Panasonic RR-QR120 IC Digital Voice Recorder

Rating:
Summary: Good little recorder for the money...
Review: I purchased the Panasonic RR-QR120 on the spur of the moment at Office Max on sale for ($$$). I had done some earlier research on digital recorders, and was actually thinking of going with the Sony DW-90. Depending on your needs, that may be a better choice if you need to record, say, a classroom lecture and then download it. For short recordings, however, this fills the bill.

I work as an airport police officer and have carried a microcassette recorder for several years. They work reasonably well, but I wanted to see how a digital recorder would work. I used this recorder in the noisy airport terminal environment to record some interactions with people and was pleasantly surprised. The quality of the recording was as good or better than the microcassette recordings we make. Carried in a shirt pocket, I was able to record conversations with very good clarity. I also hooked an external microphone to the unit and taped some more. In Standard play mode, very good results. In high quality, crystal clear. In the LP mode, however, the quality is so poor as to be virtually unusable in most every application. You could dictate with the unit in LP mode, but even that has poor, distorted sound quality. Jump to SP or HQ and you get great results.
Recording time is not as long as I would have chosen had I done more research. The advertising on the package in large letters boasts 105 minutes recording time (in the basically worthless LP mode). No way you would be able to record a classroom lecture or business meeting in that mode-- you simply would not be able to understand the playback.
Thus, this is a very good recorder provided your needs do not exceed the 33+/- minutes provided in SP mode. In HQ mode, you get about 17 minutes.
Controls work well and are logically placed. The unit is very light and small and fits in a shirt pocket with ease. It has voice activated recording which will help you conserve your limited time allotment, and a host of other features I have not played with ( timer recording and playback, for instance).
It uses 2 AAA batteries-- I don't know how long they last as I have had the unit only a short time. However, I expect your battery life would be pretty good.
I copied some of the HQ and SQ recordings onto microcassette tape, simply by putting the speaker of the Panasonic recorder up near the microphone of my microcassette recorder. It made a surprisingly good quality recording and would be adequate if you needed to permanently archive a recording for later use.
In summary, if you simply need to make short recordings and want a lightweight, simple unit, this little recorder should do nicely. If you need more recording time or want to archive your recordings, go with something akin to the Sony DW-90.

Rating:
Summary: Good little recorder for the money...
Review: I purchased the Panasonic RR-QR120 on the spur of the moment at Office Max on sale for ($$$). I had done some earlier research on digital recorders, and was actually thinking of going with the Sony DW-90. Depending on your needs, that may be a better choice if you need to record, say, a classroom lecture and then download it. For short recordings, however, this fills the bill.

I work as an airport police officer and have carried a microcassette recorder for several years. They work reasonably well, but I wanted to see how a digital recorder would work. I used this recorder in the noisy airport terminal environment to record some interactions with people and was pleasantly surprised. The quality of the recording was as good or better than the microcassette recordings we make. Carried in a shirt pocket, I was able to record conversations with very good clarity. I also hooked an external microphone to the unit and taped some more. In Standard play mode, very good results. In high quality, crystal clear. In the LP mode, however, the quality is so poor as to be virtually unusable in most every application. You could dictate with the unit in LP mode, but even that has poor, distorted sound quality. Jump to SP or HQ and you get great results.
Recording time is not as long as I would have chosen had I done more research. The advertising on the package in large letters boasts 105 minutes recording time (in the basically worthless LP mode). No way you would be able to record a classroom lecture or business meeting in that mode-- you simply would not be able to understand the playback.
Thus, this is a very good recorder provided your needs do not exceed the 33+/- minutes provided in SP mode. In HQ mode, you get about 17 minutes.
Controls work well and are logically placed. The unit is very light and small and fits in a shirt pocket with ease. It has voice activated recording which will help you conserve your limited time allotment, and a host of other features I have not played with ( timer recording and playback, for instance).
It uses 2 AAA batteries-- I don't know how long they last as I have had the unit only a short time. However, I expect your battery life would be pretty good.
I copied some of the HQ and SQ recordings onto microcassette tape, simply by putting the speaker of the Panasonic recorder up near the microphone of my microcassette recorder. It made a surprisingly good quality recording and would be adequate if you needed to permanently archive a recording for later use.
In summary, if you simply need to make short recordings and want a lightweight, simple unit, this little recorder should do nicely. If you need more recording time or want to archive your recordings, go with something akin to the Sony DW-90.

Rating:
Summary: not bad, but not very durable
Review: Mine is dead after just a few months. I left it in a business attache bag which I carry around, and simply forgot about it for about 2 months. When I did remember about it and tried to turn it on, it wouldn't even turn on. Already tried to change the battery but to no avail.

That said, it was pretty good while it worked. I'd agree that the LP mode gives you a heck of a lot of distortion, and on the much better SP mode the total recording time is only 30 minutes or so. I was using it mainly to take down notes for myself while driving---shopping and to-do lists, etc.

The controls are well laid out, easy to figure out how to use it. My only gripe: I wish they'd provided four separate buttons for stop/ff/rw/play instead of one big circular one---it was not a very touch-accurate, sometimes you'd get a different function then the one you wanted.

Rating:
Summary: not bad, but not very durable
Review: Mine is dead after just a few months. I left it in a business attache bag which I carry around, and simply forgot about it for about 2 months. When I did remember about it and tried to turn it on, it wouldn't even turn on. Already tried to change the battery but to no avail.

That said, it was pretty good while it worked. I'd agree that the LP mode gives you a heck of a lot of distortion, and on the much better SP mode the total recording time is only 30 minutes or so. I was using it mainly to take down notes for myself while driving---shopping and to-do lists, etc.

The controls are well laid out, easy to figure out how to use it. My only gripe: I wish they'd provided four separate buttons for stop/ff/rw/play instead of one big circular one---it was not a very touch-accurate, sometimes you'd get a different function then the one you wanted.