Panasonic RR-US570 Portable 1GB IC Digital Voice Recorder

He/she has a sensitive one good and variable according to the necessity, registers the voice very well in spite of a non quiet environment, moderate clearing, when being connected to a non alone microphone is clear but friendly and not strong audio, depending on the volume of the master.

Maxell Music 32x 80 minute / 700MB CD-R Media for Audio, 30 Pack Spindle

I've recorded more than 2,000 blank CDs of music, mostly classical, from originals to copies, from LPs, cassettes, reel-to-reel tape to CD, from CD copies of one brand to CD copies on Maxell blanks using both Sony and Philips CD burners, and from downloads directly via sites and through my PC's processes. In my experience, Maxell Music CDR is the most reliable brand of music CD on the market. They consistently outperform Sony, Fujifilm and Memorex (and any other brand I've used) and give me a product I can play on my PC, my CD player, my CD player-burner and in my car CD player.

I've been doing this with music going back to the middle 1970s when I regularly recorded from radio broadcasts and my turntable to cassette and to reel to reel tape. I followed tape technology in its day and bought my first CD player in 1986. I bought a Philips CD burner in the 1990s and later bought the Sony CD burner I use today. I have recorded from a turntable and cassette originals to CD using Maxell wiht nary a slip other than an occasional fault in my burner.

My success stories with Maxell products are plentiful. I purchased a download of a Beethoven choral work about a year ago that was no longer available in any purchasable CD format other than in an expensive multi-CD collection. I downloaded it to my PC, then burned it to a Fujifilm 80 minute music-data CD. The transfer was successful but, once I played the CD, it included a lot of static that reminded me of what it used to be like playing LPs. I'd heard this before -in the waning days of my old Philips CD burner when it would not successfully transfer the music from one medium to another without some excess noise also being transferred. When I bought my new Sony CD burner and burned a new Maxell CD from my earlier CD burn, the noise was gone and I was left with a pristine original.

Most recently, I downloaded a free copy of a symphony from an online Bruckner site to my computer, then burned it onto a Memorex 80 minute music-data CD using my PC's directions for a "mastered" disk (via Windows Vista Supreme), which is supposed to be playable in any conventional CD player. Once finished, the new disk played perfectly on my home players. When I tried it in the car, however, the player wouldn't read it.

I burned this CD onto a Maxell Music blank using my CD burner and this issue is now resolved. This is just one in thousands of episodes I've had over the years using Maxell's superior product. As I understand it, the reason they work so well is because, ironically, they can record at speeds as low as 4X. Don't ask me why but it works. This is the brand to buy if you want to record music from any medium to CD.

I have used hundreds of Maxell Music CD-R media through the years without problems, and acutally prefer them to any other music CD-R's. I ordered three of these spindles in November 2009 and just began using them. Immediately I began to get music with skips making them unacceptable for use. I opened a new spindle and experienced the same problem. I was afraid that my write drive was bad, but regular (non-music) Maxell Cd's recorded music fine. As a last resort, I went to my local computer store and bought a Maxell Music 50 pack, (which differed only by having interior plastic wrap and a "Made in Taiwan" sticker on top). These work fine, as I have always experienced. I can only conclude that the discs that Amazon is selling are defective. It may be that some will work and others will not, but I do not have the time or inclination to try each one to get a correct burn. Of course the return date has expired, so I will just have to recycle them. Be forewarned!!!

Buy Maxell Music 32x 80 minute / 700MB CD-R Media for Audio, 30 Pack Spindle Now

Maxell makes a very reliable blank CD-R that can handle up to 80 minutes of music or 700 megabytes of data. Moreover, these blank CD-Rs are capable of recording data at high speeds. I have used these as data discs and discs to record audio. I almost never got a coaster. Great!

The CD-R discs are compact and easy to store. While the discs are still blank, store them in the circular case on the spindle that they came in. After your burn data or music onto them, I would recommend storing them in slim jewel cases instead of paper sleeves. It's just better protection for your CD-Rs that have anything stored on them. Don't store these discs, burnt or blank, in rooms that become very hot; this causes damage to any brand of this type of disc and you could lose data over time.

There are two caveats that many other people note about any brand of this product: when you are burning the data onto the blank disc, don't be surprised if you see that the data is burning at a rate slower than the packaging advertises. This can happen if your burner doesn't have the capacity to burn faster, or it may be a quirk. I am not a professional so I cannot be certain of precisely what causes this phenomenon; but I assure you that the extra minute or two (tops) that you wait to get your CD-R completed is worth the wait. In addition, DON'T write on these using Sharpie ink pens. The ink can seep through the top coating of the CD-R disc and slowly but surely compromise your data--and you wouldn't want that, now would you? If you need to label the discs, label its jewel case using a post-it note.

Overall, Maxell blank CD-R discs store data very reliably and I believe that an extra minute or so to burn the data onto the blank disc is well worth it just in case it doesn't actually burn at the very highest speed advertised.

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I needed the best CD-Rs available in a hurry, so I went to Walgreen's and passed up on Memorex, Sony, and another less expensive brand in favor of this golden-faced Maxell CD-R 30-count music spindle. They were all coasters, playing intermittently and then sticking. Not a usable one in the bunch.

[Amazon doesn't deliver on Saturday, or I could have waited. the 100 CD-R spindle of Verbatim discs that I had ordered from Amazon came on Monday. Immediately, I tried burning the same 60-minute music file using the same equipment for recording and playing back the file. No problems. Perhaps it could just as easily have been the other way around. Nevertheless, it's somewhat like the restaurant business. If that first meal is undercooked, etc., the customer is hesitant to return. These Maxells do have a somewhat embossed, uneven upper surface to accommodate the fancy gold and silver patterns. I'm not sure, but that tiny irregularity could be too much for some players to cope with.]

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This has nothing to do with the quality of sound that was recorded on the CDs but with the fact that half or more failed. We were sent this brand of music CDs as a substitution for the ones we ordered. It took 2 spools of 50 CDs each to get 60 CDs to burn at all. The ones that did burn played OK but we noticed what looked like a lot of flaking in the CD material itself.

Bottom line We will not use this brand again nor do we recommend it at all.

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Panasonic LM-HB94LU 9.4GB DVR Double Sided Disc

The Panasonic DVD-RAM disks have been my media of choice for 3 or 4 years now but I just recently purchased a couple of the cartridge-type disks. The advantage is that the disc is never touched by human hands nor receives scratches or nicks. The disc remains pristine. I'm very pleased with these and will probably never buy another brand. As a matter of fact, 2 of these 2-sided cartridge discs should last beyond the life of my DVR. I understand from my research that they should last 100,000 cycles of re-recording. At once a day that's 273 years! I perform a format every 20-30 recordings just to really clean them up. Highly recommended product!

These discs have normally been reliable for me, even though they do tend to make more noise in my recorder than other brands of DVD-RAM cartridges, such as EMTEC (which I can no longer find) or the Verbatim branded discs.

However, 1 of the 2 Panasonic discs that I ordered recently had been crushed on the end, prior to shipping, which prevented the shutter cover slide from closing properly. I returned it to Amazon only to receive a replacement with similar damage. Rather than return that one too, I instead took the doubled-sided disc out of the cartridge and will just use it that way.

While I can't be sure where the damage happened (at the factory or at Amazon's warehouse?), I will be avoiding the Panasonic discs for a while, unless I can see them before buying.

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A perfect replacecment for the original Panasonic double-sided disc providing all the features included in the original product. The best recording medium short of using a PVR.

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The price is better than I could find locally. There was a problem with the initial order not containing all of the ordered product but it was taken care of promptly.

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Not many people actually have a need for DVD-RAM, however, those that do, know it and the Panasonic DVD-RAM media has always proven very reliable.

