Topic: Help!!! Zoom H4n vs. Tascam dr 100 mkII

[Montana Wild]

Ok so I'm currently trying to learn as much about audio as possible but there's a lot to go through.  I'm shooting outdoor fishing and hunting and want to improve the audio quality of my productions.  Right now all I have is my audio from my Nikon D7000 which sucks.  I'm going to be using 1 to 2 wireless mics for sure and wanted to have audio captured from the camera's viewpoint also.  So I'm looking at portable handheld recorders. For the application of outdoor audio and use with 1 or 2 wireless mics, would I be better off with the Zoom H4n or the Tascam dr100?  And one more thing if you can help me out on.  I need to potentially record 2-6 hours of audio per day. Which would be better for battery life? Also do I even need an external recorder or would a RodeMic on my camera be a better, cheaper solution for on the fly style of shooting?  Sorry for all the questions.  If I didn't have projects lined up soon I wouldn't be in such a rush to buy equipment.

[kenyee]

One thing to note is the H4n can record from the internal mics *and* the XLRs at the same time.
The Tascam DR100mkII can only do either the internal mics *OR* the XLRs, but the Tascam's XLRs are cleaner sounding than the Zooms.

A Rodemic on camera won't do as good a job as dedicated wireless mics, but you knew that already

[refrain]

One thing to note is the H4n can record from the internal mics *and* the XLRs at the same time.

It can record 4 channels (2 stereos) at the same time, internals and XLR or externals via plugin power on mini-jack and XLR,
On the original Tascam, internal mics were worse than the H4n, as the preamps... the new one looks much better, at least according to tests on preamps...
don't know about the internal mics, but no 4 channel recording again...