The latest model, called the Flip Ultra hd camcorder, improved video quality, greater capacity, a tripod mount and better looks (available in white, black, orange, pink and green). It’s been the best-selling camcorder on Amazon.com since the day of its debut.

Understand the appeal if this machine is simplicity

The screen is tiny (1.5 inches) and doesn’t swing out for self-portraits. You can’t snap still photos. There are no tapes or discs, so you must offload the videos to a computer when the memory is full (30 or 60 minutes of footage, depending on whether you buy the $150 or $200 model). There are no menus, no settings, no video light, no optical viewfinder, no special effects, no headphone jack, no high definition, no lens cap, no memory card. And there’s no optical zoom — only a 2X digital zoom that blows up and degrades the picture. Ouch.

Very user friendly you press play to review the video, and the trash button to delete a clip

There it is: the entire user’s manual.

Comparisons with a real camcorder are nonsensical, because the Flip is something else altogether: it’s the video equivalent of a Kodak point-and-shoot camera. It’s the very definition of “less is more.”

Not as sharp as a tape camcorder or even a digital still cameras, but the video and audio quality is surprisingly good.

The Flips low-light abilities trumps even the 1000 camcorders.

a U.S.B. jack pops out at 90 degrees to the camera body.

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