Zoom ZH1 H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder

This is exactly what I needed. Mounted this on my mirrorless camera and turned those noisy preamps way down and now I get stellar audio along with the awesome video my camera takes. Easy as hell to use. I did watch a YT video on how to use it before it came but honestly I didn't need to. It's super easy. Input side has "volume" button and so does the output side. Like I said, easy to use. If you know nothing about audio file quality (WAV vs MP3) just watch a video on it and you'll understand the bulk of the good functions this has. Watched some review on it that said it had something that rattled on it but mine doesn't so the person who made that video got a defect on his. Mine is pretty solid. You can shock mount it (on or off the camera), wind screen it, mount a handle on it and put it on a stand or a boom... Or just lay it on a table behind something in the foreground and get your subjects audio no issue. You can carry it and use it as a standard interviewers type mic too. Use lav mics with it or any other 3.5mm mic and up the quality even more. Very affordable solution and I don't have an h4n that's bigger than my camera sitting on top of the tiny mirrorless camera. I'll probably end up buying another one maybe in red to keep them color coded to different subjects and use 2 lav mics and sync audio in post. Easy solution to what could be a VERY expensive problem. If you're like me and needed something with 3.5mm inputs and outputs and you don't like to spend a grand on something but still want way WAY better quality audio for your DSLR or mirrorless. Buy this and your problem is solved. The built in mic is great too. Yes, I know there's better stuff out there but not for this type of money. For any youtube creator or indie film makers... Well you already know about this and if you don't, then here you go. This is what you need to clear up that in camera audio. Or, use it for one of those affordable samsung cameras that does 4k video but doesn't have audio. Sync the sound in post and you have a 4k rig for less than half of what some people are using. Not to mention all of it will almost fit in your pockets too. Cause face it, if you're making movies or the like with a DLSR or mirrorless... You'll probably end up syncing audio in post at some point anyways.

I work in the radio industry as a morning show host. I have been in radio since 1986. When I started out, in the mid-1980's, we literally took a huge cassette-recorder-esque four-track recorder with us when we would go out to record audio. Sometimes, if the station was cheap, we WOULD take a cassette-recorder. The sound was poor but it was just accepted that mobile audio would sound that way. Along the way, exciting but expensive technologies replaced the low-speed tape recorders and we eventually used DAT (Digital audio tape) which sounded incredible, but was finicky, easily broken and bulky. Next there were minidiscs, which were also finicky, but a decent resource. Now, for the price of a steak dinner and drinks for two, you can have stereo, digital, ZERO-HISS, high quality audio in a small, sturdy package that will record forever if you use MP3 settings. Using WAV still allows for a great deal of recording and incredibly low-noise recording of the world around you in stereo. As we say on our show, "broadcasting in stereo because you have two ears - if anything changes let us know!" Perhaps the only downside to this recorder is that while it is capable of recording a wide variety of audio with exceptional quality, it would be nice to be able to add XLR mics and be able to record VERY LOUD music, which this unit can handle only with the limiter turned on. Still, it does a great job, but you may want to consider the H4N Pro if you are looking for that extra degree of flexibility. Overall, this is an incredible device for a very low price and it sounds great and is easy to use.

