Tascam DR-22WL Portable Handheld Audio Recorder with WiFi

Pros:Does a great job as a digital recorder.Can power your mics with phantom power directly.Cons:Eats batteries for breakfast. You will need to use an external battery via USB if you are doing any recordings lasting more than about 30-45 minutes, especially of you are powering mics, and/or using the wifi features. Plan on using USB power.The "function" knob is far too easy to accidentally spin when you say, put it in your pocket. There's no way to lock it in a particular position. If the unit is recording at the time, thankfully it ignores it. Likewise if the "hold" function is activated. However, the moment you hit "stop" it will flip into the mode selected on the dial, which you may not notice, especially in a dark place like a club or other concert venue. This is especially annoying if, like I, your eyes aren't quite good enough to make out the knob's setting, or the setting displayed on the screen without glasses.The fatal con: Wifi feature is so unreliable that it is unusable. I basically don't bother using it anymore.Now I'll go into details about the wifi issues (all my wifi experiences with this recorder was using it with a Samsung Galaxy Note 8):1. The WiFi refused to connect to my access point in the "wifi client" mode. Simply wouldn't happen.2. When used in "AP" mode, where you connect your phone or other device to it as if it's a wireless access point or router, it is extremely unreliable. Connections can last anywhere from a minute to as long as an hour before randomly failing.3. When the connection to the unit fails, the only solution I've found to get it working again is to turn off the wifi on the unit, and turn it back on again. But if you are recording at the time, YOU CAN'T DO IT. Which leads to...4. While recording, most of the functions of this unit are locked out, including the ability to activate or deactivate the wifi! This means that if you are in the middle of recording, which will usually be the case, you will have to wait until you are finished recording before you can get your wifi back, for as long as the unit deigns to give you an actual wifi communications. NOTE: the unit does not disconnect your phone or other device from wifi. It is still connected. It simply stops communicating with the app.5. The unit has downright stupid DHCP server setting. The unit should NOT give a default gateway to the wifi client! There is no need for it. Because it assigns a default gateway to the wifi client, it causes the client to try to get to the internet through the recorder. It assigns the default gateway at a high enough priority route metric to apparently override any other default routes. Which leads to...6. While your client device is connected to this unit via wifi, you generally can't use say, your mobile device's cellular connection to get to the internet. Your device is essentially incommunicado to the rest of the world except for cell calls and SMS while it's connected to the device. If one could possibly control the routing table on one's device, one might be able to fix this situation by deleting the default route mentioned in #5 (or reducing its priority to one lower than your cell radio interface's default route), which would allow internet access through some other default route. But most cell phones which aren't "rooted" do not allow this.IMHO, the recorder should not assign a default route (or DNS server for that matter, if it does) through the wifi interface. I presume they do this as a cheap/easy way of allowing the app to find the IP and communicate with the recorder (presuming the IP isn't hard coded into the app). Instead, it should use some other mechanism to allow the app to discover the recorder. There are plenty available.So, in summary, if you only use this as a handheld digital recorder like all the rest of the "lower tech" units out there, it works great. If, however, you bought it, like I did, because of the wifi/app integration, you will be disappointed. You might as well buy one of the cheaper units without wifi.BTW, I'm at the latest firmware. Haven't seen any updates since I bough the unit and updated it the first time, back in March of 2018 to v2.11, which was released in November of 2017. There have been no further firmware updates as of this writing (August 2018).My "dream" for this unit was to keep it safely ensconced in a pocket while using it to record concerts, etc, via external mics, controlling it all from the app on my phone. This "dream", unfortunately can't be realized by this unit because of the issues mentioned above.I have yet to go one recording session without losing the wifi communications, rendering the app and the wifi on the recorder useless. It it also horribly inconvenient to lose internet connectivity on your device while using the wifi.If Tascam/Teac were to fix all these bugs, I could give it a great review. But for me, the wifi was the feature which attracted me to this unit.IMHO, this entire app functionality could have been better executed using bluetooth instead of wifi, and would have avoided many of these issues, albeit without as much security as wifi with WPA provides.

I originally purchased it with the intention of recording some high profiles lectures ill be attending so i wanted something that i could place in the room and control remotely if i couldn't get close enough to the presenter already. I use an iOS device and i personally have had no problems with the accessibility of getting the product to work. I love the fact that i can also transfer files over WIFI and keep the device empty. Battery life is lacking when you use the WiFi feature though so that is one drawback. At least they have a power adapter that you can use if you need prolonged periods of wireless usage.Another usage i have with this device is the personal recording of our churches worship set on which i am apart of the worship team. We are a 500+ week service that typically pushes 95 db in the service. I started recording our sets so that i can listen to transitions from the first service and personally review if i could have done anything better and to overall review how we sounded. I used the device on the loud setting and used WIFI to adjust the gain from the stage (Sound guy was too busy and doesn't need another obligation) and the recording came out great. The lows/drums (our music has some deep parts) came out very good with no mud. I was impressed. I used the playback feature on my ride home from the first service to listen and review so i was ready for service 2 and 3. The sound quality was exceptional in my car speakers and i was able to get an accurate representation of the room and crowds reception.Finally, i began using this device in my own individual practice. I use and electric metronome and a small amp (Fender Princeton Reverb) for my practicing. I found my practice time as far as quality and focus have gone through the roof since i began recording them. No more endless noodling for hours and not learning anything new. The recorder is setup about 3' away from the amp with its volume at 2 (Dead clean, no distortion). The guitar comes through clear with the metronome also in there so i can hear if i was drifting from tempo during my review time. Since i bought this device, practice times have gotten better as well as shorter since the efficiency this device brings to the workflow. I am able to be accountable to the time spent, the quality of the effort put forth, and then able to listen back during an off time (Usually my ride to work next day) and accurately gauge where i am in relation to my goals.Thank you Tascam for a great product. I can't imagine not having it around. The only thing keeping it from 5 stars is the App sometimes acts funny with any usb driven devices such as an ihome or car stereos. For instance, my car stereo uses a USB to control my ipod/iphone. If i hit play, the app works. As soon as i do anything with the stereo however, it stops the Tascam app and begins playing music. I know its Tascam's app due to YouTube, or other apps don't do this. I can pause the YouTube app from the stereo and it doesn't behave erratically. That is my only qualm with this otherwise superior product. Would buy it again in a heartbeat.