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LTS LTD2316ME 16CH New Generation Advanced Level DVR

Pro: Cheap (price wise) 16 Ch, 4ch audio, PTZ and alarm support (not used) Duel HDD capable up to 4TB (2x 2TB) small light, Many output types. Every aspect is manageable via web for headless operation. Supports external drives for backup. Recorded video looks great, very smooth and sharp (live view read below). 16 ch on motion sense only uses 200 gigs a month (2TB drive). Motion sense is very easy to set up. Recording options are plenty-full and a breeze to setup. Multiple user accounts with varied permissions. iPhone app works wonderfully. Recently updated web-server now supports chrome and safari using webkit

Con: Very deep, Hard to fit in shallow cabinets. No keyboard support, Only mouse. Live view is choppy and pixelated. Video review could use some work, Not hard, But not the easiest thing to manage. You must set DST up or time stamp on video and system time will always be off and make it very hard to find events based on time.

other: I have always chosen LTS for my DVR installs. never had an issue with the 20+ setups I have done. Solid equipment, Don't let the cheap look fool you!

Bicycle Handlebar Camera & Camcorder Mount for Flip MinoHD and UltraHD , Kodak PlaySport , Sony Blo

A must for enthusiasts who roam the unknown path of cycling while capturing everything in its path....WHAT A DEVICE!

I LOVE THIS. Picture yourself riding your bike thru the trail videotaping your adventure just you'd reply it in your head but with 100% detail vivid picture and crisp sound coming from your well placed camera (I could indicate what brand and model but I'd rather not as I'm told by AMAZON) anyway it playbacks just like you were standing holding the camera with your own hands...The mount is SUPERB tool as important as my camera. I was able to film my afternoon ride like a PRO. the camera sways and turns just like I rode the bike. HANDSFREE yes and the vibration as the bike entered uneven ground was BRILLIANT like the screen tells you the earth was moving....ahh thats all I have to say as I must plan another bike video diary for tomorrow.

ps the video of my shadow casted on the ground infront of me while the sun was behind was like a major epic motion picture as i pushed the bike hard thru twists and turns...riding towards the sunset. LOVE to RIDE.

Thanks USA GEAR & AMAZON!

I was really excited to get this mount for my bike so I could take videos of the trails I ride. I tested out the mount and discovered a few things worth sharing.

The mount is very secure to the bike.

The camera, a Kodak Sport, connection however seemed to loosen as I rode. I cranked it down some more and used the knob to tighten it further. I was worried that I might have tightened it too much.

Most importantly however is that the mount transfers every bump in the sidewalk to the camera as you can see in the video. When I was on pavement it did better.

I would love to find a way to buffer the camera a bit better so it doesn't shake so much while riding

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I have wrapped handlebars on my road bike, so it was tough to find a spot on the bars where the mount would fit. I finally got it on, screwed on my Flip MinoHD and went for a ride. Love that it pivots into different angles and it stayed in place for a 20 mile ride. Not only will use this on my bike's handlebars, I can also see using it on a boom pole or mounting it elsewhere for secondary camera shots, b-roll or places where it's difficult to place a tripod.

Read Best Reviews of Bicycle Handlebar Camera & Camcorder Mount for Flip MinoHD and UltraHD , Kodak PlaySport , Sony Blo Here

I received the camera handlebar mount quickly and it meets all my expectations and then some. The clamp is easy to adjust to accomodate differant size bars and clamps extremely tight.

I mounted it to the lower crash bar on a motorcycle and it performed perfectly.

Thank you

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Worked as anticipated. It needs an area on bike that is level to be fully adjustable. Very flexable mount but not enough tilt for my application.

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Samsung DVD-M301 DVD Player

• DVD player with CD-R-compatible dual-laser diode pickup
• Convenient front-panel shuttle dial
• Component-video outputs for optimal video connection
• MP3- and CD-R-compatible decoder
• Universal joystick remote control

I have had great luck with a Samsung VCR and Samsung DVD-709 DVD Player in the past so I was loyal to my confidence in Samsung products by purchasing the Samsung DVD-M301 DVD Player. What I found out was that not all DVDs would play correctly in this machine. I had played 4 movies without any trouble and was impressed by the video display quality of this model. But when I tried to play Artisan Entertainment Studio release "Bad Boys" with actor Sean Penn it would not play the audio for this movie at all! This is not some high-tech movie either it is a basic real-life film made in 1983 with no special effects like most of the newer movies have. It displayed the video portion just fine but there was absolutely no sound during the playing of this DVD. The movie had played fine on my older Samsung DVD-709 model so I know it was not a problem with the DVD itself.

I wanted to know if it was a defective player or a product design flaw in the M301 Player so I took it to a local store who had the same model Samsung DVD-M301 Player that I could try the "Bad Boys" DVD with. Well it was the same result with the store's player also NO AUDIO! That made my mind up for me to return the Samsung DVD-M301 and I purchased a Panasonic DVD-RV31 player instead. The Panasonic plays the movie just fine audio and all. I did not feel comfortable keeping the Samsung not knowing how many other DVDs I would buy or rent that would have similar trouble.

I am writing an email to Samsung about this player and my experience and hopefully soon they will address the problem and correct it on future models. Until then BEWARE!

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This DVD Player has it all, it can play CDR VCDs, 74 mins. AudioCD, 80 mins. Audio CD (some players dont support 80mins.) Havent tried CDRW yet, The MP3 support is good but a bit buggy forwarding tracks. So if you are buying a DVD Player make sure it can play CDR and MP3 and this has it all.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung DVD-M301 DVD Player Here

First of all, a response to the reviewer who had problems with brightness and/or jumpy DVD playback: this DVD player, like all others made in the U.S., has circutry called "Macrovision" that is designed to prevent you from copying DVDs onto your VCR. The technical details are unimportant, but the result is that you cannot connect your DVD to your VCR and pass the signal through to the t.v.; instead, you'll have to connect it to the t.v. separately, using the video and audio jacks, or through an RF modulator box (you can get them at Radio Shack). Past Samsung DVD players allowed you to bypass the Macrovision protection by using certain secret codes on the remote control, but this model doesn't seem to support that.

Besdies the fact that you are prevented from setting up your entertainment center the way you want, this model does have a few other pesky features. The machine takes an unusually long time to read a disc upon insertion and recognize whether it is a music CD, mp3, or DVD and respond accordingly. Also, I've sometimes had difficulty pulling up the DVD menu while in the middle of a program.

Otherwise, the unit does a good job with the DVDs I've used, including some relatively scratched DVDs from Netflix. Audio quality with both DVDs and CDs is good, although I haven't tried it with mp3's. The remote is ok, although there are lots of tiny, somewhat badly labeled buttons and a joystick that takes some getting used to.

If you don't need the CD/mp3 features, you're better off buying an older Samsung model-the 700 and 900 series can be easily reprogrammed to turn off region coding and Macrovision. If you do want the audio features, this model supplies them at a decent price, but be prepared for some annoyances as well.

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Overall, this player gives an excellent picture with a reasonably easy to use remote. Main reason purchased was to hopefully enjoy what Sound & Vision magazine touts as the first player to be able to view any DVD in a full screen mode. Not so--any DVD in 2:35 format will not fill the screen when the "Fit" button is pushed on the remote. Symbol indicates "DVD software will not allow." I believe we are like many others who have resisted DVD's due to the widescreen only format on most DVD's. My wife would rather view full screen VHS! The M301 does represent excellent value, however. I'm keeping it!

This DVD player is flat out awesome! I've been impressed with it ever since I received it in the mail. It's great that it plays DVD's but it makes it all the more better that it's able to play mp3 files and regular CD's. I recommend this machine for anyone looking for a DVD player.

