Zoom F1-LP

Not my favorite, but...

I bought the Zoom F1-LP here a few months ago.

The good: small, compact, workhorse with a shotgun or lavalier microphone (better replace with a more expensive one)

The Bad: Noisy, but this noise is removed in post-production.

I expected much less noise

I needed an optional and super compact recorder for room and a lav. Since the F2 wasnt available and our of budget I went with this one, also for the exchangable capsules. The F1 is quite noisy, I dont know why the manufacturer cant make it less obviously noisy. And non of the reviews online was even slightly pointing it out. Maybe I got a faulty one. Unfortunately I had no time to send it back. I found out that at least with the limiter turned off its usable. The capsules are great. I was very disappointed thought that the minijack input for the mic is not a stereo line input. I had to buy the 2 XLR combo capsule to use the F1 how I needed it. A shame. All in all still a good device, easy to use.

In Zoom we trust!

I already own an H6. This was for an even more compact situation with lavalier mics.

I bought it to use it with the capsules from H6. Works like a charm. Nice handling. Good life battery. Great overall as expected

Handy compact recorder

This is my second one, I bought the other kit also-which includes the shotgun mic.

There is no material difference between the two. The other kit includes a shockmount (which doesn't do much tbh). This one has a belt clip.

The good: Compact, lightweight, pretty good sound with a little hiss and a slight tendency to pick up radio interference (modem and phone interference). Uses two AAA batteries and battery life is not bad, maybe 2-3 hours of continuous use.

The bad: Limited gain control (external mics have a manual dial for adjustment, but the lav mic uses the recorders built in gain controls)

Unwieldy menus

Really susceptible to handling noise. As mentioned, the shockmount which comes with the shotgun mic kit does very little to reduce handling noise. If you are using this recorder with the various zoom mics, I would say that fitting a handle or mini tripod is essential, and even then you will still get noise. This recorder doesn't have a tripod fitting.

Build quality- the main body is fairly solid, there are parts of metal alloy and plastic. The let down is that the battery compartment door and memory card door are flimsy and soft, and they are held in place by a tiny, flexible arm of soft plastic which doesn't inspire confidence.

Overall, it's not bad. If you are handling and using it carefully and not trying to record very quiet ambience, then you will be ok.

Amazing quality for such a small recorder

I have a lot of more high end recorders, but this on blew my mind. Good sound quality for the money! It's extremely small and lightweight, so ideal for more stealthy recordings. The lav that comes with the recorder isn't the greatest, but you when you hook it up with some Sanken or Sennheiser MKE, it's an amazing tool. Would certainly recommend!

Excellent product. Great for all types of interview setups.

Great little recorder

Love this little recorder from my initial test its pre-amp is reasonable clean for such a mobile device. I would say it's even slightly better than the Zoom H6.

Perfect lapel mic but also takes Zoom's mic capsules. For mobile recordings this will work very well, if you need som xlr ports the F4 is natural step instead of a H6.

Good

Very good quality of sound. Tha package was preparied and sended quickly. Good comunication.