Always surprised to see how common the H4n is. Having owned one for a year, I can categorically say that it sucks. I think the reason why people are still buying it is that there was a time, 5 or so years ago, when it was the only affordable recorder with XLR plugs. When the DSLR wave happened, everyone was recommending it for that reason alone. In the mean time Tascam and others have built far superior XLR recorders at the same price point or cheaper, but the massive deluge of recommendations of the H4n still exist on the internet. If you search cheap XLR recorder for DSLR, you'll find posts from years ago recommending it.

The H4n should be thought of as an overpriced stereo sound recorder (it's not bad as that), that happens to have XLR, but which absolutely cannot be used in a professional capacity due to noise levels and poor gain.

I quite like my Tascam DR-60D, which I am using with an NTG-2 without any problems, but at this point if you can afford to wait and pay a little more, I'd hold off for the DR-70D. That thing looks very very nice.

@Sangye Thanks for reporting that as I was considering a Zoom H4N to Rode NTG-2 setup for upcoming project. If you have any samples/work that you've done with the Tascam DR-60D with Rode NTG-2, I'd love to have a listen if you have or can upload to YouTube or something. Thanks.