Posted on 19 April 2007, at 1:52 pm, by Kerry Woo
He rocks in the tree top all a day long
Hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and a-singin’ the song
All the little birds on J-Bird Street
Love to hear the robin goin’ tweet tweet tweet
- Rockin’ Robin (Bobby Day)
Here is a fun device that will open up a whole new world of nature�s best � the symphony of birds singing in the morning. Vavolo sent along a Nature Observing Recording & Playback Device
The setup was simple; insert a nine volt battery, snap on the Parabolic sound catcher and plug in the headphones. Once done, I headed outside and oh my gosh � my ears heard what sounded like 1000 birds all chirping and chiming in at the same time � yet there was a pretty cool rhythm to it all.
Made of a hard flat black plastic, the Nature Recording Device is easy to grip and has a sound recorder that can capture 12 seconds of audio for playback or transfer to a tape recorder. There�s a viewing lens to focus in on the subject, but I find that birds are not prone to sit still for long.
Other specs include:
* Parabolic sound catcher can hear up to 300 feet away.
* 10x prism optical monocular
* 12 seconds sound recorder (can output to other record device for unlimited time recording)
* Playback record sounds or transfer them to your tape recorder
* Dimension: 11″ x 1.7″ x 7″

There is a frequency controller to dial out the unwanted background noises and the amplified hiss.
The Vavolo product page offered up an extra value proposition – �Listen what baseball player’s talk inside the dugout,� �Powerful enough to hear Football player’s conversation from the other end of field.� I guess the sound catcher is optimized for the frequency of chirping birds � as any conversation I picked up from my neighbor was mumbled� and I felt a little creepy about it.
I can�t imagine carrying this device to a game� But I think what�s cool would be sitting in one’s backyard with a young child introducing a whole new world of nature�s beauty� outside, away from the television.
Available from Vavolo
MSRP: $56.00 on sale $36.40
What I Like: Construction is solid enough to be kid worthy. Easy set up. Surprisingly good capture of bird sounds.
What Needs Improvement: Packaged with a bird watching book would make the list price easier on the wallet.
Resource: birdwatching.com
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April 19th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Hey Kerry, I was wonder about the collecting dish… does it distort the image in the optical monocular? I am thinking that curved glass or plastic would distort. Too bad it does not pick up human voice freq, if it did, would make for good low priced spy gear
April 19th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Hi Allen – there was no distortion in the image… I think for spy gear, there is much better (and less obvious) spy gear out there. Stay tuned – I may work up a review on spy gear!