Flip Video Battery Pack for Flip Ultra and UltraHD Video Cameras U1120, U2120, U260 (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

At first glance the Flip Battery Pack may seem like a good item to get along with your new Flip videocamera, but take my word for it, it's not.The original idea and intent of being able to charge your camera's batteries with your computer while on the go or while downloading videos to your computer is a good one, the execution of such idea was poorly done.Unfortunately, this product suffers due to the design flaws of the Flip videocamera (In my case I own the Flip Ultra HD) and flaws of the battery itself.The battery is a pair of Ni-Mh AA batteries wrapped together in plastic along with a proprietary pair of edges on the top that lock the battery in place inside the camera. While this is good, it also means you can not charge the battery pack OFF the camera. It has to be inside the camera no matter what.One huge flaw of this battery is the required charging time; 6 hours. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if I could charge it on any battery recharger, but since you can't do that, you got to stick the battery in the camera and the camera to the USB port of your computer and HOPE it charges.The problem here is that unless you work 12 hours a day on your computer or the computer is on 24/7, you will never be able to sit there long enough to charge the battery completely. You could try leaving the computer on for 6 hours doing nothing so the battery can recharge, but I find that a colossal waste of energy and a huge crime against the environment.But wait, here comes the icky part...Even if you sit there for 6 hours or you leave the computer on so the battery recharges, there is NO WAY to guarantee that will happen.Why not? Because the camera overheats at some point and cancels the recharge (I'm guessing so the camera and the battery won't explode). The infamous overheating problem that most of us Flip users suffer from is NOT a battery problem, its a camera problem.I've got two pairs of these battery packs and more than once I've been charging one, the camera would stop charging after a short while due to heat. I would swap the batteries so the cold pair would charge, the camera wouldn't even think about it, it would still claim things are too hot. It was until the camera itself cooled off that would resume charging, but for me this mean: unplugging the camera from the computer and placing it under cool air or let it cool down on its own. This is just too much fuzz to charge a simple pair of batteries.With that problem, this item is just as useless as DSLR battery that will last you for one shot.Usually, I would charge the batteries by removing the lid that covers them and plugging the camera on some USB slot away from the netbook's fan, but since I live in a hot place as it is, the camera just won't charge for long.I read in some reviews of this item to peel off the plastic on the bottom poles and that would take care of it. I did that with one pair and it didn't work, it is a camera problem.After a concert I wanted to record turned into a disaster due to the fact that the batteries didn't charge completely and I had to keep switching between batteries, I decided to retire the two pairs I own of these type of battery packs.Flip really screwed up here, they should have either made the batteries compatible with any battery charger or sell you a decent battery charger for these that you can plug to the wall. I know they got an external battery charger that goes into the wall socket, but it has to be on a very precise position to charge and the design is just not practial, it's so easy to knock off the wall.My advice is to pass on this item and just buy a couple of pairs of rechargeable batteries (Energizer, Duracell, Eneloop) that you can charge in any charger. The recharging time will be shorter (even if it takes 6 hours, you can leave them charging at night and they will surely be charged by morning) and will be easier to do. Not to mention you won't have to waste as much energy as you need to do by leaving your computer on for 6 hours. Unless you live in a really cold place, you'll be lucky to be able to charge these batteries completely the way Flip wants you to. If you live in a cold place, do yourself and nature a favor and use a normal battery recharger with normal rechargeable batteries anyway. Nothing justifies the huge waste of resources that charging these batteries entail.

We bought this Flip for a long Summer trip in Europe and I'm super happy we did.First of all, I should say that we already own 2, $1300 Canon Camcorders (one HD, one not), and although those are pretty good and fairly small, it is just too expensive and bulky, and sort of heavy, to take on a trip.PROS: The Flip turns on quickly, is lightweight, VERY SIMPLE to operate (and I mean a monkey could figure it out), and the quality of the picture and sound is really amazing! Low light is a bit grainier, but still very good. The battery lasts long enough not to be annoyed.CONS: Recharging is a little strange since the Flip is really too heavy to just plug into the outlet wall charger, and also is too thick to stand correctly when plugged into our USB of our laptops (MacBook and MacBook Pro), so we just use a USB extender and plug it in that way. It does charge that way, but makes several continuous beeps at first, so we are not sure if it is touchy or just needs to do that in order to recharge.We are still amazed at how well this little video camera works, and so very happy since we have a 2 year old that requires quick turn on and great little snip-it shots.Another thing to mention is that you can easily edit the Flip videos on most editing software, whereas our Canon ones can only be done on certain ones and even that is limited on what you can do.Don't even hesitate on buying the Flip, but I'd probably recommend the Ultra HD over the regular one since the picture quality is really good.Have fun!

I bought this rechargeable battery and the power adaptor for about $13 each and a week later I see they're half the price because Cisco isn't making the Flip any longer (maybe another company will pick it up). Even for what I paid, these were a great deal. According to the manual, the battery charge lasts about 1.3 hours when fully charged (took about 90 minutes using the adaptor). I haven't charged it throught the computer USB yet. I'm sure I taped a total of 45-60 minutes throughout the day at a family reunion and it tells me I still have over an hour left.I'm very pleased with the battery pack and the knowledge that I can charge it and go. I love the Flip but my AA batteries wore down too fast. I buy Energizer and Duracell but they seemed to fade even when I wasn't using it but I'll probably keep a couple of AAs on hand in case I can't wait to charge.

This is a neat little camcorder that one can carry in a pocket or purse. It takes high quality videos and is easy to transfer to the computer or see on TV (with an additional cable). Maybe I've missed it, but my only question so far is that I don't see where it tells me how much battery life is remaining. Haven't had to recharge it with several uses. One of the strong points is the Flip's ability to take videos in low light situations! No need for bright lights, so you can take them discreetly. I filmed a wedding recently and no one even noticed! Also used it at a Baptism. The funny little tripod helps hold it still,if you want to film very long. I'm quite happy with it's quality and easy use.I should mention that the battery cover may be easy to break. I bought a back-up battery pack, thinking that I to with two sets, use one up, put in the new one and film for up to 4 hrs. In reality I don't think it is intended to use that way. One may damage the battery cover if they open it too often.