EVISTR128GB Digital Voice Recorder - Audio Voice Activated Recording Device with Playback Noise Reduction - Rechargeable HD Dual MIC Dictaphone for Lectures Meetings

Very pleased with this recorder. I had never heard of the manufacturer before and nearly went for one of the well known brands at a higher price. It is very well made with a metal body which feels solid. I use mine when out to make notes. It is easy to use. Only minor glitch is when you turn record on for the first time. There is a few seconds gap before recording which caught me out the first time. I now leave this button on and use the pause control on the front. The amount of memory is huge compared to others. The display is good although may not be as neat as more expensive recorders. All in all a very good purchase.

I bought this product for one specific meeting and it worked brilliantly. The sound quality on the mike is fantastic. The product itself is built fairly well with a metal case and is happy to take a lot of punishment. It does hold other music files that you can play, but why bother you have a phone that has much better software with a graphic equaliser and an internet connection. There's very little reason to use this which leaves me feeling sad because its a really good piece of kit. One thing it doesn't seem to do is be able to record conference calls when I'm on the microphone locally and the other people are on the computer. It would be great if the software could understand two line ins.I still take it everywhere and look for opp to use it. Sometimes I talk to it in the car but then I need to convert the sound to text which of course my phone can do. These guys need to up their game to compete with smartphones, the hardware is really good though.

