If you're considering a recorder as large as the FR-2LE, the Marantz PMD661 should also be on your short list.
I saw that and I am HIGHLY impressed. The display on that thing is VERY nice as well but its not as cheap as the 2LE. $600 for the PMD 661 at b&h. So based on everyone's input, why not spend the extra couple hundred and get the R44 for four channels and use two for SBD access? Battery life may be a factor for some, two extra channels may be useless to some, size/weight, you know--we all have our own reasons.
It would be easy to talk to from the PMD 661 to the R44 but from the R44 to a sound devices (two or four channel), I don't think so...just too much money for me.
One thing worth mentioning from my
very cursory review of the 661 is the lack to adjust gain of each channel separately. This isn't a fall back since recorders like the 09HR don't allow that but I think a separate trim knob could have been added for each channel. Perhaps you can adjust it in the menu system but I don't know.