Saturday, April 3, 2010

Cheapest Flip Video AWC2T Underwater Case for UltraHD and Ultra 2nd Generation camcorders (Clear)


I think there's nothing wrong with this case provided you make no assumptions whatsoever about its capabilities. I am very sad to say that we took our brand new Flip Ultra HD video camera and waterproof case on our 11 night Caribbean Cruise from December 24 to January 4. Our first stop was in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. In Grand Cayman we went to "Sting Ray Beach" where people can literally pet & feed live and very huge stingrays. Of course I wanted to video the excursion. When I put the case on the camera I noticed that the wrist strap that comes with the camera does not fit into the case. So, unless you have a toothpick, or earring, or something of that nature, it is virtually impossible to remove the wrist strap from the camera once it's been installed. So, foolishly I used the waterproof case and assumed it was okay for this very thin little piece of wrist strap to remain outside of the case. I went into the water with my wife and started shooting our stingray videos. Everything worked great for about 20 minutes. The water is only about 3 to 4 feet deep. Then, all of a sudden I noticed the screen on the case had fogged up and no longer would the camera work. I got back into the boat and immediately took the camera out of the case. I noticed perhaps two, or at the most three drops of water on the case of the camera. It did not appear that the camera's insides got wet but I could not get the camera to respond anymore. I tried fresh batteries and when I hit the power switch the "Flip" logo would appear on the screen for about a second but then dissapear and the camera would not function at all.

In summary I realize I may have been naive and foolish to not first take off the wrist strap. But I was out in the middle of the ocean with no capability of removing the strap. I followed the water proof case's instructions to the letter and the camera malfunctioned.

This camera, and all of its accessories, are designed for novice, unsophisticated users. This problem, which in many respects ruined a good part of our vacation because we could not take the videos we had bought the camera for in the first place could have easily been avoided had this case been designed with sufficient room for the camera's wrist strap or instructions clearly stating the wrist strap must be removed.

I am assuming the wrist strap is what caused the underwater case to fail. I can't be certain. The only thing I am certain of is it worked for about twenty minutes and then failed. Perhaps the case I got was defective anyway. I've read all the other reviews and nobody else seemed to experience this failure for this alleged reason.

When it did work, it worked beautifully and thankfully, when we got home, even though the camera was no longer working, the roughly twenty minutes of video was saved and is now on my computer's hard drive.

I returned the case for a refund and swapped out the camera for a replacement through Amazon. Fortunately, Amazon has decent return policies and they paid for the return shipping of the two products. The only thing Amazon and Flip cannot do, is give us the videos we wanted to have from our great vacation.Get more detail about Flip Video AWC2T Underwater Case for UltraHD and Ultra 2nd Generation camcorders (Clear).

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