+1 for the Zoom H4n (for the money). Not a big fan of the H2 (with no XLR inputs and all). The H4n is a great value for the price($300). It sounds good enough on its own (great for those times when you used to say "Crap, that sound it awesome, I wish I had a recorder on me!). I love the XLR jacks too. That's the biggest selling point for me. Real XLR jacks with real phantom power. However, the sound quality fails in comparison to my Sound Devices 702T (my sound effects recorder of choice), although it hardly falls into the "Entry Level" category.

I love my Sound Devices 702. Don't have a single complaint about it. Amazing recorder, great battery life, extremely easy to use and very flexible, with an amazingly in-depth menu. Doesn't provide bias power for lavs though, so you either need to go wireless on the lav (which I'd usually do anyway) or get a dedicated power supply for the lav. I do all of my effects recording on a 702 or a Zaxcom Deva V (if I'm doing a large session with tons of mics).

The Sony PCM-D50 is great too, but again, no XLR connectivity. Of course you can adapt, but it just doesn't ever work out too well... Decent sounding recorder though. I'm of the opinion that the built-in mics in sound a little better than the Zoom's mics, but then again, they should, because it's $150 more.

I had a Korg MR-1 for a while. It sounded amazing, when it worked. I went through 3 of them (all replaced for free). They liked dying on me. I haven't heard that from anyone else though, so maybe I just had some bad luck. In general, I'm a fan of DSD (1-bit) 1-bit/Direct Stream Digital) recording, but it's not widely supported, so ended up being more of a hassle than anything. It's a great sounding recorder, but again, I had to use adapters to be able to use any real mics. The thing I like about the Korg over most other portables that lack XLR jacks is that it had two balanced mono 1/8" mic inputs instead of a single unbalanced stereo mic input. Easily adaptable to XLR (no funky splitting from 1/8" stereo to dual XLR or anything). It also provided Bias power (for lavs) or 48v phantom which was nice.

My two cents :-)

EDIT: I also have one of those Olympus LS-10 recorders. Decent sound for quick recordings (the whole "crap I wish I had a recorder" thing again...). Also, freakin awesome because of how small it is and easy it is to use. Price came down a lot since I bought it. I'd say go with the Zoom over the Olympus though for the same price, unless size is a factor for you (the Zoom is fairly large for a Handheld recorder).

+1 for the Zoom H4n (for the money). Not a big fan of the H2 (with no XLR inputs and all). The H4n is a great value for the price($300). It sounds good enough on its own (great for those times when you used to say "Crap, that sound it awesome, I wish I had a recorder on me!). I love the XLR jacks too. That's the biggest selling point for me. Real XLR jacks with real phantom power. However, the sound quality fails in comparison to my Sound Devices 702T (my sound effects recorder of choice), although it hardly falls into the "Entry Level" category.

I love my Sound Devices 702. Don't have a single complaint about it. Amazing recorder, great battery life, extremely easy to use and very flexible, with an amazingly in-depth menu. Doesn't provide bias power for lavs though, so you either need to go wireless on the lav (which I'd usually do anyway) or get a dedicated power supply for the lav. I do all of my effects recording on a 702 or a Zaxcom Deva V (if I'm doing a large session with tons of mics).

The Sony PCM-D50 is great too, but again, no XLR connectivity. Of course you can adapt, but it just doesn't ever work out too well... Decent sounding recorder though. I'm of the opinion that the built-in mics in sound a little better than the Zoom's mics, but then again, they should, because it's $150 more.

I had a Korg MR-1 for a while. It sounded amazing, when it worked. I went through 3 of them (all replaced for free). They liked dying on me. I haven't heard that from anyone else though, so maybe I just had some bad luck. In general, I'm a fan of DSD (1-bit) recording, but it's not widely supported, so ended up being more of a hassle than anything. It's a great sounding recorder, but again, I had to use adapters to be able to use any real mics. The thing I like about the Korg over most other portables that lack XLR jacks is that it had two balanced mono 1/8" mic inputs instead of a single unbalanced stereo mic input. Easily adaptable to XLR (no funky splitting from 1/8" stereo to dual XLR or anything). It also provided Bias power (for lavs) or 48v phantom which was nice.

