SimonWaldman.net

So, after months of lusting, I got hold of a Flip Video a few months ago via eBay (they’re still not officially available in the UK. I loved it..and then handed it on to the gang at the GetSurrey.co.uk who I know will have put it to good use.

And then, I realised I needed a mini-cam for our trip to Dorset and I read about the Creative Vado. What could I do other than find one on eBay…and off I go.

If you have been living in the gadget equivalent of the middle ages and both of these have passed you by – I think these are rather like video notebooks. Brilliant at recording exactly what’s going on around you – rather than creators of high quality video. And cheap too. Frankly, it now costs less to buy one of these than fill up my car with diesel.

OK – I’m a rubbish reviewer, but here we go.

Form factor

The flip has a great, chunky Fisher Price-like feel to it. Like much cheap tech (including the Asus EEE I’m writing this on) the line between tool and toy is getting increasingly blurred. It feels great in the hand, but it’s a bit bulky in the pocket. All the buttons are also reassuringly clunky.

To be honest, it reminded me of nothing so much as my old Rio Diamond MP3 player, and I suspect will hold a similar position in the evolutionary process of this particular product category.

The problem with the Flip though is its bulk – it’s just a bit too big to be comfortable in the pocket – and the fact that the screen on the back looks disproportionately small.

The Vado gives more than a nod to the iPod aesthetically and is by far the sleeker of the pair. If anything, it almost feels too light.

However, it suffers from a silly name, a sticky-out USB grip (which ruins the line, but helps usability) and an on-off button that is just a little too fiddly for a fat-fingered oldie like myself.

That said – it can slip in a pocket unnoticed, it weighs next to nothing. Also – the inbuilt USB connector is flexible, while the one on the Flip is rigid. This gives the Vado a huge advantage, it’s just that bit easier to plug in.

My one big fear with the Vado is that it’s so portable – I’m worried about the lens and the screen getting scratched if its in my pocket (which is where is should be, I think..). The flip comes with a simple cloth case, and it would have been good to have this for the Vado as well.

Getting going

The Flip wins here. Pop in a couple of AAs and you are away – it’s effortless.

The Vado is a little more fiddly, you have to put a rechargable battery in, which is better in the long run (recharging is done by plugging into your USB port), but getting the back off is again, not for the fat-fingered. Initially I put the battery in the wrong way – and it actually seemed to charge up ok, but then didn’t start. I was about to start sending angry e-mails when I went back to check and realised my mistake.

Again – once that little error was sorted, then it’s very similar to the Flip – get it on, press the big button and you’re off. But, frankly, by then it was just relief that it wasn’t a dud, whereas with the Flip it was excitement all the way.

Spec

You get an extra gig for your money with the Vado. But, to be honest, if you’re really shooting an hour of video, you probably want a slightly more robust camera anyway. The best benefit is actually the larger screen.

In terms of video quality – they seem very similar. I think I noticed that the Vado was a a little slower at adjusting exposure if you swing the camera between inside and outside.

Either way the Vado probably nudges ahead here.


Connectivity and software

So, the big sell on these is that they’re designed just to plug into your laptop and whoosh, before you know it, the videos are on Youtube.

Actually, I’m not that keen on putting pics of my children up on Youtube…and anyway, I think I prefer the comparative calm of Flickr..so that’s not that important to me. Also, I’m a Mac user, which slightly changes things.

Both have their software on the player, but the Vado doesnt include software for the Mac. Strangely, this turned out to be a blessing, because it works perfectly with iPhoto – which is in fact, exactly where I want my videos to be.

On the other hand, I found using the Flip’s software a little unnecessary. Also, for some reason it didn’t sync automatically with iPhoto, so I was having to import manually which was a bit fiddly.

That said, the Flip software for the Mac seemed fine and yes all the exporting worked pretty effortlessly, and it covers quite a few sites as well as YouTube. It’s just that I’m trying to keep the number of different bits of software I use to a a minimum these days.

The other thing to stress is that if youre a mac user, for both you need to download the free Perian plug-in for Quick Time if you want to actually see and hear your video. This is dead easy to do – but a bit of a pain, in both cases that you have to find it out for yourself. And yes, you should make a donation to them.

So, from a completely personal view here, I’m going to nudge the Vado ahead.

Summary

So – yes, I’d give it to the Vado by a nose. I suspect a slimmer Flip with a larger screen might be in the pipeline [Update: here it is, the Mino] – and might regain the crown. But, if you want a portable video notebook…can’t recommend the Vado highly enough.