great device for keeping your memories!

I was about to take my family to Disney World for the first time and wanted to do more than just take pictures. My old video camera does a very nice job but is too bulky to carry around. I needed something small that could record decent video for more than just 15 minutes. I researched different devices and 2 came up as the best options: 1) the RCA Small Wonder and 2) Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra. I was pursuing the Flip Video, but could not find it anywhere. I was told my local Walmart had it, but that was the older version and costs more that the new one. I noticed one RCA Small Wonder tucked away and grabbed it ($129 US), bought 2 rechargeable batteries, a charger, and a 1 GB SD card and was done. This thing was an immediate hit for the family. My kids ended up recording 600 MB of everything (TV, themselves, etc) in the first night. They pleaded that I not delete it so I plugged it into my laptop with its built-in USB and download everything in a few minutes.

Later that week we went to Disney. This thing is so small I would carry it with me everywhere. If it was not in my hand it was in a little pocket of my backpack. I narrated much of our stay and even some of rides. It is so small I could cover it when we were about to get splash on the water rides then record everyone drenched. I was annoying my wife because I was recording so much, but each evening everyone wanted to see the playback of the day. There is so much of a difference in watching the playback of your child get a signature of their favorite character than just a pictures.

OK, more of my opinion of this device. First, I love this thing! It is so easy to use. It turns on in a couple seconds and a single red button starts recording in 2 seconds (5-6 seconds to record if the built-in memory is full). I was able to record about 1.5 hours with the 1GB card I added. Reviews say it lasts 2 hours continuously on standard batteries that are included. The batteries are not included. I bought high energy rechargeable batteries and would run out of batteries before my memory ran out. To be fair some of that time was spent pausing and playing back video. The recording is not the same quality as a larger camcorder, but this device's advantage is the ability to record video at 640x480 and stick it in your pocket. It does a decent job recording sound, but distorts at anything above moderately loud levels. The screen flips so you can easily record yourself. On rides I would record the interesting parts then pause until another interesting part came. The problem with this is that it clicks in the recording when unpausing - no big deal for me.

The Small Wonder is so small I could easily carry this in my hand at Disney and not worry about someone running into it because I could cover the screen with my palm and the lens with my thumb.

Overall: This is a fantastic device and I highly recommend it! I carried this and my digital camera. For the most part I used the the Small Wonder and whipped out my digital camera for the nice still shots. I think my digital camera was jealous!