Accessories

Simple and small, but unfriendly file format and no customization
The flip is great for those who just want something that is ultra simple and doesn't need any configuration. It's very easy to use, and is small and well built. For those who are only interested in recording small clips of video and uploading them to youtube, or emailing to whom ever, this is a great product.

For those of us that do like a little control, the product falls short in a number of areas.

1. It uses .3ivx encoding, which is not supported well by most video editing products, such as adobe premier elements. If you already own video editing software, I suggest you google the name of your software plus "3ivx" and see what message boards have to say.

Also, .3ivx is not supported by the PS3 (playstation 3), which I use for streaming media to my tv from my computer.

2. If you use the software that it comes with, it will save your media to a set of folders in "my documents", and you can't change this location. The built-in editing software gives you the ability to change the start and end position of a given clip, that's it.

3. You can't create one file from multiple clips. Everytime you click the stop button, another file is created. I don't record continuously. If I take this to a party or something, I will record in little segments. Later on, when I want to watch all these little segments together, I can't cuz I have all these little files. Since most editing software doesn't like .3ivx, you should convert them to something else first (resulting in a loss of quality), then you have to edit them all together and create a new file.

I'm not upset that I bought the flip. Because of its size, it will always be useful in certain situations. I'll probably replace this some time when flash hd cameras work a little better and come down in price.

Faulty product?
I couldn't get mine to work. Perhaps a faulty item. It came on for about 10 seconds, then the picture flickered and went blank. I tried to turn it back on to no avail. When I tried a second pair of batteries, the same thing occurred. Sounds like it could be a great product. Perhaps I will try again once the manufacturers work out some kinks.

Great.
Very simple and very easy to use. Does fine in low light situations. Highly recommend it.

I have flipped for the Flip.
I just returned from a trip to India and Nepal and I wanted a video of my trip. Not being very techno savvy I ordered the Flip for it's ease of use, size and price. I love it! The video is great, the very lightweight size makes it so handy, never intrusive in any situation. It is so easy, and as soon as you press the one button you feel like a pro. It did not drain batteries badly either, something I worried about for the trip. I now keep it right in my purse, ready to go when that special moment happens!

As Easy As They Say It Is
The Flip video device is sleek, simple and uncluttered. It shoots video.
It plays back that video. It lets you play the video on your computer, or
on your TV. It lets you email the video. it lets you upload the video to AOL or YouTube. And you can do all that very easily.

For me, the great thing is that this device is NOT multipurpose. It doesn't play MP3's. It doesn't send text to my 5 closest friends. It doesn't bake pizzas. It shoots video, quickly and easily -- and at very low cost.