I second the Zoom H4 - I've had one for a while and it's great.
Simple point and shoot with built in electret mics, or XLR and 6.5mm jack inputs for external mics. Can record 4 qualities from mp3 through to 24bit/96khz. Takes up tp 8Gb SD cards.

Zoom H2 here. No XLR but the presence using it in surround mode is very nice.

I use a Marantz PMD660 (probably not in your budget) but I also have a little iRiver iFP 790 and it sounds fine and is a great little recorder for using with a lavaliere mic cuz' it fits nicely into your pocket. Any solid state recorder will sync up well.

~jr

I have an M-audio recorder, that records to CF cards, and I like it a lot.

/Ulf

Zoom H4.

Take a look at the Marantz PMD620....quality construction

I am a freelance reporter for CBC Radio (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
We use the Marantz PMD660.
Rugged and reliable.
Highly recommend this recorder.

Syncing two devices isn't that hard so long as their two clocks run at a constants speed i.e. the offset doesn't drift. The error could be in the camera or the recorder but it really doesn't matter and changing either is no guarantee that your problem will be fixed. I use an Edirol R-4. With some cameras over an hour it can be seconds out. With my EX1 it's only a couple of frames out over 1 hour.
The only rock solid way to avoid the problem is to have both devices running off the one clock but the kit to do that is way outside your budget and means cables (or RF link) between the devices which probably defeats your whole intent anyway.

Before you race out and spend money perhaps we could address why you're having so much trouble getting thing synced up. Ven when my audio has been out be seconds over the hour it seemed trvial to me to fix it with Vegas. Of course your Minidisk could have a problem with short term drift but it'd be a pity to spend money that you didn't need too.

Bob.

Zoom H2 gives amazing sound for the price IMO, but sync drifts. Easy enough to fix if you record start and end sound marks in your takes.

I am really confused. I think I've settled on buying a Zoom H4, but when I went to Amazon.com I found two devices that appear to be the same device, though they are worded differently, but they are sold for difference of $30.00. What is going on here??? I know that regardless of the different name, they are both "Digital" Recorders. Is it just funky marketing by Amazon? See below:

Zoom H4 Handy Recorder
ASIN: B000LGA2K6
Item model number: ZOO H4
Price $259.00

Zoom H4 Handy Digital Recorder
ASIN: B000ZDKTG2
Item model number: H-4
Price: $288.92

I've used the Olympus WS series (currently the WS-300) and I've been very pleased with them. They're simple, their sound is quite good and they record to WMA format which is handy for dragging straight into Vegas. They may not be as rugged as you might like, but they're so cheap, and available everywhere, so I just buy a new one every so often.

-bd

The Zoom H4 price differences don't represent "funky marketing by Amazon."

Your first link goes to a page where Amazon themselves sell it for $299 with free shipping.

Your second link goes to a page where "Midway" sells the same product as part of Amazon Marketplace, for $288.92 + about $10 shipping.

There is also another seller, "Super Deal," offering it for $268.00.

I hope you have read the buyer comments about this recorder at the first link, so you know what you get besides the cool-looking box.

Here's one more to add to the list:

Yamaha just came out with their portable digital audio recorder, the "POCKETRAK 2G." It appears to have some interesting features and it certainly is small. I have no experience with it other than seeing an ad in Electronic Musician.

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,,CNTID%25253D567101%252526CTID%25253D228500,00.html

Great luck with the Zoom H2.
Doesn't synch perfectly to camcorder -- but as noted by someone else above, that's easy to fix with usual Vegas audio-time-stretch capability.
We've used it to record the orchestra during some musical-theatre productions, while taking a patch from the soundboard for the singing voices. Then mix them together most satisfactorily, in post-production.

Yahama Pocketrak looks nice -- but for our use at least, rechargeable battery is NOT a good feature. Sometimes we're recording back-to-back shows for more than 9 hours at a stretch (reported capacity of the Pocketrak battery), and we can change the H2 batteries when needed; wouldn't want to have to stop recording because of having to recharge the battery.

