For a low end unit ~$100+ range - which one of the dozens of audio recorders (with external mic input) are the easiest to use?
We had a Zoom H4 very briefly and got rid of it due to it's twisted menu system and tiny screen. (We needed to use magnifying eyeglasses to be able to use this thing, and navigation was horrific.)
All we want to be able to do is capture stereo/mono audio with one big, simple button - without diving through menus. Prefer low noise and hiss (lowest noise floor possible in a budget recorder). Extra tracks, effects, editing, bouncing or any other bells and whistles are useless for our application. We just want to push the button and know it's recording without going through menus. Stop, auto save, and record another. Record, Save. Nothing else.
80% of the time we intend to use external microphones, so the quality (or even existence) of onboard mics is not significant though if they are brilliant then all the better...
I've seen some good comparison sites with audio samples -
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-noise.html#samples
And noise tests -
http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm
But no one talks about usability.
We had a Zoom H4 very briefly and got rid of it due to it's twisted menu system and tiny screen. (We needed to use magnifying eyeglasses to be able to use this thing, and navigation was horrific.)
All we want to be able to do is capture stereo/mono audio with one big, simple button - without diving through menus. Prefer low noise and hiss (lowest noise floor possible in a budget recorder). Extra tracks, effects, editing, bouncing or any other bells and whistles are useless for our application. We just want to push the button and know it's recording without going through menus. Stop, auto save, and record another. Record, Save. Nothing else.
80% of the time we intend to use external microphones, so the quality (or even existence) of onboard mics is not significant though if they are brilliant then all the better...
I've seen some good comparison sites with audio samples -
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-noise.html#samples
And noise tests -
http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm
But no one talks about usability.