Panasonic RN505 Microcassette Rec with vas & Batt

Panasonic Consumer (RN505) MicroCassette Rec w/VAS & Batt

The Panasonic RN-505 microcassette recorder includes one-touch recording and such standard controls as cue, review, and pause. Its slim design fits in the palm of your hand. The voice-activated system and built-in condenser mic allow for easy, automatic recording, and an LED indicator lets you know that the unit is recording. Features include sound-level equalizer, equalizer indicator, silent auto stop, and tone control.

The Panasonic RN-505 runs on two AA batteries and comes with two rechargeable ni-cad batteries and a battery charger. A two-hour charge will provide up to 3.5 hours of playback time. It also comes with an AC adapter.

1 Looks Cheap,But.....
Just received the RN-505 in four days from Amazon (super service).The Micro Cassette Recorder is well built and the NiCad batteries and AC adaptor are nice accessories. The unit,for its size, is very comfortable in the palm of my hand. Easy to reach controls,but hard to read since ALL is painted silver,including the letters. And this is were I would rate it a three(3). The plastic casing, all painted in silver, gives this excellent recorder a CHEAP look. It looks like a $20.00 Micro Cassette. However,in this case,looks ARE deceiving. Although cheap looking, it is a nice piece of equipment. Highly recommend it IF looks is not the important issue.

2 Average
I've gotten a good bit of use out of this microcassette recorder. However, by no means is it something special, though I do really like the battery recharger/AC adapter. Of all of the tape recorders I've used, this is EXACTLY the same recording quality as the others. I would have given this 4 stars but then I thought about how much I paid for it and realized that it was way overpriced...of course one could argue that they all are...and I'd agree.

3 Excellent performance, confusing controls and instructions
This recorder is very small and highly sensitive. Not having experience with the newer recorders this was a surprise. The picture does not do it justice for its petite size. It measures 7/8" wide, 2-5/8" wide (including button tops) and 4-5/8" tall. This would be an easy fit for a front shirt pocket with plenty of room for extra pens.

The exterior of this recorder is plastic, not metal as the silver color might suggest. Long term use may wear off the silver color, but I haven't had mine long enough to tell. It looked a little cheaper than I expected it to. However, a metal exterior would have made it heavier and certainly more expensive.

While learning to use the recorder I found the directions left a lot to be desired. Showing how to put the batteries in and charge them may seem okay in a single graphic, but when it came to recording and playback with the multitude of settings possible they were virtually useless.

It took a number of times for me to realize that if you record using VAS (voice activated system), in order to play normal speed you have to move the middle switch from VAS/FAST PLAY to OFF. This is because this switch controls the recorder in both record and playback modes. This was not intuitive and a real no-no as far as usability. If you want to record and then replay in normal speed right away, you can't just rewind and play, you have to rewind, change this setting and then hit play. Odds are then when you go to record again, you'll forget to put it back into VAS. I don't like the way they implemented this.

I found the sound quality to be excellent for my uses which are primarily in a single average room size with little background noise and only a couple of voices. However, this recorder boasts that with the Sound Level Equalizer (SLE) setting this can be used in classrooms and larger conference type settings. I plan on trying this but haven't yet. The additional speed settings also seem a plus to play back, if you have a lot of notes to review.

I did find the VAS (voice activated system) worked real well. I'm not a slow talker and it did not clip my first words at all. It promptly stopped when speaking stopped too. Much I'm sure will depend on the volume you set. The sensitivity you set it at will most likely effect this performance.

Recorder volume uses the same volume knob that you also use to hear the playback. I found this confusing in the instructions as well. Even though the knob has no numbers the intructions give you numbers to set the volume knob at to record various sounds by. You have to guess what the range of 1-10 are based on playing with the knob.

I can't speak to how it will perform in larger room or noisier environment as I haven't tried this yet.

Having a charger and AC cable is a worthwhile addition. The batteries and charger unit add about $15 value to the unit above the recorder it self.

Since the RN305 unit is similar to this and about $28, you have to decide if the addtional Sound Level Equalizer and this battery and charger assembly add $21 more value to you. It was to me.