I am assigned the Olympus WS-852 for my work as a Detective of a Police Department. I admire the quality of the recorder, and ease of downloading files to my Cases. The most important thing that happened to me today was that I left the recorder on top of my vehicle during an interview of a suspect. I forgot that the recorder was on top of the car, and I drove off. While traveling 50 mph, I heard the recorder fall off of the roof of my vehicle and I observed it hit the concrete and tumble down the road. I turned around and got out of my car to retrieve the recorder. Before I got to the recorder, I observed another car run completely over the recorder (tire rolls over the recorder itself), in which the recorder fly's into the air and hit the pavement again. I observed that one of the batteries had come out of the recorder. Yes the recorder was scratched up after the incident. I replaced the battery and the recorder works perfectly!!!!! I believe that this is amazing!!!!.. Great Job Olympus on a damn tough recorder!!!!!

Have used the recorder for sailboat races and it performed to my expectations. Loved the built in USB to transfer the recordings to my computer, rather than having to hunt for the right cord.

The WS-852 is awesome. I was out of town but I showed a friend how to use it and she recorded a meeting (12-15 present) in a grade school class room set to the default settings and worked great even for the soft spoken speakers. Took a little bit to figure out the filing system but basically turned it on, pressed record and done. Loading on to PC was easy as well. Large files had to be uploaded to Google drive to share in gmail.

I do life story interviewing professionally, write life stories, teach, and coach people how to write their own stories. I've tried many recorders and this is my go-to model and brand. It's also what I recommend to students. One question I address with students first: why not just use a free or inexpensive recording app on your phone? My answer is twofold: (a) I recommend always using a backup recording device because things can go wrong. Hence, I do have a recording app on my phone and in a pinch use this if I don't have a recorder handy or if I need a backup. (b) However, the recording quality on these is better, it's easier to manage the large audio files using the USB connection (especially for some of my older students/clients that have a hard time with tech) and there is no possibility of interference from incoming calls, phone memory, phone going to sleep, etc. Here are the reasons this is my go-to digital recorder: (1) It's reasonably priced. (2) It's small (3) It has truly excellent recording quality (4) It is rugged and holds up to use in my computer bag on a daily basis. (5) It is simple to learn/use, even if you're nervous in an interview. (6) The battery life and recording capacity feel like forever. (7) Finally, this model led out with the built-in USB connection, which is a game changer. My advice about the USB: do not, under any circumstances, purchase a small digital recorder without the built-in USB. You will hate yourself for having to dig for a cord or deal with memory cards. Just spend the extra few dollars. Note that Sony now has a comparable recorder with the built-in USB and it gives this one a run for the money but I give Olympus WS-852 props for figuring out the USB functionality first, and I still prefer the feel and use of the Olympus. Here are a few tips for beginners: always offload your files as soon as possible so it doesn't feel overwhelming and you don't risk mis-placing the recorder. Then delete them from the recorder to keep your files tidy. Be sure to delete the files using the hardware controls on the recorder itself, and not from your computer's file manager. Otherwise it can look like your memory is full and you need to reset it manually. My last basic tip relates to buying a lavalier/lapel microphone: make sure the connection is directly compatible with a digital recorder. Many microphones that are compatible with phones will not work with a digital recorder without an adapter, even if it fits in the plug, and adapters reduce sound quality. One thing I wish this recorder had was a way to fast forward or rewind while listening to an audio file. Hence, it's impractical to transcribe from the recorder itself because you can't go back a few seconds. This isn't a deal breaker because I usually don't transcribe from the recorder anyway, but there have been times when I was on the go that I wished I could listen and stop and rewind. For this reason it really does not work for listening.

Really easy to use and portable but a bit thick. Gets the job done without a hassle.

I use this for my class recording. Long battery life and a pleasure to use.

This is my second Olympus Voice Recorder for personal use and I am not disappointing (although I lost my first one while on a trip). It is easy-to-use and functional for needed audio recording. Overall gets the job done.