Voice Recorders

How to choose a voice recorder

Voice activation changes everything

A recorder running continuously fills its memory and flattens its battery in hours. One that starts on sound and stops on silence can sit for weeks and capture only what matters, which makes it the single most useful feature here for a long meeting, a day of interviews or a lecture series. The trade is the first word of each sentence, so record continuously when the opening matters.

Where you put it matters more than the microphone

Sound reflects off hard surfaces and is absorbed by soft ones, so a unit in a bag or a pocket records fabric. On a table between the people talking it records the conversation; near a fridge or a road it records the fridge or the road. If a recording matters, do a five minute test in the same place first and listen back on headphones.

Compare the types

	Pocket	Pen	USB stick	Watch	Keyring
Doubles as	Nothing, it is a recorder	A working pen	A USB drive	A working watch	A key fob
Battery	Days, weeks on voice activation	Shorter, check the listing	Shorter, check the listing	Check the listing	Check the listing
Gets audio off	USB	USB	Plugs straight in	USB	USB
Suits	Meetings, interviews, dictation	Desk and shirt pocket	Laptop bag, keyring	On the wrist all day	Car and keys

Live listening instead

Some units transmit rather than store, so you can hear your own unattended property or vehicle in real time over the mobile network. Those are on the listening devices page, along with 4G trackers that combine location and audio.

Buying guides

• Voice Recorder Buying Guide AustraliaStandby is the number that matters
• Counter-Surveillance Buying Guide AustraliaHow to find hidden cameras, bugs and trackers
• Spy Pen Camera Buying Guide AustraliaWhich one to buy

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Common questions