As my Zoom Q3 button has broken yet again, I am in the market for the latest easy-to-use hand-held recorder. Even though I only use audio, I do like having the video option.

1. Could you please confirm that in the Zoom range, the Zoom Q3 HD is the latest product ? This seems to have been out for quite a while now, in technological terms.

2. Which offers the better audio quality
a) Zoom Q3; or
b) Zoom Q3 HD

3. Is there another Zoom or equivalent which will be launched imminently ?

4. If you are reading this in Sydney, where do you recommend I buy it ? Please don't say Big Music at Crows Nest. Even though it's my local store, they were very reluctant to honour my warranty the first time the button broke.

When I was looking at handheld audio recorders. Everything I looked at said the audio quality was better on the Tascam's.

Thank you Ron, I hadn't heard of Tascam before. I just looked up their product specs. The DR-05 reads up great, and the DR-07 even better. But these are just audio recorders without video functionality ?

I don't know if Tascam has come out with a handheld audio/video. Need to look for yourself.
Personally...If I used it mostly for audio. I'd want the best. It is not hard to use software to combine audio and video.

Tascam is good.

If you have an iPhone, Tascam makes a stereo mike; works both recording audio and/or video.

I have both the Q3 and Q3HD. (And the H4. I like Zoom products, can you tell? ) I do not hear any difference in the audio quality between Q3 and Q3HD, but the improvement in picture quality is (not surprisingly) substantial in the Q3HD.

I'm a big fan of the Zoom products for their all-around ease of use and versatility, but then again, I'm not an audiophile and do not consider myself a computer or technology whiz. And while it may not be "hard" to use computer software to combine audio and video, I find it to be a bit of a pain in the butt. Sometimes a big pain in the butt.

So, I think it will depend on how much a priority you place on convenience and ease of use. If you want to get the best possible sound, follow Ron's advice (and, heck, go whole hog and get separate microphones, a mixer, etc. etc...). For YouTube purposes, where everything is compressed anyway, I take a satisficing approach, and I use the Q3HD. But I use the H4 (which gives me slightly better sound than either of the Q3 units) and record in .wav format for making my annual compilation CDs.

I'm in Sydney but I bought my Zoom Q3 online - at the time I was limited by finances and I needed to find one at the lowest price I could.

Check out Myshopping.com.au and do a search for the zoom HDQ3 - you'll be able to compare prices of the local online stores.

Custard apple - the Zoom software is currently not supported in Windows 8. While there are work arounds using other packages it makes it a bit more difficult to manipulate the files on your Zoom if you have a new computer running Windows 8. The Zoom folks say they are working on new Windows 8 drivers.

Ron
I've thought more about it overnight, and I've decided I really do want a combined audio-video recorder for capturing gigs.

Chris
Thanks for your helpful advice as usual. Unfortunately I don't have an iphone as they are very expensive in this country.

Monica
You've sold me on the Zoom Q3 HD.

LimeFriday
Thanks heaps for the cool site which I've never used before. I found a very cheap $240 Zoom Q3 HD + $40 postage but it's from one of those sus Queensland non-physical stores. Even though I love their pricing, I would probably need the warranty from a physical store. These Zooms are so delicate that my button or USB chord might break in the first year.

However physical stores are charging me around $350 which I believe is too much for a product which has been on the market since 2010.

So I'm still undecided about what to do.

Bill M
Thanks for your warning. Luckily I have a macbook pro !