ZOOM Flash Digital Recorders.....?

[Red_OX]

I was watching Ch 5 (UK)TV programme "Gadjet Show" and noticed a digital recorder called a Zoom,never having heard of these I googled them and they seem to get brilliant reviews,they are flash recorders and record in Wave and Mp3 formats and are available at Amazon and other retailers.

So anybody ever used one and what are they like for on the move recording,I fancy the HD 2 myself but wonderd what other peoples views on them are.*reelspin*

Sorry can't post links,handheld device thing.....*reelspin*

[vidguy]

I was watching Ch 5 (UK)TV programme "Gadjet Show" and noticed a digital recorder called a Zoom,never having heard of these I googled them and they seem to get brilliant reviews,they are flash recorders and record in Wave and Mp3 formats and are available at Amazon and other retailers.

So anybody ever used one and what are they like for on the move recording,I fancy the HD 2 myself but wonderd what other peoples views on them are.*reelspin*

Sorry can't post links,handheld device thing.....*reelspin*

I guess it depends on why you want one.

I started looking at the portable solid state flash and SD Card players because they're affordable, however I don't need portable recording.
After doing a bit of research I decided I wanted the same capability of my DAW, *at least* 96/24.

Now I'm looking into the rack mound pro units. Tascam has some nice ones.

[Nick Sunn]

Zoom's brand of recorders has been around for about five years or so.
They have generally good *bigthumbup*user results across their line.
I can't comment, as I have not ever owned one, and when the H2 came out , years ago, I continued to use a Sharp MD recorder, which is from 1999. I know others that have recorded with the various Zoom machines and found them to be really good for what they do.
I think they have one model which allows 4 tracks to be captured instead of just 2 track stereo.
They also released a basic simple economy recorder about a year or year and a half ago called the H1, I think that sells for something close to $99 US.


The best place to find information on these ZOOM machines and the makers of the latest PCM recorders, just go and visit taperssectionDOTCOM
http://www.taperssection.com

In terms of overall quality of things like the noise floor and the quality of the internal preamps for the mics//ext mics, they probably fall far short of the SONY PCM-M10 & SONY PCM-D50
but they are still probably much better than you'd expect.

From , only the live recordings that my friends have made of their own group with an early ZOOM H2 and its built in mics, I did not find that it recorded the show as well as an old MD portable with quality mics, or even an old MD and homebuilt mics made with Digi-key's $4 Panasonic elec condenser elements.
It (H2) was not bad, just not as good in my opinion. Perhaps with external mics it would be better.

It seems though that they must be decent products (ZOOM) for what they can do, because with all the competition in that marketplace today, if they don't get the job done ~ on par with most other makes, one would think that their sales would fall off a cliff as people would go with the far superior product, since those products fall closely within a price range that is common to most all of those Digital recording devices.
Some may have features/advantages, but you must decide what is most important for your needs and evaluate based on real world results of those that have actual experience and in depth technical knowledge about the specific model(s). See taperssectionDOT COM.