RCA "Traveler" Small Wonder EZ210 Digital Camcorder

I finally caved and decided to buy an little easy to use, handheld, straight to the web camcorder. I went to the store intending to pick up the Flip Ultra only to have terrible customer service, get frustrated and leave.

When I got home I went to Amazon to grab the Flip Ultra and found more than the buy now button, I found pages and pages of terrible reviews.

This surprised me because everyone from Oprah to Russell Brunson is recommending this Flip camera.

My biggest concern was the frequency of the Flip to just STOP working ~ and then absolute atrocious customer service ~ I could not find one good thing said about the Flip customer service. I was concerned because many owners had the Flip break in the first day or month and were unable to get a response from the company.

Since I was already there I decided to look around and see what else was available That's when I found the RCA Small Wonder EZ210 digital camcorder. There were plenty of reviews for this camcorder too ~ almost ALL were positive, and commented on the durability of this little camcorder (which is a good thing when you have a strong willed, determined toddler around).

Price

Small Wonder EZ210: $80.69 (at Amazon)

Flip Ultra: $129.99 (at Amazon)

This price compares the Flip Ultra that offers 60 minutes of recording time

Recording Time

Small Wonder EZ210:

The Small Wonder allows you to record up to 1 hour in High Quality Resolution or up to 4 hours in Web Quality mode with included memory

HOWEVER ~ and this is a big difference in the two cameras.

You have an SD expansion slot (you can get extra memory cards) expands recording time up to 16 hours! That is for one card ~ if you have multiple cards you can record even longer.

Flip Ultra:

1 hour of recording and then you have to upload it to your computer and delete what is on your camcorder.

View Screen

The size of the view screens are substantially different.

RCA Small Wonder: 2.4 inches

Flip Ultra: 1.5 inches

Recording Resolution:

RCA Small Wonder: You have 2 levels of resolution you can use. High quality or web quality. The quality you choose will make a difference in the amount of recording time you have available.

Flip Ultra: no options for resolution.

Power Supply:

Both of these models run on 2 AA batteries ~ there are other versions of both that have rechargeable lithium ion batteries.

Flip Out Display:

RCA Small Wonder: YES ~ has flip out display so you can easily record yourself

Flip Ultra: No ~ flat screen on the back of the camera

The final things that pushed me from the well marketed much talked about Flip to the RCA Small Wonder were this:

1. Price ~ it's almost half as much in cost

2. Extra memory ~ having to download to the computer every hour just isn't feasible for me.

I ordered my RCA Small Wonder EZ210  from Amazon today ~ should be here in 3 to 5 days.

I'll be back with a personal review and some video when it gets here.

I guess it's because I was impatient to get it that it seemed to take forever, but really it was only a few days before my RCA Small Wonder arrived. I've been playing around with it the last couple days.

Here's what I think:

1. It's really easy to use. It is larger than the Flip ~ but it fits nicely in your hand and is easy to navigate. Taking video is as simple as pushing one button.

2. Uploading to YouTube is super simple. This is one of the top reasons I wanted a camera like this so I was a little nervous about uploading. Every time I've made a video I've done something wrong so YouTube won't take it. I finally took a decent video I wanted to upload and it was seriously as easy as logging in and clicking upload in the camera software. Very nice.

3. The video/sound quality looks fine for me. The first video I uploaded is below so you can see for yourself.

All in all ~ for less than $90 including shipping and a tripod I think this is an excellent deal and it will find its new home in my purse along with my Sony Powershot. :)