Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Tyler Kota photo
1 Level
1293 Review
37 Karma

Review on Olympus VN 4100PC Digital Voice Recorder by Tyler Kota

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Big brother of the fantastically robust VN-480PC

I had used an almost identical little brother of this recorder, the VN-480PC, very extensively for over five years and wanted to upgrade to it, the largest version of this Olympus recorder with exactly the same range of functions. While the total recording time of the VN-480PC is just under three hours at maximum "HQ" resolution, it is almost twelve hours at maximum resolution. XHQ setting. I wanted more capacity and the possibility of slightly better sound quality than the already excellent VN-480PC. Only the features that I use frequently are described in detail. 1) Easy-to-understand five-way controller for fast forward, rewind, playback and volume control, even for beginners. 2) Five separate buttons for other purposes including folder selection. n/index, display/menu, record, stop and delete. 3) Two settings - HI and LOW - for recording level adjustments - I use LOW for close range recording and HI for large rooms or even arenas. 3) USB port for downloading audio files to computer. While this works, it only uses a USB 1.1 port, making it 10 times slower than the industry standard USB 2.0. rather clunky software that comes with the recorder to do downloads. However, I rarely use the download feature, so I don't care. 4) Built-in speaker with decent sound quality, built-in microphone of excellent quality and microphone jack and headphone jack Allows the user to precisely set the recorder's auto-start time and then stops automatically - I use this daily function to record a lecture broadcast for later listening. 7) Four folders to allow the user to separate their notes to organize them better - This should come in handy for organizing interviews or lectures. Each folder can contain up to 100 entries. 8) Up to ten index marks per file. It's basically like audio file bookmarks that provide instant access to the point it's inserted and they're very handy for jumping to a specific file. Points for further study. As for the recorder itself, the interface is pretty easy to learn and the instructions are really just there to better explain some of the more advanced features that most users will never use. Also, those of you looking for CD quality stereo recordings should look elsewhere. This is a monophonic recorder designed primarily for speech, although it is excellent for that purpose. Also, anyone using the headphone jack should know that the audio comes through the left channel, but I'm fine with that as it reduces power consumption and because I'm only listening through the left channel anyway. years, for six hours of combined recording/playback time EVERY DAY! That would be incredible for a dictaphone kept in a padded box, but I carry mine with me all the time while listening to it, bump it from time to time and even I've dropped it about six times. It's an Energizer Bunny, even though I've worked with it for over 10,000 hours! This is wonderful, to say the least. This happens if I either destroy it somehow (I wonder what it would take to do that?) or lose it altogether. A final note from the manufacturer is that my particular recorder was listed here as brand new but arrived in open packaging and was damaged. I contacted the seller about a return and then (just to see if I could do it as I'm very good at repairing) very carefully took it apart. Controller, although now I am very careful with it, because the plastic pin is now loose, but the seller has already given a full refund during this period, without asking for a refund. I appreciate the honesty of the seller but I will stick to the registrar as the seller apologized for the inconvenience and refused the return. Just think of it as the cost of doing business.

Pros
  • Several competitors
Cons
  • Unreliable