If you haven’t bought a Flip yet, finish reading this blog post and then go buy one immediately. It is the coolest technology product since the launch of the iPod. The Flip is a camcorder that’s about the size of a Treo, but thinner. It is the perfect product for shooting quick, down and dirty videos for social media purposes. All the things that make you nuts about traditional camcorders has not only been removed in the Flip, but they have elevated the bar to the point where they are giving the gorillas like Sony a run for their money.

Let’s start with the price. You can grab yourself a Flip for only $149. It runs on batteries, so you will never show up at your daughter’s championship game only to find out you didn’t charge your camcorder’s battery…’er…not that it ever happened to me. The storage allows for 1/2 hour to an hour of recording depending on the model. Unless you are serving lots of alcohol to them in a comfy chair, nobody wants to watch more than a 1/2 hour of any event you have recorded in your life no matter how thrilling it was for you personally. The hottest feature of all — that has now become the icon for the brand – is the “flip out USB key.” Gone are the tangled, USB cables that always managed to strip every drop of intelligence and patience from your body. The connector flips right out of the side of the Flip (think: VW key) and you can plug the entire Flip into your USB port. Shazaam! It really is brilliant. 

The Flip accessories totally rock. The “Action Mount” ($14.99) lets you mount the Flip to outdoor gear and things like handle bars and helmets (think: Jackass). You can even get an underwater case ($49.99) for your Flip, so you can bring it to the beach and/or on a boat — two places where funny things usually happen and you may want to catch on video…like when you take the kids fishing, they catch something and then you realize they are looking to you to get the hook out of the fish’s mouth or when your five year old does his first cast ever with his brand spankin’ new $200 fishing rod off the boat and lets go so the whole thing goes flying through the air and sinks to the bottom of Wellfleet harbor. Just random examples…’er…never happened to me or anything. The Flip comes in sizzlin’ hot colors including pink, lime green, orange, white, and black. It would make a great graduation gift for any high school or college student.

In less than a year Flip has sold 1,000,000+ units. Kel & Partners gave Flips to all our employees as a holiday gift last year and each of my three teenage kids got them for Christmas. It’s a great way to learn how great your daughter is at beer pong.  

Do you own a Flip?