I run a Zoom H1N. I’ve since its purchase done two commercial recordings on it and got away with it. I record at 24bit 96khz, and I went for it because it seemed super easy. Fire it up, set the gain staging and record. And it really is that easy.
If all you want to do is just bring it out and record your slice of awesome as inspiration strikes, I recommend it.
Haha, I just recommended this one myself 
well, there you go. I record straight from my SSL SiX, though, so that’s a factor.
Internal. Apparently when recorded without headphones plugged in it would produce noise on the recording. That would be cool! Cheers
I have a Sound Devices MixPre-3. It’s great, maybe pricy but definitely worth it.
If you want proper and not trash aka zoom 
Edit: Sound devices are meant for audio/visual professionals and the price reflects that meaning it’s ridiculously overpriced.
Mine lost a mic after 6 months of gentle use.
Ouch. Very sorry to hear that.
I’ll probably try a tascam dr44wl next, as it has proprer xlr inputs.
Zoom h1n…instant booting, small, light and very good audio audio quality. And cheap too.
Hello
Can somebody recommend any Tascam recorder but a little cheaper then DR100 mkIII?
I’m thinking about replacing my ooold Zoom H2 with something new
Yep. That’s my experience, too.
Oh shi… This is brilliant, wifi for remote handling, audio streaming, file transfer etc.
A used mkii?
There should be smaller models. Check out Tascams page.
Do read the reviews for this one, in the past that device had a bunch of issues, not sure where it stands now
I’ve had both a MixPre3 and a Tascam DR-05 for similar purposes. Although the MixPre has great audio quality, it’s quite a bit more cumbersome in use. It obviously doesn’t have built in mics, so you have to carry those separately, and the form factor is designed for mounting underneath a camera so it isn’t exactly comfortable to carry around, even though it’s relatively small. The battery life is also pretty poor. For me, I rarely ended up using the MixPre due to the extra setup required.
If I were to start field recording again I’d get another handheld recorder with built in mics, like an Olympus LS-P4 or a Tascam, that doesn’t require any extra setup and is small enough to go into a pocket.
I thought Zoom was more a prosumer product…?
No worries I had a field recorder, recorded a bunch of stuff and never even bothered to chop it up to use in tracks. All in all a failed miserable journey into field recording that was nothing but a waste money
I know what you mean…the idea of field recording is so poetic and such a lovely fantasy, but the actual thing is quite tedious lol 
Last summer, we had this great thunder storm going. Lovely warm rain, distant rumbling, winds in the trees, there were waves on the river. I was like “Damn, I gotta record this”, so off I went, running around like a creative’s fool with my mic and whatnot, picking up all kinds of nature’s ambience.
Turned out shit, of course. Thunder was like a fart, rain kept crackling up around the microphone, them wind and waves sounded like a pervert breathing and it was generally just a very painful and embarassing moment.
Buut … I got a mate who went on vacation, to the white beaches in the south of Sweden. He brought a Zoom and came back with lovely recordings on feet against stone, wind in the sand, ocean waves.
That man, however, has talent. That probably helped. Not sure what I had when I ran around in the rain with my recorder. But I’m sure talent wasn’t part of it
I have a Roland R-26 - it has 6 inputs and can record all 6 at once if needed (which I think is fairly unique for a smaller device). Been great for my uses.