2006's Best Selling Camcorder - Pure Digital Flip Video Story, Unboxing, Test & Teardown

[@Larry]

i did really like the flip back in the day, quite a few of my early youtube videos were filmed on one. think i owned two over the years.

[@ctrlaltrees]

You were certainly one of the ones I was watching back then, I think pretty much everyone was using this camera. I remember when people started upgrading to SD firewire camcorders just a year or so later, such a big jump in quality!

[@Larry]

@@ctrlaltrees Aw, bless you Sir! I found mine not too long ago, all the black rubber has started to rot and it's gone all sticky now :S It's weird how something can become so obsolete so quickly, they should have evolved into something akin to the GoPro.

[@Wallyworld30]

Same here I used it to record my Golden Retriever catching 3 frisbee throws in a row without missing a catch and uploaded it on that device was so easy! Sure the video quality was crap and it limited how long video's could be but convience was 10/10! Even when original iPhone came along it was no competition for this device. It took high speed 3G+ to kill it. The first phone I owned that killed any use for the Flip Video camera was my Droid X in 2010. With the Droid X's 8 megapixel camera it was such a leap in video quality I never looked back at the Flip Video camera.

[@dintyshideaway9505]

A lot of my friends loved the Flip. I think this camera got popular near the end of its life because the economy was so bad and it was so cheap. I was far too much of a gadget snob to own one, but I think it did launch a lot of KZbin careers.

[@boblowes]

I much preferred the Kodak Zi8, which was a similar form factor, but had some significant advantages over the Flip. The battery was rechargeable (via a USB wall brick), the lens had a macro function for close-up shots, there was built-in electronic video-stabilisation (to smooth movement), the USB transfer arm was rubber-mounted (so it had some flex to it for more awkward to reach USB ports), but most importantly, it recorded to SD cards (so, you essentially weren't limited in the amount of storage you had available), had different record quality options (up to 1080i HD) and it had a 3.5mm mic input, so you could easily connect a tie-mic, handheld mic, etc. With mine, I used to mount the camera on an L-bracket with a mic shoe on it, and fit a little external mini shotgun mic. Improved the sound enormously. As a professional video-camera operator, the Zi8 mad a useful 2nd or 3rd camera when I didn't want to risk my Sony Z1. The Kodak still produced some excellent results, and the footage could easily be imported into Final Cut. Funnily enough, my local arts centre funded a group of kids who wanted to start a film-making club. They gave them all prosumer gear - Sony FX7 HDV video cameras with extra large capacity batteries, some proper 3 stage Manfrotto tripods, XLR audio adapters for the cameras, and external shotgun mics and booms. The gear was also available to hire out by other people, and I worked on a few jobs where the cameras had been hired from the same arts centre, or I hired them myself. Within a few years, the kids had ruined them. Cameras where the tape mechanism was now permanently jammed open and could no longer close (rendering it useless), tripods where the teeth that meshed with the pan bar were worn off because someone hadn't undone the brake before attempting to fold the pan bar away or open it up (and would have to have been done multiple times), or even where the pan bar mount had been broken away from the cast magnesium tripod head. It was just wrecked. And I often thought how much better off they'd have been giving the kids Flip cameras or Zi8s and some cheap tripods from Jessops - at least then the cameras weren't too expensive to replace, and could take a beating.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Thanks for sharing. I do remember the Kodak being a good camera but sadly don't have any hands-on experience with it. Sounds like it was a much more professional piece of kit. Of course this little pocket cameras were soon replaced with Digital 8 fireware camcorders, or at least that seemed to be the case with the KZbinrs I was watching at the time.

[@drwatson32bit]

I still have my original disposable CVS Flip camera 😊. I remember finding out about the guides and then driving all over creation (I was a high school senior in 06 so it felt like a bigger deal hunting for it) visiting all of the area CVS stores because the hackable cameras needed to have a specific firmware version, which I think could be determined from the serial number. It was some visible queue like that. I eventually found one and gave it a female USB type a port. The quality of my cutting and soldering was suspect back then, but it worked and I loved it. I used to take driving videos with it either attached to the grille of my car, or strapped it to my RC car. It was an even simpler device than those that you have there. I'm feeling motivated to dig it out now haha

[@drwatson32bit]

Ahem cue*

[@ENNEN420]

Always wanted one of these back in the day so it's nice finally seeing what was in the box. These things were the coolest back in the mid-late 2000s istg

[@ActionRetro]

Who would ever need more than 640x480?

