Zoom H8 Review | Best Portable Podcast Recorder? 

I've seen a few reviews of the H8 with complaints of short battery life, so I ran a test. 4 energiser 2300mah, rechargeable batteries, 6 condenser mics plus xy capsule, phantom power at 48v, all gain at max 10. Result: 1 hour 53 min. Not bad in my opinion for fully maxed out!

Cool review thanks for sharing 👍 10:17

We never buy any equipment without watching a review from James. Having said that, the Rodecaster Pro 2 is now on the way to our studio.

Hi James, I have the H8 which I think is excellent. I make short film/Documentary etc. I've only ever used the Field app. great Pre-Amps (Re: Curtis Judd) My boom is the Sennheiser MKE600 ina Rode blimp. Cam is Sony PXW-X70 4K plus a few small condensers mainly for indoor dialogue. H8 is great for Foley recording either with capsule or external mic. Keep levels -12 to -6db max. I'm not a pro just a hobby.

Thanks for your review as I just had to buy a Zoom H8 as I damaged my Zoom H6 recording ocean sounds and sadly whilst filming and having the Zoom recording the sounds - hidden away from camera view - thought it was safe but sadly tide must have been coming in. Is there a way from your expert experience of being able to water proof my Zoom H8? I've decided to have it under the camera tripod in future - using the MSH-6 Mic Capsule to record ocean & river sounds. Is there also a better mic you could recommend out in the field? I'd love to record natural birds sounds and suspect I need a sensitive field mic - just wondering if the SSH-6 Mic Capsule would suit or Zoom VRH-8 Ambisonic Mic Capsule For H8. The purpose is for recording nature-based settings for guided meditations. I would greatly appreciate your advice? Kind regards Mark

The H8 level was way low in all use cases/tests. You should remix the video and do some post-processing of the volume levels. I'm not too worried about low volume, as long as you can adjust in post-processing, and it would be much more helpful to then here comparable volume outputs.

I bought mine a long ago, worked in few projects, and then using it whenever I need to use high quality output from dedicated mics. I wish above all the features, if it came with USB C, it'd be perfect. Micro USB connectors are not good in the long run. So I try to use that as low as I can.

Had a H6n for years and just wanted something "fresh". Sold it and ordered the new "Tascam Portacapture X6" ... OMG. What a crappy piece of light plastic! Directly sent it back and now I will take the Zoom H8 :) The only thing that is bad on ALL of these recorders is the fixed display orientation. If you are using them to record yourself, it is always facing away from you.

Can the H8 be run into an iPhone?

sir can we connect our 3.5 mm aux speaker to it so that we can hear our recording from speaker ?? and where to connect it? i am asking for zoom h8

Good for record nature and animals sounds?

Stereo wrong way. The SM7 is connected how? I see no cables...

nNo 32bit floating point...deal breakerfor me. Hopefully Zoom will pgrade the H8.