Topic: Tascam DR100 MKii - some battery comments

[Karl]

I have been using this for awhile, and like it quite a bit. One of the "negatives" that is out there about this is the not amazing battery run times, especially when running mics with 48V phantom power. (For the record I use Audio Technica AT853 mics).

When running off of the internal rechargeable Li-on battery, I get 3 to 3.5 hours run time. Not great, but not bad.

The most common solution is to get a high capacity external battery pack for this, and it will run for ridiculously long times. That works for many people, but if you are trying to keep the setup simple and as small as possible, that doesn't always work.

The real challenge has been with using the AA batteries for additional run time. With phantom power and running typical AA's, the unit will stop recording after about 30 minutes. Horrible. (Typical AA's meaning alkaline and NiMh). I even tried Energizer's new Quantum battery, and that sucked as well.

A solution that others and I have been using is the Zinc  (NiZn) rechargeable batteries, and those do give good run times (over 2 hours). HOWEVER....I have had some problems with that, and after doing a bit of reading, I figured out why. Basically, if you run the batteries low, they will die easily. (Part of that is due to inconsistent discharge rates between batteries). That just feels unreliable to me.

I think I'm going to start using Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA's. I got 4.5 hours run time off of that. Yes they might be a tad more expensive, but it may be worth it. I like it for the peace of mind knowing that those batteries are good and will last longer than even the internal Li-on. Note that the settings I used in the Tascam menu were AA NiMh.

The only "danger" I see with this option is the unpredictable discharge slope. Meaning that lithiums typically hold a high voltage, and when they finally die, the voltage drops quite quickly, meaning that the recorder *might* not have enough time to save the current file. I didn't have that problem in my test, but you never know. A workaround that I see is to have the unit chop the file sizes on the small size....so I would not recommend having your file split happen at 2gigs, because you could lose that file.

[stevetoney]

If external isn't your thing, the next best solution for longer run times is buying a couple of spare li-ion batteries and using the AAs only as back-up power to keep rolling while changing the Li-ion.  I think you'd need to go into the menu to force a switch back over the the Li-ion though so if you're trying to avoid externals for  , this might not be a good option either.

The brand-name batteries are pretty expensive, but I've had reasonable luck with Chinese batteries...though I've never tried this specific battery...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Battery-for-Tascam-DR-1-GT-R1-BP-L2-DR1-GTR1-BPL2-Guitar-Recorder-/190894139169?pt=US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item2c722d6721

[Karl]

Jon, I have tried the alkaline Quantums, it doesn't seem to get much better than that, and run times were still weak.

tonedeaf, I agree about another internal battery. I have had good and bad luck with the Chinese batteries, may pick one up. May decide to splurge and pay higher price for the real li-on.