Checking in, got to try out a new Oade CM R-44 over the weekend at Bonnaroo, LOVE this deck, probably the easiest recoreder I've ever used. A couple notes on my experience so far:
• Using a batterygeek 10-14-100 12v battery with a ratshack adaptacable & two "M" tips (reverse polarity on the R-44 side) with NO problems. I've run it 6-8+ hours without even losing one light on the power meter. I keep duracell 2650 nimh rechargeables in the unit as backup or just to run if I need to start it quickly or listen after the shows. They work great.
• Using PNY & Transcend class 4 16GB SDHC cards with NO issues.
• After reading extensively and even emailing Doug about the proper level setting debate, I decided to go with Edirol's directions and set the inner (smooth) knob at 12:00 and adjust gain with the outer (clicky) knob, which I turns out I also ended up setting at 12:00 to get levels peaking around -12 to -6db. After the first show, I never touched either knob again for all the shows I taped, except for Del McCoury's bluegrass set which I had to kick it up another click. All this was done with NO clipping whatsoever on the gain stage, I never got the "blinking" channel name, and my recordings sound amazing. This is how I will continue to set levels, I doubt I'll ever touch the inner (smooth) knob.
Just a few thoughts, again, LOVE this recorder and will be sticking with it for quite a while...