Flip Video Camcorder by Pure Digital

Last week I saw an older gentleman displaying a way too cheap to be useful video camera at our local Costco . The design attracted me to actually look at it. I expected what most would from a sub $100 video camera. I was wrong. It felt solid in my hand and the few features it has were easily accessible.

It is the Flip Video Camcorder by Pure Digital.

There is a 30 and a 60-minute version... basically 512Mb and 1Gb of storage. It is about the size of your average point-and-shoot digital camera.

I bought it with plans to let my children use it to make a short movie. At that price, I don't have to worry too much about it. I won't be too happy when they break it, but it isn't an HD cam that costs more than my first car.

Once you record something on it, you plug the pop-out USB plug directly into your computer. There is some software on it for both Mac and Windows that give you some basic editing functions. I didn't however use the on-board programs beyond just looking at their interface. They went straight into iMovie. This worked flawlessly.

There is a youtube logo on the package so that should give you a clue about the intended use. The quality isn't great but it is better than I had expected.

The good parts:

• Cost, at $89 for the 30-minute version anything that isn't a blurry mess is a bargain
• Size, it fits nicely into my pocket
• Image quality, not too shabby
• Ease of use, few features = few buttons
• LCD screen, not a viewfinder, what you see is what you get
  

The bad parts:

• Size, it is small, I have lost it three times
• Few features, it records and has a digital zoom, that is it (really this is a good thing)
• Image quality, no one will confuse the vids with that of a vid cam of $500 (duh)
• No tripod, my only real issue is that there isn't a threaded screw port to attach it to any sort of tripod or camera mount

This is a definite buy even for people who might have a high-dollar vid cam. I recorded a close-up of our Mentos + Diet Coke experiment with it with no worries... our high-end Panasonic DV cam was nowhere in sight.

Like I said, I bought this one at the local Costco, but if you cannot find on, I see that Amazon.com sells them as do many other online stores.

2006 TOYOTA SIENNA LE

Had I started this blog a year ago, I would have written about the nightmarish, yet fruitful purchasing experience we had buying out 2006 Toyota Sienna LE minivan. We bought it at Priority Toyota Richmond.
We paid just over $24,500 for it with the package that included the passenger power sliding door and aluminum allow wheels - because we all know that aluminum wheels make a minivan look sporty.
First lets talk about what I like about the van, now having put almost 25k miles on it.

• It has lots of room, very important since our desire for this vehicle was to keep each of our three children out of arms reach of each other.
• The van handles well for a 4200 lb. vehicle, nice turn radius for navigating the Target parking lot and those tight fast-food drive-thru lanes
• There is fairly little road noise at speed. I can still hear my son in the back seat as long as he isn't whispering.
• I don't like superfluous motorized gadgets, but I find myself hitting the button for the automatic sliding passenger door without a thought. It works... for now.
• 25k miles and no major issues to speak of. Well, the neighbor crunched the bumper a bit when she confused my driveway with the road early one morning... but that isn't the van's fault.
  
• The seats in the rear fold down flat and the center row folds forward, this affords a largs space to put large items in... easily transported my wife's somewhat high-end eliptical cross-trainer (later article). Too bad the van wouldn't carry the exercise apparatus into the house for me.
• Good acceleration at low and highway speed. It has VVT-i which means Variable Valve Timing with intelligence. All this means is that it has more power across the RPM range.
  
• It has roll-down windows in the back... meaning the second row windows. The term "roll-down windows" seems a bit antiquated these days though. This was a must have for us.

So all in all it is a good vehicle. Now however are my few dislikes:

• It looks like every other van out there... really, from some angles I can't tell it apart form the Honda van and just the other day I got mad when in a parking lot, I couldn't unlock the tailgate... it apparently wasn't my van... mine was in the next lane.
• The radio seems possessed by a Japanese gremlin from time to time. The display will often show a bunch of strange characters and the radio lights will at other times flicker off and on. It always works though.
• The gas pedal, or throttle. Sometimes, I think the VVT-i is asleep. When coming to a "rolling stop" and hitting the gas slightly, there is no immediate response. This lasts for about a half-second. Then there will be an abrupt response when the throttle seems to try to make up for that lost time. This is mildly bothersome, but the service techs tell us this is normal behavior. I expect their story will change once the non-factory extended warranty kicks in.

All in all, it is a good solid vehicle. My parent's Dodge van (which was considerably more expensive) has been in the shop several times for what we'll call gadget failure. I don't see this happening in the near future with the Sienna.

Now if Toyota would just import their hybrid AWD van to the states...