TSSS Portable 1080P Full HD Carcam Car DVR 270 Rotation super-wide angle w/8 infrared night Light E

• 140 Degree Lens. 180 Degree ging for front lens. 270 Degree rotating screen: 1080P Full HD Resolution Video, 1080P
• Smaller Size. 1/3.2' CMOS,Low Illumination. 2.0" LTPS TFT LCD. Swith between Day and Night working status.
• Li-ion Battery Built-in. Recording Video while Recharging. Support TF Card from 512M to 32GB.
• Anti-shaking Function. Cycle-Recording. Auto-recording. HDMI Out. Preview Function.
• Package Includes: 1 x Car DVR, 1 x Camera Holder, 1 x User Manual, 1 x Car Charger, 1 x HDMI Cable, 1 x USB Cable.

Well it's good other than the battery doesn't keep a charge. But as good picture if it had a longer charge it would be better.

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This is the second K5000 I've purchased from this seller. I own many inexpensive DVR's, 808's and Lighter cams made in China. The 1st K5000 has worked flawlessly for 2 months, easy to operate and the resolution is better than all the other Car DVR's under $50, so I bought another for the sedan. For under $50 and free shipping I don't expect the quality of a $200 to $500 HD handycam. I'm very satisfied with this CarCam TSSS K5000. FBA (filled by amazon) is another plus, I always look for FBA before I consider a purchase.

Swann SW231-WMX Maxi-Brite Dual-Mode Wireless / Wired Security Camera Night Vision 30ft/9m

This camera has very limited wireless use especially when you are shipped two "No 1" cameras. If you order two to be used as wireless and you hook them up to the same DVR and find they both relay images on ONE channel only, then the second camera is useless! You must have one on channel 1 and one on channel 2 if you want simultaneous viewing of both cameras.

Phoned up the manufacturerand was told I could change the channel inside the camera so we tried. As we disassembled layer after layer of tiny screws and computer boards, and lenses, we got as far as we could and NEVER found any place to change the channel option.

As wireless cameras near a wifi hotspot and wireless PC's we get very very poor reception and can not use the motion detection at all on our DVR.

My suggestion is to get the Maxi Day/Night (not the maxi brite) WIRED camera and install the wiring and not waste your time with this one.

The Maxi Day/Night (CCD) gives me almost daylight quality (in b/w after dark) well after the Maxi Brite (CMOS) goes almost too dark to view with any real clarity.

If you don't have wifi or wireless interference, this camera works MUCH better than most prepackaged wireless CMOS cameras like Eyeseeall and QSee, of which I have both to compare. They go quite black while the Swann can still make out shapes.

Luckily I have an 8-channel DVR, so I'll put the lesser cameras to use somewhere around the house and buy a few more WIRED CCD Maxi Day/Night Swanns for outside where I need the most protection.

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BulletHD Waterproof 12.0 MP 720p HD Helmet Camera with Fisheye Lens - Includes all Accessories

This camera suffers from some flaws which have rendered it unfit for purpose for me. The first being that the 1080p picture wasn't as in focus as other, singificantly lower budget 1080p helmet and dash cameras I've used. The video stabalisation feature doesn't seem to work very well at all. Don't expect it to remove a great deal of shake and expect it to do this at the expanse of the smooth flow of the video recorded (i.e. video will look jerky as if frames are being dropped or if you'd converted the frame rate on a pc or something like that). These points were enough to cause a dissapointment. However the camera saves video to a new file every 5 mins. This wouldn't be a problem for me except that there is a 3 second gap between saving one file and starting the next. This may not sound like much but you're losing over 30 seconds of an hour recording which for helmet cam application is simply unacceptable. I bought this camera to replace a cheap ebay camera which also loses 3 seconds of video (but only every 20mins) after having an incident when a car made a dangerous manoeuvre in the 3 seconds of video which were missing. That's unfortunate but moving the chances of this happening from 3 times and hour to 12 isn't really what I was going for.

On the plus side there are a lot of mounts, a spare battery and decent manual with this camera. It's just let down by optics, stablaisation and short file rotation problems.

If you think that you're always going to get missing video when files are rotated, a friend has shown me his old Drift HD which records video into a new file about ever 25 mins or so with no frame loss at all. It can be done and not tackling this issue in the firmware of a camera designed for helmet mount use is simply very very bad software design.

1st off, after having owned the contour and GoPro, I considered those 2 cameras to be the best professional HD helmet cameras on the market. The GoPro is bulky, but gives great video. The contour wasn't waterproof and for several applications I needed a waterproof, professional HD camera. So I was on the search a few months ago. I came across the BulletHD and like all other cameras, it sounded too good to be true. Not so. After I ordered the BulletHD Pro 1080, I was completely surprised how small it was. Smaller than the contour and way smaller than the ugly GoPro. The Bullethd unit is all aluminum and is very tough. It has just about every possible mounting solution available on their website and can mount to literally anything. There is no buying a waterproof housing for the unit. It is waterproof to 33 ft for snorkeling and wake boarding. It also has a built in stabilizer which no other helmet camera offers. I was able to strap it to my double horse RC helicopter and got some amazing shots of my neighborhood with its wide angle lens. I like to use the 720p at 60 frames per second for the cool slow motion shots. It is also selectable to 1080p at 30 fps. It can also take 12 mp still pics. It comes with a rechargeable battery and a spare and some basic mounts, but like I said, there are a LOT of mounts available on their website. It does have audio also which works well if you use the water resistant cap ( the one with the small hole in it). But if you use the waterproof cap, (no hole) there is no audio as this cap is used for underwater. As far as I have found, the bullet HD is the smallest HD helmet camera that offers 1080 and 720. You won't be disappointed. If you don't want to spend just under $300 for the BulletHD Pro 1080, they also offer 2 other models that shoot 720p and look almost the same, but are under $180. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube of the BulletHD, and most of them seem to be European countries. It's just now starting to get popular over here in the USA. Again, an excellent camera and as of now, I would only change the battery life to more than 2 hours.

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This camera functions fine as a waterproof camera. The problem is that it does not record audio very well. I tested it by speaking directly into the camera, both front and rear facing, and the audio was barely audible when played back. If you don't want audio, then buy this, but what is the fun of recording yourself going through class 4 rapids when you can't hear your reactions?

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This camera is not worth the money. Very glitchy. Cannot update firmware after several tries and cannot set time. Emailed the manufacturer twice with no response. After calling amazon about it they finally emailed me with a generic email that was no help so I sent back to Extreme Gadgets. Still waiting for my refund.

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Mobilespec Bluetooth Cellular Headset With Silencer RX & Built-In Digital Recorder with Up to 10 Mi

My husband asked me to find him a replacement headset he got at a truck stop. I bought this from Amazon and told him it was almost the same model. He tried it and said he loved it. I can hear him clearly when he calls home from the on the road. Good product at a great price!

This unit worked great for one month then the charger connection failed and had to be pushed and held in place to work! How can you drive and hold this piece of junk together just to get it to work? I will try to get a refund as I don't want a replacement!

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Vivitar 8400YL ViviCam 8 MP Compact System Camera with 2.4-Inch LCD Body Only (Yellow)

Just got this camera, and so far find it to be a fantastic value. I was drawn to this camera by it's price and megapixel size (of up to 8.1). This price I got it for is very competitive with similar cameras of lower 3-6 megapixel ranges (I snagged it for about ninety dollars).

But please do keep an eye on the prices because I've seen the price on this change very frequently (in a matter of minutes) and vary about $15, since I started writing this review.

