Hello there!
I'm looking for a portable sound recorder to carry on with me and record field sound samples to use in music production / sound design / maybe some shorfilms audio. I've had pretty bad experiences with the ZOOM H4N pro: the first two times I bought it, it was malfunctioning brand-new and I had to give it back, and the third time, when I finally got a working one, I was quite disappointed:
-the built-in mics aren't that good, and I was getting quite a lot of noise when trying to pick some quieter sounds outside. I don't know if I'm asking for too much for this budget, but I would like to know if someone has other experiences with other recorders in the same price range. I do have a shotgun mic but I can't carry it 24h: I'm looking for something handy and with a nice sound quality / nice built-in mics, as I'm always travelling light.
-the recorder itself is not what I would call handy. it weights "quite a lot" (I haven't tried other alternatives thought, so maybe this is the standard), it barely fits in any pocket or bellypack (that's okay but could be better), and the worst: it takes ages to switch on. Whenever I hear something interesting I would like to be ready to record it almost inmediatly, and this is quite a bummer in the H4N pro.
-it's really taking too many batteries too fast. this is not the most important but it is quite relevant if you have to carry twice the weight because of always having new batteries to replace the empty ones.
So, my question for out there: does someone have any other experiences with portable recorders? Something in the same price range (+-50), with nicer built-in mics, handier than the h4npro? I don't need any fancy stuff like interfaces / 4ch rec, just a pure field recorder.
Thanks to everyone!