Customer Reviews

Olympus S713 Pearlcorder Microcassette Recorder

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The workers in my office are really used to this machine, so its the only kind I buy.

I really like that you can turn off the feature that only plays when you talk, because when that was used it cut off words.

This one also has a battery indicator light which is real nice.

I bought this unit for taking notes that would be transcribed later, replacing an ancient branded Radio Shack microcassette recorder that has problems with Cue/Review functions but works fine otherwise. After I received the "Pearlcorder," I installed fresh Duracell batteries and tried it out. I found the it recorded easily but the playback was faster than the recording making the speech rapid and higher pitched. Basically I sounded like a well known mouse or helium addict. The faster playback makes typing the notes difficult. To be sure it was a playback and not a record issue, I took tape to the Radio Shack recorder where it played back at normal speed. Further, recordings from the Radio Shack recorder also played back faster on the "Pearlcorder." Perhaps this is a "feature" but I could find no place to disable it. Also the review feature was way too fast and made finding a previous section almost impossible. While it was easy to use, it didn't work like I expected.

Updated Review. This is the best microcassette recorder I've ever owned and it's a real steal at this price. The sound quality (for dictation) is fantastic, especially at 2.4 cm/s. There's basically no motor noise at all during playback, a major problem with most microcassette recorders. Also, the S713 has an external microphone jack, something you won't find on any other microcassette recorder (as far as I know) except for the much more expensive Sony BM575 (around $170 on Amazon). That alone makes it well worth the price, but when you combine it with the recorder's amazingly clear playback, this thing is a real bargain.

Note: you'll have to get an adapter to use standard headphones and mikes with the S713. These adaptors can be bought at Radio Shack or online for a couple of dollars.

I've been using my S713 pretty heavily for almost a year now and haven't had any mechanical problems. The recorder has a pause lever that I haven't used much. Rewind and fast forward are easily accessible, though difficult to operate with one hand (there's no problem with rec/play/stop). Voice-activated recording works pretty well (Olympus calls this VCVA instead of VOR). The only minor problem I've noticed is that the volume of the playback tends to drop momentarily for about a second at the beginning of each recording (it does this whether you're using VCVA or just recording normally). Update: I think this was a tape issue rather than a problem with the recorder.

The recorder has a double-purpose switch on the left side that lets you switch between normal playback and fast playback (F.PLAY) or normal recording and voice-activated recording, depending on whether you're recording or playing back. This can be kind of confusing if you're using VCVA to record something, then forget to switch back to Normal before you play the recording back (it will play back at higher speed, which drove me nuts trying to figure out what was going on until I realized I had to switch back to Normal).

Battery life is excellent with Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries. I use the S713 for routine memos and miscellaneous note-taking off and on all day and the batteries will usually last several weeks.

The recorder has a big built-in speaker with plenty of volume. It's so loud that I usually keep it turned most of the way down. I use the S713 to record wakeup messages and play them back while I'm getting washed up in the morning. I never have any trouble hearing the thing over the sound of running water, etc. If you plug the S713 into something like the Altec Lansing iM227 Orbit portable MP3 Speaker, it really sounds good.

Microphone sensitivity: not that great. This is a good recorder for taking notes and it does a reasonable job at picking up close sources within a range of a couple of feet. If you want to record lectures, meetings, etc., you'll definitely need an external microphone (I haven't tested this myself). You can use the microphone jack for line-in recording from computers and other equipment. I haven't tested using voice-activation with line-in recordings. I'm not even sure voice activation works with an external microphone.

Overall, this is a great little machine. Highly recommended.