[EWman]

I'm looking for a portable recorder that I can use for a few different things. One would be just to throw in a bag and have to record song ideas on the fly, or to record myself practicing new songs, etc. I'm in the military so having something compact is important when I deploy.

I would also like to use it for recording live performances to sync up with video from iphone/GoPro/DSLR. I figured I could mount it somewhere to pick up FOH speakers as well as some of the ambience of the venue. Also, I may possibly use it for home recorded videos at home.

I should also note that I have a pretty nice Presonus 4 channel audio interface that I use with my Macbook Pro and I have a few decent mics....so I can use that for more serious recording at home. This would primarily be more for on the go stuff.

Here's what I'm looking at:
Zoom H1n
Tascam DR-05X

Anyone have experience with either? I could experiment and then possibly hook up an external shotgun mic if that would work better. Would it be worth stepping up to the Zoom H4n or H5? I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I did a search and didnt see much of anything about H1n or DR-05X. Thanks!