Zoom R8

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Does anyone on site have a Zoom R8, and what are they like to use.

The Gobi Desert Canoe Club

[StephenM]

I was just reading up on this as I have the R24.  I believe the R8 would be a good unit but to me you would be way better off saving up the extra 200 and get the R24.  I have one and I have grown to love it.  It's so portable and pretty easy to use.  It has great effects and the onboard mics do a great job.  It can run on batteries as well which makes it easy to take with you...
all the things I just said about the R24 are likely true about the R8... but you are limited to only 2 inputs ... I just read a number of reviews on the R8...they were almost all favorable.  When I first got my R24 i didn't like it compared to the Boss BR1600.  However over time and learning more about recording, mixing, and mastering I grew to love the R24.  It's the reason i took the plunge and got the L-20.  I wouldn't sell my R24 though.  I plan to use it when I am camping or on vacation.  It's as light as a toy and small.  You can record anywhere with it. 
I have one of my BR's still (I sold the other).  I'll probably keep it just for the guitar patches alone.
I don't know if this helps at all.  Would like to hear more about your quest!

[StephenM]

I don't know if you saw this but here is some one on here that has one...

https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=30228.msg358119#msg358119

[64Guitars]

I've never used an R8 (or any of the Zoom recorders) but one thing I recently noticed about it is that it doesn't have a USB Host port, while the R16, R24 and R20 do have a USB Host port. For me, that's an important consideration because I really want the ability to plug in a USB flash drive for quickly transferring files between the recorder and the computer. With the R8, the best you could do is pop out the SD memory card and insert it into a card reader attached to the computer. But you should never remove or insert a memory card from any device when the power's on, so that really slows down the procedure and makes it inconvenient. USB flash drives, on the other hand, can be safely inserted or removed while the power's on as long as the device isn't writing to the USB flash drive at the time.

I'm sure the R8 is a great little recorder for the money. If a USB Host port isn't important to you, then the R8 is definitely worth considering.

I think I might buy myself a Zoom R20, but probably not till the summer when it's more widely available and comes with firmware version 2.0 or higher. If you want a new recorder right now, I'd consider the R16. Like the R20, it can play back 16 tracks simultaneously. That's twice as many tracks as my BR-864 or your BR-900 can play back simultaneously. For me, that's plenty. I don't need the 24-track playback capability of the R24. Although, the R24 has a built-in sampler and drum machine while the R16 does not. That might be a consideration for you (it's not for me). The price of the R16 is about the same as the R20. The R16 has a few features which the R20 does not have, such as built-in mics and combo jacks on all 8 inputs. But the R20 has features that the R16 lacks too. Plus the R20 is a lot cooler with its large colour display and DAW-like interface.