I have relied on Zoom recorders of various types since the beginning of my video/audio journey.

The H1n

The H1n was a sound (eh!) investment and the first one that many make on their journey to something better. Even professionals would rather a H1n to most other non specialist sound recorder options and it is very versatile.

This mic is sensitive, but has quite high self noise (only an issue in quiet situations like studios). It is a good device to learn when or even if this matters.

The trick with this little guy is to think outside of the box. It is light enough to go into a suit pocket as a LAV recorder or even just as is. It can be mounted in odd places with screws or tape, used as a backup or even on camera. It is a little like the OSMO Pocket of the sound world.

The H5

I bought the H5 to be a “proper” interface with a pair of Lewitt 040 Match pencil condensers. It did improve my recording options and quality, even though I did not think the actual utility of the unit through for my needs at the time.

I would guess the H5 is the most popular or at least best known single pro-am Zoom or even non-Zoom unit* because it is versatile, tough and decently good at everything it does.

It is often the logical next step for those wanting to enter this space, then holds on longer than many as a decent enough answer for even seasoned pro’s. It is in a word “handy”.

An updated H5 with quieter amps and a better interface would probably be the G9II of the audio world.

The H5 added a pair XLR inputs, a lot of recording options, removable capsules and better self noise than the H1n. It is solid, reliable, has good battery life with capsules and records nice sound, but it has a fiddly menu, not the best self noise performance in it’s class, its battery life suffers* when powering condenser mics and it is too cumbersome to use with a camera rig (although I have seen plenty try!).

Capsules

For the H5, H8 and F1, I have the two X/Y capsules, the SSH-6 mid-side shotgun and the twin XLR adapter.

The XLR unit seems quieter than the ports in the H5 in both ways. They are clean, but about two notches on the dial less sensitive.

The SSH-6 keeps floating to the top of my just get-it-done list with clear and powerful pickup.

Neither of the XY capsules get much use, but they are handy to have. The XYH-6 seems to be the better of the two, the XYH-5 is reserved for on camera use with the F1.

The F1

The F1 was bought in response to the H5’s bulk being unrealistic for on camera shotgun mic work, which annoyed me with excellent the SSH-6 at hand. I bought the LAV option as it was cheaper and the second shotgun held no interest.

The F series are “field”, not “handy” recorders, meaning they put sound quality over other factors, but the F1 is a contradiction, being so small it is handier even than the H1n and it takes capsules. I am torn which is the better LAV option out of the H1n and F1, so both are capable, but for on-camera work there is no comparison.

There are some other things going on though.

The battery issues from the H5 are a thing**, but worse and the fiddly little battery cover door is a disaster. When it is not broken it was fiddly and the frustrating. When it is broken, which most do it turns out, it is “throw it against the wall” annoying.

This also highlights the lack of local service options for Zoom. They have a warranty, but outside of that you are mostly on your own.

With the need to change batteries almost every time you use it for serious work, my door being held tight by cable ties, it is something I tend to just avoid, which is a shame**.

I can’t remember the self noise figures, but I think the F1 may be as good as the H8 with capsules, or even better and with the shock mount and SSH-6, it is a very decent shotgun/mid side mic. The manual volume dial is really intuitive.

Most Zoom devices share similar controls, the manual dial is my favourite, but the menues are usually different enough to need some practice. Even terminology like the handling of “mid-side” angles is different on every unit!

The power fix is a separate 5v power dock, which does ask the question why Zoom decided to use different connection ports for their H5, H1n and F1 units? More frickin’ cables!

I could have called it quits here, but a desire to run more than four XLR mics or more than two condensers (which need power from the unit, something the XLR adapter does not offer), got me looking at the F6, AMS-24 and H8. What tipped me over was price once I had read the H8 had better amps on it’s XLR ports than he H5/6, nearly as good as the F6 and the potential of even more mics.

The H8

The H8 is a monster, although only actually a little bigger than the H6, just very differently shaped.

With adapters it can take as many as 10 XLR mics, which is a whole rock band*** and the amps for these are better than the other H series units, although the capsule performance is apparently the same as the H5 and H6 recorders. The F6 is still better (-127 compared to -124 db self noise), but not by much so the H8 is plenty and takes more mics (8 with my setup) as well as other capsules.

The one area the F6 excels in mounting directly under a camera, but with cable running all over the place, that hardly reduces clutter.

The menu is a vast improvement over the other units using a colour touch screen interface, split menus for its several different roles and better battery life (and indication) than the others. I also appreciate most features have their own switch, which sometimes makes it feel like it has fewer features.

It is an odd creature, bigger than the H5, but smaller in scale, meaning the dials are smaller, the buttons tighter and it is blacker, harder, lighter and flatter feeling than the H5. It actually feels like it is made by a different company.

It also allows access to some extra capsules, like the ambisonic VRH-8, the powered EXH-8 4x XLR/TRS addition (10 XLR’s!), the XAH-8 X/Y+A/B (which I wish it came with), making it another class of interface in several ways.

AMS-24

This one fills a hole in my kit. I cannot power condenser microphones (Lewitt LCT 240 and 040) with anything small and light weight on a video rig. The F1 and dual XLR capsule does not supply power, the H5 is bulky and lacks contact points, the H8 is even worse.

At under 200g (with batteries), this can take two powered XLR mics and feed them out to a video camera (via the headphone output or USB-C). It can connect to the rig via soft strapping, be clamped or stuck to the rig or mic bracket or put into my pocket even. It is even light enough to just “dangle” if needed. One handy setup is to strap it to a power bank.

It also has the before unrealised benefit of allowing easy control of incoming and outgoing sound with main control dials. This is especially handy with less sensitive Dynamic mics, where you can set your incoming and out going gain in better balance. The other Zooms have easy incoming control, but often output is less intuitive (menu dive in the H5).

I can even use it to remotely run a couple of mics outside of, or to the H8.

*

Like a lot of things in my kit, the Zooms are an odd mix, but they work and no single item is useless or easily improved upon.

So, what is my take after a few years and a few units?

Overall I like them which I guess is obvious by my support of their line, as they are often the most flexible and straight forward answer, but they are not perfect. I really like how they just work and I rarely feel let down by the results, but their physical design is all over the place.

The company reminds me of Fuji. They are capable of anything, but department “A” and department “X” seem to operate in their own worlds and they rarely fix known issues (like the F1’s battery door).

I get excited by the options available, like the UAC-232 or M series, F2 and F3 float recorders and the F6 field recorder amongst others, but for now I am happy enough.

Most issues are fixable because above all else, they are flexible. Most are a recorder, an interface and a mic and the more I research sound options for musicians and videographers, the more Zoom devices I tend to see.

*The H6 takes 4 XLR mics, but is just that bit bigger and sound performance is much the same. The H4n is an H5 without a removable capsule and the original H4 has H1n grade amps. The H2 is interesting, but I have done its role several ways.

**The Zoom H5 and F1’s seem to have poor battery indicators with rechargeable batts, rarely giving three bars even with fresh Eneloop pro batts (set correctly), then drop to one bar very quickly and leave you unsure from that point when they will fail (often not for a while), so you change them over and over and I do not feel like trusting them for a 1hr video recording. It can be a little like driving a car on empty, not knowing when the actual “reserve” will give out. This is fixed with external 5v power from power banks, but that is the only option and adds more complication.

***A singer and their guitar, 3-4 amps or straight connections, overheads and main drums and a spare or two and/or the whole thing from a mixer.