Olympus VN-702PC Voice Recorder

This is the second mini voice recorder I have bought - the first was a Sony. This Olympus recorder is excellent quality, and I would recommend it any day over the previous model I owned. The sound quality on the recordings is very good, even from across the room, and the ability to sort through recordings and find ones from a certain date is invaluable. The display is large and easy to read, and the functions are easy to use. I was skeptical about the record-when-speaking function, that pauses during silence and only records during noise, but I've found it to be highly accurate. It doesn't miss the beginning of words, and recording seems to begin and end immediately. I use it often to save recording space and battery, and the completed recordings sound like well-edited tapes. It comes with a headphone jack, useful for reviewing recordings while in a waiting room, etc. The recorder itself is lightweight and comes with a handy protective case that can be slipped into a pocket or a handbag easily. The case is open on one end, which I would prefer to be sealed with a flap to prevent dust, but is protective nonetheless and can easily be replaced with something more sturdy if you prefer. Battery life is quite long, and although I carry a spare set with me I rarely have to change them. I use this device mostly for recording music as I compose, and occasional meetings/voice-dominated recordings. I've found the sound quality to be consistent with both. Very happy with this purchase. Would recommend.

I have two small daughters (3 and 6) and they are always saying the cutest things. I can take this in their room during bedtime and record whatever they are saying and it picks it up perfectly. Once the date and time are set, it gives you the ability to search by date when things were recorded so you don't have to play back all of the recordings to find what you are looking for. It comes with plenty of internal storage and with the ability to add a microSD card, you can literally record for hundreds of hours. The red light that comes on during a recording can also be toggled off (in the menu settings) so that makes the red glow at night a thing of the past. I wish I could hook this up to my vehicle sometime and pick up the things the kids say in the car as well as at bedtime. It has a mic in and a headphone out jack at the top so you could hook up an external mic to this as well as play back with headphones. The fact that it has a miniUSB port to download the recordings makes it super easy to use. All in all, a great product and one that I am glad I purchased.

I am a journalist and I often do phone interviews, so I needed a simple yet reliable digital recorder to replace my old Olympus micro cassette recorders. I have to say, I was a bit nervous about trusting important interviews to a digital recorder (which is stupid since I'm also a photographer and went completely digital with photography when the first digital cameras came around), but this recorder is a real blessing. I no longer have to buy tapes and I don't have to worry that a tape will jam in a machine (or that I'll run out of tape during a long interview). The instructions are kind of complex for this machine, so I more or less abandoned them and just started playing with the "record" and play buttons and eventually everything became clear--or, at least, most things. It took me a while to realize that the recorder saves (until you delete them) all of your recordings, so I have like a dozen separate recordings of me saying "test, test, test, is this thing working?" (And yes, it was.) I haven't tried very many features on the recorder, but I figured out how to record, play back and transfer them to my computer. Transferring files to my Mac is a piece of cake: SO EASY! You just plug the recorder into a USB port and then an icon of the drive appears on your desktop. Simply open that folder and you can navigate to the newest folder, at which point I rename it something that makes sense (and include the date) and then swipe it onto the hard drive. The files show up in my iTunes program and the files transfer very quickly. I then duplicate them (I'm paranoid) and put copies on several drives. Easy. The great thing is that the recorder has a pretty huge memory, so I can leave my interviews and notes on the recorder, as well as in my computer (again, paranoia rears its ugly head) until I've transcribed the interview. And oh, the batteries, seem to last forever. I do miss have a foot-controlled transcription machine, I miss that a lot. I don't think there is one for digital recorders. A great little recorder, the controls are a bit complex and the screen is a jumble of little icons--but if you keep things simple, you'll d fine.

I give it 5 stars because the second one we got from Amazon works really, really well. The first one that came was working perfectly too until right in the middle of a business meeting when it froze and stopped recording the minutes! I think what it came down to was probably a bad memory chip. Amazon was great and offered to replace it or give us our money back- we took the replacement and have been totally happy with it! One thing we did do though was go out and buy a memory card for it instead of using the internal memory. (They're very cheap and give a ton more recording time as well.) The sound quality is really excellent, it's very easy to use, and really tiny in size. Also this model has the USB port which is a must have! We use it all the time and haven't had a single issue with the replacement unit we got from Amazon.