Why else did I get it? I'm going on a trip to the Bahamas in August and don't want to take 35mm underwater disposable cameras with me. Airport X-ray machines can ruin the film if it's in your carry on (since most of those cameras use ISO 800 film) and that's the only luggage I plan on bringing. So I wanted to take a digital camera since I'll be snorkeling while I'm down there, as well as have it not get ruined if it fell off a kayak or it started to rain. I'm too terrified to try one of those underwater pouches for my primary camera (a Samsung S700) due to lack of reviews on the pouch-type it would require and fear that if it got ruined I'd be out my favorite camera so I've opted for this camera and so far I am SO glad I did! Vivitar seems to have fit a lot of nice features into this point & shoot camera.

But if you're looking for a professional camera, let me stop you right now and tell you to look elsewhere as this probably won't be anywhere near your expectations. This is by no means considered a professional camera. However, if you're looking for a better option than a 35mm underwater disposable... then it CERTAINLY provides better results than a 35mm film underwater point and shoot camera. I say this with experience from using those 35mm film underwater disaster cameras but from also working in a photo lab where I've seen the vast majority of what those cameras produce at water parks and the Caribbean... and the Vivitar Vivicam 8400 camera is by far so much better.

I tested it in my friends pool yesterday and it had no leaks around the gasket/closing mechanism and the pictures were surprisingly clear! I will add some sample photos to the product gallery as soon as I get some I'm willing to share with the public at-large. Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5 and that's because I'm nitpicking.

Pro's:

Water resistant up to 30 feet!

Supports an external SD memory card in up to 8GBs in size! This was great for me as I already have plenty of this type of card from my other camera. And this type card is generally inexpensive compared to other size cards. Just to give you an idea of storage capacity I put a 4gb SD card in the camera and it said I could store 1596 pictures at the highest 8.1mp setting OR 1 hour 37 minutes and 15 seconds of video! Obviously, you can do a combination of each if you switch between the modes.

Uses AA size batteries. I've been using energizer rechargeables in this and got a decent amount of life from them from STEADY non-stop use. My suggestion would be to use the photo lithium or the rechargeables as I'm sure that just like all other digital cameras on the market, that they would probably suck the life out of the cheaper basic alkalines.

Reasonably large LCD screen on the camera at 2.4 inches.

Can record photos AND video.

Comes with an adjustable wrist strap so it's easy to secure to your wrist--however, should it come off your wrist the bright yellow color of this camera makes it easy to spot to retrieve unlike the blue model.

Sinks somewhat, so you won't have to deal with too much resistance to keep it staying underwater.

Has the screw hole on the camera's base for mounting to a tripod.

When powering off the camera it clearly displays "Bye-Bye" on the LCD screen.

Easy 1 touch "Mode" button to switch between capturing still photos or video.

Lightning bolt button easily lets you change from auto-flash, flash (for all photos), or no-flash.

Can take photos with Super Fine, Fine, or Normal settings.

Although the camera is 8.1MP, you have the choice of shooting photos in the following resolutions (8M, 5M, 3M, 2M, 0.3M)-This can be great if you're limited on how much space is on your memory card.

You can adjust the white balance in Still Photo mode OR in Video mode. It defaults to "AWB" (auto white balance) but if you know how you're lighting will affect your photos you can change it between Auto, Day Light, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Cloudy.

There are 3 Color Effect options to shoot photos in: Color, Sepia and Monochrome.

There's the option of changing the exposure setting from (-2.0 to +2.0): -2.0, -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, Auto, +0.5, +1.0, +1.5, +2.0

It offers a Self Timer of either 10 seconds or 20 seconds.

Date stamp is optional.

A "Burst Snapshot" feature allows you to set up the camera to take 3 continuous images as you move the camera.

Video's are recorded in *.AVI format which are compatible with most Windows type movie-maker programs (ex: Windows Movie Maker, Corel VideoStudio, and many others)

You can change the resolution of the video recording from 640x480 or 320x240. AND change how many frames per second it records (15fps or 30fps)

You can "lock" the pictures you've taken to prevent them from being accidentally deleted.

A Rotate option allows you to rotate photos taken at a 5M resolution or lower, on the camera.

English not your primary language? No problem. There are 7 language options to choose from on the submenu: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.

You can set the light frequency from 50Hz to 60Hz.

The beep/buzzer sound on the camera isn't annoying loud, but you can disable it if you'd like.

Comes with a USB/TV-out cable so that you can play back your photos on the TV or even take photos or video's while hooked up to the TV! Just use the USB cable provided, plug the small end into the camera and then the yellow jack to your yellow jack on your TV, and then turn on the camera! (I've never had this feature before and I think this is awesome!)

Con's (and most of these are me nit-picking):

There is a very apparent shutter-lag. The image you THINK you took will freeze on the screen after hitting the shutter for a couple seconds but in actuality it captures your picture about 1-2 seconds later and the actual captured image will flash on the screen for about a 1/2 second.

It does not capture photos well at night or in dark areas.

The locking/closing mechanism on the camera for the area where the SD card and battery compartment is feels a little cheap to me. I think a better material could have been used than plastic clamp/lock. So I would advise closing and opening it with care. You have to push a small black arrow right first to release the long plastic lever, pull that lever all the way down, and then the hinge will release to open the compartment for the batteries, SD card slot, and USB connection.

Buttons on the camera seem a little stiff to press down on, this is probably due to the type of engineering required for this type of cameras purpose.

The Vivitar 8400 is a little larger and heavier than my Samsung S700.

There's no lens cap to protect it when not in use.

No separate "delete" button function. If you want to delete a picture on the camera during playback mode you have to hit the "OK/Menu" button and navigate to the delete option.

After taking a picture, there is very little delay and it disappears very shortly off the LCD screen so there's no time to check it. You have to use the playback mode.

No sound on Video recordings which I think is a bummer given that the lower grade model-though priced higher (seen here: Vivitar VIVICAM-6200W 6.0 MegaPixel Underwater Camera with 4x Digital Zoom 2.0" LCD) had the sound in its video recording option.

No regular viewfinder like on standard cameras so that you don't use up battery power with the live-view LCD screen. And the screen can be somewhat difficult to see underwater.

When switching from auto-flash, flash (for all photos), or no-flash mode using the lightning bolt sometimes it "hangs up" and gets caught switching and the screen will go blank and a blue light beside the screen will flash.

The Rotate option does not allows you to rotate photos taken at the highest 8M resolution, on the camera.

The 61 page user manual is on the CD that comes with the PhoTags software. I realize this is a greener alternative but I would've liked to have had it already pre-printed.

The Photags Express software is not compatible on Macintosh computers.

Does not come with batteries.

***UPDATED*** 09/07/2009

I just wanted to update you all on my experience with this camera in the Bahamas... and quite frankly, I think it worked out great during all 6 days of snorkeling and swimming! And would still give it 4 stars! NO LEAKS--Even after opening it every night to access the hub in the camera so I could play the pictures and video back on the TV using the video cable that comes with the camera and re-closing it! I used Energizer Lithium AA batteries in it and did not have to change them at all the whole trip. I've added a few pictures from when I went snorkeling to the customer gallery... and one of the great reasons why I still think this was better than a 35mm underwater disposable... I took some great video as well! (I'll add a compilation of video clips I shot to through a "video review" as soon as I figure out how to). However I did want to make some tips/notes for potential buyers or current users...

TIPS & NOTES:

DEFINITELY preset the white balance before entering the water or taking ANY pictures! It makes a big difference as to how your pictures and video will turn out. Do not trust the "AWB" aka "Auto White Balance" feature. I found that on sunny days that should be shot under the "daylight" white balance setting would appear blue-ish if you used the AWB setting.