My two cents :-)

EDIT: I also have one of those Olympus LS-10 recorders. Decent sound for quick recordings (the whole "crap I wish I had a recorder" thing again...). Also, freakin awesome because of how small it is and easy it is to use. Price came down a lot since I bought it. I'd say go with the Zoom over the Olympus though for the same price, unless size is a factor for you (the Zoom is fairly large for a Handheld recorder).

+1 for the Zoom H4n (for the money). Not a big fan of the H2 (with no XLR inputs and all). The H4n is a great value for the price($300). It sounds good enough on its own (great for those times when you used to say "Crap, that sound it awesome, I wish I had a recorder on me!). I love the XLR jacks too. That's the biggest selling point for me. Real XLR jacks with real phantom power. However, the sound quality fails in comparison to my Sound Devices 702T (my sound effects recorder of choice), although it hardly falls into the "Entry Level" category.

I love my Sound Devices 702. Don't have a single complaint about it. Amazing recorder, great battery life, extremely easy to use and very flexible, with an amazingly in-depth menu. Doesn't provide bias power for lavs though, so you either need to go wireless on the lav (which I'd usually do anyway) or get a dedicated power supply for the lav. I do all of my effects recording on a 702 or a Zaxcom Deva V (if I'm doing a large session with tons of mics).

The Sony PCM-D50 is great too, but again, no XLR connectivity. Of course you can adapt, but it just doesn't ever work out too well... Decent sounding recorder though. I'm of the opinion that the built-in mics built in sound a little better than the Zoom's mics, but then again, they should, because its it's $150 more.

I had a Korg MR-1 for a while. It sounded amazing, when it worked. I went through 3 of them (all replaced for free). They liked dying on me. I haven't heard that from anyone else though, so maybe I just had some bad luck. In general, I'm a fan of DSD (1-bit) recording, but it's not widely supported, so ended up being more of a hassle than anything. It's a great sounding recorder, but again, I had to use adapters to be able to use any real mics. The thing I like about the Korg over most other portables that lack XLR jacks is that it had two balanced mono 1/8" mic inputs instead of a single unbalanced stereo mic input. Easily adaptable to XLR (no funky splitting from 1/8" stereo to dual XLR or anything). It also provided Bias power (for lavs) or 48v phantom which was nice.

My two cents :-)

EDIT: I also have one of those Olympus LS-10 recorders. Decent sound for quick recordings (the whole "crap I wish I had a recorder" thing again...). Also, freakin awesome because of how small it is and easy it is to use. Price came down a lot since I bought it. I'd say go with the Zoom over the Olympus though for the same price, unless size is a factor for you (the Zoom is fairly large for a Handheld recorder).

+1 for the Zoom H4n (for the money). Not a big fan of the H2 (with no XLR inputs and all). The H4n is a great value for the price($300). It sounds good enough on its own (great for those times when you used to say "Crap, that sound it awesome, I wish I had a recorder on me!). I love the XLR jacks too. That's the biggest selling point for me. Real XLR jacks with real phantom power. However, the sound quality fails in comparison to my Sound Devices 702T (my sound effects recorder of choice), although it hardly falls into the "Entry Level" category.

I love my Sound Devices 702. Don't have a single complaint about it. Amazing recorder, great battery life, extremely easy to use and very flexible, with an amazingly in-depth menu. Doesn't provide bias power for lavs though, so you either need to go wireless on the lav (which I'd usually do anywaysanyway) or get a dedicated power supply for the lav. I do all of my effects recording on a 702 or a Zaxcom Deva V (if I'm doing a large session with tons of mics).

The Sony PCM-D50 is great too, but again, no XLR connectivity. Of course you can adapt, but it just doesn't ever work out too well... Decent sounding recorder though. I'm of the opinion that the mics built in sound a little better than the Zoom's mics, but then again, they should, because its $150 more.

