What’s the correct SDHC micro card for a Zoom H1n

[jschmitz54]

I purchased a Zoom H1n which evidently needs a micro sdhc card for it to work. The selections and specifications are mind boggling to me. I know it must be 32gb maximum but even looking at scandisk cards there are so many different choices.
Then I read not all cards will be compatible with the zoom h1n.
I don’t care much about the price, I’d just like one that will work best for this little recorder.
I know little to nothing about this topic as you can likely tell, please keep it as simple as possible if you can.
Any suggestions?

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

I purchased a Zoom H1n which evidently needs a micro sdhc card for it to work. The selections and specifications are mind boggling to me. I know it must be 32gb maximum but even looking at scandisk cards there are so many different choices.
Then I read not all cards will be compatible with the zoom h1n.
I don’t care much about the price, I’d just like one that will work best for this little recorder.
I know little to nothing about this topic as you can likely tell, please keep it as simple as possible if you can.
Any suggestions?

I tried to find a list of compatible cards online but only found a list for the H1. However, B&H does have a list. I can't vouch for the accuracy but they're a big enough outfit with a good reputation, so I'd be comfortable picking from their list unless someone here sees some glaring error there.

These two look to be the fastest of the bunch. Not sure how important speed is for this application. I know for photography it's important if you're shooting in continuous mode.

Delkin Devices 32GB POWER UHS-II microSDHC Memory Card

SanDisk 32GB Extreme PLUS UHS-I microSDHC Memory Card with SD Adapter

It looks like a significant jump between them but you may not need that.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

…Any suggestions?

Hi jschmitz…

SanDisk.

I'm also a photographer, and SanDisk are the only ones which have never failed-in-the-field on me (in more than 15years).

[YamahaGuy]

My brother says 8gb are the best. He does a lot of sound for video work and says the 8gb work best in his Mac. (SanDisk) Good luck finding them.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by YamahaGuy

My brother says 8gb are the best. He does a lot of sound for video work and says the 8gb work best in his Mac. (SanDisk) Good luck finding them.

I'm curious as to why he believes the storage capacity is the most important parameter. For photography, the write speed is usually the most important factor and I'd have thought the same would be true with recording since information has to be written to the card for several minutes without breaks.

[YamahaGuy]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I'm curious as to why he believes the storage capacity is the most important parameter. For photography, the write speed is usually the most important factor and I'd have thought the same would be true with recording since information has to be written to the card for several minutes without breaks.

Maybe it has something to do with reformatting the card when he puts a new one in the Zoom.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

I purchased a Zoom H1n which evidently needs a micro sdhc card for it to work. The selections and specifications are mind boggling to me. I know it must be 32gb maximum but even looking at scandisk cards there are so many different choices.
Then I read not all cards will be compatible with the zoom h1n.
I don’t care much about the price, I’d just like one that will work best for this little recorder.
I know little to nothing about this topic as you can likely tell, please keep it as simple as possible if you can.
Any suggestions?

If it's any help I've used cardsof several different sizes in both my Zoom H1 and Zoom R24 with no effect on audio quality or glitch-free recording. I have used a few different brand name cards (Lexar and Sandisk off the top of my head...) with no apparent differences. Many of the cards with higher read / write speed ratings are geared toward video which has much higher demands.

Cards are cheap, so pick one up and try it. My guess is you won't have any problems as long as you stick with a name brand card.

Zoom has a compatibility list on their website as a general guideline if you really think you need that. Don't get hung up about the difference between the H1 and H1n, they operate internally in the same basic way. The newer H1n was re-designed to bring the operating controls to the front as well as adding a few other changes. I had the original H1 and disliked the side controls immensely and switched to a Tascam DR-05 which I think is much more solidly built than my original Zoom.

[jschmitz54]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I'm curious as to why he believes the storage capacity is the most important parameter. For photography, the write speed is usually the most important factor and I'd have thought the same would be true with recording since information has to be written to the card for several minutes without breaks.

The Zoom manual says that a 32gb is the maximum size that can be used.
I ended up with a Sandisk Ultra Plus 32gb and it formatted, tested and works well. I was likely over concerned but this is new territory for me and the Zoom literature said not all cards will be compatible.
This is smaller in person than I expected but it seems to work well so on with trying to become a better guitar player.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I'm curious as to why he believes the storage capacity is the most important parameter. For photography, the write speed is usually the most important factor and I'd have thought the same would be true with recording since information has to be written to the card for several minutes without breaks.

Hi jim
My grandmother ordered (and paid premium prices) to use Panasonic AA batteries for years, because the literature which came with her cassette player said it was best to use Panasonic batteries in the Panasonic cassette player.

There is a 32gb limit on the Zoom H1n, and it's specified in the instructions.

There is a danger to using large cards…the illusion that it's a safe form of backup.

I have friends who have their entire photo collection (many year's worth) on a single SD card and think they are backed up adequately.

As both a recordist and photographer, I seldom have more than 'the last job' on an SD card, and as soon as I've off-loaded and backed it up to two sources, I reformat the cards for new jobs.

And I have three 2TB drives I back up data to for 3 years, then I purchase new backup drives and store the others.

Nothing wrong with using larger memory cards. Just be aware with older tech (like the Zoom H4n) the larger the card, the longer the start-up time (it apparently has to read everything including blank space on the card).

I often swap SD cards between different gear. If I'm doing a photo shoot, and since I shoot RAW (instead of JPG) I'm going to burn through a lot more memory than audio recording. I can always capture a lot of data on a larger card, but only a little information on small amounts of memory.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

The Zoom manual says that a 32gb is the maximum size that can be used.
I ended up with a Sandisk Ultra Plus 32gb and it formatted, tested and works well. I was likely over concerned but this is new territory for me and the Zoom literature said not all cards will be compatible.
This is smaller in person than I expected but it seems to work well so on with trying to become a better guitar player.

Hi jschmitz…

The H1n is the best self-contained, point-n-shoot small recorder I've ever used.

Shirt pocket small, and it makes decent recordings if one takes the time and trouble to mount it either on a tripod or mic stand, and position it to capture great acoustic sound.

I also use mine for a note-taker, short snippets of song idea-capture, etc.

Also great for capturing voice-over or better audio than a phone for videos (shooting video and audio separate has been part of my work-flow for years).

I had students who would have me record portions of their lesson assignments on their H1 during lessons to work through at home (in addition to their notes).

Students sometimes had phones, but they often cheaped-out, and bought phones with only 8gb memory and lame cameras, which meant they didn't have room to record video. Thankfully that's changed in the past few years.