Hi Aaron,
Thank you for your excellent and detailed reply. You say "long-term
backpacking or travel on a budget, particularly those who
will be off the grid ", that kind of sums up what I will be doing and
hence the reason that a CF cards maybe a problem and recorders like the
FR2 are pretty useless in terms of battery life. The 702 is a
possibility for me, but I would then, as you mention, have to buy a
backup device. My thinking is for the upcoming expeditions that a Mixpre
or 302 into a minidisk (with my R09 as backup) will mean that I have
purchased a decent piece of kit which could be used with another
recorder in the near future. (I am sure that there will be some
announcements in the new year).
Thanks for your great advice
Neil
Aaron Ximm wrote:
>
> On 5/24/07, lightb4sound <
> <brucie%40lightb4sound.co.uk>> wrote:
> > Currently in the market for a new field recorder (currently using
> > either oldschool Minidisk, iRiver, Laptop and Mbox, Edirol 09 and R4
> > and sometimes a borrowed Sound Devices 702). Having read Aaron's great
> > thoughts of Compact flash V miniDisc
> > (http://www.quietamerican.org/links_diy-MDvsDAT.html
> <http://www.quietamerican.org/links_diy-MDvsDAT.html>) and with my own
> > personal experiences with hardisks, and flash cards in the field I am
> > rather nervous to currently go down either the Fostex Fr-2, Tascam
> > HD-p2 or even Sound Devices 702 route.
>
> Should mention,
>
> I *love* my SD722 and, if you could live with the cost and constraints
> I discuss on that page, in 'extreme conditions' I would definitely
> take it (or a 702) before HiMD these days... it's clear from
> discussion here and on RAMPS and the sound_design list that it's
> design has been proven in some very very punishing environments
> (particularly, when recording to CF), and I little doubt that it would
> happily work longer and better than MD in the same situation. It is
> also very very well designed ergonomically, very high quality in both
> sound and construction, and built like a tank... not to mention its
> phantom, M/S decoding, high resolution capabilities, excellent
> metering, etc etc.
>
> The issues I bring up on that page are mostly targeted at people doing
> long-term backpacking or travel on a budget, particularly those who
> will be off the grid -- who will not have access to AC to recharge or
> any mechanism for offloading recordings -- or the space/weight
> available to carry an external backup drive.
>
> If those constraints don't apply, and it sounds like you are willing
> to carry a box that size anyway, I would seriously consider going the
> SD7xx route!
>
> I had a bellwether experience on the trip I just returned from -- I
> shoot a lot of pictures every day for a project, and I needed enough
> media for a six week trip. I looked into portable HD backup devices
> used by photographers, but to my surprise in the end it was cheaper
> (and lighter, and smaller, and more reliable-seeming) to invest in 15
> GB of memory cards than to buy a HD solution. (Of course, I didn't get
> the same capacity...).
>
> Just yesterday I saw a link to an 8 GB CF card for less than $80 which
> is approaching my own "magic price," when CF becomes so cheap I can
> use it like MD -- as an archival medium. When that happens my choice
> of gear to grab for many trips may alter for good.
>
> All this said, if stealth and size and long-term use off the grid are
> primary requirements, I still would look at HiMD... but it sounds like
> those are not the primary concerns...?
>
> best,
> aaron
>
> --
> <aaron.ximm%40gmail.com>
> quietamerican.org
> oneminutevacation.org
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