We've already seen what Creative is doing with its 3rd generation Vado HD and now the Flip pocket camcorder is getting it's latest incarnation in the new Flip MinoHD 8GB edition.

It's not just a larger capacity than we've seen in the MinoHD's of the past but it's also much heavier and with a better screen. We're starting to see the pocket camcorders making real names for themselves, but can this Flip get one over on Creative's latest?

The first thing to notice when you compare the two devices is the MinoHD is a far chunkier beast.

Not only is it heavier than the Vado HD, it's also got a bit on it in terms of girth too. Styling wise it's on to a bit of a downer too, looking as it does, like a mid-noughties, small-time Chinese branded .mp3 player.

Like the Vado HD it's got a big red record button in the middle, but again like the Vado HD it's also surrounded by fiddly touch-buttons including an all too prominent delete button. Luckily there's a delete lock you can activate but you can't help feeling like that was a reaction to the simple fact that it's so easy to press by accident.

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We liked:

The screen is the saviour of the MinoHD, it's got half an inch on its 4GB brethren and the screen is a picture of clarity. Quite literally. Compared to the more washed out panel of the Vado HD it's a clear win for the Flip camera on this battle.

It's very simple to use and outputs to a decent standard; we didn't feel it quite matched the Vado HD in terms of output quality on either the PC or HDTV, but it was still impressive from a pocket camcorder.

We disliked:

Unfortunately the Flip MinoHD just doesn't have that feeling of up-to-date tech you get from the sleek Vado HD.

It's chunky and with a rather retro styling. It's also missing key features like a bundled mini HDMI cable and a microphone or headphone jack.

You're not going to want to be going through your holiday videos on the plane back without muting the sound on the MinoHD. The software is simple and easy to use, but lacks the trimming functionality of the Creative software. That said, the Flipshare software does allow you to string movie clips together and add titles and soundtrack files so it does have a fair amount of functionality in there.

It's also a good £30 more expensive than the Vado HD.

Verdict:

In the end it doesn't even have to come down to a value call between the Vado HD and this MinoHD 8GB edition.

We were expecting it to be much more of a close run thing, but the Flip camera is simply too expensive in the context of the competition.

The Creative bundle is just far better value; we'd recommend it for the bundled mini-HDMI cable alone if it was level on quality. But it isn't and so the Vado HD wins there too. The MinoHD's screen may be sharper, but the final image quality award has to go to the Vado HD.