15Nov Tascam DR 70d tripod mount is junk
I picked up the Tascam DR 70D a few months ago to replace my Tascam DR 60D. The DR 60D has been a great unit over the last few years and still does a decent job, but the attractive size of the new DR 70D tempted me into an upgrade.
There are a number of good upgrades to the Tascam DR 70D over the original. With the DR 70D you get individual volume controls for every channel, XLR channels for every input, a 3.5mm stereo input option for channels one and two and a better overall control layout. Menus are virtually unchanged and recording mode labels in the menu system are still as confusing as the original.
Audio quality in the Tascam DR 70D is pretty comparable if not identical to the Tascam DR 60D. Each channel features the same 64db of gain available in the DR60D, and the noise floor seems to be about the same so don’t expect much change in that department.
While the Tascam DR 70D is thinner and provides a lot of upgrades to its older brother, there are still some problems with build quality. This is actually one of the more frustrating aspects of the DR 70D design. Tascam lulls you into a false sense of security with the what appears to be a metal 1/4 20 tripod mount. While the mount is metal, it’s cheap cast pot metal. This is something that’s supposed to support a full DSLR camera and lens , yet it snapped off on me after only a few uses.
While I under understand that a device at this price point isn’t going to be as durable as a $1000+ Sound devices unit, it should be able to withstand normal use. After all, every picture you see of the Tascam DR 70D shows it under a camera, yet mine managed to break under the weight of a 5d mark III and Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 lens. While that’s a somewhat heavy combination, it shouldn’t be enough to send your camera crashing to the ground.
This piece of low grade cast metal and a bit of plastic are all that keeps your camera gear in place. It’s unfortunate that Tascam decided to go cheap on this portion of the DR 70D, This problem ends up being a black spot on what would other wise be a great little field recorder.
November 15th, 2015 at 11:46 pm
I had a similar issue with my DR-60. Inserting a 1/4×20 friction arm into the screw mount caused it to break inside the DR-60. That unit also uses cheap pot metal. Considering that Tascam intends these recorders to support a camera and lens, they obviously should have used a stronger material.
November 16th, 2015 at 12:11 am
So what’s the hack? Perhaps there’s a home made cage to to make? Also, what do you think about Tascam DR-60DmkII? I assume it’s got the same poor build quality but I assume the sound quality is still good.
November 16th, 2015 at 2:28 pm
Keep up the posts!!!!! Much more valuable than podcasts…
March 19th, 2016 at 8:17 am
Did you guys find a way to fix it? The same thing happened to me, I tried to glue it with epoxy, but didn’t work.
March 19th, 2016 at 11:11 pm
PVC Glue does an ok job. It is a big problem that Tascam has yet to address.
March 25th, 2016 at 10:24 am
Has anybody tested the new dr-701d to see if it has a better build? I abandoned mounting my dr-70d shortly after I bought it because it rocked like a boat. the new one is supposed to have a metal case and I’m wondering if it is more rigid for mounting before I continue down the Tascam road.