Best Hidden Voice Recorders of 2020 Review

Posted by Brian F. on Jan 01, 2020

Over the past 13 years of working for SpyCentre I have personally watched the transformation the hidden audio market has made.

From large pens with 3 hours of battery life that could MAYBE download to your windows 2000 or XP machine (and if you had a MAC you had to trade it in for a PC if you bought one of these devices because there is no possibility it would have download to anything Apple!)

The audio quality wasn't bad at all, you just had to be about 5ft from what you wanted to capture due to the low quality components used on items back then.

But so much has changed in such a short amount of time, vendors are quality testing items and making changes to components that no longer meet consumer expectations, looking for smaller longer lasting rechargeable batteries, smaller microphones with the ability to pick up at greater distances.

Now you can get a spy pen that can last close to 24 hours on a full charge, downloads directly to a MAC or PC and the audio quality is the same format that iTunes uses on all of their music files giving you crisp high definition sounding audio recording as far as 40ft away in optimal conditions.

Before we jump into the top 8 hidden recorders I would like to mention that a cell phone is a great option for recording conversations.

But its not such a great idea for recording interactions secretly, I mean it can be done with enough effort, preparation and warning but what about those times you are not prepared to pull out your 42-inch iPhone 7 cell phone/TV from your pocket, skim through your 200 plus apps on your phone and then hide your phone?

A proper recorder is much more discrete and effective.

Also, most of these listening devices offer unmatched battery life and voice-activated recording, allowing them to discretely record for days -- even when you are away.

So let's get into some practical hidden audio recorders that will get the job done right each an every time.

Our Best Hidden Audio Recorders

Click to jump to review summary of each product.

The Worlds Smallest Micro Voice Recorder

The name just isn't clever, its true!

This small listening device measures in at .7in x 1.8in x .24in. But aside the fact that it truly is tiny it is featured packed and simple to use. Activation and recording is all built into one, just turn the unit on located at the top left of the device. That's it, once it's on it's recording, giving you the flexibility to turn this small recorder on and off at a moments notice anywhere, just leave it in your pocket or purse.

Not only is this device easy to operate, it has a large audio pick up range of up to 40ft in optimal conditions.

This high-quality recorder comes with a built in 8GB flash memory allowing for it to store 90 hours of recordings and will last for up to 10 hours on a full charge (2 hour recharge). You can quickly switch to voice activated recording or leave the device in continuous depending on what the situation calls for. It can be downloaded to a Mac or PC and forget about old clunky software folks, not with this little guy, just plug and play your files with the included USB cable.

If you do not have a computer handy to listen to your files just use the included headset and listen to them right off the device. (For even more control our-new-for-2019 mini micro recorder allows more playback control with "skip" and "delete" features right on the device!)

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Spy Pen Audio Recorder

Spy recorder pens have been around for sometime and the idea has been around for even longer, think of all those cool James Bond movies where they used pens to set off bombs and free themselves from captivity.

Well this little audio recorder pen may not trigger a remote detonation but it may be able to help rectify issues at work or home with verbal abuse, lying, infidelity and more.

The first thing I noticed when I put this pen in my hand was how nice it looked, and it even wrote making it the perfect tool for clandestine recording. Instantly I was drawn to how the device was activated, for years most pens either had a small button on the top of them to trigger recordings or you just push the clasp down or up. But this pen took it to a another level of covert.

Just turn the top of the pen left or right to activate continuous recording or voice activation mode. Once again this gives you the ability to activate your recordings at a moments notice.

You can continue to take notes while you record the whole interaction between you and the mark. This device has a 31 hour battery life while recording continuously and has an amazing 30 day battery life while in standby mode (voice activation recording).

You can quickly recharge this device (2 hours) by plugging it directly into a computer or powered USB outlet by unscrewing the pen and exposing the USB input in the center of the device. This pen will store 144 hours of audio recordings that are time and date stamped! Yes time and date stamped audio recordings, this can be really handy if you need to use any of these files in court, it proves without a doubt when and what time the incident took place.

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Pro USB Flash Drive Audio Recorder

One of our favorite categories of secret listening devices is USB flash drives. Why? Well they look just like a flash drive and with this particular model it even works like a flash drive making it even more invaluable.

You can literally leave thumb drives out in the open or strategically place them out of the way, its so easy to capture what you need with one of these devices.

This tiny drive measures 2.5 x 3/4 x .5 and has voice activated recording or continuous recording. A 24 hour battery life allows for a full day of continuous recording, that's quit a bit of recording for such a small device, and your only looking at 2 hours to charge this device fully.

To activate this recorder all you have to do is turn the little switch located on the back of the device left or right, left for continuous or right for voice activated recording. The switch is actually the lanyard hole itself so you could attach this device to your keys or purse or just keep it in your pocket and turn it on when you need it. When using voice activated recording you will have an unreal battery life of up to 25 days plus you can store up to 288 hours of recordings.

Time & date stamped recording is available for this model but only for PC users currently. But anyone with a Mac or PC can download the files from this recorder right onto their computers and you don't need any software, once again just plug and play.

One of the best features of this device is that it can be plugged into any powered USB port or computer and set to record in either continuous or voice activated, taking battery life out of the equation, giving you a 24/7 audio recorder.

If you do choose to use this recorder in this manner be sure to clear your device's memory so it can continue to operate while recording.

