GENERIC  AUDIO 

Aiworth E-36

This recorder has a couple of major quirks, but it can be a pretty good recorder with a few workarounds. The first quirk is that it has is the "microphone" input mode DOES NOT MUTE the built-in mics! This means that when you plug in an external mic, you'll still be recording using the built-in mics at the same time! This not only means you won't get the isolation you were looking for (by using an external mic) but also that you'll get handling noise while recording. The workaround is to use the LINE-IN mode. I know, this is strange, but this problem exists on every one of these units I've tested (except for the Evistr, but I still don't use the microphone input mode because the amplification isn't clean). 

THE PERFECT PART (1536Kbps ATJ2129)

This recorder is probably one of my favorite budget AUDIO tools out there, and the good news is it's quite popular on Ebay (and can even be found on Amazon, without Prime shipping, in my region at least). This recorder records at 1536Kbps using the ATJ2129 pen chip, and is really small (compared to most Zoom recorders) but it's the biggest of those listed on this page. The good thing about this being bigger, is that it has a bigger screen, though still I find the screen a little bit difficult to see (viewing angle issues) but it has the standard audio level indicator with a -12 designation, so I'm happy.

Yulass (My favorite, but out of stock!)

This was the first audio recorder of this kind I tested, and it's my favorite. Unfortunately, they're out of stock on Amazon, and I can't find it anywhere else. The what like is that it has amazing battery life (I ran it for 16 hours, and it was not even half drained) and the record level is higher in "Line-In" mode than most of these other recorders. It has the same problem with the "microphone" mode not muting the built-in mics when and external microphone is plugged in, but the level on the line-in mode is pretty good. Additionally, the audio quality from this one seems better than others of this type.