The XP-18 Vid-Pod is a weathered generation of the vid-pod device. Released in 2450 to incredible hype, its initial success was in large part due to the fact that it was packaged in multiple colors and came included with a cute but legally non-binding ownership certificate.

While it was a huge success by any measure, the XP-18 device was not without its flaws. After long periods of usage without maintenance, the XP-18’s memory core begins to experience storage entropy; the result – transmissions to or from the user may incur audio or video drop out, audio/video desynchronizing, color flares, decreased image resolution and memory blurring which can cause previous vid-pod entries to feedback into current entries. Eventually, the vid-pod will be unable to record any message longer than a few seconds. Then, the XP-18 will require replacement and upgrade to the most recent generation of vid-pod.

Though the XP-18 was the most basic of vid-pods, the unit’s distribution level was so high that some minimally managed stations still use this vid-pod as their communications method (in such remote places as Alice Springs and relatively unimportant parts of the Moon.)