Say Hello to the the H2 Zoom Recorder

The H2 Zoom... is it the best digital recorder out there? No, but it's being compared to pro models going for 3 times the price. It's quite small (2.5 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches) but this Zoom Recorder is equipted with double the microphones as it's competitors. Those are two reasons why they're selling a lot of them.

The Price

When it first came out it sold for a few hundred bucks but today you can get it for well under $200.

The best things about it are:

Dollar for dollar it really beats all other comparables.

Surround sound capability due to the multiple onboard microphones.

Small in-your-hand size - small in-your-wallet price

Two features not worth bragging about:

Screen is a little small.

It's audio limiter reacts on the slow side.

An impressive feature though is the H2 Recorder's ability to take MP3 and WAV formats and record them in several different size resolutions. Pro quality sound is available at 24-bit/96kHz when you need it. You can save a ton of memory and record at an mp3 resolution setting.

H2 Zoom is for:

1. Anyone that wants to record seminars & conferences

2. Media at electronic news gatherings

3. Blog Podcasters

4. Any music event

5. Songwriting sessions

6. Rehearsals for bands

7. Theatrical rehearsals

You gotta love the retro look of the front grill on the H2 recorder, kinda looks like an old forties microphone. Most people will be satisfied with all of it's popular features and there may be a few that some people won't even care for... unless you're a musician like me, in which case you'll also love the handy guitar tuner and metronome that are built-in.

Of course audio can be downloaded from it too. Sometimes in a little machine like this it can be difficult to do some of the editing tasks you eventually need to get done... but you can just plug it into your computer via the USB and edit away.

The unique W-XY microphone pick-up patterns work like this: a front 90 degree cardioid, a rear 120 cardioid and a360 degree polar pattern.

This is a smart and unique feature of the H2 Zoom… quadruple mic capsule, which actually gives you various types of surround recording, including a format that stores 360° information onto 4 tracks which you can extract later into 5.1 surround sound. Put the H2 Zoom in the middle of a 3 piece band for instance and you would get a nice surround sound mix, drums in the back and guitars all around.

Other related products from Zoom are the H4 Zoom Hand Held Digital recorder with even more features and a bigger price tag and the H1 Zoom, which is the smallest of the "H" line with even less features and a much lower price tag as well.

For the price range this little hand held digital recorder will do the trick!

Check out my report of the H2 Zoom Digital Recorder on my Hub