[Harp-L] zoom h2/h4 with external mics?

[Garry Hodgson <harp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

i had a bit of a scare yesterday when my minidisc appeared to be dead.  
 turns out the battery has just died, so it won't hold a charge, but  
i can still use it using the external battery pack.  but it got me  
thinking about maybe upgrading to a digital recorder.

the zoom h4 is probably out of my price range, but i'm considering the  
h2.  so i wondered if anyone had any experience using either of these  
with external mics?  i know they have built in mics, but i have good  
external mics that i'd like to be able to use.  i recall that bill  
hines had some problems early on using his h4 with external mics,  
though i believe that was a firmware issue that was later fixed.

if anybody has any experience with this, or with the h2/h4 in general,  
i'd be glad to hear about it.  any thoughts about tradeoffs between  
the two would be helpful, as well.  i just want to record, so the  
effects offered by the h4 are not of interest to me.

thanks


--
Optimism and pessimism don't exist for me.
I'm a blues man.  I am a prisoner of hope.
I'm going to die full of hope.
- Cornel West