YES the screen can be difficult to see underwater, HOWEVER I was able to see the screen enough on a bright sunny day where the water was pretty clear and easily switch between video and picture mode. The cloudier the water is, the harder it was to see in general and of course distinguish what was on the screen--not to mention, when the water is cloudy, you can't expect pristine pictures--that's just silly to expect that.

Do not attempt to take pictures of anything less than 3ft in front of you as you are guaranteed to get a blurry/out-of-focus picture. The fixed focus on this camera is just not designed for pictures that close. Take your picture 3ft away for a clear shot and then crop it later. The camera has digital zoom-not optical zoom so you're not going to gain any quality advantage to zooming when taking your picture vs. cropping it later. At least if you don't zoom in, if something moves you have a greater chance of still capturing it.

How to play back VIDEO in the playback mode: Once you've found your video clip on the playback screen press the shutter button like you would if you were taking a picture. This will get the video to start playing back on the screen for you. You can hit the shutter button again to stop it.

In VIDEO mode: Be sure to hold the camera steady and move it SLOWLY underwater when you're in video mode. Otherwise the video will probably make you feel sick when you play it back later as it will seem like it jumps all over the place.

Make sure you rinse the camera well with salt-free tap water after bringing it in the ocean. The salt can crystallize in parts of the camera later making it difficult to close the camera's memory card/battery hatch without risking breaking the hinge. If you close your camera gently and visually inspect the closing latch on the side to make sure it is completely down and the "#1" arrow latch is to the left, so that everything is lined up where it's supposed to be... I don't see why you'd end up with leaks.

The pinch clip on the wrist strap to tighten it around your wrist has shown some signs of rusting internally. However, it still works well at tightening.

With all that said, if you're looking for a more thorough technical review, I'm sorry--just not an area of my expertise. However the "Technical Specifications" information below is straight out of the user manual and may be of use to you.

Image Sensor:

5 Mega Pixel CMOS Sensor

Image Resolution:

8M, 5M, 3M, 2M, 0.3M

Video Resolution:

VGA 640x480 ,QVGA 320X240 at 30fps or 15fps

Monitor Display:

2.4'' TFT LCD

Capture:

Single, Continuous shot

Internal Memory:

64MB Flash

External Memory:

SD card up to 8 GB

Sensitivity:

Auto

Lens:

f=7.4mm, F=2.8

Shutter Speed:

Electronic shutter'1/20 ~ 1/6000 sec

White Balance:

Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Cloudy

Exposure control:

-2EV to +2EV in 0.5 step

Photo effect:

Color/Sepia/Monochrome

Flash:

Auto, On, Off

Digital Zoom:

8x

Self-timer:

10s/20s

File Format:

JPEG, AVI

TV out:

NTSC / PAL

Interface:

USB 1.1

PC Camera resolution:

640 x 480

System Requirements:

Windows XP, VISTA or MAC OS9 in Mass Storage mode

Battery:

2*AA Alkaline batteries

OSD Language:

English/French/German/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese/Chinese

Auto power off:

Disable, 1 min, 3 min, 5 min

Working Temperature:

0 to 40° C

Storage Temperature:

-20 to 60° C

Was a little hesitant to purchase after reading some poor reviews but thought I'd give it a shot; I just wanted an inexpensive digital camera I could take to the pool. I took about 30 photos first time out and was able to achieve results good enough to post on my blog. The reason so many reviewers get blurry shots, and the trick to taking good photos with this camera is simple (though a little annoying). There is a very long shutter lag time from when you push the button to when it takes the actual shot. However, and this is the annoying part, there is NO lag time from when you push the shutter button and when the screen freezes the image. So when you push the button the screen freezes immediately although it has yet to take the picture and you must wait for the screen to go back to live motion to know that the picture has been taken. The first couple of pictures I took I would begin to lower the camera just after the screen froze and that would be when it would actually take the picture thus making it blurry shot from my quick hand movement. So when you use this camera and want good results, push the shutter button, the screen will freeze and THEN the shot will be taken and the screen will go back to live motion. Enjoy, it's a good one, just have to get used to the long shutter lag.

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Given that the camera leaked water and died on my second day of snorkeling, I consider my 3-star rating to be extra generous. I've returned the camera for repair/replacement under the terms of the warranty.

The photos that I recovered from the 1st day were pretty good...certainly better/more convenient than using a disposable camera. The video quality is also decent, though there is no sound recording, which is fine for most underwater videography. Considering the camera's low (tempting) price, the photo & video quality were just about what I expected, if not a little better. A negative is that it is somewhat difficult to use underwater: the view screen is hard to see, and the image of the photo you just took remains on the view screen for barely a second. On land, I found some of the functions non-intuitive (such as reviewing and deleting images), and the camera sometimes "froze," requiring me to turn it off and on again to reset.

Overall, I find the ViviCam 8400 serves as a relatively inexpensive, moderate upgrade to disposable cameras. If it hadn't leaked water and died on me, I might have even give it 4 stars given the low price. I'll be interested to see if other reviewers experience issues with water leakage.

UPDATE (March 2011): My rating has steadily dropped. It was a huge hassle to get a replacement camera from Vivitar. First, they sent me an incredibly cheap NON-waterproof camera (total junk). After much pestering, I finally received a replacement. Looking past the fact that the camera leaked water, I'm surprised I was so kind in my original review of photo quality. Don't be fooled by the 8 MP specs; photos look more like they are taken with an old-school 1 MP camera and are often blurry. And that's on land! I thought I might have bought a lemon originally, but the replacement has the same problems, often freezing up...very frustrating and annoying. My new recommendation: if you want a toy for your kids, this might suffice. But if you're hoping to take nice vacation photos, look elsewhere and be willing to spend a little more. I'm looking into Intova products, which seem to combine quality at a good price.

Read Best Reviews of Vivitar 8400YL ViviCam 8 MP Compact System Camera with 2.4-Inch LCD Body Only (Yellow) Here

Please note that this is the same as the yellow Vivitar 8400, and see that the one-star reviews dominate. I saw the bad reviews, but I gambled and bought this horrible camera. What a joke. We never even got to use it, because after turning it on the screen would go grey after only a few minutes and it would freeze up couldn't even turn it off. This camera wasn't a lot of money, but we wound up on our tropical vacation with no underwater camera! Please be smarter than me, and notice that the most common ratings for this camera are for only one star. Sure a few people got one that seemed to work, but most people did not, so odds are you won't either! Don't waste your time and money, and don't risk the frustration of not getting what you need for your vacation.

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Ok so I read alot of review and I bought this camera and there are basically 3 important things you need to know.

-The First is that this is a camera that goes under water. you have to take care of the seal. I work on multi million dollar sub for a living and the one thing that is always true with anything that goes under water it's that it needs a greased seal. No matter how good your O-Ring you need to keep it from being Dry. This camera has 2 major seals that you have to take out and grease up. I recommend Dow 111 Silicon gel it's available for $16 and comes in a tube that will last for about 1-5 years of use. compared with the cost of a new camera thats dirt cheap. Alternatively you can use Vaseline or most any marine grease.

So you will want to open up the the data port on the side and remove the seal in there and set it aside. You will want to remove the the door that held the seal to get at the other seal. Simply push the hinge pin up and out of the door and set the pin and door aside. This can be done with a jewlers screw driver or a metal coat hanger. Now remove the 8 screws on the back of the camera and lift the back off of the camera. Now just remove the seal you find in this cover.

With the 2 seals out all you need to do is smear a thin film onto the seals and reassemble. you want a wet look but no clumping. You will want to repeat this with the small in the data door before ever dive, but the lager seal won't need clean and re-greased more them once every 6 months or so.

With that don't you should be leak free as long as you own the camera.