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USB Powerbank Recorder

This powerbank recorder is one of our best devices for those scenarios where you need several hundred hours of recording.

Disguised as a working power bank, it is at home in the conference room, office, dorm, or sitting on your table at home.

Even better, it has magnets on the backside so you can secure it to a metal surface.

With over 330 hours of recording time and enough memory for 576 hours of audio capture, this is the ultimate listening device.

It's one-touch recording mode makes it easy to discreetly activate, and the 150 days of standby mode means that it can wait for 5 months for the perfect moment to capture an audio event.

This is a powerful stealth device for those long-term surveillance operations.

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Mini Wrist Band Voice Activated Recorder

This simple voice recorder looks just like a fit bit or fitness tracker which makes it a perfect device for covert recording. Not only that this fit bit actually looks nice, I mean nice enough to wear with not just casual clothes but also special events, work, weddings really anywhere.

The rubber band is adjustable to fit just about any shape or sized wrist you can throw at it. This device is simple to activate and doesn't look out of place when you do. This device just requires you to power on the device to activate its record mode. To turn on this device's power and put it into record just push the switch located on the left-hand side of this device up and that is it.

One of the things I really enjoy about this recorder is the fact that the manufacture put an embedded mic on both the left and right side allowing for optimal pick up all around you. This recorder has all the features we as consumers expect, its rechargeable and downloadable through a computer, stores 90 hours and can record for up to 8 hours continuously.

The thing that really attracted me to this device was its ability to be downloaded to a smartphone or tablet as opposed to just a computer. I mean this is great if your always on the go and don't always have time to sit in-front of a computer. Essentially OTG (On-The-Go) is a feature that allows USB devices to be read/seen on Android platforms.

Many major manufactures now offer this with their phones and tablets now a days so be sure to check with you manufacture to see if you can use this really neat feature.

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USB Flash Drive Voice Recorder

Here is another USB flash drive recorder. This has to be one of the simplest and affordable recording devices I have tried out so far. Being a USB flash drive just makes it so much easier to use since they are so common nowadays.

This device has time & date stamped audio recordings (windows computers only) 16 hours of battery life (2-3 hour charge) and can store 90 hours of recordings on its 8GB flash memory. Like the pro version this model has a simple one touch voice record mode, simply slide the switch to on, on the bottom of the recorder, and your recording.

No voice activated features on this little guy but just like the previous models you can simply just leave this out overtly or hide it, drop it in your pocket or put it in your purse. You can download your audio clips on a PC or Mac.

This is definitely one of the best recording device you can get for the money, it can pick up audio within 40ft in optimal conditions like the rest of the recorders on this list and really functions as a USB flash drive so you could store important files on this thumb drive when your not using it for a voice recorder.

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Mini Micro Stick Voice Activated Recorder

We've always been good at doing tiny, but now we're kicking it up a notch by offering more control.

While our Micro Voice Recorder (#1 above - one of our best-sellers), has always offered the functionality of plugging in a headphone and listening to the recordings, this one includes a small speaker and playback control. Now you can skip to the different recordings and even delete your recordings without plugging it back into a computer. This makes on-the-field file management much easier.

(And yes, it still has a headphone jack, too).

This one also brings sound-range control in, which allows you to go for maximum sounds in a 40-foot radius, or you can bring the sound quality up by telling it to focus on a closer radius.

It also offers "Whisper amplification" which lets you prioritize quieter sounds over loud sounds.

There's a lot of added features with this one that we haven't seen before, making it a truly futuristic recorder. And it is still super-tiny. It's 2.5 inches long, less than an inch wide and only half-an-inch thick.

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Best Listening Device for Cars

The Lawmate Remote Audio Recorder is one of the handiest on-the-fly recorders we sell for people who need to record audio inside of vehicles.

Since it looks like a car remote, it blends in well with any environment. Leave it lying anywhere in the car, and no one will give it a second look. To complete the disguise, add it to a keychain with an old car key on it.

You can also leave it around the house or place of business. And no one will think anything of it when you come rushing back into a room to retrieve your device because you "forgot your keychain."

With 30 hours of data storage available, you will need to recharge this one a few times before you max out the data bank. The Lawmate keychain recorder can perform either continuous recording or voice-activated recording. In voice-activated mode, there is up to 50 hours of battery life available, for days of surveillance.

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Long Distance Listening Device: 300 Foot Parabolic Microphone

All of the devices are excellent for discretely recording conversations, or for recording what might be said in a room in your absence. They are a great way to discreetly keep an eye on the Nanny, or to protect yourself in a conversation with your Ex (in compliance with local law, of course).

The UZI parabolic microphone is the next level in spy recording. These are a must-have for eaves-dropping on the other football team's game strategy. Or for staking out your property to hone in on some suspected criminal activity.

The parabolic cone helps to direct the sound recording, and the sound amplifier helps to raise faint sound levels to distinguishable sound levels to allow for you to better hear from afar. As with our other devices, this one can record the conversations that you detect. (For longer stakeouts, it can also be connected to an external voice recorder, like our 8GB pro voice recorder) With its 9-volt battery, you will have cheap, plentiful access to hours of recording power.

While not as graceful as our other spy listening devices on this page, this parabolic listening device helps fill the gap in those situations where you don't have intimate access with the area that needs to be recorded. Think of it like a bionic ear, of sorts.

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