My history of using voice recording machines stretches back thirty years. The EVRSTR V508 is my second digital voice recorder. I believe that the shape of the machine can be described as a 'candy bar'. I like the size and weight of the machine - I find it a good size to handle and to use the controls, and a good weight (my first digital voice recorder was both too small and too lightweight for my clumsy fingers to keep a good hold). The microphone is positioned sensibly, at the top of the machine, and works entirely well (see below). On either side of the machine there are sockets: on the left for an earphone jack, and on the right for a remote microphone jack (neither supplied). On the left side, towards the bottom, there is a tiny USB socket, used both for USB recharging (a process that appears to be managed automatically) the inbuilt battery, and for communication between the device and a computer. The controls on either side of the machine are sliding switches. It is vital to remember to 'save' a recording by sliding the record switch back from the 'record' position to the 'save' position, otherwise the recording will be lost when the on/off slider switch is slid back into the off position. There is a slot for a tiny data storage 'card', and another slider switch to determine whether a recording should use internal memory or the data storage card. (When the machine is connected to a computer, both storage areas are accessible as drives F: and G:.) There is a denoise slider switch, but I am unable to comment on its effectiveness. There is a delete button, but I have not used it, preferring instead to manage the audio files using a computer. There is a 'reset' hole that would probably require a pin or needle to operate.On the front face of the machine, the control buttons are reasonably intuitive in their operation: a central run/pause button, right and left ‘next file’ (or next function) buttons, top and bottom + and - buttons (I mostly use these for varying the output volume on playback, but they have other functions in other contexts), an ‘up-one-level’ button, and a menu button. There is a small monochrome LCD screen measuring 22 x 22 mm. A small speaker occupies the bottom of the front face of the device. The size and quality of the speaker means that it is useful really only for monitoring, and not for listening, for which earphones are necessary.The only thing on the bottom/base of the machine is a pair of holes for the attachment of a lanyard (not supplied). I consider this to be essential, and I have re-employed a lanyard from a long-defunct cellphone. On the back of the machine are labels for the corresponding switches, etc.. on the two sides of the machine. This is useful, although I imagine that the labels will rub off through wear. On the other hand, I have used the machine every day for the past nine months, and the labels seem to be doing fine. The impression I have is that the machine has been very thoughtfully designed with every intention to make its use feel intuitive. The quality of appearance of the device lies somewhere between the cheap and tacky on the one hand, and the stylish executive on the other.The machine has two basic modes of operation: sound recording and playback. Technically, there is a third mode, which is navigating the menu system.The quality of sound recording can be excellent. I mostly record in the open air while out walking. Later, I use Dragon Dictate to transcribe the WAV recording into an MS Word file. The two circumstances in which the recording is poor are when the weather is windy, and when there is noise from road traffic. In contrast, on one occasion during the spring when I was outdoors dictating, there was more bird song than usual. Later, back at home, I was able to separate some of the bird song from the dictation, simply by using Audacity, and was thus able to produce an excellent bird song recording in addition to my dictation. I have no doubt, therefore, that the machine would be capable of recording a lecture (as advertised). The audio files are named according their date and time stamp, which suits me well. This naming/stamping has been entirely reliable, unlike the unreliability of the same for my first digital voice recorder. However, on first activating the machine to record, there can be an appreciable delay before that date and time stamp appears on the screen and the device is actually ready to record. The delay is no big deal to me, but I can imagine for some people (such as journalists, but probably not students) it could be of significance. I know that some people have complained that the machine does not record telephone calls, although I was not aware that it ever purported to do so. The function that I miss from my cassette (micro-, mini- and full-size) tape recorders is being able to rewind the previous ten seconds so as to catch up with the grammar of my sometimes Joycean-length sentences.I often preload the device with music, podcasts and audio books, thus enabling me to listen using earphones to audio material while I am out and about. This works well, and is simple to use. The display screen shows what is playing. I know that other people use their smart phones for this purpose, but doing so is not really an option for me. The machine can also be used to store files of other types (such as JPG files) transferred onto the device from a computer, allowing the device to be used as portable memory.In recording mode, a tiny red light (LED) is visible in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The light is steady on pause, and flashes slowly when recording. This way round feels counter-intuitive to me (recording light outside a studio / flashing light as a warning), and I regret that I have frequently become confused about which state relates to which status. There have been many occasions when, working through some demanding cognitive issue, thus dictating in brief snatches, I have managed to de-synchronise my dictating and recording, resulting in several minutes of recording only the sound of my footsteps on the road surface but none of my dictation. (My first digital voice recorder was even worse in this respect, so the EVRSTR V508 is something of an improvement.) I wish that there were a setting to be able to reverse this way round. Peering at the recording timer shown on the display screen can resolve the issue, but this usually requires the use of reading spectacles which I am unable to wear while out walking. Besides, focusing on whether the machine is paused or recording disturbs my elusive trains of thought. Further, whilst the red light is bright enough to be clearly visible while I am indoors, it is insufficiently bright to be visible when outdoors in daylight. I know that a brighter red light would consume more electricity, but still it would, for me, make the machine marginally more functional.Having an inbuilt rechargeable battery is a huge improvement over constantly juggling AAA batteries (as was the case with my first digital voice recorder). With a fully charged battery, I imagine that the recorder could last a full day before requiring a recharge. I say this because several hours of use requires only five or ten minutes of recharge. I do not know how long the rechargeable battery will last (its lifetime: the number of use/recharge cycles), and as it is not replaceable, this determines the lifespan of the machine. However, I have no sense that the use to which I have given the device to date has had much impact on the machine at all, so I am hopeful that it has many years of life left in it.Overall, I have been and continue to be satisfied with the machine, and would recommend it. Maybe a fancy executive digital voice would be even better, but at a much higher price. Therefore, the EVRSTR V508 is good value for money.

Sound quality seems fine and found it fairly quick to set up, lots of space and quick delivery. Got this for the password - which is set both when you turn on the device and when you plug into a computer - it's a good deterrent but could get around it if you had the technical know how - but that's why fully encrypted Dictaphones cost hundreds. Manual a little hard to decipher, some sentences stop abruptly!

I was expecting it to be a large device, but it was tiny and easy to use and carry. The sound quality isn't the best, but it does the job.

Bought to do timer line-in recording so that I could set a start + stop time (and daily repeat perhaps as and if required), then walk away and let the device get on with it. This thing requires you to be present at the start time in order to select a source i.e. external mike or line-in, how stupid is that?

Very happy with this purchase

Does what is says on the tin. I got this for recording DJ Sets and it works a treat. Only reason it gets 4 stars is because when recording in MP3 - the best quality/bitrate you can record at is 128 - which is kinda whack. However, if you're recording in wav - you can record at up to 1536 - which is ace.Outside of the Mp3 bitrate recording - I whole heartedly recommend this handy little device