Unless B&H (and others) have a real sense of humor, that is a real product.

For what it's worth, B&H now shows it as in stock ( they still showed "August" this morning), so it looks like they have them in their hot little hands. I just ordered mine from them.

mikey

I've got my on order from Amazon ... Sep 8th .. I got the "package" with case, mini-tripod, headpones and stuff.

Just picked up an 8 gig mini-SD card today for it as well.

Looks like B&H has it available right now.

just ordered mine - thanks for the heads-up.

heh - order status this morning at B and H Photo shows mine has shipped !! I guess that means they really do have them in stock :-)

mikey

@brighterside, any samples/thoughts yet?

@brighterside, any samples/thoughts yet?

I think you've got me confused with someone else. I'm getting mine from Amazon. It hasn't shipped yet.

http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H1-Portable-Recorder-Accessories/dp/B003VWC83Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1282426142&sr=8-2

No, you said I've got my on order from Amazon ... Sep 8th .. I got the "package" with case, mini-tripod, headpones and stuff."

Oh, you meant to say "I've got mine on order. When you said "I got the 'package'" I took it to mean that you received it.

Sorry, my mistake.

Yeah, sorry about the typo.

Interesting about the 'package' .. it adds almost the same stuff as the standard accessory package ..at pretty much the same price .. but adds a set of headphones. We'll see what the quality of he 'phones are.

The UPS man just delivered my Zoom H1 a couple hours ago, I must admit I'm disappointed.

First, although the pictures make the device look great, it seems rather "cheaply" made of lightweight plastic. I guess I can live with that at a pricepoint of $99, but my second problem is more severe.

I can't get this guy to record at any volume at all. I set the "Auto Level" to "on", the "Rec Format" to "mp3" and placed the H1 on a small tripod about 3 feet away and talked normally. Here's what I got: http://www.jazzythedog.com/testing/audio/zoom0001.mp3 (you'll want to right-click on the link and select "Save Target As...").

I fiddled with manual levels & wav formats and could not improve the volume much. When I imported to Vegas, I could improve the quality by normalizing the audio, but it doesn't seem it should be this far out-of-whack.

Are others having the same problem? What about the other Zoom handhelds? Am I doing something wrong?

...Jerry

Is there a mic sensitivity switch?
This seems really low for a Zoom product; the H4 and H2 have some of the best levels in the business.

"Is there a mic sensitivity switch?"Not that I can find. There are "Input Level" +/- controls, but they only work when "Auto Level" is off.

...Jerry

I've used my H2 both on and off camera, since it hit the market and it doesn't have any issues like you described for the H1. Does the H1 have different field widths, depending on which way you face it?

I can't get this guy to record at any volume at all. I set the "Auto Level" to "on", the "Rec Format" to "mp3" and placed the H1 on a small tripod about 3 feet away and talked normally. Here's what I got:

I did that and opened it up in Sound Forge Audio Studio 10. Yes, the level is very low.

I fiddled with manual levels & wav formats and could not improve the volume much. When I imported to Vegas, I could improve the quality by normalizing the audio, but it doesn't seem it should be this far out-of-whack.

Why are you using "Auto Level"? What do you get with Manual? If you were recording with a desk mic .. you wouldn't be so far away .. why are you that far with this test?

I just received mine today. The "Auto Level" does seem quite anemic. In my very short tests, it sounds pretty good with the manual input level set to 100.

Steve

From memory the Zoom H4n and perhaps the H1 is a little wierd. The sensitivity in Auto is set by the manual level adjustment or some such. I'd try setting Manual to 100 then switch to Auto and see if that cures the problem.

Bob.

I don't know how the auto works in the H1. As Bob says the interaction of the H4 auto mode is a bit weird. I don't use it because the way I have set levels for forty years works just as well on the H4.

With the H4, manual 100 is nominal (unity gain), and 127 is maximum gain.

Maybe they are expecting it to be held up close to the source ? Mine is supposed to be here Friday. Hopefully you guys will have this all figured out by then :-)

mikey

@brigherside: "Why are you using "Auto Level"? "

I don't want to get into a bickering match over the merits of "Auto Level", but I do maintain if a (brand new) audio device has an "Auto Level" setting, it oughta work.

"What do you get with Manual?"

Okay, I did some further testing with the unit in Manual Mode. The results are better when I set the "Input Level" to 100 (the max setting). I guess the following are usable, but... Is this as good as it gets?

Manual, Level = 100, mp3: here
Manual, Level = 100, wav: here

"If you were recording with a desk mic .. you wouldn't be so far away .. why are you that far with this test?"

Silly me, I thought I could use this unit as described in the Zoom marketing photos:



...Jerry

@farss: "From memory the Zoom H4n and perhaps the H1 is a little wierd. The sensitivity in Auto is set by the manual level adjustment or some such. I'd try setting Manual to 100 then switch to Auto and see if that cures the problem."Good idea! And I think it helps. Still not great volume, but better: Manual to 100 then switch to Auto: here.

I think my next step is to re-format the SD card (with the Zoom H1). Doubt that this will help, but it will eliminate another variable.

...Jerry

Is this as good as it gets?

Contact Samson support and see what they say.

http://www.samsontech.com/main/misc.cfm?pageID=1