Features:

  • 1,151 Hours Recording Time
  • Voice Activation
  • Fast/Slow Playback
  • Three Recording Modes
  • PC Interface: No
Very user friendly - Simplicity at it's best

This recorder is very easy to use as it has only two large buttons, one for Stop and one for Record. There is also a toggle wheel that allows skipping back and forth through recording and a button in the center that serves as an ENTER button for message prompts. So it's easy to grab and start recording and to hit Stop when finished. Battery life is excellent, the delete recording button is small and you get a verification prompt before deleting so you will never accidentally delete a recording. Usage is very intuitive and I started using it without reading the instructions. The LED readout is not backlit and that is a downside and this is the model that does not allow uploading the audio files to computer (which I did not want or need). So the only improvement would be to backlight the LED readout but then that would shorten battery life. I'm very happy with the simplicity of use, the uncluttered ergonomic design and layout of controls, it's very light weight even with batteries, and it's small size that fits nicely in shirt pocket.

Great product

I recently received this and I absolutely adore it. In this day and age, you can literally do just about anything from your phone, but for nostalgia's sake, I bought this guy. It doesn't even have a way for you to transfer the files onto the computer very easily (at least not that I can tell by looking at it) but I love it anyways. I bought this because I have been doing a bit more creative writing and I catch snippets of conversations and weird thoughts sometimes that are worthy of jotting down for later, but without the time to jot anything down. This thing lets me save random blurbs really easily. Its really easy to get the hang of, and I absolutely love that I can save my recordings to 3 different folders. It's tiny, and comes with a carrying case too!

Just purchased my third one: All 3 work great, make great gifts.

Love this. Have just purchased my third. It holds so much recording. I have yet to exhaust the memory. It has "folders" to separate recordings. The batteries last super long. It took me a while to figure out how to really "pause" during recording like when I'm clearing my throat or eating: You simply pause it for a moment by pushing the orangish-red "record" button once to pause. Then push same button to un-pause. It confused me at first because it appears that there is a silver pause button on the left side of the device. The quality of recording is great. I purchased mine to record an offender's abuse, however, it quickly turned into a marvelous recording device when I read factual, informational, self-help books. Since I have to read them anyway, I read them aloud on the recorder, playing them back at the gym with earplugs, at bed time, anytime. There are so many ways this recording device can be used. Meetings and more. It's so awesomely small, about half the size of my cell phone. As long as I use the buttons just to stop/start/record/play or pause, the batteries go for months (2 AAA size). It's only when I use the fast fwd or reverse too much that it sucks the life out of the batteries. Since there are folders that separate as many recordings as you want, you can put as many recordings separated clearly by a number in any one of the four folders, labeled A, B, C, and D. This makes having to use the fast forward and reverse buttons unnecessary most of the time. I have been reading onto two of these 3 recorded devices and have yet to fill either of them or even come close to exhausting their memory. My husband liked mine so much that he asked me to buy him one for Christmas, which was why I bought the third one. The recorder is a great companion to take on trips when you want to remember things. I take mine on trips because I put a lot of recovery material, self-talks, and Bible scripture on mine. I can listen to it on the train, the plane, in the car, on the treadmill, without having to cart all my books with me. It fits in my fanny pack that goes around my waist when I go out to exercise.

Great device. Record quality is surprisingly good ByJim in ...

Great device. Record quality is surprisingly good ByJim in Sunny Florida "Florida Surfer"on May 17, 2015 Size: 2GBVerified Purchase Great device. Record quality is surprisingly good. Can use built-in mic, or external. Set for voice-activated, auto-record if desired. Sensitivity can be adjusted so the recorder ignores all sounds below the level you set. It stops recording automatically at silence at end of comments, but ready immediately for next input. This is a huge improvement over my old Sony digital voice recorder in features, capability, ease of use, and sound quality. And it's affordable. Would I recommend it to a friend? Sure, without hesitation.

Can't beat the sound for the price

It's compact, runs for days, records multiple files and has good sound quality. What more could you want for this price? For recording there are general files (A, B, C and so forth) but within those files you can also record more than once (so you can record 1, 2, 3, meaning you could have recordings A1, A2, A3 and so on). It's incredibly handy for when you have interviews or meetings with long breaks in between and it also helps so that you don't accidentally delete a file. It's incredibly light weight (to be honest, it feels a little cheap without a battery in it, an iPhone 6 is probably twice the weight of this recorder). The battery power lasts forever. I've recorded nearly 7 hours of notes over the span of a few months on this thing and it's still got full power. For best sound quality, aim it towards whatever sound you want to record. I used this in an interview outside on a horse farm on a windy day and there was definitely obvious background noise BUT I could still hear what I needed to, just with a faintly irritating wind sound. My only major complaints are how difficult it is to scrub through recordings and how it does not easily transfer files to the computer. When you record over an hour of a meeting and you need to run through and transcribe the key points it's a real pain having to go back and forth through the file. While you can scrub through sound in various slower and faster increments, if you accidentally press the play button or the forward or backward button too many times it sends you back to the beginning of the recording and you have to start all over again. Also I wouldn't call this device computer friendly. If you're looking for a device to transfer recordings onto your laptop this is not the product for you. However, for the price and the sound quality, this is a great little gadget. I would definitely recommend.