--Second you have to let it air our. This one is simple but you won't think of it on you own. When you put the camera away after a dive leave the camera open.

---Third and this one is my only complaint. This camera has a fixed focal length. That means that you have to be about 4 feet away from what ever you want to take a picture of, or it will be out of focus.

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Sony ICD-UX71 Digital Voice Recorder

I saved $$$ on this used item and received it as my expected. I got on time too. nothing wrong with this item except bottom cover was missing. This didn't matter to me.

MW09 Watch Cell Phone ~ unlocked~ Quad-band

I bought and returned this item. Since I didn't find my detailed reviews, I would like to share my opinion about this watch:

It looks bulky, and cheap (it is cheap), I thought I can use it to replace my phone when I want to go for a short walk (or if I don't to put something in my pocket). The voice of the phone speakers is not that loud, but it's ok. I was planning to use the Bluetooth headset. However, the one that came with it didn't work.. and when I used the one I had (Plantronics, which works great) the sound quality was bad and the voice kept breaking. It was also hard to keep it paired to the phone the whole time.

The UI of the watch is a bit strange, the icons they chose where difficult to understand.. but that might be something you can get used to. Didn't keep it long to test the battery life, and didn't plug it into the computer.. two problems that I heard about. I only tested it for an hour, and it didn't do what I needed it to.

The concept is good, but not the design or the implementation. I believe LG would be a better (more expensive) choice. Don't hate, I just wanted to share my actual experience.

I will admit that I bought this phone for the Geek factor and because it was time for a new phone. Just as with every single phone I have ever owned there are a few things I do not like about it, and some things I really like. First off I am the worlds number one phone forgeter, I can't leave the house without forgetting my phone and this one solves that problem because I always have a watch on.

If you are looking for a wizz bang smartphone that will do everything you want, this is not your phone, if you want to make calls and have a phone that you don't have to put in your pocket then this may be your phone. Reception is good, but you have to use some sort of headset with this phone, the internal speaker is lousy for voice, but the ringer sounds alright. I get about two days out of the battery and as others have said, it comes with two batteries but no external charger, charge time is about 3 hours. I had little problem syncing with the Bluetooth headset once I read the instructions for it syncing was a breeze. The on screen buttons are tiny, but the stylus solved that problem. The phone has some games and other software goodies on it but honestly I just wanted a phone so I just glanced at the games and the appear to be alright as time waster games go. I am still working on how to do custom ringtones and also getting a persons photo to appear when they call for that Dick Tracey effect. The phone could really use a better set of instructions for sure. It took me about three days to learn the layout of the buttons on the sides of the phone to the point where I can confidently use the phone without thinking about it, a heavy user might learn them faster. Finally there is the built in camera, I tell people that they were just showing off when they added the camera function and I don't really use it. I guess it would be good for taking quick snapshots to show off on the phone, but other than that it is not a great camera.

Overall I like the phone and wear it daily, but the final largest drawback to this phone is that it is after all a Watch/Phone/Camera so if you are going someplace where you can't have a Phone or Camera but want to know the time you will still need a watch. As I have done every time I have upgraded my phone I will be keeping my old phone as a backup, but this time I have a feeling I will need the backup phone more because I will use it when I have to wear a regular watch.

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I bought this phone both for the high geek quotient, and because my Samsung Galaxy is down to about 4.5 hours battery life, even with GPS and 4G turned off most of the time, and also doesn't get good reception in my house with Sprint service. Unfortunately, because my Galaxy isn't a SIM phone, I had to shop around for new service. I first stopped into Radio Shack and said "SIM me up Scotty and flashed my new watch phone. One kid didn't get it at all, even after I translated to English. The other one did, but said I should go to T-Mobile because he didn't think they'd charge me for the SIM.

The T-Mobile guy was enthusiastic and hooked me up with a SIM and asked me for details, because he had to have one. I could have sold 4 or 5 over the last couple of months, just from people fascinated by me talking into my watch.

I had no problem hooking it up to my car(s) bluetooth and my pendant bluetooth with stereo ear buds that I wear for riding my motorcycle or listening to MP3s from the 8 GB microSD card I threw in the phone. The reception is great, even in the basement of my house and the battery lasts for 2-4 days at a time. [I'm trying to run it all the way down between charges in case it has a memory.] It did come with a spare battery, that I haven't even cracked out of the box yet.

Overall, I like this phone a lot, although I agree with previous negatives that the screen icons are not intuitive and take some learning and it's clunky enough to remind me of some of the second generation phones I carried around in the early 80s.

I'll probably stay with the watch phone concept, although I might upgrade next round to a more "dressy" one....maybe with FM, GPS and 4G while I'm at it;)

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I got one for my friend, and one for me. I`m just gonna start off by saying this: It has a lot of annoying features!

When I recieved it, I was so excited to try it out that I just couldn`t wait. I put in the charger and turned it on... Apparently, it gives out this monotone jingle when you turn it on... Further on, you can`t turn the screen off without turning the whole thing off, you have to wait a minute for the screen to go black... And when you do turn it off or run out of battery (which actually happens quite frequently...) the time and date resets to 00:01. My friend pointed out that when you type, you have to aim in, and you usually miss... The screen is not a touch screen... It`s more like a "press"-screen, and the battery makes the phone more of a box than a small watch-screen...

Feel like I have to say something nice about the product... Well, it comes with a bluetooth device... (Which both me and my friend failed to use because neighter of our phones can connect to the device.) It`s got a camera (But not enough memory to store half a song or more than 1 picture from my computer.

If you are thinking about buying a touch phone, don`t go for this one!

You can`t send a message because it takes litterally 5 minutes for a short message, only half of the messages sent are recieved...

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very cool lil watch< its crazy when ppl ask me are you talking to through ur watch to sumbody and i tell them that is correct and there faces look like there in shock, the first thing they say is i want one to haha :). But like i said its a very cool lil item that will keep you busy mine works just as described other then the texting layout being small but other then that it does what it suppose to do, so if your into inspector gadget, jame bond type of electronics this definitely sumthing you might want to have remember it can also be warn as a reg watch these watches have style and makes a head turn everytime sumbody see me on it and always have a millon & one questions for to answer...so yeah its a pretty cool item i have a few myself cause i like to change up on my watches...so dont wait order you one now why there in stock...Good luck and hope other ppl enjoy theres as im still enjoying mine.....

TDK Life On Record Music CDR 52x, 50 Pack Spindle

I totally agree with David's review. These Music CD-R's are the best. Out of all the recording I do, I've only had a few defective discs. I use these CD-R's with the computer and my TDK Recorder, which is hooked up to my stereo system, making transfer from vinyl, cassette and audio from video and DVD really easy. Other brands do not always work properly with the TDK Recorder, and sometimes do not work properly when recording via the computer's CD Writer.

Some of the benefits I like with the TDK Music CD-R's: The under side of the disc is silver, not blue. The top side of the discs (the white ones) are perfect for affixing CD Labels.

The problem is, TDK Music CD-R's are becomming harder and harder to find at your local stores, and even online. Visiting the TDK website, they only carry the Music CD-R's in 10 packs. Why?! TDK is a well known brand name here in the States. Why can't this product be easily found?

I always purchase in bulk (usually by 100 pack spindles). I urge anyone, that is searching for TDK Music CD-R's to buy up in bulk. Before you know it, they won't be found anywhere.

I own a high-end CD burner and these TDK discs are the only ones by a major manufacturer that I have never had trouble with. Can't say the same for Maxell or (especially) Memorex.

