Spy-gadgets in general and covert video or audio recorders in particular have always exerted quite a high level of fascination with a lot of people, especially because just about any person out there (mostly men, obviously) wants to feel like James Bond at least once in their life. And given the consumers' non-stop interest in such products, it's very likely that the Marlin SpyPen will also draw quite a lot of attention, since it's touted by its manufacturers as being the world's smallest video recorder.

There might be something to this claim, after all, seeing as how the device, which looks just like an ordinary pen on the outside, measures only 15 x 1.5 x 1.5cm and weighs less than 30 grams. The very small size and weight are actually pretty impressive, especially since the device also features a built-in rechargeable battery, which can be "juiced-up" via the USB port.

The device has been equipped with what its manufacturers tout to be a "super-sensitive" hidden microphone that can record conversations in an area of around 15 square meters, which is actually pretty impressive for a device of this type and size.

The SpyPen is capable of recording video clips at 0.3-megapixel resolution, in AVI format. The obtained files are stored in the flash memory of the device (either 2 GB or 4 GB, depending on the model of choice), and can be very easily transferred to a PC or notebook via a USB interface. However, you shouldn't expect too much from this thing as far as the access speeds are concerned, since we're only talking about 900K/700K per second read/write speeds.

Depending on the particular model, the device, whose sales package also includes a leather gift box, retails for 40 to 50 pounds sterling (that's around 80 US dollars).


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