can slip into your jeans pocket and take with you everywhere. With no removable battery pack or SD cards to deal with, the weight is fixed at just 103 g, about the same as an iPod touch (4th generation). It's worth noting that the 8 GB model is only available in black, so if you want a silver Flip MinoHD you'll have to buy the 4 GB model, which comes in both silver and black.

Compared to most camcorders, the Flip has a refreshingly small amount of buttons and controls. On the back are six touch-sensitive backlit buttons: Play, Delete, Up, Down, Left, Right. There's also one big red Record button in the middle, that you have to press to either start or stop recording. On the left side of the Flip is a USB Latch, which you have to slide down to release the USB arm/connector that "flips" up via a spring-loaded mechanism. And on the right side is a simple Power button.

The unique selling point of the Flip is that it's really easy to use. To get recording, all you have to do is press the Power button and wait for about three seconds for it to power-up. Once you see the word "Ready" on the LCD screen, all you have to do is press the Record button, which immediately starts recording a new video clip to the 8 GB of internal memory. A red timer appears in the top-left corner of the screen, counting up the duration of the current clip in minutes and seconds (e.g. 02:58), and a red recording light glows through the microphone grills on the front of the Flip.

The Flip takes pride in having no complicated settings or nested menus to worry about. Really the only thing you can customise are the five options presented in the Setup menu, which appears automatically the first time you power on. The options are:

- Set Language (e.g. UK English)
- Set Date (e.g 08 Dec 2010)
- Set Time (e.g 01:24 PM)
- Tones (On or Off)
- Recording Light (On or Off)
- Save settings? (Save or Cancel)

However, Cisco may have taken their quest for simplicity a little too far, because there are no video resolution or quality settings. The Flip shoots video at 720p (1280 x 720 pixels, progressive scan) at a fixed frame rate of 50 fps. You can't change or lower the frame rate to 30 fps (or even 25 fps or 24 fps) which is a major disappointment as the majority of websites and devices use 30 fps. The bitrate used automatically adapts and varies from clip to clip, but one minute of video usually takes up about 66 MB of storage.

So how do you charge it up? Since the Lithium-ion battery is non-removable, and there's no AC Power input, the only way is via USB. The Flip was really designed to be plugged directly into the side of a laptop, and left there for 3 hours to charge its 1 hour and 30 minute battery. If you don't have a laptop and instead have a more traditional desktop or all-in-one, you may have to buy a USB extension cable to connect the Flip to those hard-to-reach USB ports. Amazon.co.uk actually sell a pack of three (white, yellow & pink) Flip Video USB Cables, but these have been rated poorly for being overpriced.

What happens when you connect it to a computer? Well if you're a Mac user, you're in luck. The Flip is fully compatible with Snow Leopard and works immediately with all its applications without you ever having to install any software or drivers. When you connect the Flip to your Mac, it mounts on the Desktop as a drive called FLIPVIDEO. Navigate through the folders (FLIPVIDEO > DCIM > 100VIDEO) and you'll find the Flip has saved each clip as an MPEG-4 movie file (e.g. VID0001.MP4). You can Quick Look the clips directly in the Finder straight off the Flip, without having to copy them to your Mac first. Alternatively, you can use iMovie's "Import from Camera..." option to browse the clips on your Flip and import the ones you want straight into your Events Library. The only catch is, since iMovie doesn't support 50 fps video, it will only edit and play your videos at 25 fps.

Overall, I think the Flip MinoHD is a great product. It's attractively priced and it makes shooting HD video very easy indeed. If you want to quickly record something without the complexity, the buttons, the battery packs, the weight, even the tapes of a traditional camcorder, this is the product for you.

There's just one slight problem; extremely aggressive competition from Apple. For just 18% more than a Flip MinoHD you can get an iPod touch (4th generation) which offers not only HD video recording, editing and uploading to YouTube, but state-of-the-art features like FaceTime, Multi-Touch, GPS, Voice Control, AirPlay, the App Store and a Retina display! Can you resist the temptation?

The Flip Mino is about two things: size, and ease of use. It hits both while punching above its weight in terms of quality, if not features.

