Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 366

Total Recall Mini-Review

I know Total Recall has been out for quite a while but I thought I would post a little minireview as it seems many on this forum are getting it due to the great deals at Office Depot.

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I purchased my Total Recall at an Office Depot in the Kansas City area. I have always been interested in getting a voice recorder for my Visor but have never needed it so much that I wanted to buy one at 100 dollars. When I saw the Total Recall at the OD for only $24.95, I could help but want one. Now that I have had it a few days, I definitely formed an opinion about it.

The Total Recall comes with the module itself, the standalone sled, a pair of AAA batteries for the Standalone sled, an installation CD, a Quick-start manual, and information on quality mics and earphones that work with the Total Recall. Almost any earphones that I have tried work. I have not tried a seperate mic.

When in standalone format, you have access to four buttons: play/stop, rewind/skip back, fast forward/skip ahead, and record. The mic for the standalone is at the front with places where you can plug in a seperate mic and a seperate pair of earphones. The speaker for the module is on the other side from the buttons. There is also a button on the sled that lets you release the module from the standalone sled.

When in the springboard slot, you no longer have access to the buttons on the module. All control is from the Total Recall software. The module feels a bit loose when plugged in all the way. It also is an oversized module, too tall by a half an inch and too wide by a quarter of an inch. The module uses the Visor's mic when in the springboard slot.

The Total Recall allows you to record up to 1 hour 40 minutes of sound, but only in lowest quality setting. There are three quality settings that can be set in the Visor: best, medium, and lowest. You can also set whether the mic is voice activated or not. However, these setting are only available when Total Recall is in the Visor. Otherwise, the setting used is best. This means that when in standalone mode, you have only 17 minutes to record sound.

When the module is in the Visor, you also can edit the recordings by overwriting them, amending them, and by inserting a seperate recording into a playing recording. This is a very neat feature, particularly if you are trying to dicate an essay that you are going to type later.

Overall, the module is very nice. The quality of the recordings is also very nice, even in lowest quality setting though don't expect to record a voice from 20 feet away. The best setting for me is medium as it gives over an hour of recording without comprimising quality that much. MY biggest gripe is that the software setting don't stick with the module when it is standalone mode. This can make note taking when you want to have both sound and overhead notes taken. The other gripe is that software on the module can't be updated so what you get is what you keep.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Did you just go near a burning hot river of lava or are you just happy to see me?

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 71

I've been tinkering with the TR & found that you can indeed record music while using the highest sound quality setting...Just use an 1/8th inch cable from your TR mic to your input device (CD player, PC, etc.) now you have a 17 minute audio player...not quite an mp3 player, but it works!

I have had a problem recording with the TR in the Visor as the module draws so much juice the Visor gives a low batt warning when the batteries are around only 50%...

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"This world is totally Fugazi." -Fish (Marillion)

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 12

Synch Time

Is it me or does it take forever for the Total Recall to synch if you have it substantially filled? Has anyone else noticed this? I am using the serial cradle.