I just got mine a few days ago, and so far I love it. Yes, as other reviews have said, it does feel very light and sort of fragile. Really though, if you take good care of your equipment, and keep it in some sort of case when you aren't using it, like I do, then I don't see why this recorder won't last a while. I bought this to replace my Tascam DR-07, and after testing the Zoom, I will be selling my old Tascam for sure. Here's why: The Zoom H1 is tiny. I've been keeping it in a PSP case very similar to this one: I can fit the recorder, headphones, and a mini tripod in this case, along with a small piece of foam to place between the Zoom and the tripod because I'm overly careful about scratches. The sound quality on the Zoom is better than the Tascam, especially with the built in mics, but also with external plug-in mics. The Tascam always seems to have a little bit of a background hiss, which I have experienced none of with the Zoom. The built-in mics on the Zoom H1 are a little bit more clear and sharp sounding than the Tascam, and their pickup pattern is much more directional. This is good and bad, depending on your usage. With the Tascam, I could pretty much place it anywhere in the middle of a group of musicians and it would pick up the whole ensemble almost evenly, with some stereo separation. With the Zoom, whatever is directly in front of the recorder is picked up louder, and centered between the left and right. Things slightly off to the sides are picked up quieter, and with much more clear stereo separation than the Tascam. So overall, I would say this is another positive for the Zoom, unless you are trying to pick up all of the sounds in all directions at once. The buttons are easy to learn the layout of, but they are a small and recessed, making them a little bit more difficult to press than I would like. The record button has a soft feel to it, as opposed to a solid click, which is kind of a set back. The buttons could be better but they are in no way a deal-killer. You are definitely going to want some sort of windscreen for this recorder, either foam, fur, or something. I sewed together a little sleeve out of nylon stockings and a hair elastic, and I can keep it on the recorder all the time because it takes up no space. It does less than a foam windscreen would, and much less than a fur one like a redhead would, but it cuts out a lot of the pops and noises of moving the recorder around or breathing near it. All together, I would say this is a great little recorder, with superb sound quality, and alright build quality, that is easily worth the low price it is currently going for. For DSLR filmmakers, musicians, or anyone else, I say go for it.

I bought the Zoom H1 to record playing the harp and then use the music for CD's to give to my friends or as accompaniment to slideshows. The Zoom H1 out of the box does appear to be a little flimsy however if it's used carefully it shouldn't be a problem. The settings out of the box were as it turned out the exact settings best for recording harp. The level was at 50 out of 100, wav file setting at 44 khz / 16 bit which is CD quality. The autolevel was turned off which was fine. At that setting I could record about 3 hours of music on the SD card which is about all I'd ever need. I read over the instructions, inserted the Microsd card and the provided battery and was pretty much ready to go within about 10 minutes. I placed the Zoom H1 so that the dual stereo recording head hung off the edge of my sheet music stand (oddly enough, I played around with it on a tripod but the music stand worked the best) which was about 2 feet from the harp. I hit the record button, played a piece and then hit the record button again to stop the recorder. Then I found a USB cord (not provided) to plug the H1 into my Mac. The H1 showed up like an external drive. I could browse it and find the WAV file(s) I have recorded. I cranked up Garage Band and simply dragged the wav file into an empty track in Garage Band. I trimmed off the front part and back part of the recording. then exported it from Garage BAnd to iTunes. I could then use iTunes to burn the tune to a CD (or more tunes if I uploaded them from Garage Band). I played back the CD on my home stereo and car stereo. Basically it did a pretty good job! The sound is quite decent, sounding just like your standing beside the harp. The pickups are quite sensitive. On a really good stereo system, I could just faintly make out a car that drove by outside while I was making the recording. I would not say the recordings you would make are ready to be sold as if you'd spend $1,000 per day in a recording studio. But if your desire is to basically get a reasonable good recording with pretty good fidelity, then the H1 is going to get the job done with little fuss. I can imagine bands using it to make quick demo CD's or MP3's to be streamed from a website or something like that. The H1 can easily and quickly complete the job I intended which would be to make CD's to give out to friends or record my harp playing to use in slideshows. I couldn't imagine a simpler way to do this with than with the Zoom H1. The only reason I didn't give the H1 five stars would be that the build quality is a bit flimsy but I'm sure the unit will stay together for years. Also, including a USB chord would have been nice, but not absolutely necessary.

