Taking a Look at The New Flip Mino
written by John Chow
Pure Digital’s newest addition to the Flip family of digital camcorders is the Flip Mino. The Mino is 40% smaller than the old Flip Ultra and looks a lot better as well. Available in black or white, the Mino easily fits into any shirt pocket and is ready to shot videos at a moment’s notice.
Enhancements to the Mino include a built in rechargeable battery that will last up to 4 hours, more than enough for the 1 hour of video the Mino can record. Charging starts the instant you plug the Mino into a free USB 2.0 port. There is an optional power adapter as well but I doubt you’ll ever need to use it.
The biggest feature for Mac users is the new software that comes with the Mino that allows it to work iMovie 08. No more two step process to get videos into iMovie! The software works with the old Flip Ultra as well, so anyone with an Ultra and a Mac should download the new software right away.
At $179, the Mino is a bit more expensive than the Ultra but well worth it. If you already have a Flip Ultra, I don’t think it’s worth upgrading unless you want the latest toy. If you are in the market for a new Flip and don’t know which one to choose, then the Mino is the no brainer choice.
Size comparison
Here you can see the size difference between the Mino and Ultra. Just for reference, I added my Logitech mouse. Even though the Mino is much smaller than the Ultra, both units have a 1.5″ video screen, so you don’t lose any screen real estate for going small.
So far, I’ve used the Mino for a few hours and like it a lot. The unit is every bit as easy to use as the Ultra. I’ll be taking some side by side videos to see what the quality difference is like. From what I’ve seen so far, the Mino’s video quality is not as good as the Ultra but it’s more than good enough for YouTube.
Bloggers looking for an inexpensive way to add videos to their blogs will want to take a serious look at the new Flip Mino. We’ll be getting more units in this week so look for a contest real soon!
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(10 votes, average: 3.7 out of 5)
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These look pretty cool but I thought I saw that you were using a Canon also. I’ve been using a Canon PowerShot SD1000 and it has been great for quick video taking and uploading to my computer.
Not to rain in the Flips parade.
Stick with your Canon. If you want higher quality, pretty much any name brand digital camera on the market will give you better quality.
I have a Sony’s digital camera, the quality is awesome, although the recording cannot be more than 1 hour 30 minutes but that’s quite a lot, fter I convert to my computer, I delete it and then make a new one, although I am not yet posting videos on my blog!
I have a T200 from Sony and the video quality is amazing, specially when I have to zoom-in and zoom-out. the features help me a lot to get a better results in my videos.
the Flip is ok however you can’ t get a 8 megapixel still photo from it.
I have a Kodak. ML just gave out alot of flip minos to the users. Sucks for me I couldn’t win any in other contests. I had the contest on my blog, but I couldn’t particpate duh.
Hey, I just received my Flip Mino that I had won from Ian Fernando’s ML contest.
It definitely looks like a great little gadget and I will be carrying it around with me where ever I go. Plus, now I can start video blogging!
You’ve got it for free? How lucky.Was it good?
Was it good?
- What exactly did you mean by that?
I like it so far, haven’t had the chance to get any videos with it just yet, been busy redesigning my blog, but as soon as I am through with that, I’ll be testing it out.
I hope I get a flip mino in John’s upcoming contest!
Not if I get it first
Did you receive your Flip within the week? I won a Flip from a car345 contest and I’ve yet to receive it - It’s been 24 days.
Just received the Flip I won at car345.com, which was reviewed by Michael Kwan two months ago. Thank you to Siva at car345.com, it’s a cool site.
He had to find an alternative way to send it to me from the US, even though he’s in Canada.
Canada Customs did its part by opening the box.
Give it to me. Pay it forward.
Haha. One thing that everyone is looking for off John recently
Thank you John Chow for Twittering about it earlier. I saw the ultra model in the local millionaire club when someone is videoing the speaker with that.
Now I have excuse to get one for fun. The only thing that it is laking is to support external SD card.
Enjoy your new toys!
I suspect Pure Digital’s business model is to force you to buy more than one. If you run out of space, whip out another Flip.
