Flip Ultra and Creative Vado pocket camcorders

The only major exterior distinction is the two cameras' screens. The Vado's is 2in corner to corner, while the Flip's is 1.5in. In all other fields, though, the Flip's screen takes the honours, being brighter, more colourful and more use than a fart in a thunderstorm in direct sunlight where the Vado's screen really is hopeless.

Vado: 2x digital zoom

With either device, shooting really couldn't be more straightforward: nothing more, in fact, than ensuring the lens is pointing away from you and the record button is pressed.

Something both companies have got wrong is the USB plug. The Flip's has a solid arm making it inconvenient to plug it into some computers without fouling power and Ethernet cables. The flexible rubber arm on the Vado overcomes this but the grab tab sticks out at the bottom making standing the camera upright impossible.

Flip: good built-in mic

Both manufacturers are equally optimistic about battery life. The supplied Duracell AAs in the Flip packed in after one hour and fifty minutes of use rather than the quoted two hours thirty minutes, while a full charge of the Vado only got us one hour thirty five, not two hours.

The Flip would seem to have the advantage here, not only for the longer run time but becuase it's generally easier to find fresh AAs when you're out and about. However, the capacity of both cameras means you'll run out of storage space before you run out of power. Neither camera has a memory card slot, so you're stuck with the built in capacity.