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I am a DJ, doing a lot of recording from Vinyl, burning my own CD-Rs etc. I also happen to have some relatively old CD players (like the Pioneer CDJ-700). These TDKs are the best CD-Rs I have found for both recording and playback. I have never had a single one go bad during recording. And they are THE ONLY ones that never skip or jump even on my older CD players (the other ones were the blue Verbatims that apparently disappeared a few years ago). I feel 100% confident when I DJ using these CD-Rs! When it comes to looks, their all-white surface is perfect for affixing labels (like another reviewer pointed out). Unfortunately I will agree with that same reviewer that they are getting harder & harder to find. I just hope they don't discontinue them!

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The new TDK Music CD-Rs no longer work in my Pro CD recorder.I've never had a problem with TDK Music CD-Rs in the past but I've tried several spindles of the new CD-Rs with the new labels and packaging and they have been nothing but problems.I have contacted TDK several times about it but no reply!

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When the package arrived and I took the CD's out,I didn't see any record speed on the cd's or the package,so I was concerned.I have a Philips CDR775 dual tray recorder/player and haven't been able to make any recordings lately.I kept getting "OPC ERRORS".I put the first of these discs in the tray and expected to see another OPC ERROR,but the player accepted it right away! I've made three recordings in a row with no problem.I'm convinced that my player is fine.I just haven't found any newer discs it'll accept,not even the new white label TDK 32x CD-R's.

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Refurbished Olympus DS-40 Digital Voice Recorder - DS40 with Stereo Microphone

I've used a DS-30 for several years and loved it, and the DS-40 was just an upgrade. I use it to record dictation, group discussions, and presentations. It handles all three types very well with the included stereo mic. Transfers recordings to a Mac with no trouble: Use Flip4Mac to convert them, and edit using Audacity. Haven't yet tried creating an MP3 from the recordings.

This unit was "refurbished" but I couldn't tell it wasn't new.

The interesting question is comparing the DS-40 to my iPhone as an audio recorder.

Pros of using iPhone with the Dictamus app compared to DS-40:

-I always have it with me.

-Very easy to start recording. Can stop and restart recording, even after doing a different recording.

-Sound quality is fine with dictation and small group discussion

-Looks like I can edit right on the phone, but I haven't tried it yet.

Cons of using iPhone as recorder:

-More complicated transferring audio recordings to my laptop, where they end up in iTunes.

-Lower sound quality for large group recordings.

-If I'm using it for recording, I can't be using it for other things at the same time, such as emails or texting. However, incoming phone calls put Dictamus on hold till the call is finished.

For now, I love my DS-40, but the time could come when the iPhone replaces both it and a digital camera.

UPDATE. It worked for 1 year, then stopped. Won't turn on. No idea why. My older DS-30 still works find.

mvh

Sony Portable 1-Piece AM/FM/CD Cassette Boombox (CFDS26)

• CD-R/RW playback compatibility allows playing all compact discs recorded on personal computer or audio component CD recording units
• Digital Synthesized AM/FM Stereo Tuner provides the most accurate drift-free tuning of AM and FM radio stations
• 10-Key direct input for CD/tuner operation provides convenient, one-button access to preset AM/FM stations or tracks of CD player
• 30-Station Memory Presets (10AM/20FM) uses electronic settings for easy one-button tuning of your preset stations
• Mega Bass port speaker design integrates common cavity speaker with front firing bass duct

Had this for 7 years use it everyday. Has been dropped. Covered in sawdust. Played thousands of CDs and tapes. Yeah its old school. But ill buy it again.

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I've had this particular model for at least 4 years. It produces a very warm, rich sound.CDs on this thing sound almost as good as records! The tape deck still works too.

Read Best Reviews of Sony Portable 1-Piece AM/FM/CD Cassette Boombox (CFDS26) Here

stop playing CD. radio and cassette works though. Forget if they have warranty. Should have kept the receipt carefully.

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I am very pleased with this product's sound quality, usability, features and appearance.

Audio Technica ATR-55 Condenser Shotgun Microphone

• 2 condenser microphones in one
• Normal for close- and medium- distance recording, Tele for long-distance pickup
• Integrated 3ft. cable terminated with 3.5mm mini plug
• Designed for video use
• Camera-mount, pistol-grip/mike stand clamp, foam windscreen, battery and 1/4 phone plug adapter included

I recently purchased this microphone, hoping to improve the audio picked up by my Canon GL1's built-in microphone. The price was good, the reviews seemed to lean a little more on the positive side, so I decided to bite. I assumed quality of the audio would be better, that it would filter out surrounding noise more efficiently, and that it would make my videos sound more professional. It also may be of note, that I planned on using this mic with a lot of handheld camera work, which you may or may not do. Well, it seemed to offer little to no performance upgrade from the camera's mic. To be fair though, the GL1 doesn't offer a lot of control over audio levels, so your milage may vary.

CONS:

-This microphone will pick up camera noise if mounted on the camera. The included shoe accessory to mount on your camera is absolutely useless if you want clean audio. I recommend using a shock mount if you have one (or better yet, a seperate mic stand).

-Despite the fact it can be mounted to the camera, it is in no way made for handheld work. The slightest bump of the camera or mic, will register as a loud thud in recorded audio. Using the zoom on certain cameras will be out of the question because it picks zoom motor noise and the sound of you pressing the buttons.

-Normal mode makes the audio sound compressed and unnatural compared to my camera's microphone.

-Tele mode does amplify the incoming audio significantly, but unfortunately doesn't filter out much of the noise that a directional microphone should.

-Not a professional level mic, by any means. If you have a $1000+ camera, this will be the weak link in your production. The Mic built into your prosumer (not consumer) camera probably works better.

PROS:

-Slightly more directional than my camera's microphone.

-Tele mode works well if your trying to capture the sounds of something further away than your camera mic would normally pick up. But be prepared to clean up audio in post to get rid of possibly unwanted ambient noise.

-The mic makes voices sound a bit clearer, but only in close range (no more than 10 feet away).

-An improvement if you have a very poor quality mic, or no mic at all.

-The simple fact that the mic is not attached to your camera means that you can place the mic close to your subject, even if you can't get the camera close. You'll need an extra long cable, of course. Make sure to place the cable in an area where it will not be bumped, because the cord can pic up reverberations if it's disturbed.

If I could do it again, I would have saved a bit more money to get a nicer mic in the $100-$200 range. This mic is really designed for amateur use only, as it sounds nowhere near broadcast quality. If your looking for a good mic to mount on the camera for handheld work, a nicer XLR mic would be a better bet. If I would have thought about it, I would have checked Youtube before I bought the mic, as there are many tests using this mic vs. other video mics. I would recommend trying that site to hear actual audio tests of this mic, and various other mics that Amazon sellsbefore you make a purchase. Also note, that this is a mono mic, so you'll need a mono to stereo adaptor if you'd like to hear this mic in both L&R channels.

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I've rented the high end gear before (Seinheiser shotgun with full zeppelin setup) and I've got to say that this little mic is an odd little option that I like having in my bag of tricks for shooting movies.

It is VERY easy to use. I love the tonality in the 'standard' mode, though the range is quite low when compared to other high end mics. So, as a 'shotgun', the standard mode is pretty useless. However, it delivers a very rich and engaging tone and I find myself using this mic in 'standard' mode very often for regular vocal performances.

The 'tele' mode definitely extends the range...Quite a bit further than the high end mics in fact. The problem is that the overall sound can become a little thin. It definitely doesn't have the same warm quality as the standard mode. However, if you can't get a boom in close enough (and you don't have LAV's), the telescopic mode can really get you out of a jam.

Standard mode = great sound with good directionality, but poor range.

Tele mode = thin sound, good directionality, very good range.