This is basically Tascam’s answer to the Zoom H1 and H1n. The on board microphone is luscious and captures stereo accurate sound in a way that, listening through headphones, makes you feel like you’re in the environment.The interface is a little clunky, with some of the menus feeling unnecessarily confusing. However, it’s not difficult to use, and you get used to it pretty quickly.The buttons nearest the LCD screen feel kind of flimsy as well as the door covering the microSD cars... but all other buttons and controls feel solid. I love the input control, which feels more like a classic analog knob than modern + and - buttons.There is also a “Scene” wheel, reminiscent of the same control on a DSLR, where you can change the “scene” to reflect the recording environment you’re in. This felt super unnecessary to me, and since purchasing I’ve never used it and have kept it in manual mode (“M” on the wheel.) the entire time I’ve owned it. I appreciate the efforts to making this more accessible to different skill sets, however.The real thing that makes this device shine, however, it’s the wireless feature. This allows you to start/stop recording, adjust and monitor input levels via a only slightly delayed stereo VU meter, change sample rates and recording format, and download recordings... all from your smartphone. This essentially means you can use it as a Lavalier microphone without having to reach up a subjects shirt to turn it off or on.The only downside to the wireless feature is that you can’t monitor the audio. You can see the VU meters bounce in near real-time, but you can’t actually HEAR what’s being recorded until you stop recording and download the recorded file to your smart phone. Even without this critical feature, this still provides a HUGE gamechanging way of operating this device. You can record a test clip from afar, play it back in the headphones of your smart phone, adjust, then record again... All from across the room, or, if connecting to a router, from a different part of your building entirely.This is an amazing device, capable of producing truly exceptional sounding recordings. I’ve used the stereo mics to record violins, baby grands, and acoustic guitars. The stereo effect rivals a lot of studio condensers I’ve used.This is well worth the money.

I have to admit I was skeptical that this recorder would be something I would want to even use my gift card on to purchase. However, after reading several reviews and watching some online reviews, I decided to pull the trigger and get this recorder. My idea was to use the recorder in conjunction with my Tascam DP-03SD to record my drums. I was already getting great results with my DP-03SD recording my drums to the DP-03SD via my Behringer mixer. I figured I could use the DR-22 as a stand alone to record the drums as they sounded "in the room".The DR-22 works great and handles the high SPLs of my drums even when placed just a few feet away at about 3 ft off the ground. I purchased a small tripod for the device (found on Amazon for about $6) and I don't intend on ever using it in the field. It does seem a bit fragile being made entirely of plastic. I am not sure if it would stand up to the rigors of being used to record concerts; band rehearsals shouldn't be a problem...as long as the rehearsals don't get out of hand!!It takes some time getting used to maneuvering around in the menu, but one catches pretty quick if you're used to working with recording devices. For someone unfamiliar with using any type of recording device, there will be a bit of a learning curve but nothing daunting to overcome if one spends time becoming familiar with the device.Battery life is good though I understand using the Wi-Fi feature (which I don't use) will drastically reduce battery life. I have used this product daily for over a month now recording and only now are the batteries starting to die out. You can bypass using the batteries with the USB cord (included) and an AC plug (not included) if desired. The device gives you the option of using the USB port for power or as a storage device when you plug it into your computer, so that's pretty nice.As I have indicated, the device does a great job recording. File transfer is a breeze. I have a MAC and just plug the device into my computer, grab my file, and dump it into Garageband...very easy. I would highly recommend this device as an effective tool for recording band rehearsals or getting musical ideas down quickly when inspiration strikes.

I already have a TASCAM non-wireless portable recording device that saved my butt at a live recording session where my main recorder generated a nice 60 Hz hum throughout the recording session. The DR-22WL is similar to the unit I already have except that the DR-22WL is a wireless, or rathr Wi-Fi enabled device. However, you do not need a Wi-Fi network to use the DR-22WL. The device is totally portable so you can use it anywhere and within range of the controlling device which can be either an iPad/iPhone, or an Android based phone or tablet. I used my DR-22WL with a Samsung Note 8 tablet. Wireless connectivity between the DR-22WL and the Samsung tablet worked but was a bit temperamental establishing. I chalk that up somewhat to my own unfamiliarity with the procedure to establish the connection between the two devices. But once the connection is established it works and you can control the DR-22WL from the controlling device. I also have an iPad II which the DR-22WL can work with but I did not test it with the iPad so cannot comment on any potential issues in that area. But I would presume though that it's a similar experience. The DR-22WL is slightly different from previous models in that it's buttons and assignments are different - but in general, nothing drastic - though you WILL have to read the user manual to acclimate yourself to it if you're already familiar with previous TASCAM portable devices that use a different layout. Sonically, I didn't do any testing to see if there was a loss of sound quality from the older models compared to the DR-22WL, and as far as I could determine, the device supports all the same options for WAV, MP3 formats and sample rates as previous models. After further testing and use I will provide an update to this review. But as of now, if you need a wireless connection to record audio the DR-22WL does a good job and allows control using either an Apple device or Android device as the controller from a distance.