Zoom H1n Handy Recorder (2018 model) N/A - Beige, M

The H1 is very basic in terms of the functionality it offers, compared to other more expensive recorders on the market, but given its price that is hardly surprising. The H1 is probably unique in that it has a completely menu free user interface - everything you do with the recorder you do using controls located on the fascia. In some ways this is quite refreshing, particularly for anyone with previous battle experience when it comes to dealing with impenetrable layers of menus. However, this is primarily what limits its functionality. You can do all the basic things you need to e.g. setting sample/bit rates (from 24bit/96k down to Mp3), and adjusting recording and volume levels. Line in (mic), line out (headphone) sockets, delete, play, fast forward and reverse buttons are also on the edge of the fascia along with a recording button which is located on its own on the front of the fascia. The H1 offers one button recording using the recording button, which you also press to stop recording and return to the home screen. Recordings are made to a 2Gb micro SD card (supplied) and the recorder is powered by a single AA battery. Physically the H1 is about 4.5 ins long, 1.3 ins wide and 0.8 ins deep. Many of its controls are located along the right edge of the recorder which makes for a tight fit - consequently the buttons are small. Anyone with very large fingers may struggle. The recorder is also very light and I would guess mostly made from plastic. I would not want to suggest that its build quality is poor but you might not want to step on it too often. If you can access the small buttons the H1 is actually very easy to use. The only real downside for me in its menu free operation is that if you have a number of recordings on the machine there is no way to visually scroll through them to select a specific one; you have to listen to them all to find the one you want. Note also that if you are at the home screen pressing the fast forward or reverse buttons will change the sample/bit rate, and it is easy to do this accidentally. The digital recorder market is one that is rapidly expanding and there are a lot of models out there. So why buy this recorder in preference to others? Firstly it is being sold at a low price point that no other recorder can match so if you are on a budget it is a bargain. Secondly, and more importantly, you might want to buy it for the quality of its condenser mics. They are absolutely outstanding. I am familiar with a number of recorders such as the Olympus LS10 and Tascam's DR-2d (see my review). The H1's mics simply blow them away. I record acoustic guitar which is notoriously difficult to capture well. The H1 manages it effortlessly with a degree of accuracy and a complete lack of colouration which left me quite astonished. To date these are the best internal mics I have encountered and this alone makes the H1 a must buy. If I lost this recorder I would have no hesitation in buying it again.

I urgently needed something to record some interviews and thought I would get this because it would do more than just basic spoken word. I made my own windshield (it is a bit 'poppy') from some thin foam I had lying around, and it sits happily on the smallest of my photographic tripods (or a big one if you want to sing into it :-)). Does a good job on spoken word, and on MP3 96 kbps (fine for that) gives plenty of time on the micro sd card. So - what makes it brilliant for the money? As a hand held or tripod mounted recorder it's excellent for only £80. My son plays drums, copes with that really well as long as you set the record level manually - leaving it on Auto not too clever. Then I thought I would see what else it could do. We did a quick trial using our Apogee mono microphone mounted low, played into a macbook, the Zoom H1 mounted high up over the cymbals and a video recording on a DSLR - put it all together in Mac garageband in a few minutes and it is excellent. Not studio standard (what do you expect for £80) but about a trillion times better than the camera microphone. What else? You know how some laptops have soundcards with very limited functionality - you can't record 'what you hear' and there is no decent line in. Plug the zoom line in into the laptop headphone socket usinf a male to male mini fjack lead and you can get very high quality MP3 recordings which you can then transfer back to the laptop as a file for editing or saving. Or you just use the line in on the Zoom and transfer the MP3 file to the laptop. A way to timeshift. Need to be careful with copyright of course. Probably just as effective as an external USB soundcard would be. And - much to my amazement - I found it did a decent job of recording from my old record deck - magnetic cartridge -using a phono to mini-jack adaptor, straight in and no need for a pre amp. Monitor using headphones from the zoom line out and although the zoom input level was cranked up above half way it was nowhere near the maximum. Looks like I will be able to play my ancient vinyl jazz collection in the car after all. So - what's not to like? I agree with the comments that the case is a bit creaky when handled, and the internal speaker is useful only to confirm that you have captured something, its otheriwse useless. You need headphones or line out to really hear it. Trying to transfer files using the micro SD carrier into my laptop SD slot didn't seem to work, didn't persevere because using a USB cable was fine and you can treat it just like any external flash drive - copy, move, delete and so on. The cable is a mini usb at the Zoom end - but nothing unusual, lots of devices have that and most people will have one lying around but it would be nice if one was supplied. But, hey it's a budget device. 15 years sgo something that performs like this would have been £5000 and the size of a suitcase. Well pleased.

