From the Manufacturer
Flip Mino: The Power of Self Expression Flip Mino provides you the power of self-expression, enabling you to shoot and share your stories with the world. Now, with a wide assortment of new designs available, you can make a statement with your Mino before you even press record. This “Tribal Inkblot” Mino features a distinctive tribal-inspired design in searing hues of black and white. Each Tribal Inkblot Mino is individually customized by Flip Video’s partner, CafePress. Mino Overview: Super-slim Mino is the sleekest camcorder you can get Super-simple user interface features one-touch recording and digital zoom Features the distinctive “Tribal Inkblot” design, custom-printed directly on [Read More...]
Buy Flip Mino Series Camcorder, 60 Minutes at Amazon
October 30th, 2009 at 10:52 am
The form factor on this product is great. Its noticeably smaller (in both the pocket and the hand) than its predecessor - the Flip Video Ultra Series, 60 min. And the Ultra was already compact to begin with! The sleek size was important to me because I just won’t bring a camcorder out with me if it doesn’t fit easily in my pocket. This device did just the trick. If you don’t care about size (i.e., because you will just put it in your purse, etc) then I would suggest saving the money and getting the Ultra, which lists for about $50 or so less.
As far as I can tell, the video quality and functionality is about the same as the Ultra and they both have the 2GB of memory, similar 1.5″ screen size, digital zoom etc. So the only reason in my mind to get this is for the size advantage. But for me, size does matter. When I think about how many moments passed by unrecorded simply because it was too cumbersome to take a camcorder along, it really makes me wish they made this Mino years ago!
For those of you unfamiliar with Flip camcorders, the Mino has suprisingly good VGA video quality. I’d put it on par with that of much larger, more expensive traditional camcorders. The Mino also records well in a variety of light settings. The lack of a true optical zoom is probably to be expected given the small size, but the 2x digital zoom is good enough for most casual settings. The design is well thought out to avoid many of the classic pitfalls of portable devices - there’s a scratch resistant covering on the lens, an on/off switch on the side that is difficult to trip accidentally and a centrally located record button that has enough resistance to avoid unintentionally starting/stopping recording (I know some have issues with the Ultra record button but I have not).
I have a PC at home and the Mino truly is a plug-and-play device. You don’t have any confusing software or cables to muddle around with. Simply plug the USB adapter into your computer and you’re ready to go! It’s great for the non-technically savvy. I also like the rechargeable built-in battery in the Mino (which is a new feature). It recharges like an iPod, either in the computer or through an outlet which is convenient. I can’t attest yet to the battery life/quality but I figure by the time it dies out on me, I’ll be well on my way to buying a next generation Flip Micro!
———— July 8th update ————-
I noticed the price dropped on the black Flip Mino. For those of you who don’t know (Amazon doesn’t advertise this) Amazon not only has a 30 day return policy, but a 30 day price adjustment policy as well. So if you bought your Flip in the past 30 days, you can call them up and they will immediately refund the difference to you with no hassles. This policy holds for all products directly sold by Amazon.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere and I thought it was important for Mac users to be filled in on the following….
1. The software that comes with the Flip Video Mino does NOT allow you to stitch multiple clips together to make one movie. Only Windows users can do this.
2. I was able to get the Flip Video Mino AVI videos to play in iMovie ‘08, but not export. When you export the video you get a blank screen with only audio. I had better luck exporting the video from Final Cut Pro.
3. In case you are interested, the codec that Flip Video Mino uses is the 3ivx codec.
There are workarounds for the above issues, but it would have been nice if there was a way to combine clips into one movie right out of the box. Hopefully this will be possible in the future with a software update.
Other then those concerns, its a great product so far and the video quality from the raw AVI file is really impressive.
I found a site called motionbox that will let you upload the raw AVI files that the Flip Video Mino creates and once uploaded you can do some basic editing and combine multiple movies into one. Doing it this way gives you a much higher quality video then what you get on sites like YouTube.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
The Flip Mino is a great small camcorder for the price, mainly because of the form factor. It’s a lot thinner and smaller than the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minutes (White), yet yields equal performance. The only negative is that it doesn’t take AA batteries like the Flip Ultra because it’s so thin. Instead, it has a non user replaceable built-in lithium ion battery like an iPod.
The Flip Mino does not neccessarily replace the Flip Ultra and the Flip Ultra is being sold side by side with the Flip Mino. And, the Flip Mino doesn’t come in as many colors, only a black version and a white version.
I would say If you already have a Flip Ultra, you may not want or need to buy the Flip Mino (unless you really want the smaller form factor or you have money to burn) since it yields about the same video and audio quality. If you don’t own a Flip video camera yet, the Flip Mino is probably the one to get unless you require AA batteries which admittedly is nice because they are readily available everywhere. I actually prefer AA batteries over an internal rechargeable battery that over a few years will start to lose it’s charge and not last as long between charges.
That said, the Flip Mino is pretty nice because it’s so small and thin.
Even though I have a digital point and shoot still camera that can shoot video, I find it easier to shoot video with the Flip Mino. The vertical form factor is better suited to shooting video. The built in software is nice and it’s built into the camera so you need not install anything on your computer.
The Flip Mino is a great ‘take everywhere’ video camera that fits in your pocket and can yield some creative and endearing videos.