The price seems quite reasonable for a device of such high quality. Ill have to check out some other reviews online…
Quality is relative. If you mean YouTube quality, yup, Flip does that well. if you want HD quality, don’t count on the Flip. If you base it on price, then I saw an HD camcorder with a swivel screen that could take the same amount of video in 720p format in Taiwan….for the same price. Pure Digital admits they are still at least a year away from that. So far, I’ve found it to be a really good replacement for a voice recorder.
yeah..really reasonable for a device of such high quality. I had bought 1 canon camera vid (after i broke my Ben-Q ), and it was much more expensive than this Flip.
Argh….I’m still trying to upload my flip videos to youtube. What’s the deal? I click upload, and then it spends the rest of time, that is, eternity, saying it’s loading but never does. Anyone know what the heck I’m doing wrong? Thanks. From the slightly technically challenged one…
I’ve never been successful uploading to youtube straight from the Flip. I have to do the 2 step procedure of uploading to computer from the Flip, then uploading from computer to Youtube. Of course, you then blast them out to all the other sites using tubemogul or Hey Spread.
I don’t know how in Canada, but in my Country Indonesia, Japanese Dig. camcorder is always the best. I love Sony…. My notebook, dig. Camera, dig camcorder all of them are Sony
Is it available in Canada? I had always wanted to get one, but I’ve not seem a single store in Vancouver that carries the Flip.
Walmart might have it. The Ultra, that is.
I wonder if its available in Australia, It looks fantastic.
I will certainly be looking out for the contest!
more expensive but you will not regret to have this one!
This gadget is nice!
Come on with the contest already! I need one of these!!! How about you give me a “Task” to do with one. It’s kind of like “Double Dog Dare” but on video.
dont forget to add: NOT AVAILABLE IN CANADA TIL XMAS
blows my mind that in an internet age like this, they can wait so farking long.
Well you know, it takes that long to Translate those manuals into French
They just need to go to Google Translate.
Takes 15 seconds.
I think if I send this advice to Flip they will send me one for free
It is a lot smaller than the old version. Its amazing how far technology has come and where its going. We are now able to make things so small.
I think the Vado is better. Smaller than the mino and half the price.
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It looks nice, but it is expensive…
The new Flip Mino looks nice. I wish I had one. Let me think how a fourteen year old teen blogger can make enough money to buy one. I guess I can by reading your blog.
We love the Mino! It is so easy to use and is small enough to take with you anywhere. I think video blogging is going to become more popular because of the ease of uploading video to the internet. I can upload a video on YouTube in less than 5 minutes with this camera.
Ofcourse you can Debby
I have yet to get this Mino. But when I do… I will be making some more videos eh. I need one to start my new project.
I recently bought the Flip Ultra and have made a buch of videos for my web site. I was ready to buy the flip mino, but I not now because reading this post let me know the video quality is not as good as the Ultra….Craig
I have to be a little negative in saying I doubt I’ll ever win one of these, but hey…. Who Knows!!! Maybe dreams really do come true!
I’ve been meaning to get another Flip, as I lost mine. Will be looking forward to this contest.
I’m heading down to the states this weekend to buy one
Must have gadgets -No doubt about it.
That looks awesome, and I love that it is so small that it will just fit in a pocket of my purse so that I always have it with me.
You gotta have a video camera these days and the Mino is probably one of the beter ones and at a great price too.
Very cool, I would love to have one. maybe I will get lucky and win 1 soon so I can video blog.
PS. Thanks for stopping by my blog and advertising via EC.
Hope to see you again.
Wow,. I have win a flip video Mino from affiliatesmiami contest, but not yet receive that Flip Mino..
Nice to read review about that Flip
Did anyone watch Oprah on Wednesday (June 25th, 2008)?
The whole show was about youtube and Oprah was recording with Flip. I m sure it was a big boost for Pure digital since Oprah herself was recording with it.
http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200711/tows_past_20071106.jhtml?promocode=HP51
Yes, a chance to WIN a Flip camera! I really would like one.
Using creative vado for video capturing. It’s much cheaper and comes with a bigger screen (2inch) so easy to look at.
heads-up for everyone with Vado
- I have just downloaded new firmware from Creative support site and put on Vado - now the colors are much more vibrant and audio is louder, really worth a shot.