I was able to spend a day messing around the Tascam DR-05. It’s definitely built better then the Zoom H1. The controls deliver a satisfying click when pressed, and there are no loose parts. The Tascam DR-05 also has a number of features that the Zoom H1 is missing including power for an external mic, the ability to edit audio tracks, and instrument tuner. Two batteries in the DR-05 also gave me a little more battery life then the H1, although the battery life wasn’t double as I would have hoped.

I miss spoke in the video, the Zoom H1 does have a built in speaker. It’s just so small I never noticed it. Some have also glued a peace of rubber to the Zoom H1’s battery door to fix the rattle.

I don’t know if any of these features will be a must have option for filming, but if any of them are important to you, that might be a good enough reason to choose the Tascam over the Zoom. The Tascam DR-05 also includes a 2gb micro sd card as apposed to 1gb card that comes with the Zoom.

All these features make the Tascam DR-05 a better value then the Zoom H1. So why go with the H1 over the DR-05? The biggest issue is size. The Zoom H1 is almost half the size of the DR-05 which could be enough for many people to choose the H1. The other lesser issues are the microphone pickup pattern and finding a windscreen.

After running a few audio tests, I don’t think the microphone pickup pattern will cause you much of a problem. As of today, I was able to find for $23, and I’m sure in a few months some more windscreen manufactures will come along.

I don’t think most of the features on the Tascam DR-05 will be something I need or use very often. On the other hand the size of the Zoom H1 is still very handy. I think I’ll have to hold on to both for awhile longer before I can really decide which one I’ll be holding on to. I have more pictures of the two units side by side in this earlier post.

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