In a “now your shit is outdated and worthless” move reminiscent of something Apple would do, Flip Video has released the Flip Video Mino HD (720p). Like a month after I purchased the Flip Video Mino, which I still love for it’s portability but loathe for it’s inability to focus on any kind of fine detail such as print.

Anyhoo, I got a great deal on an HD camera during the Circuit City fuck up fire sale last week, so I am not necessarily in the market for a 3rd camera in a month. However once this thing drops below $199, I am sure I will be replacing my Mino. Here is hoping they work out that fine detail issue, then it would really be perfect.

It looks like the casing is nearly identical to the original Mino. Now it has 4GB of storage instead of 2GB to accommodate the 1 hour of HD video. As usual, pop out USB for sync and charging.

$229 on Amazon

Where to start… Well let me start by saying that I went into this hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. I have been burned so many times in the past by no name electronics companies that promise greatness, and deliver weird dongles and incompatible codecs.

In this case I didn’t even trust my normally trustworthy Amazon ratings which gave it an average score of 4.5 stars out of 5; 234 people surveyed.

With that said, let’s get down to it. (FYI @ 5:10 I start filming with the Mino)

This thing is pretty cool. It shoots clear crisp video, and gets to the task quickly. The buttons and interface are fairly easy to navigate. It shoots 30 frames per second MPEG4, with each minute taking up about 25MB. The verdict: It is well worth the $150 if you have a need for on the go video.
Here are some pictures, and some video shot with it.

Purchase @ Amazon.com