I had a Korg MR-1 for a while. It sounded amazing, when it worked. I went through 3 of them (all replaced for free). They liked dying on me. I haven't heard that from anyone else though, so maybe I just had some bad luck. In general, I'm a fan of DSD (1-bit) recording, but it's not widely supported, so ended up being more of a hassle than anything. It's a great sounding recorder, but again, I had to use adapters to be able to use any real mics. The thing I like about the Korg over most other portables that lack XLR jacks is that it had two balanced mono 1/8" mic inputs instead of a single unbalanced stereo mic input. Easily adaptable to XLR (no funky splitting from 1/8" stereo to dual XLR or anything). It also provided Bias power (for lavs) or 48v phantom which was nice.

My two cents :-)

EDIT: I also have one of those Olympus LS-10 recorders. Decent sound for quick recordings (the whole "crap I wish I had a recorder" thing again...). Also, freakin awesome because of how small it is and easy it is to use. Price came down a lot since I bought it. I'd say go with the Zoom over the Olympus though for the same price, unless size is a factor for you (the Zoom is fairly large for a Handheld recorder).

+1 for the Zoom H4NH4n (for the money). Not a big fan of the H2 (with no XLR inputs and all). The H4N H4n is a great value for the price($300). It sounds good enough on its own (great for those times when you used to say "Crap, that sound it awesome, I wish I had a recorder on me!). I love the XLR jacks too. That's the biggest selling point for me. Real XLR jacks with real phantom power. However, the sound quality fails in comparison to my Sound Devices 702T (my sound effects recorder of choice), although it hardly falls into the "Entry Level" category.

I love my 702. Don't have a single complaint about it. Amazing recorder, great battery life, extremely easy to use and very flexible, with an amazingly in-depth menu. Doesn't provide bias power for lavs though, so you either need to go wireless on the lav (which I'd usually do anyways) or get a dedicated power supply for the lav. I do all of my effects recording on a 702 or a Zaxcom Deva V (if I'm doing a large session with tons of mics).

The Sony PCM-D50 is great too, but again, no XLR connectivity. Of course you can adapt, but it just doesn't ever work out too well... Decent sounding recorder though. I'm of the opinion that the mics built in sound a little better than the Zoom's mics, but then again, they should, because its $150 more.

I had a Korg MR-1 for a while. It sounded amazing, when it worked. I went through 3 of them (all replaced for free). They liked dying on me. I haven't heard that from anyone else though, so maybe I just had some bad luck. In general, I'm a fan of DSD (1-bit) recording, but it's not widely supported, so ended up being more of a hassle than anything. It's a great sounding recorder, but again, I had to use adapters to be able to use any real mics. The thing I like about the Korg over most other portables that lack XLR jacks is that it had two balanced mono 1/8" mic inputs instead of a single unbalanced stereo mic input. Easily adaptable to XLR (no funky splitting from 1/8" stereo to dual XLR or anything). It also provided Bias power (for lavs) or 48v phantom which was nice.

My two cents :-)

EDIT: I also have one of those Olympus LS-10 recorders. Decent sound for quick recordings (the whole "crap I wish I had a recorder" thing again...). Also, freakin awesome because of how small it is and easy it is to use. Price came down a lot since I bought it. I'd say go with the Zoom over the Olympus though for the same price, unless size is a factor for you (the Zoom is fairly large for a Handheld recorder).

+1 for the Zoom H4N (for the money). Not a big fan of the H2 (with no XLR inputs and all). The H4N is a great value for the price($300). It sounds good enough on its own (great for those times when you used to say "Crap, that sound it awesome, I wish I had a recorder on me!). I love the XLR jacks too. That's the biggest selling point for me. Real XLR jacks with real phantom power. However, the sound quality fails in comparison to my Sound Devices 702T (my sound effects recorder of choice), although it hardly falls into the "Entry Level" category.

