My 14 year old son just came back from a fantastic 100 mile hiking trip in New Mexico - but before he left, I wanted to be sure he'd have a memento above and beyond the standard souvenir tee shirt. So, I equipped him with two $30 disposable video cameras from CVS Corporation (Public, NYSE:CVS).
CVS has offered this product for over a year. Last summer, my kid took three of them on another outing (also an incredible excursion); the footage was breathtaking! The device is so easy to use, a preschooler could figure it out and the output quality is almost as good as my expensive mini DV camera delivers.
Unfortunately, this time, one of the two cameras failed after just a couple of minutes (the camera is capable of capturing 20 minutes of video.) Essentially, each camera costs $30, but you need to pay an additional $10 or so to get the video downloaded to disk- in all, it's a $40 outlay (there are websites where hackers show how to make the camera "reusable" and I'm told that Target is now selling a resuable model as well.)
I took the cameras to CVS to have the video downloaded and was pleasantly surprised with how graciously the manager refunded my money on the one camera and gave me free processing on both (one camera was fully used, the broken one had 2 minutes of footage.) He seemed genuinely sorry that the camera had failed.
I got the disks back today, and while I wish there was more, the 22 minutes or so of video is pure heaven. My kid is standing on top of a mountain, an incredible wind gusting all about him - and now, from the comfort of my big old antique desk and ergonomic chair - I can see him - elated and triumphant.
Can't say anything too awful about CVS.
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