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This is a great microphone. I bought it and tested all functions the same day. I am shooting some non-budget short movies and it comes in very handy. Very clean sound. Deep base and crisp high tone. The price is outstanding, I feel like I'm ripping off Audio-Technica. What a steal! I don't see any reason not giving it 5 stars. It does what it promises for so little money. My only wish is that the cable would be a little longer, but then it would loose on quality, because it's not an XLR connector. Who cares though, most camcorders don't come with XLR anyway (not mine). I say buy it, you won't regret it. It's gold for peanuts.

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While this microphone does give you decent sound quality and performance for a good price, they aren't built very well and don't last long. In September '06 I purchased ten of these microphones for teachers to use in their classroom with students. It's now May, and all but two have failed.

The problem is that the wire used for these is so thin and delicate that it breaks after only a few months of normal use/handling (rough use cuts that down to a few weeks). What's more, most electronics repair shops refuse to repair these because of the poor quality of the materials used. Azden makes a similar microphone for a few more dollars. I've had better luck with it, even though it appears to be made of only slightly better materials. As these break, I'm replacing them with the Azden SGM-X (about $110 new). So far, so good.

I tried to be as frugal as reasonably possible in my video spending (Canon ZR 800 cameras are doing OK so far...) but it appears that a decent shotgun microphone that you can expect to last for more than a year starts at around $110. Best of luck; not an expert in this area, so would appreciate any advice from those "in the know" for good mics to use with younger students. THX

If you can afford the Sennheiser MKE300 for about $170, buy it! (If money's tight and you're smart you'll get a cheaper camcorder and then get the better mic instead). The ATR-55, however, is a decent mic not great, but good, and a good value for the money. It's a bit long for smaller camcorders so be careful. Still, I've not found anything better in this price range.

Dahua 4 Channel Full D1 Standalone DVR SAX0410HRS

I'm using this DVR for recording surveillance around the outside of my house and it does what it's supposed to. I have not yet tested the networking function, but I will update the review once I'm able to.

The unit records up to D1 on all 4 channels simultaneously and it looks good. It doesn't say that in the description that it's all 4 channels at once, so that's important to note. Although I can't recognize license plates from 15 feet away or so with this unit/camera combo, that's probably more a function of the camera (even at 700 TVL...). I'm not using the audio input but there's one channel for that. All inputs are BNC connectors. Network connection is RJ-45 and there is a USB port on the front and one on the back. My mouse doesn't work on the backside (probably for another external HD? That shouldn't matter...) but it works on the front, so that's not an issue. There are also alarm and PTZ camera inputs, but I'm not using those.

It has VGA, HDMI, and BNC video outputs. I've used the HDMI out and it looks good. For day-to-day monitoring I'm using the VGA output to a computer monitor so it's fine. The resolution is almost as good as HD from VGA; you just won't get any sound from it. Not sure if the HDMI will transmit audio on this unit or not as it does have a separate audio BNC output. Something to consider as the manual on this thing is decent, but not very in-depth.

Viewing the cameras is straightforward. All 4 channels can be viewed at once with split-screen or just one camera at a time. It looks like you can even setup different views and save them to scroll through as you're watching. There is a zoom function for on-screen viewing real-time as well as playback, although the clarity will seriously depend on your camera.

Controls are very clunky and weird. The remote isn't laid out well or coherently at all, so I just use the mouse. SmartSearch is good as it only shows you action as it happens and you don't have to watch the whole day's worth of footage to see what you want. Stop/start and play/pause functionality during playback don't work logically. If you're watching at 2x playback, you have to finish scrolling through all the playback modes (there are 4) to get back to normal speed. By then the action on the screen is over and there really isn't a rewind button. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that on-screen without downloading the video to a USB drive to watch on a computer.

That being said, this DVR produces an encrypted video file that apparently can only be watched using the software that comes with it. I haven't yet tried this because it's a pain in the rear to install the software is shipped on a mini-disc CD so I can't put it in my iMac. Maybe there's a software download somewhere...

Overall, the video quality of this DVR is good, but I'm missing some serious user-friendly controls and a disc I can actually put in my main computer and not a laptop PC. Until I get it on the network I won't be able to fully assess its performance and I'm hoping the controls online will be more coherent than what I'm getting on-screen. The remote is basically useless, so you'll most likely need a mouse. I use a Bluetooth wireless mouse because of the unit's location and it works fine.

For the price, it's a decent buy. I'm unfamiliar with anything else in this range, but I would probably look for something more user-friendly if this one broke. This unit DOES NOT come with a HD included. Another $200 bucks or so for 2TB. If you're recording 1 or 2 channels at highest res, it looks like you can record for about 3 weeks straight possibly longer. I know at least 1-channel at D1 will get you that long. I'm only recording one camera at this point.

BestDealUSA Mini 4GB USB Hidden Spy Portable Digital Voice Recorder Flash Drive Memory

• 4GB Memory Stick + Voice Recording
• Up to 5 hours continuous recording after one charging
• 100% brand new and high quality
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• Rechargeable lithium battery, charges from USB 2.0 port (PC/Laptop)

Actually recorded 20 hours on one charge. Plan on buying more soon. Worth every penny. Recommend for anyone that needs portable recording capabilities

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At first I just need a recorder to record lectures, and I need something that is not look like a recorder at all so no one will ever notice so I picked this item because of the price also.... and when I used it I found that this thing is quite simple to use and the battery is very good also it's just a problem in the quality of your recording result. It got to many noise and it cannot record the lecture voice that spekes whitout microphone... but it still okay in my ears, at least I can catch the lecturer voice.

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I have used it and it picks up sound great. I just hold it in my hand (not covering the microphone of course). It downloads into my computer as soon as I plug it in and then I can save what is recorded on my PC. Very handy.

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This is quite a handy little deal. I like to record meetings, down load them onto my notebook, and then I can even save a spreadsheet related to the meeting notes on it, keeping everything organized together.

This is the second unit that I bought, the first was a disappointment in that it unglued itself because of the bulkiness of the battery section. I'm quite satisfied with the second one, it records voices quite clearly.

Sandisk Sansa Fuze 4GB MP3 and Video Player with FM Radio, Voice Recorder, microSD/SDHC Slot, BLACK

• Plays videos, music, photos
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Bought this to replace my other Sansa Fuze 4G MP3 Player. I was so glad to still find this model out there. My old MP3 player has been through a lot since I bought it in 2008 but is starting to get a little worn so I decided to replace it. Saw the newer Sansa Fuze + in a store and after trying it out realized it was nowhere near as good as the older version. This player is very easy to use with lots of features. Wish companies would not update or change a great and popular product.

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I bought from Amazon a SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB Video MP3 Player way back in Dec 2009. Recently, on November 21st, I bought a similar player ... Sandisk Sansa Fuze 4GB MP3 and Video Player with FM Radio etc also through Amazon and sold by iZone Deals.

It is quite useless as the volume is so low ... At full volume, I can barely hear it through the headphones. When I put it through the XMini II speaker, I have trouble hearing any sound ... the radio is similar as are all the features.

I checked "System Setting" on my old player:

it has "Date & Time, Brightness, Volume (High & Low), Reset factory Settings ... "

The recent purchase from iZone Deals has "Date and Time, Brightness, Reset Factory Setting" ... there is no volume settings in the menu hence no facility to set it to the higher level.

As such the product is quite useless and a waste of money ...

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This is an older model but beats the newer one by a mile. Easy to navigate and use. Charges in no time. Sound is wonderful.

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I bought this product as a brand new item, but when I received it, it already had music on it. New? I think not but it hasn't given me any problems (yet). All in all, it's working out for me. I plan on purchasing another one for my daughter.

This is an excellent player easy to maneuver easy to read giving it a 4 star because I had to replaced the headphones with headphones I can easily fit into my ear the one they supplied is to large for my ears other than that it's an excellent unit yes I would recommend it