I love my 702. Don't have a single complaint about it. Amazing recorder, great battery life, extremely easy to use and very flexible, with an amazingly in-depth menu. Doesn't provide bias power for lavs though, so you either need to go wireless on the lav (which I'd usually do anyways) or get a dedicated power supply for the lav. I do all of my effects recording on a 702 or a Zaxcom Deva V (if I'm doing a large session with tons of mics).

The Sony PCM-D50 is great too, but again, no XLR connectivity. Of course you can adapt, but it just doesn't ever work out too well... Decent sounding recorder though. I'm of the opinion that the mics built in sound a little better than the Zoom's mics, but then again, they should, because its $150 more.

I had a Korg MR-1 for a while. It sounded amazing, when it worked. I went through 3 of them (all replaced for free). They liked dying on me. I haven't heard that from anyone else though, so maybe I just had some bad luck. In general, I'm a fan of DSD (1-bit) recording, but it's not widely supported, so ended up being more of a hassle than anything. It's a great sounding recorder, but again, I had to use adapters to be able to use any real mics. The thing I like about the Korg over most other portables that lack XLR jacks is that it had two balanced mono 1/8" mic inputs instead of a single unbalanced stereo mic input. Easily adaptable to XLR (no funky splitting from 1/8" stereo to dual XLR or anything). It also provided Bias power (for lavs) or 48v phantom which was nice.

My two cents :-)

EDIT: I also have one of those Olympus LS-10 recorders. Decent sound for quick recordings (the whole "crap I wish I had a recorder" thing again...). Also, freakin awesome because of how small it is and easy it is to use. Price came down a lot since I bought it. I'd say go with the Zoom over the Olympus though for the same price, unless size is a factor for you (the Zoom is fairly large for a Handheld recorder).

+1 for the Zoom H4N (for the money). Not a big fan of the H2 (with no XLR inputs and all). The H4N is a great value for the price($300). It sounds good enough on its own (great for those times when you used to say "Crap, that sound it awesome, I wish I had a recorder on me!). I love the XLR jacks too. That's the biggest selling point for me. Real XLR jacks with real phantom power. However, the sound quality fails in comparison to my Sound Devices 702T (my sound effects recorder of choice), although it hardly falls into the "Entry Level" category.

I love my 702. Don't have a single complaint about it. Amazing recorder, great battery life, extremely easy to use and very flexible, with an amazingly in-depth menu. Doesn't provide bias power for lavs though, so you either need to go wireless on the lav (which I'd usually do anyways) or get a dedicated power supply for the lav. I do all of my effects recording on a 702 or a Zaxcom Deva V (if I'm doing a large session with tons of mics).

The Sony PCM-D50 is great too, but again, no XLR connectivity. Of course you can adapt, but it just doesn't ever work out too well... Decent sounding recorder though. I'm of the opinion that the mics built in sound a little better than the Zoom's mics, but then again, they should, because its $150 more.

I had a Korg MR-1 for a while. It sounded amazing, when it worked. I went through 3 of them (all replaced for free). They liked dying on me. I haven't heard that from anyone else though, so maybe I just had some bad luck. In general, I'm a fan of DSD (1-bit) recording, but it's not widely supported, so ended up being more of a hassle than anything. It's a great sounding recorder, but again, I had to use adapters to be able to use any real mics. The thing I like about the Korg over most other portables that lack XLR jacks is that it had two balanced mono 1/8" mic inputs instead of a single unbalanced stereo mic input. Easily adaptable to XLR (no funky splitting from 1/8" stereo to dual XLR or anything). It also provided Bias power (for lavs) or 48v phantom which was nice.

My two cents :-)

EDIT: I also have one of those Olympus LS-10 recorders. Decent sound for quick recordings (the whole "crap I wish I had a recorder" thing again...). Also, freakin awesome because of how small it is and easy it is to use. Price came down a lot since I bought it. I'd say go with the Zoom over the Olympus though for the same price, unless size is a factor for you (the Zoom is fairly large for a Handheld recorder).