The Zoom H1essential is the cheapest 32-bit float audio recorder you can buy, but you need to read this before buying it, because this recorder is significantly more limited than its big brothers, the H4essential and the H6essential, and I want you to know what you’re getting into.
I’m reviewing this from the perspective of a wedding filmmaker and telling you whether it’s a good choice for you if you film weddings, or commercials, or documentary videos, or anything like that. Also, for the sake of ethics, I want you to know this review isn’t paid or sponsored by Zoom, but they did send me this recorder so I’d be able to make it.
Who Is This Recorder For?
The reason I want to answer this question first is that this recorder has such an interesting history, especially in the world of wedding videography.
Back whenever the original H1 came out, way back in 2010, this was one of the smallest audio recorders you could buy at the time. That’s funny to say now, because we have so many other options available to us as filmmakers and they’re all a lot smaller than this. But it’s true.
I knew a lot of wedding filmmakers who bought a Zoom H1 to use as a compact recorder at a wedding. And you may be wondering, did they hold it? Did they mount it on top of their camera? No. Notice there’s a 3.5mm input on the side. Videographers would buy the H1, buy a separate lavalier microphone, plug it into that jack, clip the lav onto a groom’s jacket, and then stuff the whole recorder down into his pocket.
Yes, really, they did that. Leave a comment if you did this too, so people don’t think I’m crazy, because it really does sound crazy in this day and age when you can buy something like a Tascam DR-10L Pro, or a Rode Wireless PRO, or a DJI Mic 2, or Zoom’s own F2, all of which are significantly more compact than this recorder.
Not to mention that the H1 did not have a locking connector on its mic input, and neither does the H1essential, meaning there was a decent chance the mic could come disconnected. I knew multiple filmmakers this happened to, including a friend of mine who would tape the lav connector into his recorder. He’d just wrap it in gaff tape to make sure it couldn’t come out.
My point is that for years a lot of videographers used the H1 as a standalone recorder with a lav mic, because it was really the only compact option available.
Which brings us back to my question. Back in the day, when the H1 was the only compact recorder in town, videographers used it by default. But now you have a ton of options for high quality 32-bit float recorders that are significantly more compact than this one, and plenty of them have XLR and quarter inch jacks, which this one does not.
Really, the only feature the H1essential has over at least some of those recorders is the pair of built in microphones on top of it. And while those mics are nice to have, unless you put this recorder really close to someone, holding it up to them while they’re talking, they’re not going to work very well.
That’s why answering this question matters so much, because it feels very limited in its features, and I think there are better choices for the vast majority of filmmakers out there.
H1essential vs H4essential
We’ve already covered that there are more compact recorders you can use with a lav mic that I’d choose over the H1essential. But we should also talk about bigger recorders, because if you want to pony up a hundred dollars more, you can buy the H4essential, which has two big upgrades over the H1: two combo XLR and quarter inch jacks at the bottom.
Unless you want to finagle some setup where you adapt an XLR cable from a DJ soundboard down to a 3.5mm mic jack, you’re out of luck with the H1essential, because it doesn’t have any other audio inputs. And it’s not like the H1essential can handle line level audio either, so it’s definitely risky to try using this with a soundboard.
The Lav Mic Test
In the video I ran a Tascam lav mic into the H1essential so you can hear how the 32-bit float audio sounds coming out of it. And while I was doing that, I showed off my WhoisMatt audio pack, which I made in collaboration with my friends at Kondor Blue.
If you’re a wedding filmmaker looking for the best quality audio cables for wedding work, that’s what you’ve got to check out, because in the pack you get an extra XLR cable, a quarter inch to XLR cable, and an RCA to XLR cable. With those three you’re going to be able to plug into 99 percent of the soundboards out there, and they come with a lifetime warranty.
As for the audio quality itself, it doesn’t sound bad. But it doesn’t sound any better than any of the other, smaller recorder options out there either.
The Built In Mic Test
The audio quality from the built in mics sounds significantly worse to my ears, and I think part of that is the lower quality microphones and how easily they pick up plosives, those P sounds your mouth makes whenever it pushes out air.
I put together Affordable 32 Bit Float Audio Recorder! – Zoom H4essential Review For Wedding Filmmakers as well, which covers the part I skipped over here.
Considering this recorder is most likely using cheaper microphones and preamps than the H4essential, that isn’t surprising. Remember, even with 32-bit float audio, you are still limited by the quality of your microphones and preamps, and these are definitely on the lower quality side.
Build Quality
The H1essential has the same design language as its bigger brothers, the H4 and H6. The same soft touch buttons that won’t make a sound when you press them and ruin your audio. The same simple, intuitive new menu system. And yes, the same lightweight and slightly cheap feeling build.
What Does Your $99 Get You?
Here’s my overall conclusion, which is also where we need to talk about price. At the time of writing this, Zoom has priced the H1essential at an incredibly reasonable $99, which from my research makes it the cheapest 32-bit float recorder you can buy today.
But like I’ve said throughout this review, that $99 does not get you a lot of audio recorder. Two built in microphones and a limited 3.5mm mic input.
So if you’re someone who films a lot of videos where you’d only use the built in microphones and not a lav, that’s a really tough call, because we’ve already covered that those built in mics are pretty low quality. It’s hard for me to recommend it.
Or, if you’re on an extremely tight budget and you can’t afford something like a Zoom F2, which retails for 150 bucks at the time of writing this, but you could afford the $99 for an H1essential, and maybe you have a friend who’s going to give you a lav mic for free, and you don’t care about how big the recorder is, then hey, maybe it makes sense for you.
But I really find myself having to dig deep to find reasons to recommend this one. If I were you and I wanted an ultra compact standalone recorder to use with a lav mic, with great audio quality and build quality, I’d buy the Tascam DR-10L Pro. And if I wanted an all around recorder I could plug into a DJ soundboard with a lot more versatility, I’d spend $100 more and buy the Zoom H4essential, because it’s a great deal and those XLR and quarter inch inputs are totally worth the extra cost in my opinion.
You can grab the H1essential at B&H or at Amazon, and the H4essential at B&H or at Amazon. I also made a full review of the H4essential if you want to check that out.
And I’ve put together a free gear guide for wedding filmmakers that shows you all of the equipment I recommend you buy to film weddings. If you want to save time looking for gear, that guide is completely free.
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!