Olympus VN-7200 - Simple & High Quality Digital Recorder!

Much better than I expected. It's small, light weight, very easy to use and sound quality is amazing. Mic is very sensitive and picks sounds perfectly. The build-in speaker is ok to review your recordings. But if you want to analyze or listen to clear audio, you must use external speaker. It looks really cool, I love this design, much better design than most - if not all - Olympus models. And it works fast, save or delete a recording, everything is done almost instantly. Manual is detailed.. well written and instructions are clear. Now to the negative side : it's REALLY ancient model. The "writings on the screen" are weird, looks like a mix of letters and numbers.. and other weird looking symbols. VERY difficult to read, you would need to review the manual to understand them. Headphones can only play audio on one side, not both. No direct transfer of recordings to computer or anywhere else. But with little research and few cheap cables you can solve this problem and transfer files to your pc easily. Other than that, it's a really good quality audio recorder. It's not perfect but I really love it, I'm using it for EVP sessions and ITC research, for me it works better than most expensive recorders, that's why I'm giving it 5 stars.

a good choice

So far, I have no complaints. This SAVED my life in nursing school! It is extremely easy to use and probably has features I haven't even explored yet. I was able to adequately record my professor during lecture from approximately 15 feet away. * Be advised- it picks up every ounce of background noise. I could hear the passing train on my audio playback. (The train tracks are about 1.5 miles away and I could hear it like I was standing right next to it) It works better when placed on surface that won't be stimulated or moved during recording. I put it on a neighboring unoccupied desk to minimalize unwanted background noise. (shuffling paper, opening closing books, I could actually hear myself sigh or exhale from boredom on the playback..) Pro's: easy to use ton's of storage space battery lasts forever (over 1 month, +15 hours of audio files - and still going strong) has the option to slow down the playback speed, which makes note recalling much easier can plug headphones into it and listen instead of the speaker *Every time you press stop, it ends that track/file. Pressing record starts a new file. *To rewind instead of skipping to the beginning of the track- you must hold the rewind button down while it is playing Con's: the sensitivity of how it picks up background noise would be nice if it came with a way to upload audio files to my computer (or if it came with one)

Great quality and value for the money

I purchased this to record lectures at a class I attend each week. After the first use, I am very pleased. The quality of the audio is excellent, and the controls are easy to use: power switch on the left side; one button to record, one button to stop. The device allows you to save your recording in any one of four folders, in case you want to keep various projects separate. Headphone jack allows me to play back the lecture without disturbing others in the house. I've not yet needed to explore other options, so can't comment on those. This recorded is very compact, fits easily in a pocket or purse.

For the money, you can't beat this durable and easy to use recorder if you are looking to capture your ideas quickly!

What I liked most: I have purchased other no-name brand recorders in the past and really wanted them to work but they either have too many menus to navigate through or quality is just not up to par. This recorder delivers. I keep this one in my car so when I have an idea, I can just hit a button and go. You don't have to wait for the unit to prepare for recording. It is ready when you are. You want to turn it on first of course lol. Then the quality is amazing. Even with my AC running at level 2 and 3, I can still be heard crystal clear when I speak right into the mic. It does a great job of noise cancellation. Other recorders for the same price are not nearly as clear and have long wait times when you push record. Furthermore, I love the dedicated erase button on this. Because I like to get the ideas off quickly and take action on them, I tend to delete a lot. Erasing on here is easy to do: just pick a folder, hit erase to delete a file, hit erase again if you want to delete everything in the folder, then choose yes. Simple. You have four folders to choose from and it is easy to select the folder. It gives you clear, audible cues as to what folder you are in. Oh, and it even has variable playback! The playback quality is excellent and you can tell that the overall unit is well made. I will be keeping this in my car for a while. I might even be looking at getting an upgraded version of this recorder to leave in the house. If you are looking for something robust to take notes with and don't have to keep your eyes on this thing to do it with, then this might be a good match for you. What I liked least: That I didn't get one of these sooner.

Great Little Gadget

With my failing memory, this little recorder has become indispensable for me. It fits in any pocket and it is so handy to make notes to myself when I am out walking. Also, I am a birder and this recorder is perfect to keep track of sightings, whether on daily walks or on birding trips to new countries. No more pencils that break or pens running dry. No more soggy note pads on rainy days. I lost my first Olympus recorder in Florida last month and when I got home, ordering a new one was tops on my to-do list. Just be aware when setting it up that recording volume and playback volume are two separate things. I set my recording volume and was distraught when I could not hear anything on my first recording. Read manual carefully. LOL

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