How to Choose a Hidden Audio Recorder - Buyers Guide

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
00:10 Spiel, How to Choose a Hidden Audio Recorder
00:32 Battery Life
01:01 Voice Activation
02:17 The SpyCentre Security Difference
02:45 What to look for
03:06 Time Stamping

Hello everyone, my name is Tim and I am one of the product specialists here at SpyCentre Security, the Spy Gear Superstore. I'm here today to give you guys an idea of how to choose an Audio Recorder.

Picking the perfect Audio Recorder can be difficult, but it doesn't have to be. We have all been on the internet and seen how many selections and options there are out there. How do you know which one is perfect? Well, that's why I'm here. I'm going to go over some things to look out for as well as some tips you can use to narrow down your search.

The first thing you really need to pay attention to is battery life. Luckily with Audio Recorders that's usually not an issue unless you need it to record for a very long time. However, they are definitely not all created equal here. Just as an example, this audio recorder has a 10-hour continuous battery life whereas this other one can be voice-activated and can last up to 336 continuous hours, and can even go to sleep for up to 150 days.

That leads me into the next section. Which is, Voice Activation. A Voice Activated Recorder only records when it hears a noise loud enough to trigger a recording. Voice Activation does more than save you time when listening back to the files by effectively only having recordings of interesting content instead of just that blank static noise that continuous audio recorders produce when nothing is being heard.

Depending on the recorder Voice Activation can directly tie into the battery life of the unit as well. What I mean by that is some recorders have the ability to sleep in between recordings. As an example, if you have a recorder on voice activation and there isn't any noise it will sleep until it hears a sound to wake it up.

This can greatly increase your battery life, an audio recorder like this one can record up to 24 continuous hours but can be voice-activated and sleep for up to 25 days, meaning if there is 1 hour of audio a day this recorder would have battery for up to 24 days... We sell many audio recorders that have this feature, you will see them marked with a “Stand By” battery as well as a continuous battery time under the product specifications.

In today's market with the internet, it's hard to tell the difference between products and companies. You can have two seemingly identical items with completely different qualities. This happens because in China, where these things are all manufactured.

There is one manufacturer of the case that sells to many different companies that all put their own guts, or components inside. This results in the same looking device with a completely different performance. How do you combat against that? Well, it's actually quite simple, I would never purchase one of these devices that don't have a quality demonstration to compare. I would also never purchase something on amazon for $10 for the “seemingly” same device that is posted elsewhere for $100 or more. You really do get what you pay for.

Last but not least is Time & Date Stamping. What this does is allows you to track when recordings took place because the audio recorder will stamp the date and time the recording happened. This can be useful when sorting through large volumes of recordings, especially when you have extremely long battery lives on your recorder and you don't check it frequently.

[LAZARUSLNG]

Voice-activated devices require features to adjust both the threshold of their activation level, as well as the length of time spent below threshold before a recording is ended. The default level on most devices is far too high, and the time between a dip below threshold and a recording cut-off is often too brief for most use cases.

Also, unless you are going to swap out one device with a duplicate (for charging and careful file review on pc or similar), a readout display on the device itself, or an audible date/time-stamp at the beginning of each audio recording is highly desirable.

Similarly, when continuous recording is appropriate, and periodically swapping out for a second device will not be an option, a time display on the device and good FF/RW playback features will be very much missed if absent.

Devices with displays consume more power, are typically much less discreet, and may be over complicated with superfluous features, settings, controls, and options that you will never require, and therefore will not be at all suitable for many scenarios.

When it is the case that only a super discreet device will do, it is very much worth obtaining at least two of the same device, for the above reasons, right from the get-go.

Having a duplicate device is also advantageous in scenarios where both voice-activation and continuous recording are required simultaneously at the same location (a more efficient and widely applicable solution than you might first suppose), as well as a backup in case of last minute highly improbable* and unexpected changes or relocations (*virtually guaranteed to occur).

Unless your need for such devices is expected to be routine and ongoing; thus initially affording you teachable moments, acceptable levels of error, and failures likely to cause only (more-or-less) non-disastrous consequences; you will instead most likely have much* riding (*financially and/or emotionally) on a one-off, first-time/last-time, successful deployment of your equipment. Familiarise yourself fully with the limitations of your chosen device(s), and, as much as your circumstances permit, dry-run each aspect of the job they (and you) will be doing. Thouroughly, and in detail.

[Marauder]

Tim, the camera is here! Where are you looking?

[ericylle]

Finally a CLEAR ACCURATE REVIEW VIDEO! DO you know if you can plug in a microphone to any of these:)? Would be super super appreciated to know :D! Thanks!

[jim]

This is a excellent outline of your product. Thank you! There is one minor question though I have not seen. Specifically, can it tell the difference between actual in room human voice vs in room TV show voice?

[cherriebaars]

Where can I get a ladies wrist watch that has audio recording capabilities that is simple to use but not obvious that it's recording

[johnsl]

The devices on your website seemed immensely impressive, it’s a shame that the shipping options were only to USA and Canada. Is there any potential options for global shipping in the future?

[aseul]

Hi I am looking for hidden Audio recorder with voice activation feature for the purposes of abuse at home. Can you give me some suggestions on which products would best suit?
I am looking for :
1)Voice activation feature
2)Atleast more than 20 hours battery life so that I have safe time to charge the battery since this one is hidden
Also will the television voices also considered for voice activation?

[cheersmeme]

Hi Tim.. My mum is 95, she is in a Long Term Care Home.
There are things going on, and I need to find out what.
I want to strap this under her wheelchair so I can hear her all day.
I need to use zipties to strap it Snug.
My question is.
Where is the microphone on these little recorders ?
I don't want to cover the Microphone with a ziptie.
Hope to hear back from you soon.
Merry Christmas 🎅

[sweetdragon]

It's nice to have a long battery life, but how do you tell when the segment was recorded?

[valentineplazajr.]

Hi i want to record my lectures during class what kind of audio recorder is most advisable for me and i want to transfer it to my laptop after thanks

[ladislavtyplt]

is there any protection against this type of eavesdropping? something that can recognize them in the room or provide bad conditions in this room for this device?

[ML-kslj]

How about one I can give my 4 year old for school so I can hear exactly what they are saying to them in the classroom? Debating on a pen or something I can seam I to the backpack or pants

[katrinamiller]

if placed in a room with a tv will the tv sounds activate the device to record?

[arianavasquez]

If I purchase the usb power bank will it function well in cold places ? I’d like to put it in my car but it’s winter right now

[XFiorentti]

Have a next door neighbor that plays loud music and the police hasn't been able to catch her because she turns off the music when they arrive. I need to find a small voice and music activated recorder to record when she's making the noise.

[AJ-wppw]

I don't need to be able to save or playback audio but I do need to be able to put a mic into a room and tap into it live whenever I want to and hear what's going on in it. Do you have a product that could do this?

[arilzpplin]

First comment! I don't know if I should use voice-activated or not. We want a recorder for our child's safety in the classroom, I hate to think of not getting around to listening to something important if I have too much to go through (a whole 6 hours, even white noise...) but I also hate to think of missing something if it doesn't pick it up because the teacher is whispering or takes my child farther away from the backpacks. :/

[hansjacobvonarx]

I am trying to find an audio recording device with a with a microphone (body mic or a wire) that has the capability to run continuously for 18 hours. Also, the audio files have to be easy to transfer into storage.

[DARKELLAKEL]

Where can I get the one you're holding and talking about?

[cheekymonkeygirl]

Do you do free consults on what this audio recorder GPS is doing I found? 😢 I feel harassed.