The Zoom H1 is remarkably compact. The recording quality from the internal mics and using the line input is very good indeed. I suspect that the mics are not quite as good as those in the H2 or H4 but so far I have no complaints re the quality of the recording produced. Build quality is reasonable but not as good as the other Zooom units and fitting the Micro SD card and the batteries needed a bit more care than I felt appropriate. I really like the controls being buttons and switches instead of it being menu driven like the H2 and H4. Just don't try to adjust anything whilst recording - the unit is very very susceptable to handling noise. It is almost impossible to get a noise free hand held recording. However when used with the supplied mic stand adapter or screwed onto a tripod and it does the job admirably well. It is a great wee unit. One essential additional purchase will be a good wind shield for outdoor use. The supplied one is just about ok for indoor use but no use at all outside in anything greater that a light breeze. So far the supplied tripod has survived OK but it does seem a bit fragile.

Muy buena grabadora para quien quere comenzar a mejorar el audio de sus videos, su calidad es verdaderamente superior a cualquier microfono de diadema o cámara web, es una calidad semi profesional. Tiene un peso ligero, muy facil de llevar a donde sea. Como consejo es recomendable usar protección anti viento en el micrófono y mantenerlo muy cerca de la fuente de sonido a grabar, haciendo así se puede optimizar el audio desde el editor que ya incluye. Me ha gustado mucho usarla en estos 6 meses y por lo mismo me he animado a hacer el upgrade a la Zoom H6.

Rien à redire, une qualité exceptionnelle pour un si petit enregistreur. Je ne suis pas déçu de mon achat.

I am a musician who plays various stringed instruments. I use this recorder for ideation, learning & live recordings, creating demo recordings for self-reference. I feel that this is an amazing tool for those who are serious about music and need a handy device for outdoor/indoor & a makeshift studio microphone for a basic home studio setup. Currently I am using this recorder for Sitar, Guitar & Percussion sounds. From learning to live events, this one will always be recording because it allows me to get back to my performances or practise & get an amazing feedback on the mistakes I made or to never miss out on new ideas etc. Additionally, I got it running with a 128 GB Scandisk memory card. The trick is to format the partition & the partition table with FAT (not exFAT or FAT32). This allows me to use around 120GB of space while the recorder shows over 900 hours of recording time. The only down side is power cycle (power on) takes a few seconds more as it probably tries to explore 120 GB worth SD card space. Will research on the appropriate rechargeable batteries and update the post in a few months. For now any standard heavy duty AAA battery pair seems to be quite sufficient. Well nothing in this world is perfect (I wonder if the word perfect is perfect itself?), so here is the critique. Build quality seems to be a bit unsatisfactory, the tool feels like a single unit & feels quite sturdy & robust but well, could be better built & finished but for this price ratio & the quality of audio recording provided, its absolutely Amazing! I wonder if the higher range premium Zoom recording devices are better finished & feel more awesome to carry around!

Purchased a month ago. Good for demo-recordings, but not for pro-quality. I mean microphones are perfect to my ear but the signal-to-noise ratio isn't perfect, add a bit of compression to the signal and you'll hear it. But if a recording needs no compression this recorder will do a great job. Interface is very convenient, what I liked: - red LED blinks when there's clipping + there's a sound level on LCD, easy to control levels - overdubbing feature (overlay as much tracks as you wish and later extract them using audacity & inversion - multi-track recorder in your pocket!) - optionally works as a computer audio interface with microphone or line-in, no drivers needed - really low power consumption Wind-filter is a must. You'll also need a microUSB cable and 32GB microSD card for it. Still good value for money.

Very cheap in price but amazing product.i am using it on Sony a7s3.just remember drain battery very quickly and don't forget to remove batteries while not using it.i am using it mostly for over voice so while using it at home make sure to connect it through USB cable while batteries in it then it won't use ur batteries and u can have infinite time with it. Amazing sound quality 👌