Anyone have experience with portable recorders?

[Andy43]

I'm looking to buy a portable recorder to record all of my song ideas, rehearsals, and whatnot. So far I'm looking at the Edirol R-09 and Tascam DR-1/GT-R1 (not sure what the differences are between the two). I'm looking for the clearest sound possible even at high volumes. Trying to stay under $300 also. The Zoom H2 looks cool with all of the options and accessories it has, but I hear the construction and sound quality lacks.

So, does anyone own one that they would like to share their experiences with?

[Darin]

I just helped a buddy pull some audio off his unit. I don't know the brand, but it records 24bit and 96K. I looks like a wakie talkie thing. It has 4 mics built in. What he did was record from the board into it so it was all board mix recordings. Which usually sound horrible. But what we heard was a quite good demo quality recording. I was very very impressed. I think he said it was a $200 unit.

[Andy43]

That would probably be the Zoom H2. It's the only one that I'm aware of that has 4 mics.

[dougj7]

I use a zoom h2 and a boss micro br. They are both portable and under your $300 limit. The zoom h2 is just a recorder. I haven't noticed any problems with the sound quality of the h2. It is plastic with a very small screen but I couldn't see it breaking unless you abuse it. The boss micro br is a multi-track recorder. you can read the reviews for both units here:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product...owViewpoints=1

http://www.amazon.com/review/product...owViewpoints=1

[Darin]

Originally Posted by Andy43

That would probably be the Zoom H2. It's the only one that I'm aware of that has 4 mics.

Yep, that's the one. You wont be disappointed if you get it. We had to import the tracks into Cubase to convert to 16 bit for CD burning. Sounded great though.

[Andy43]

I went ahead and ordered the Zoom H2. It should be good enough for what I need it for and since I don't really need great quality or anything, it would we a waste of money to buy something more high quality. Should be fun.