The Pocketrak uses a replacable AAA Sanyo Ni-Mh Eneloop battery, it isn't a "battery pack" as such. The Pocketrack can also use an alkaline AAA battery as well.

The interesting feature of the Eneloop technology is that the batteries don't self-discharge like a conventional NiMh battery. The Eneloop batteries retain up to 90% of their charge even after a year on the shelf. They are available at Costco. Other battery manufacturers are now using the same technology.

I've had exceptional performance with the "Powerex" brand of rechargables and they now have an Eneloop-style battery. Unfortunately, this new technology doesn't yet have the same capacity as standard NiMh batteries. For example, the conventional Powerex AA NiMh battery is rated at 2700 mAh and their "Imedion" is 2100 mAh. Nevertheless, having a rechargable battery retain its charge over a long period of time is a useful thing.

http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/listCategoriesandProducts.asp?idcategory=12

You may want to take a look at:

Tascam DR1
Olympus LS10

If you have the cash and can live without mp3, the Sony D50

The Yamaha looks good, though the 2gig fixed memory could be a limitation if you are away from a computer for a long length of time. Also only does 16-bit and not 24-bit. If they release a 24-bit 8gig version I'm there...

"Yahama Pocketrak looks nice -- but for our use at least, rechargeable battery is NOT a good feature. Sometimes we're recording back-to-back shows for more than 9 hours at a stretch (reported capacity of the Pocketrak battery), and we can change the H2 batteries when needed; wouldn't want to have to stop recording because of having to recharge the battery."

It uses AAA batteries, but comes with a rechargeable battery.

John Cline:

I've use the Sony brand of the low-discharge NiMh batteries, and their AA size is rated at 2500. They're cheap, too; I think Fry's advertised them last week for about $10 for a 4-pack.

EDIT:
The Yamaha recorder looks terrific, and might be an ideal replacement for my Minidisc recorders. Would have been nice if they had a higher-bitrate mp3 option, such as 192. Also it would be nice to have replaceable flash memory. Still, it looks promising, though I haven't seen any noise measurements yet.

My progression with audio was wireless, then MiniDisc and finally iRivers.

With MiniDisc, I would sometimes get a few drifts in sync. But I've been using iRivers for about 3-4 years, and haven't had a single unit drift. Too bad they no longer make the units with external mic inputs.

With these other units that don't sync well, stretching audio is not always as simple as it seems. You can try and match up the waveforms as precisely as possible, but that may or may not produce adequate results.

The Yamaha Pocketrak looks interesting just because of its size. Personally, I use a Zoom H4, mostly to capture nat sound on location.

I have a Zoom H2. It's main advantage is its small size (deck of playing cards size) and it can also function as a microphone for small camcorders such as the Canon HV20/30. You can either set it up independently or as I have, mount it on a Delvcam DELL-XLIBR Hot Shoe Mount. The Delvcam mount allows you to isolate the H2 from the motor noise made by the Canon and other small camcorders.

On the higher end, the Sony PCM-D50 supposedly has excellent sound quality for its size, but I have only played around with one in a store, where it was for sale.

>>The Zoom H4 price differences don't represent "funky marketing >>by Amazon."

OK, poor wording on my part. Wasn't sure how to best communicate my confusion at the time...

The prices I'm seeing are still different than the ones you referenced. The one for $259.00 is sold through Amazon by "Ace Photo Digital" and has free shipping.... Not sure about the others. But it does appear that this device is sold through Amazon by a number of different vendors and prices/options.

>>I hope you have read the buyer comments about this recorder at
>>the first link, so you know what you get besides the cool-looking
>>box.

I thought the reviews all looked good, but now you have me worried and maybe I'm not looking at the same reviews since as we've said, it's listed more than once by different vendors.

Have you witnessed bad reviews on this product and/or do you have a negative opinion of this device? I don't want to jump on this if it's sub-par, etc. or that I'll regret buying in the long run. (but hey, I do have to say that the box really does "look perty" ;-) -Rick