Olympus VN-1800 Digital Voice Recorder

This flash memory recorder records up to three hours of input. With four separate folders, you can organize your messages into distinct sections. Each folder saves up to one hundred messages, and you can transfer these files from folder to folder, or delete them as necessary, using the file management system. The LCD screen displays a variety of information including: date, time, recording time, battery status, folder indicator, recording mode indicator, alarm indicator and battery indicator. The three recording modes allows you to adjust recording time. Choose between high quality, standard or long record. Twenty custom alarms keeps you up-to-date on important dates and times. The highly sensitive microphone will detect silence and stop recording saving valuable memory space. The recorder comes with earphone and mic jacks for added versatility.

What's in the Box
Recorder, user's manual and a one year warranty.

On the outside it's a beautifully designed, stunningly gold, compact and lightweight digital voice recorder that fits perfectly in your hand. On the inside, it's packed with amazing features like the ability to record 3 hours of audio, 4 folders to store and organize messages, and up to 20 customizable alarms that can be played automatically. Put them together and the VN-1800 becomes the perfect solution for all of your recording needs, and proves that something 'little' can indeed provide something 'big'.

1 A quality device
I originally purchased this recorder to take minutes in meetings. In both HQ and SP modes, the quality of recording is very good for this purpose, assuming use of headphones when transcribing. In an outdoor setting, with people seated around a standard size folding table and holding the recorder so that it can be pointed toward the person speaking, the VCVA (voice activation) function was an excellent performer, even with a few people who mumble, and saved having to deal with blocks of silence. In LP mode, the quality of recordings is awful, but still salvageable (laborious task of playing file into computer as a wave file, then performing noise reduction on file) allows use of such files. If the time provided by SP is adequate for your purposes, this is an excellent and cost effective choice.

2 OK for personal messages, but don't try to dictate
Although this digital voice recorder's (DVR) customer- and editorial reviews are accurate, they fail to identify one important flaw!

With a DVR, (unlike audio microcassette recorders) you can NOT rewind over an erroneous word and rerecord it. If you are using the DVR to dictate, you will not be able to back up and restate anything said in error.

This is a major drawback.

3 great product
The new VN1800 from olympus is a very good product! I see it as a next generation compared to my older VN90. The most impressive differences to me are the smaller size and the better sound. There is also a fourth directory and buttons are more intuitive with the jogdial. The size is now about 3 inches versus 4 inches, allowing the VN1800 to hold in a pocket without deforming it or hurting. The sound quality in HQ mode is very crisp allowing to better recognize all kinds of sounds, even mixes of noises, voices and music. It is no longer a struggle to understand voicenotes I took in my car with ambiant city noise.

The consomation is low: i measured about 0.1mA standby, 40mA play (low volume) 30mA rec mode. So batteries must last a while
I also did a test of replacing the batteries within reasonable time (10sec) and thank god the messages were not lost.

The VN1800 will always be with me, attached to my keys with an extendable cord.
Note: sometimes under harsch frictions and pressure the tiny 'hold' button accidentally shifts and the unit starts recording. For this I simply cut off the 3 grooves of the button

4 Very useful - almost essential once you've tried it
This has good, crisp sound at the HQ setting. The full range of the mic shows on a larger speaker if you dub it from the headphone jack. The mic is very sensitive (on high) and is able to pick up sounds near and far without over-amplifying the nearer ones.

The sound quality is fair at the medium setting and almost unusable at the longest-play setting, so don't take the maximum rec time at face value with these units. I've yet to use all 45 minutes at HQ, so this is perfect for my mental note taking and to-do lists at home. People who record entire lectures or meetings might go with a pricier model and more memory unless they want to strain their hearing with the compressed modes.

There are no worries about losing data if batteries die (flash memory) and battery life appears to live up to the 33 hour rating. It's still on "full" after 4 months if that can be trusted. The ergonomics seem clever and they did their best to keep the unit tiny. I think critics of the jog-pad just need more practice!

One improvement might be a rougher gripping surface to prevent slippage. I dropped it once on a carpet from 3 feet but nothing happened. I also would like to see more than 100 messages allowed per folder (4 total folders) since I have no reason to use more than one at any given time.

5 Review Voice Recorder VN 1800 & VN 900. Does what I neeed.
Review for Voice Recorder VN 1800 and VN 900.

Pretty good machine, does basically what I need it to do !
Overall good value and functionality for the price.

Although this is not the perfect device of my dreams with all the features I would like to see
it is a good replacement for my old voice recorder...

I bought the VN 900 with advertised 90 min of recording time.
The fact is on high quality you get 22.5 minutes and that is plenty enough.
Before I had 11 minutes which I never used.
Remember this is a voice recorder to take notes and reminders that you would
otherwise put on sticky notes, not a recorder for whole meetings. If you look
for a recorder for meetings you are in fact better off with a tape recorder.
For taking notes it is great because you can do it while riding a bike, a car, on a plane,

where ever you are and want to take a note, without taking out a note pad and end up
with messy pieces of paper.
Best ideas usually come, when you least expect them so be prepared to take a note.

Record with high quality, I agree.
The use of low sensitivity on the microphone is very useful.
If low sensitiviy is used, it significantly reduces background noise.
With my old recorder I had problems understanding what I said when recording
notes on airplanes or in noisy plant setting. Not so with this unit on low sensitivity.
On high sensitivity the background noise is very disturbing.
If you talk into the mic low is you setting of choice if you want to record a whole
room then high is.
I agree that automatic voice recording does not work and so far never has on
any device I have seen. Just don't use it. If you use the machine for notes,
you won't need it.
Stop button on top is in deed confusing, but the logic is that it is right below the
record button. This takes some getting used to.
I did not find a use for the clip either but it is not in the way so who cares.

I agree that the hold button is somewhat of a nuisance.
However, if the unit is left on long enough it goes into a sleep mode by itself.
Unit works well with rechargable NiMH batteries so that it does not add to
the toxic garbage pile created by used batteries.
One hand operation is not a problem, not a problem to handle while driving.

Possible Improvements:
1. A feature I would like to see is an integrated stop watch.
2. Erasing is a pain because when you push it after the message has played
it erases the next message not the one just played. One has to be careful.
3. I would prefer if the machine stayed on the message just played
instead of jumping to the next one.
4. I would prefer if the unit would always come up with folder A instead of the last
folder that was open.
5. I would prefer to have easier access to the folders instead of having to cycle
one way through them.
6. I would prefer to always see the recorded date and time when on a message
instead of the current time. This makes it easier to know what the message
is and makes it easier to classify them.
7. I would like to just have plain alarm function for a wake-up call but it is okay
as it is, when the alarm sounds I get a message when I silence it.
8. Setting the alarm is the same problem as erasing. If you set the alarm once
the message has played you set it for the next message not for the one
you just heard.

Eberhard.