Voice Recorder with Playback, 128GB Digital Voice Activated Recorder with Intelligent Noise Reduction, Recording Device, 4800 Hours Smart Dictaphone for Conference

I browsed around quite a bit before landing on this particular pen for my needs. I wanted something inconspicuous and discreet. This fit the bill on every count, so I decided to try it. I expected absolutely nothing, considering it was an inexpensive pen made by the usual no-name Amazon company. My expectations were happily incorrect. The sound quality is unexpectedly good. I wouldn't say it has some amazing level of "AI" (buzzword) filtration, like you would find on, say, the Audeze Maxwell (which is a ~300 USD headset), but that's to be expected on a product in this price range. If you have too much filtration, you're instead going to capture nothing, so it's a fine balancing act. I walked around in public locations, even loud stores, and surprisingly it could pick up individual conversations as long as they were more or less directed at me, with the pen clipped to my shirt. Absolutely no one even glanced twice at the actual pen. There will definitely be some noise due to handling the pen while recording with it, and bumping against it will cause noise, but it is not excessive. As far as usage, it's very simple to get up and going. Just pressing and holding the button on top will make the LED blink blue and red, and then finally blink red three times. At which point it will record. Pressing the button once pauses the recording and a red LED comes on to indicate as much. Unpausing is similarly done with one button press, and the LED shuts off. While it is recording, no LEDs are on at all. This might bother some people that want visual indication, but I like the discretion. Unpausing and pausing happens more or less instantaneously. It continues recording immediately after the red light goes off. When you take the MicroSD card out in order to look at the recordings it took, they are in some odd .wav format. I was able to get MPC-HC to play them, but regular Windows Media Player doesn't recognize the codec, at least not without a codec pack. One large surprise is that this is able to read exFAT format cards and doesn't even seem limited on the size of the card. I was able to put a 512 GB Sony MicroSD card into this device, and to my surprise it not only recognized but recorded to it. This is compared to a camera of all things that I got on here, which was limited to only 128GB cards formatted... in FAT32... Moving on to output file size, a 25.25 minute recording was approximately 35.6 MB. For my little excursion, that puts the average bitrate at approximately 23.5 KB/s. So the 512 GB card I have inserted into should store approximately 252.15 (very roughly, I likely misrounded and did not properly convert bits here and there) days of recording. A 64GB card would store about 31 days. So you could essentially keep this on for an entire month (battery allowing of course) and it would capture that entire month. Finally, the pen writes well. The replacement cartridges are very specific to this pen, so you might have issues replacing them easily, but one could likely find some ink refill kit out there, or simply take replacement leds that are longer, cut them off, and tie the plastic screw holds onto them. The pen certainly didn't have to write well, but writing well means that it will be even more inconspicuous during usage. I will update this if I encounter any QC issues such as refusing to charge, dying quickly, etc etc. I am quite fast to update and drop my rating if an issue arises. But for now, with my very limited usage, it has been excellent.

My wife wanted this for a former employer where they were doing things by the seat of their pants instead of how company policy stated. This was healthcare. It worked well enough that some people got caught with their pants down for sure. We live in a state that has single party consent. No HIPAA was violated either. Only used for conversations between employees. It picked things up better than expected, and people didn't have a clue it wasn't "just a pen". While I don't recommend to anyone to just record whatever, do what you feel you need to do. In a world that seems to be punishing good deeds, it doesn't hurt to have a little backup that can't be refuted when they try to claim they never said that or instructed it. Recording quality was a solid 4.5 of 5. It's a little tinny, but that should be expected. Size is just the same as a nice twist pen. It's a little heavier than, but expected. As long as your system can read a microSD card or with an adapter, compatibility shouldn't be an issue. Instructions are meh, but that's okay, it's a pretty simple device.

I recently purchased the ZIPCIDE 64GB Digital Voice Recorder and I couldn't be more impressed. This pen is a fantastic recording tool! I have multiple meetings daily and always attempt to take detailed notes. This pen has come to my rescue in reviewing my meetings and generating minutes or notes and actions. It looks like a standard pen (see pictures) and is comfortable to hold. I really appreciate that it comes with extra ink, which should last for over a year. The audio quality is crystal clear, picking up voices even in a crowded room. The voice-activated function is a game changer. During my meetings, it starts recording only when it detects sound, which saves so much space and reduces the need for constant recharging. It comes with 64GB of storage, which is more than enough for a week's worth of recordings. I love that it's compact, lightweight, and super easy to operate. You get everything you need to get started in the box: the pen recorder, 64 GB TF card, headphones, micro-USB cable, controller, 5 replacement refills, screwdriver, and manual. I have found this pen recorder to be truly versatile and invaluable during my daily meetings. I highly recommend it!

This Item Came With (less than what was said): YES: 1 Micro-USB cable YES: controller YES: screwdriver YES: manual*1 This did NOT come with the following: 64 GB TF card 3.5mm headphones replacement refill*5 I will say, this is a good product. Don't keep it in your pocket, though. The settings are amazing! It works very well. Easy to use. I'm giving this "package" a 2*, but the product is a 5* So, I'm going to give it a 3. I will update if the seller gives me what I PAID for.

I bought this to use at work as a news reporter, because I get tired of juggling multiple things to interviews and thought the combined function of a recorder in my pen was genius, if a bit nerdy. (my son made fun of it, saying it was totally something Dwight Schrute would use, lol) It works well, picks up sound very clearly once you figure out how to use it. The instructions that come with it are basically useless because they are written in English by a non-English-speaking person, so are not very coherent. But I fumbled around with it until I figured it out. The main drawback is it is difficult to know when it is recording, and when it is not. You have to count the times it blinks to know which function it is in, and of course have to memorize which function has how many blinks to it, so that can be a problem when you're in a hurry, or in a setting that is bright (like outdoors) I basically now use it for short interviews where, if it's not actually recording, it's not catastrophic because I have enough info in my notes. For those needing a reliable device with clear indicators as to its mode of functioning... probably better keep looking.