Despite it being older, the H2 may still be better for you. First of all, while the quality of the mics on this unit are the same as the H2, the QUANTITY is not...it does NOT have the rear-facing "ambient" or surround mics to (poentially) add to your mix. This limits the functionality of this device. Further, it does not have the metronome feature that the H2 does...this makes sense as this is a product more geared towards camera users (as it has a camera boot socket on it, etc.) versus musicians. No pitch tester either. Truth be told, aside from a higher capacity 2GB card (you can get a 16gb online for $[...] all day long, mind you), there really is NO benefit to the H1 for a musician (practicing or pro) other than size! The difference would be let's say the size of an extra-big bar of soap or a really old electric shaver, versus maybe a King Size Snicker bar (minus a bite and plus a swollen "head" lol). It's a lot smaller. If you are part of the netbook generation, the H1 is definitely going to fit in your netbook bag better, with less of a "big gross lump." One thing that irks me right off the bat is that with the H2, while the build quality is similar, it's constructed in a way (rigid mesh over light windscreen) that offers immediate benefits in both pop-filtration as well as durability...put it this way: the open-air mics on the H1 are cool looking, but if you hit them right with the right pointed object (e.g. something in you gig bag, a drumstick or a connector or something), I would venture to guess you'd have a lot higher chance of seeing a broken-off mic than with the H2. Further, the H2 hit the "$[...]" price point because they stripped the accessories. Factor in $[...] online price for that, and the $[...] you see the H2 going for WITH accessories at the moment becomes somewhat more attractive than the H1 when you see that you get the metronome, pitch tuner, and other musician-oriented and musician-friendly features. For example, for any USEABLE vocal work for multitracking, you almost have to have that windscreen or some other sort of pop filter, but would be nice to have "on the unit." Therefore, again, think hard on that size issue...because the H2 is a much more "complete package." Remember, the ONLY real benefit for musicians is SIZE and that benefit for you should outweight the loss of the metronome and pitch tester. Otherwise, go with the H2, without a doubt! I dunno...if I had to do it all again, I would have a hard time deciding. I really like the form factor and the slightly lower "all-in" price...but that said a metronome would have been very useful for me and so would the pitch tester. In the end, I guess I really do get off on the size factor being relatively small (I am sure in a year or two these will be the size of an iPhone sliced in half down the center, but until then...) Good stuff, definitely five star recording. If you've heard the X-Y 90 degree recording from the H2 (basically the only mode available on the H1, but the main and most generally useful mode), you have heard the H1. Cheers! - Matt

(First submitted 12/8/13, additional comments made 3/3/15) This is a very handy recorder that is extremely easy to use. Basic set up is very simple. I like that it will record in wav format (as well as MP3) and will take up to a 32GB microSDHC card. Recording starts and stops with the push of a button. You have a lo cut noise filter for background/wind noise reduction. Track marks can be added. Input and output levels are adjustable. I. TESTING NORMAL VOICE AT 84” AND 36” FROM MICS I tested it against another small digital recorder I have, an old Sony ICD MX20, which produces very good basic recordings, and would probably be considered to be in the same basic price range. I tested the recorders’ built-in mics by speaking at a normal voice 84” away then 36” away, with the mics facing me, turned to the side, and then facing away from me. I did these tests with the recorders a few inches above floor level while I was standing than again when I was at a lower level (on my knees). I put the recordings on the Adobe Audition digital editing program on my PC. While the voice quality of the Zoom was very good I was quite surprised at how low the recording volume turned out to be on the PC – whether or not I used the auto vol. setting or the highest manual setting (100). (There actually was not much difference between the results of the two settings.) Zoom recordings done on my knees had noticeably weaker rec. vol. (closer to 100db on Adobe) than when I was standing (closer to 200db on Adobe). On Adobe Audition I “normalized” the recordings to increase the volume. Doing this for the Zoom recordings yielded suitable recordings for voice as long as I don’t need anything “professional,” and as long as I was OK with some background noise due to the amount of amplification. The Sony’s rec. vol. was far superior. I also listened to these recording directly from the Zoom recorder, with output volume turned up high. With the recorder’s built in speaker, the recordings were audible and good quality, but very low volume. With good quality headphones plugged into the unit, the recording volume was certainly sufficient and, again, the quality very good, even when recorded at 84” away and, to some extent, even with the mic was facing away from me. II. TESTING NORMAL VOICE AT 2” FROM MICS Speaking in a normal voice a couple of inches from the mics, with auto vol. control, yielded a pretty good recording volume, and quality voice, for digital editing work. You’d want to use a windscreen in this type of situation. III. TESTING RECORDING OFF PC AND CD PLAYER It does a good job of recording directly off a PC – recording live radio streaming, recording a DVD played on the PC, recording a recording on my digital editing program (Adobe Audition) – with the Zoom H1 connected to the PC’s headphone output. You need to adjust the output vol. to get the best recording vol., and make adjustments with a digital editing program to get the optimum recording. But the result is good, with clear voice. Same for recording off of a CD player, connecting the Zoom H1 to the headphone output. I could not get it to record off of a portable radio, using the headphone output. IV. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Pretty good recorder for interviews. It is possible that with live music or something else with good volume you’d get a good recording volume for an editing program, using the manual vol. input setting. (I did not try this.) To record a person speaking a few feet away the recorder has some limitations, depending on what you want to do with the recording. Recording off of the PC or a CD player works well.

