Flip Video Battery Pack for 2nd Generation Ultra & UltraHD

Purchased this camera to take on a trip to Europe. It was great. Light. Portable. HD. Easy. We loved having it and using it!

I would call this a 'toy camcorder'. One is not able to adjust settings in any significant way; there is no optical zoom, the video quality is so-so etc. If you are seriously interested in the UltraHD, you are probably already aware of these issues. If ease of use is your main criteria then this unit may be for you.

If you plan on buying this be aware that many people including myself have had major issues with the 're-chargeable' batteries. I went through two sets of batteries and used a Flip charger without registering a proper charge. It is easy enough to use standard AA batteries with the camera. You can also buy rechargeable batteries, but you'll have to charge these externally.

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.

I purchased this battery for my new camcorder. I wasn't sure how long they would hold up. So far I have only had to recharge it one time and have used the camcorder several times.

much needed for these flip cameras because one battery life is less than the filming you might need.