Olympus VP-10 Digital Voice Recorder

I love this little voice recorder. I primarily use it to take quick notes for myself. It is small and light so its easy to carry with you everywhere. I like that you just slide the record switch over to both turn it on and start recording, then you simply slide the switch back to stop. At the end of the day, I plug it in to the USB on my computer and listen to the recordings to add things to my to do list for the next day or archive the ones I want to save. The sound quality of the recorded voice files are excellent. The onboard speaker is weak, but good enough for quickly reviewing recordings as most of my listening is done on my computer after transferring the files. The little spring-loaded clip at the back is flimsy though. I find that it is much easier and quicker to record audio than using my mobile phone and the sound quality of the recordings is better as well. I really like that two position, slide to record switch I mentioned earlier since I never really have to look at the unit to see if I turned it on or if I started the recording. If the unit is off, just slide the switch, wait two seconds and start talking, then slide the switch back after you are done. After I'm done recording, I just let it go to sleep. I don't even bother with the power switch to turn it off. In fact, I just leave the power switch in the "hold" position. The recorder has many other features and functions that you may or may not use, but I don't really use any of them so for me the simplicity, convenience and form factor are what I love the most. Maybe its a bit pricey for my simple application, but it is a very effective tool for me. Perfect for those "Eureka" moments in the middle of the night. You don't even have to turn on your bedside light or use the VP-10's display. Its very easy start and stop it by feel alone.

For the size you can't beat the quality and ease of use. The best feature is how you turn on the recording. Its a switch and not a button. You can leave the recorder on HOLD, so no buttons or setting get changed while in your pocket. When its time to record, you just flip the record switch and it automatically turns on and start recording, if HOLD was already set, when you started the recording it remains on. The USB that is built into the device means you can download your recordings to your computer without cords. The microphones are at the top and are very sensitive. Great sound quality!

Charged it once when I got it a couple of months ago and the battery is still going, albeit I do not use it very often. I left the device in the car all winter (Canadian winters!) without any problems. No need to fiddle with on/off switch since all you have to do to start recording is push the thumb-operated button. I use it mainly to record my thoughts while driving since I can reach for the device and start recording without looking at it at all and by using one hand only. Today I decided to transfer all of my WAV files to the computer, so I was looking for a darn USB cable, only to realize that the device already had a built-in USB jack. This thing is quite amazing.

First let me say that I've only just set this up and will add more about performance once I've used it for a while. Setup was SO easy, with good directions and everything working as expected (unusual these days). I wonder if the chap who had difficulty with setup had a defective unit; I'm not nimble with electronics, but this setup was a breeze. I was delighted that this VP-10 came with a charged Ni-MH battery, so I was up and running in 10 minutes. I bought this primarily to carry around and record notes about family history for my grandbaby on the spur of the moment, so the form factor and features are perfect for this purpose. I shopped for days until I found the perfect recorder for my needs; I think this is it. As I said, I'll add more later, but I expect good reliability. I used Olympus recorders in the past, including using them for recording hundreds of hours of telephone interviews for my dissertation. I needed to trust the recorder, and Olympus never failed me. More to follow. . .

I've had the VP-10 for two months now and this is a great little recorder, producing very clear recordings (I use it on MP3 128k stereo, with 'Dictation or 'Conference' settings, but there are other options). My one grumble is the file menu button (labelled the 'OK' button) and the file menu itself. Both are quite finicky/confusing, taking quite a while to master (which I haven't completely yet). The quality of the recordings however, at least in the way I use this recorder, almost compensates for the time negotiating the file menu. UPDATE February 17th 2020: One year down the track with this unit. Still in love with it's effective simplicity in taking notes. Still have to fiddle with the file menu a bit, but as this is usually only used to erase old files, it's not a big a big issue. I keep it by me at all times! TOP TIP! Switch it off 'HOLD' if you are trying to charge the unit. It will not charge otherwise!