In a “now your shit is outdated and worthless” move reminiscent of something Apple would do, Flip Video has released the Flip Video Mino HD (720p).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

I have had a few complaints about the quality of some of my videos, so I am going to try to do a bit better.

So as you might have heard Circuit City is not doing too well. And though I prefer them to Best Buy, it looks like the time for CC might be coming to an end. Last week they announced they would be closing 20% of their stores, just days before announcing that they would be filing for bankruptcy. Ouch.

Well one of the stores being closed is the one near me, and they have 10% to 30% off of most things, so I thought I would go and see what kind of open box goodness I could enjoy. A few weeks back I reviewed the Flip Video Mino camera, take a look here. I love that little camera, and the video quality is pretty nice for something that fits in your pocket. The downside? It can’t read displays or text off of my computer or iphone or anything printed at all. It just won’t focus on it. So that is the only disappointment in a pocket sized video camera, fine with me. But still I had a gap to fill. 

I walked into circuit city and it was a mad house. I saw a nice little flash based camera that would be fine for recording short blurbs and it would certainly be able to zoom in on small text of all kinds. It was open box and was going for around $150. It still had the battery, charger and manual; just no box. I thought about what a great deal I was getting as I took it up to the counter…

Anyway, I paid and I was on my way. Once home I pulled out the manual to check out the functions, and noticed a second battery in the plastic bag. Score! Free spare battery! Then I saw something wasn’t right, the model number on the manual did not match the model number on my camera.

It turns out they had this camera grouped with the wrong set of cameras. They were trying to keep all the same model open boxes together, however a lot of the Samsungs use the same casing, and you have to check the model number on the inside of the screen to tell the difference. Well I paid about $150 for a $400+ HD (720p w/ HDMI) Camera. Not the top of the line by any means, but way above what I paid for!

I thought this was a nice change after years of being over-charged by retail, now it is my turn to taste a little victory.

Thank You Veterans!