Had this for roughly a month and haven't used it a lot, so I am still dealing with 1st impressions. It seems to work OK and my voice is clear on it. So, yes, it works. It does have a good mic and speaker, but I prefer headsets. It has 2 GB of internal memory, and can take a SDHC memory card. I put an 8 GB card in mine. Dislikes: Following the directions is required with this unit. Unlike the photo, the mic and ear connections on mine are in Sanskrit lettering. I have to either dig out the directions each time I hook my headset into it, or I have to test the connections. It can't use all headsets. I have a Logitech headset that gets feedback every time I have both the Mic connected and earphones connected to it at the same time. I can use the recorder/player with either the Logitech mic or the earphones connected. But not both. I ordered the Plantronics .Audio 326 Stereo PC Headset from Amazon which works fine. I can have both the Plantronics mic and earphones connected at the same time without any problems. So the brand or design of headset makes a difference.

This is the first digital recorder I've purchased. I use it for interviewing folks for a book I'm writing. The little recorder works as advertised. I did put extra memory into it and can now record for something like 180 hours at max quality. OK, a little overkill on my part. Downloading to my computer is a snap as it uses the standard format recording system MP3 files. The recorder is inexpensive and easy to use. I purchased a cheap external microphone (around eight dollars for two!) and that works great for my purposes. The connection to the computer is via a standard size USB connector. Battery life seems to be quite long (haven't run out of power and am on my first set still). Do remember to pause recording using the red "Record" button. If you push "Stop" every time you want to take a break you'll have a million files to deal with after a recording session.

I'm using this device to record lectures and round-table discussions. I'm surprised at how much I like this. The sound quality is surprisingly good. When I took it out of the box, it felt a little flimsy, but it works like a champ. It's easy to operate after you reference the user guide. It has different folders, so you can save lecture recordings for different classes in their own folder. The only downside is that there doesn't appear to be a rewind or fast-forward option. So you have to start the recording over when you want to rewind or keep listening instead of fast-forwarding. However, you can easily download the recordings to your computer and use your audio program (Quicktime, Windows Media Player, etc.) to rewind/fast-forward. The recorder comes with a soft carrying case and a USB cable for download. I highly recommend this recorder.

I have not yet tested all the features of this recorder. At this point I can say that the voice recording quality is fantastic. Even in a somewhat noisy room AND at a distance, you will still be able to understand speech on playback. Playback on the self-contained speaker is good but not great. This can be overcome by listening with headphones or exporting it to your computer for listening with any other means. The built in memory allows an incredible amount of record time. You could potentially archive and catalog every conversation you will ever have in your life, in conjunction with your computer. The memory is expandable. Battery life is good. This is a must-have for proof of verbal agreements, meetings, doctor visits. I only wish it were a little shorter in length. For good voice recording, this one is hard to beat. UPDATE: One big gripe I have is a lack of READYNESS. I would prefer a one-touch record. With this, you have to slide the power switch and hold until you see the screen info appear. Then it has to boot up. Only after the boot up is finished can you activate record with a red button. If you try to keep it in a standby mode, it will automatically power off after a short time. Push record and you will miss a session if the power is off. I have missed several recordings this way. Also, a rechargeable would be better, rather than replacing batteries. So, the Olympus VN-702PC could be made near perfect by: Reducing size, a non-failing readyness mode or instant one-touch record, and rechageable.

Very versatile,can be used in many situations. I use with small lapel mike (also from Amazon)and have recorded walking tour talks. Good idea to buy extra memory if are going to be away for some time (also from Amazon). I also use it to supplement voice and notes for filming with my camcorder.

Work perfectly, receved it promptly.

I give this a 4 out of 5 cause cause nothing is perfect. I would recommend to friends and family.

works well

Not a good product. Didn't work as per specification. It is a basic model with a higher cos t