Voice Tracer Digital Recorder with AutoAdjust Recording

I work with Philips Medical Equipment from time to time and know there fine quality from there. When choosing a recorder for scientific purposes I had specific needs and capabilities in mind. This model's features seemed most suited to what I needed and how I'd be using it -- even compared to other brand's far more expensive and well-recommended models. Been out in the field with it for a while now and it is exceeding my expectations, all around. Plus: It is easy to use and lightweight, and the batteries hold-up and recharge quite well. Very simple File Transfer to laptop and base equipment for further analysis and sound dissection. It is a fantastic piece of field equipment at a great price.

I read the previous review and I have to agree with her there is a learning curve on this recorder. It took me about 3 days of reading before I got the hang of it. The first hurdle was the on/off switch. You have to hold the button down 3 seconds for on- hold it 3 seconds for off. I mention this because I thought the thing was broken. You can use a sim card with this and that is why I opted for this model. However you have quite a bit of internal memory without buying/putting in a sim card. For the price this does come with quite a few items. You get the recorder , you get the Philips version of the tp8(that alone would cost you 20 bucks) , usb, port, headphones and a case. Oh for some reason I could not get the manual to open on my Microsoft computer however it would open on the ipad and you can put the manual in ibooks. That is how I kept reading the instructions. The voice quality seems good to me. I do not know how it would work for college lectures with the speaker far away but it is fine for meetings and phone records.

I bought this to record phone conversations but I never got to use it. It is WAY too complicated for me (and I'm not a total dummy with computers, etc.). As other reviewers have stated, there are no instructions included in the packaging...you have to go online and print them. There is also no customer help line. A SIM card is needed which is not included. I'm sure this is a great device, but you have to be a total electronics geek to figure it out.