[@rodericksibelius8472]

I had 2 of these FLIP cameras, and they were very simple to use standalone equipment. I wish we had continued to upgrade this.

[@Wallyworld30]

I bought one on clearance in 2008 for like $40 and just bought it on a lark. It took low resolution video and only a few minutes of footage. Even with those down sides I LOVED IT! I used it to record my Golden Retriever catching Frisbee throws and is the first upload I ever did on KZbin. It was so crazy easy to use and upload to KZbin. If smart phones didn't come along these camera's would have taken over the market.

[@jakebellinger8496]

I got my first flip video back in 2010, and my brothers and I would always record each other doing silly nonsense. Who would’ve thought 5 years later it would be a world wide sensation to be goofy during a recording and people would make money off it.

[@10MARC]

Neat little camera. I had a nice, cheap little digital video camera I bought maybe in 2009 or 2010... I wish I knew where it was. Looks like you have a backyard Zoo like. Me. I have two chickens and a Desert Tortoise. No bees, though...

[@RetrogradeScene]

I look forward to the second channel video where you attempt to put it back together!!

[@ctrlaltrees]

Maybe I'll do it as a livestream so everyone can feel my frustration in realtime 😅

[@arilinn8756]

Lol! I just bought the same WB branded one about an hour before watching this. Can’t wait to get it in the mail. I regret selling mine years ago.

[@AdamPurcell]

I still have mine somewhere. Only used it a couple of times. I wonder what's still on there, all of these years later? I must dig it out.

[@ctrlaltrees]

You must! They're a lot of fun to play with 😁

[@gdutfulkbhh7537]

I think most people who have one of those have it in mint condition. I’ve yet to encounter anybody who actually used one seriously.

[@MoreFunMakingIt]

Great video Rees! Fascinating subject. Real shame those returnable versions weren't available, that would have been interesting to see.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Yeah, my original plan was to get my hands on one and show the hacking process. I've had a saved search set up on ebay for so long and one never came up. Oh well. 🤷‍♂️

[@WSNO]

Like the video camcorders that you bring back to the store and get a DVD of your footage? aka a disposable camera for video. I found one of those recently from CVS pharmacy mint in package. I've had no idea what to do with it but I'm the type to buy weird stuff like that and sit on it till i can figure out what to do with it.

[@Choralone422]

[quacking intensifies] best caption ever!

[@ctrlaltrees]

😁

[@geofftottenperthcoys9944]

I don't think I really got into youtube till around 2013-2014?. Nowadays I got a huge list of subs I watch every day (mainly tech like yours).

[@jeyyuuh]

Hi. I just bought one from ebay. I'm having problems with getting the audio out. The flip vid cam works great but when i transfer it to my laptop the audio is not supported. It doesn't come with the manual. Do I download anything first? Thank you

[@pablobf]

Hi! Maybe you can help me. I'm trying to find the Factory Reset Button on that model, but i can't. Do you know where is it?? Thanks!!!

[@12prettythings10]

Hi. I know it’s a year later, but is there a way around their software to load the video onto a computer where it’s viewable?

[@McKMuffins]

This camera was so much fun to play around with back in the day, me and my mates used to make stupid videos using these all the time!

[@JessicaFEREM]

back when I was a kid, I was one of the early adopters of youtube, I was an actual child, but I had wanted a video camera for my birthday and my parents brought me a flip mino HD 2nd gen, 1 hour, one of the last camcorders, this was post cisco acquisition and not long after they folded the company. a shame but I guess they saw the writing on the wall that a phone would be the future "flip cam" it still stings though because the interface on them was great and even as a 8-10 year old kid I could easily work my way through the interface easily. the only problem I remember was that it was very picky and would only charge when connected to a computer, it wouldn't charge from a wall outlet, and ofc the battery was unremovable.

[@TradieTrev]

Never knew you had geese and a pet turtle! I think I like them better than the flip itself :P

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

Strange the date won’t go any higher than 2020!

[@josephbajada4193]

Who is going to answer the question that it doesn't go passed 20 20

[@wilcandou]

The school where i work threw out 5 of these all in great nic. I took them home n cleaned them ...perfect. 2024 i just use them for note taking.

