Zoom H1 Handy Recorder Review

Sound is an important part of life and being able to capture it as crisp as possible can be very useful. I’ve been using the Zoom H1 Hnady Recorder in a variety of situations to capture audio for my videos and I have to say that it has been extremely useful.

It has reduced the echo in my review videos and it has helped capture better sounding audio during interviews. The Zoom H1 Handy Recorder is small enough that it’ll fit in your pocket so having it as my companion to my Flip pocket camera has been great. The device itself is also very lightweight. It feels like the Zoom H1 Handy Recorder weighs as much as the AA battery used to power it.

The H1 Handy Recorder is not perfect though because it does capture a lot of surrounding noise. So for example on a red carpet with other people talking around me, it wasn’t able to isolate my interviewees voice no matter how close I put the microphone to them. The other problem comes if you’re recording outdoors and it’s windy. There’s no wind screen on this microphone. So even the slightest amount of wind will mess up your audio. However you can buy a separate accessory pack that includes the windscreen.

Unboxing the Zoom H1 Handy Recorder:

Out of the box the Zoom H1 Handy Recorder works best in controlled environments. Setting it up is easy. It comes with 1 AA battery and a 2GB MicroSD card with MicroSD Adapter. The unit can be connected to a tripod on its back side. There are lots of different setting buttons all around the device. The backside has a switch that allows you to record in MP3 or WAV format. You can play, fast forward and rewind audio clips as well as adjust the playback audio. You can then delete those clips if you want. You can also adjust the input level for the audio that the microphone is picking up. If the person speaking is talking really softly you can boost the input levels. There is a stereo audio level reader on the main screen.

Video uses the Zoom H1 Hnady Recorder:

Video uses the Flip on board microphone:

You’ll notice in the above video that the overall the audio with the H1 Handy Recorder sounds much better. It has more bass and reduces the echo. The audio might have even sounded better if I placed the microphone closer to me. The microphone is a good 2-3 feet away. I always place the microphone right next to the video camera.

With my setup and my being a vlogger, I’ve found the Zoom H1 Handy Recorder to improve my videos tremendously. They say that audio is an important part of video, but you don’t really notice it until you’ve heard the difference for yourself.

Author: DaveWeLike

I'm the editor of StuffWeLike.com.