Simplify your laptop buying
Pocket HD camcorders
Lori Grunin,
Senior Editor
November 23, 2009
One price class up from their dirt-cheap siblings, these mini camcorders basically do the same thing--quickly shoot and upload your life's most embarrassing, amusing, or engaging moments--except in 720p high definition. Like their kin, the software necessary for playback and upload comes loaded on the devices so that you can share your masterpieces from any machine, though they don't all operate so ideally on Macs.
Their advantage lies in the compact designs, ease of use, and low, low prices. Though we've started to see the 1,920x1,080 models, playing and editing that high-resolution video takes knowledge and horsepower that's at odds with the simplicity and affordability of these camcorders. They also face competition from a few digital still cameras that capture the same 1,280x720-resolution video.
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| Product name | ||||||
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| Price | $3.00 to $199.99 | $219.99 to $279.66 | $155.48 to $228.13 | $108.95 to $149.95 | $149.95 to $179.99 | $100.74 to $229.99 |
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| Review date | April 29, 2009 | October 13, 2009 | November 14, 2008 | March 30, 2009 | July 30, 2009 | December 09, 2008 |
| The Bottom Line | The Flip Video UltraHD may not be the sexiest mini camcorder out there, but it offers a respectable feature set and some of the best video we've seen from this type of cheap, YouTube-friendly camcorder. | Still one of the nicest models available, the second-generation Flip MinoHD offers a slightly improved design, double the memory, and an HDMI output for the same price that the original MinoHD used to cost. | While it has its flaws and is a bit expensive, the ultrasimple Flip Video MinoHD produces impressive video for a camcorder of its size. | While its video quality doesn't quite match up to that of the Flip Video MinoHD, the Kodak Zx1 does win points for its stylish, rugged design. | With the Zi8, Kodak finally surpasses Flip Video's video quality and feature set. | The Creative Vado HD may fall slightly short of the Flip Video Mino HD in terms of video quality, but it's stronger feature set may tempt you. |
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| Features | ||||||
| Lens aperture | F/2.4 | F/2.4 | F/2.4 | F/2.8 | F/2.8 | Info unavailable |
| Media type | Flash card | Flash card | Flash card | Flash card | Flash card | Info unavailable |
| Optical sensor type | CMOS | CMOS | CMOS | CMOS | CMOS | CMOS |
| Video input type | Camcorder | Camcorder | Camcorder | Camcorder | Camcorder | Camcorder |
| Digital zoom | 2 x | 2 | 2 x | 2 | 4 x | 2 x |
| Weight | 6 oz | 4.1 oz | 3.3 oz | 3.2 oz | 3.9 oz | 3.5 oz |
| Optical sensor size | 1/4.5" | 1/4.5" | 1/4.5" | 1/4.5" | 1/2.5" | Info unavailable |
| Manual focus | Focus free | Focus free | Focus free | Focus free | Focus free | Info unavailable |
| Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications |
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