How to Review/Compare Voice Recorder Watch/pen

& determine what is right for you.

There are many Voice recording watches/pens on the Market. It can be frustrating and confusing trying to figure out which one would fit your needs. Some are very cheap, others more expensive. Most all claim they do a Great job of recording. In many instances, you need to not only look at what is said about the watch in the advertisement, but also what is NOT said.

Listed below are some things you should keep in mind when shopping for a Voice Recording Watch/Pen.

MP3 Player?

First, determine if you want or need the watch/pen to be an MP3 Music Player. Maybe it does not matter to you. Most Voice recording watches/pens were made, first and foremost, as an MP3 Music Player. This means that the Voice recorder was a second thought or an additional feature added to the Player. Because you have the additional functions of an MP3 Music Player assigned to the operating buttons, operating the recorder can be more complicated and require more button presses. Since they are MP3 Players with a voice recorder function, it is usually much easier to play music from the watch/pen, than make a recording.

Recording Quality

If recording quality and/or distance for recording is important to you, then you need a Recording Watch that has the Microphone located on the Outside of the watch. There are Two different types of Voice Recording watches in the Market. One with the Microphone on the outside of the watch and the other with the Mic on the inside of the watch. If the recording function of the watch is important to you, before you buy, find out where the Mic is located.

Mic on the outside

For an example of what to look for, see any of the watches we carry. Above the 12 OClock position on the watch, you will see a small black dot, or hole. This is where the Microphone is located. By having the Mic located here, it is able to pick up sounds much better. ANY voice recorder Watch on the market with the Mic on the Outside is FAR superior to one with the Mic on the inside. (ALL the watches we carry have the Mic on the outside)

Mic on the Inside of Watch

More than half of the Voice recording watches in the market have the Mic on the inside of the watch casing. In order for you to record, you must pull the USB Cap (attached by a small chain) from the watch and let it hang from the watch while you are recording. Please see the 9 OClock position on any of the watch we carry to see what the USB cap looks like. Because the Mic is on the Inside of the watch, a smaller mic is used and the sound in the recording is usually muffled as the sound must travel inside of the watch to the Mic to picked up. (Note: The USB Cap is a cover over the USB port the watch uses for connection to the Computer.) We do not and will not carry a recording watch with the Mic on the inside as the recordings are so poor, you have to just about talk into the watch to hear what was recorded.

Discreet

If you are looking at a Voice recorder watch because it is a discreet recorder, there are a couple of things you should keep in Mind. MOST have outside markings on the watch indicating Play, Record, Volume, MP3 Player etc. Look closely, some pictures make it difficult to see and few sellers tell you about this. Some have the words on the watch casing, while others have this on the dial or inside ring of dial.

Indicator Lights

Most all recording watches have an indicator light on the face of the watch, but few sellers tell you about this. During recording mode, most recording watches have a flashing light to let you know its recording; some may have a solid light showing. If the advertisement does not say it has a light showing while recording, ask about it before you buy if this is important to you. Odds are, if they do not mention being able to turn off the recording light, it has one, and you can not turn it off while recording. Yes, the light would be VERY noticeable in low light conditions. If a blinking light, more so.

Recording Rate

Look at the Recording rate indicated by the advertisement. Some will tell you how great it records, few give you any statistics. Most voice recorder watches record at 32KBPS with an Audio sample rate of 8KHz. This means the mic records up to 32 Kilobytes of data from the sound every second and sample the sound 8 times a second when dong this. The higher the KBPS, the more data of a sound is recorded and the higher sample rate or KHz the more times in a second the sound being recorded is sampled for a recording. The higher these to figures are, the more of a sound is recorded and the recorder will tend to handle a much broader range of sounds. If they do not list the recording rate, ask. Most sellers do not list the recording rate; there is a reason for this. Its easy for them to tell, all they have to do is make a recording and look at the properties tab of the recording file!

Water Proof

A decent Voice recorder watch is not water proof or watch resistant. Decent, meaning, a recorder watch with the Mic on the outside of the watch. If the Mic is on the outside, it can get wet. If you get it wet, the mic will not work. Same with any voice recorder. Although the watch its self may be water resistant, its difficult to understand why a seller of a voice recorder watch with the Mic on the outside would list this as it is, in our opinion misleading.

These are the most important issues to weed through when looking at various voice recording watches. Keep in mind; you end to get what you pay for. Although you can get a watch with voice recorder for under $40, odds are, people will look at you strangely when you talk to your watch or ask them to speak into it!

When you look at voice recorder pen, advices listed above also can be helpful to your final correct decision.