[@lilmamagc]

i still have one and i made my best memories with it

[@Garoninja]

Part of me would have every KZbinr go back to using cameras like this. It's a bit nostalgic. So many terrible resolution / bit rate tutorials. Some of which are still around.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Definitely nostalgic! Maybe I'll start using it for all of my videos 😁

[@DOSStorm]

Something about the bad fuzzy nature of some old videos make it cozy or comfortable. Early LGR for instance is like that. Obviously his new videos are better, but there is something oddly appealing about grimy VHS tapes and early digital video.

[@PG-gs5vb]

@@ctrlaltrees It would definitely nicely hide your soldering skills on those PCB close-ups! ;-)

[@GretchenLowman]

I have one but it may be an earlier version. It is not branded with the flip name but looks similar and the usb flips out. It is pure Technologies model 225.

[@StuNewnham]

I always wanted one of these! ❤️❤️❤️

[@ctrlaltrees]

Pro KZbinr gear!

[@totedamusicmonke]

i have a flip mino hd and i still use it to this day! very solid camera!

[@fallous]

I own a Kodak Zi6 from this era which offered 720p vs the VGA resolution of the Flip.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Oh wow, I'll have to check that one out!

[@bonzobanana1]

I've got an old Zi8 which has 1080p 30fps and 720p 60fps plus 5MP stills, microphone input and basic electronic video stabilization. I only got it a couple years ago dirt cheap but I'm quite fond of it for some reason. For a while I used it for my ebay images as I quite liked the macro lens on it and 5MP was about the right size for such images. I reckon you could still use it today for a basic youtube channel especially as it has a external mic input.

[@Utooz61]

Where do you get these in the modern day?

[@djcsdy2]

pls more duck videos!

[@atomnetton]

I have one of these with loads of videos of my kids when they were babies, first steps and so on, up until they were toddlers and used the camera themselves as it was so easy to use. I just can't find the damned thing. I put it somewhere safe....

[@ctrlaltrees]

Sorry to hear that, I hope you track it down 😕 I was going to talk about how it might be a great cheap option for kids these days but decided the issues I had with the fiddly and unresponsive controls would probably be a dealbreaker. Great to hear that yours got on well with it!

[@atomnetton]

@@ctrlaltrees it'll turn up. Yeah they really liked the flip. This was a decade or so before they had phones so they were pretty thrilled by it.

[@The_Phone_Bin_Diver]

I recently got a flip ultra HD for only $5! unfortunately the rubber coating they put on it gets disgusting overtime and I spent two hours scrubbing it off

[@AngelaMerola-m7u]

recommend how to get data off this video? Is there only the flash memory drive? Find a data recovery person or maybe I just open it up and put the flash drive in and see if my old video's are on it. thanks

[@TVperson1]

The modern equivalent would probably be the DJI Pocket 2

[@magnusboman1576]

"[quacking intensifies]" :D

[@ctrlaltrees]

🦆

[@ETNMom]

I started using mine again since google is holding my videos and pictures hostage.

[@dkidder1367]

mine is 720p 60 frames with rechargeable battery

[@lutello3012]

I think I still have some videos of a make nurse who used to record himself farting all the time with a camera like this.

[@anks888]

use that camra it sounds better on my macbook

[@ctrlaltrees]

Ha! I was certainly impressed with how good it sounds 😁

[@tiktok11150]

I bought one used at auction. It had a error in the software and it would not turn on so in my opinion it does not hold up to age and not worth buying. After your problem with a brand new one I will not try to buy another one.

[@valentinoschristofi]

Why do you sound like Alexander Armstrong????

[@daveuser4955]

I will probably always enjoy scripted content more, but if it helps you put out more vids, unscripted is fine. I've noticed that Adrian Black's stuff is unscripted and despite the odd less than interesting mail call vid, he manages to churn out 2 good vids a week. Unscripted seems to be the only way for a non full time KZbinr to get content out regularly.

[@ctrlaltrees]

I agree, I tend to prefer scripted as it's much more concise and to the point. Adrian truly is the master of long form unscripted content, it all just seems to flow so easily. I keep telling myself I'm not as interesting as him so I stay in my safe space and fully script everything, but every so often something like this comes along that seems impossible to plan for in advance. Glad you enjoyed the video anyway! 😁

[@daveuser4955]

@@ctrlaltrees I really enjoy Technology Connections. It is the ultimate in well researched and scripted content. But I absolutely love his second channel stuff (Technology Connextras) where you get to see unscripted, behind the scenes stuff and see his personality. You can see he is a little out of his comfort zone but it’s great viewing. The downside is if you are left with a mountain of editing work to make it watchable which means you might as well just scripted it in the first place.