Pros: 1. Small 2. Clean (but not perfect) PreAmps 3. Easy to conseal 4. 1 AA battery 5. Good stereo mic 6. Simple operation! 7. Backlight display 8. No more than $100 9. Some form of mic protective cage If your doing dual system video/audio and ate on a budget, this is your tool! I'm on documentary work... this thing is excellent with field recording of audio. Just pair it with a good Lav and you can use it in your subjects pocket or hidden and boom his sound with little effort sept for the 60 second manual sync process (if you choose to do it manually at all)! Cons: 1. Plastic body (probably too keep cost down) 2. Uses older usb mini plug instead of the newer usb micro plug found on most phones) 3. The plastic cage doesn't offer much protection to the mics. 4. Mics don't have the ability to flip to AB stereo position. 5. Would be nice to have double the battery life by using 2 aa batteries 6. No doubt this should come with a case! Even if neoprene! Summary: Overall not one negative is a deal breaker! Wav and Mp3 sound awesome on this tool! Pair it with a quality mic and you can actually do production class audio work! If your on a budget and your a: documentarian, wedding videographer, podcaster, or any other field that needs field audio... you probably will not be able to beat the Zoom H1! This tool is your ticket to clean audio! Because of its smaller size, of a single battery, and XY mic pattern - I'drate it one and a half stats above the Tascam DR-05. UPDATE: Now that Zoom has updated this recorder you can find it for $59 - $69... at that price, this is a super steal! I've bought 3 since then! Why does he need 4 you ask?... Short films, documentaries and weddings Silly-Billy-Bubble-Gumdrops!

After much research, budget consideration, and review reading, I purchased this H1 and haven't had buyers remorse in the least. On the contrary, I found the user interface simple and straight forward. Within minutes of unpackaging I was giving it a pretty basic test of setting it down on a tabletop in front of me about 2.5 feet away and playing acoustic guitar and singing. Upon listening to the playback on my Sennheiser headphones, I was blown away by the quality. Never had I heard the true-to-life range like this, AND without any tweaking or preparation for best quality; just sit it down and go. I'm overly satisfied with this product as a recorder for recording my own acoustic songs. Though, that's not what I bought it for. I bought it to use as a stand-alone recording device for a boom mic. I am using a Rode VideoMic as a boom mic on a boom pole. I didn't, however, want to be required to wire that into the DSLR camera that we are using for film making. To wire it this way would require the Boom Operator to be tethered to the Cameraman. Wires could make noise, either operator could get tangled while filming, cords could be pulled out or pulled at an angle and be damaged, etc. With the H1 mounted to the boom pole with it's 1/4"x20 female mount point, it serves as a super-clean recording device to capture what my Rode VideoMic picks up. It's easy to use by the Boom Operator and can even provide audio monitoring to the Boom Operator while recording. I love it! And, at this price, I can feel great about the purchase. Added Bonus: Also works as a live mic for your computer through a standard mini-USB to USB cable. One note: it comes with audio software to record straight to the computer, but I was unable to get that software to recognize the device. It may have just been me or something I have been failing to do in the software which has no real instructions that I can find. I was, however, able to easily get Audacity to recognize it and record using it. And, Audacity is open-source, free to download, so no big deal.