Vivitar may have bad-mouthed newfangled digital cameras last year, but that hasn't stopped it from selling them. The company's latest is the 690 HD, a compact, Flip-like camcorder that records 720p video and is rated for use up to ten feet underwater. You'll also get an SD card slot for storage and a 2-inch LCD 'round back, but you'll have to make do without other niceties like an optical zoom or HDMI port -- compromises that shouldn't be too hard to take considering the $60 price tag.

Vivitar is hardly the only camera manufacturer to go back to its roots with some of its digital offerings, but that's hardly a trend we're going to complain about, especially when the cameras in question are such a marked improved over the company's standard fare. Of course, there's a decidedly less substantial difference once you move beyond the appearance, with this new ViviCam 8027 packing the same 8 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, and 2.4-inch LCD as its blander 8025 counterpart, plus the usual anti-shake measures, a basic movie mode, red eye reduction, and a rechargable lithium ion battery. No word on a price just yet, but it looks like you'll be able to snag this one in your choice of black or yellow in addition to the red.

[Via Chip Chick]

Vivitar may not have quite the same fervent fan following as some other camera manufacturers, but it looks like parent company Sakar is doing its best to keep things as Vivitar-y as possible at CES, with it rolling out a trio of new cameras and a few other goodies. Those include the 8.1 megapixel Vivitar V8400P underwater camera, which packs a 2.4-inch LCD and will run you $130, the $250 Vivitar DVR840XHD camcorder, which sports a 5x optical zoom, a 3-inch LCD, and some basic media-player functionality, and the barebones Vivitar V8025 (pictured above), which boasts the same 8-megapixel resolution as the underwater cam, plus a touchscreen and an even cheaper $100 price tag. Those that have moved beyond point-and-shoots will also soon be able to pick up a number of new Vivitar Series 1 DSLR lenses, which'll range in price from $150 to $400, and anyone looking for yet another universal charger will be able to grab Vivitar's $50 Ultimate Smart LCD Charger, which promises to charge a whole host of devices and, apparently, comes equipped with an LCD.