Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have had this particular flip for 1.5 years and I've decided to "junk" it and give it to my 2.5 year old son. I rarely use it, and the buttons are not intiutive. It's a shame, really. I expected more out of this device, but my iphone gets much more use (which I got about a year ago, about 6 months after I purchased the flip). Since my kid is constantly screaming for his "DVD" (the ipad or my iphone), hopefully this flip will sate his incessant desire for videos. It is small, easy for him to grasp, and my son will enjoy having his own "phone" although I will likely buy him an itouch as we can upload his favorite videos (disney stuff, wiggles) while we are on car rides and it would be more convenient. You cannot upload anything on this device, but then again it was not meant for uploading. It was a great idea, but I do think the flip is now obselete, for all intents and purposes. Especially if you have a droid or iphone or something that takes videos easily and allows you to send it immediately to your contacts. In addition, you can download videos and other applications to your iphone or droid. In addition, I absolutely HATE the buttons on the flip, and my son is constantly pushing the "trash" can button on the right. I have erased videos by mistake myself, and I just don't like how they have structured the navigation of the buttons. They should have made the trash can button somewhere else, or more difficult. At the end of the day, I do not like this device, and would not recommend it even though I have bought three flips and two generations worth (one of which broke, the second was a replacement, and this one is the newest generation). They have gotten a lot of money from me, and I believe it was money NOT very well spent. Such is life. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I can't help but notice that the most stellar reviews are not from steady Amazon reviewers and have only reviewed FLIP products (for the most part). I am hoping that these reviews are not a product of shameless internal promotion. That said, even if this is the case, the FLIP is definitely convenient. The website (flipshare) definitely takes the difficulty quotient out of the picture. I bought the 3G only b/c I gave my 2G to a family member, and inertia (already being a member of their site) rears its passive head so I went with what is familiar. So I re-starred my review due to comments-- And since I just got the flip, I wasn't able to fully review it initially and had given it lower star rating. However, I can say I've used it now for all of a month or two and thus far it seems pretty much the same as the 2nd Generation flip. Sure, there is supposed to be an added feature for image stabilization, but it's really not noticeable (IMO). The 3rd generation is also a tad thinner than the 2nd generation, but, again, not noticeable-- at all. Thus, I would recommend the 2nd generation over the 3rd generation, in part because there is no noticeable difference, and in part because the 2nd generation is so much cheaper! I'd say this new generation is ok... not great, not bad, just fine/so so. I'm not wowed by the new 3G version. Two things to note: 1) HDMI cables are NOT included (for the 2G or 3G versions). 2) The FLIP Ultra HD is Mac compatible. Many other mini HD camcorders are not fully Mac compatible. This may be a reason to go with the Ultra HD Flip.