Impressions: It's about the size of a slightly chubby mobile phone and it's made of plastic that feels durable but looks quite cheap. It weighs about the same as a mobile, too, so you should have a good idea by now whether or not you think you can carry it around comfortably.

A pouch and a wriststrap are bundled with the box. Both are extremely useful, given that the device is largely texture less and slippery. Any help keeping it from smashing on the ground is a bonus, and there's no cover for the lens, so the pouch can keep it from getting scratched by whatever you have in your pocket or bag.

Controls: The side with the controls and the screen is a glossy fingerprint magnet, though this is endemic to all black gadgets. There are physical, clicky buttons for the on/off switch and the record button - the rest are capacitive and glow white when the Mino is on. All of the controls feel responsive, and the stripped down interface is as quick as it should be, since the only menu is the one where you set the date and time etc.

Recording is as simple as turning it on and pressing the big red button. The only other controls are the + and - buttons for limited digital zooming. There are no settings to faff around with or explain to younger or older users who might not be as confident with digital cameras.

Quality: The quality is great for its size, particularly by daylight. I stress that it is great *for its size* - don't expect amazing quality. There are some scenes that it will definitely struggle with: night streets, for example, with varying levels of light, can produce quite a bit of noise and glare. However, I imagine most of you will be using this thing to record reasonably well lit events (say, family christmas activities indoors) that the Mino can cope with admirably. It's certainly a step above the mobile phone cameras that I've seen, which I'd guess are its main competition in terms of form factor.

Storage etc: The camera ships with 8gb of memory, good for 2hrs of recording. The USB connection is hidden on the top of the case and is revealed by a spring loaded switch. This is great if you hate wires, no so good if you have difficult to reach or crowd USB ports on your computer. The clearace is fine for most laptops, though, and the camera was light enough for me to stick it into the port on the side of my monitor without issue. You can use the camera like any USB storage device through your file system, or you can install the easy to use software.

Overall: If you're looking for a no nonsense, tiny video camera that anyone who can push a button can use, then the Mino isn't a bad choice at all.

The camcorder looks just like a mobile phone (it's almost exactly the same dimensions and weight as the Nokia N95), with a very good quality shell which feels like heavy black ceramic and Mac style design.It's got HDMI output, which is a major plus of course - you can plug it straight into one of the newer TVs with USB Ports.

The quality of both the video and the sound is very nice, and the integrated editing software is very convenient to use. The best advantage of this mini cam is the integrated USB plug which can do all the jobs of transferring data to the PC and charging. You don't need to carry any wires or leads around at all. The battery life is roughly two hours, but there's no option for another battery if you're usedto taking a spare with you.

The quality of the videos is definitely more than enough for uploading to the Internet (Youtube...) but still not comparable to videos shot by my other camcorder - a proper Canon HD one. And the range of the zoom in and out is too small, which is not very satisfying. Still, that's not really what this little thing is about - sure, you don't get the high-end HD 'feel' that you do with a full-sized camera with a big lens, but what you do get is 'pick up and go' ease of use; it's incredibly easy to use, and makes the process of basic film-making to the masses.

Another pity is that there is no photo-shooting function. Videos only is a real shame, and it feels unnecessarily limiting not to have the option of stills camera functions.. And the last thing to remind you is to turn the sound of the button off, so that when you try to zoom or increase the volume during shooting, the 'beep-beep' sound won't be recorded at the same time!

One tip - don't get the officially-endorsed neoprene cases... they are DIRE. There's also a good Flip mini tripod, but the gorillapod version is far better at the same job. If you're a newcomer to the fun of shooting videos, this is a great place to start.

There's a free bonus with the camera - a software package called 'Website5', which lets you create a website in 'just 5 steps'; the unfortunate thing is that it's had a lot of useful functions removed (which you have to pay the full price to get); it's not really possible to make that great a website using this version. It's like a trial version but without a time limit.

The other offer that comes with the camera is a free 12-month subscription to a site hosting company called one.com - this isn't that great an offer either (or at least, it's not an exclusive), as you can get it by just visiting their website, no purchase needed.

Recommended, but I'd like to see the new Sony equivalent, as it looks good too.