In search of the holy grail

Andy Ihnatko has a review comparing the Kodak Zi6 and Flip Mino HD. It’s very thorough, though I’m not sure I agree with the conclusions.

In truth, comparing image quality on these is almost pointless, as they’re all kind of crummy. They both have terrible rolling shutter effects, way too much sharpening and strange tonal reproduction. I think it’s more about ease of use, feature sets, etc.

The things I like about the Zi6 are the ability to switch to SD mode, the ability to take stills, and the support for memory cards. The macro switch is rad as well. Things I don’t like? The lack of a “recording time left” indicator, the strange battery life and the horrid audio on my example.

Follow the jump for my chart of how things stack up. Ugh! I’m including the Sanyo, because it records in QT-Native files, unlike the other cameras in its price range, which record AVCHD. Otherwise, I’d throw the Canon Vixia series in as well, as a very strong contender.

Camera Price Recording Medium SD Mode HD Mode Mac-Native Flip out USB Mic Input Audio Quality Optical Zoom Battery Life
Flip Ultra $129 Internal X X decent 2 hours (AA)
Flip Mino $159 Internal X X decent 4 hours (rechargeable)
Flip Mino HD $229 Internal X X X decent 2 hours (rechargeable)
Kodak Zi6 $199 Internal and SD X X X X poor to decent 1 hour? (AA)
Sanyo Xacti HD1010 $599 SD X X X X decent X 2 hours (rechargeable)

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