Zoom F1-LP field recorder
 

Has anybody seen or used one of these?
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/fie...erlavalier-mic

It looks pretty interesting, but it seems to get mixed reviews with some negative comments about build quality.

Re: Zoom F1-LP field recorder
 

Looks like a lesser version of the Tascam DR-10.

Re: Zoom F1-LP field recorder
 

I looked over the reviews for a friend a couple weeks ago, and recommended she consider the Tascam DR-10L instead. Mostly this was about the reported fragility of the Zoom.

Then I myself had a 2-voice interview last week, and used a pair of recent iPod Touch 32GB with smartphone lavs. Very much along the same lines as the Zoom or Tascam. The app was Voice Record Pro by Dayana Networks Ltd, which I’ve been using on iOS for a few years.

Offloaded via wifi to Google Drive. Synced in Premiere CC. The results were as expected, the $16 lavs don’t sound like $300, but do sound like all the other cheap lavs up to about $125. I’ve not hit post work yet beyond sync, but did listen to the original 16/48 wavs on good monitors.

They’re fine for my 1-person crew project. Coulda’ used a couple wireless lavs into a Zoom f4, but too much to manage for a very small gain!

Re: Zoom F1-LP field recorder
 

Yes, the fragility is troubling, yet at the same time it looks clunky. On the plus side, the Zoom supports stereo mic or stereo line inputs. AFAIK the DR-10L supports only a mono input, although it does record a safety track.

There are a ton of cheap lavs out there now. Some vendors are even starting to put various branding on them, so you can get what is seemingly the same mic with a handful of different brand names. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of those names will be gone and forgotten a year from now. As Shakespeare wrote, "Cheap by any other name is still cheap."