The Flip Mino HD is a sleek pocket-sized video camera that proves why Flip video is for everyone.
If you order your Flip Mino HD online at TheFlip.com you can customize the front plate of your camera. You can insert your own picture or buy one of their designs. This alone makes the camera fun and unique.
In addition to being a camera for the fashionistas, the small size and durability make it a great gift for kids. It’s really quick to capture video and share it on websites like YouTube.com. The video camera is also bundled with a wrist strap and pouch. So it’s pretty much child proof as long as they wear the wrist strap and occasionally put the camera in its pouch.
But on the downside, I’m not a huge fan of the buttons on the backside of the camera. You do not need to physically push down on them. Since you only need to slide your finger across them, you could accidentally press a control that you don’t want to. It’s similar to using a cell phone touch screen. If you’re used to that you’ll be fine with the Mino HD’s controls.
It takes about three hours to charge the battery. If you do lose power and don’t have a way to charge the camera threw a USB source, you’re pretty much out of luck.
Both the front and back end of the camera will become full of smudges from your fingers. Thankfully they do come off easily with a good wipe.
For a video camera at this size it’s great that it can store up to an hour of 720p HD video. There isn’t any image stabilization so you’ll have to be as steady as possible for the image to look its best.
If you’ve never heard of Flip before and you want to test out the camera before you buy it, they have demo units at your local Best Buy store.
Be sure to check out our review of the Flip Ultra HD. We have a comparison video between the Ultra HD and the Mino HD here.