I saw this at AES. It uses a pretty big battery pack. The Fostex rep claimed up to 8 hours of battery life. The batteries used are the same kind used in some RC cars I think. The batteries made the unit feel pretty heavy.
The unit is about the same size and weight as a 722. Overall I really liked it, and at $500, that's a great price.
I agree that it's too bad it doesn't have digi in.
Overall, I'd say this unit was 2nd runner up. This is the rundown of what I thought were the best units at AES:
* Best in Show: Korg MR-1 and MR-1000: Sexy!
* Runner up - Sound Devices 7 series: These units just scream quality. If money is no object and
you need something now, these are by far the coolest units. Out of my price range though...
* Second Runner up: Fostex FR2-LE - Cool unit overall..
* Better luck next time: Sony PCM-D1 - Really cool and I hear these sound awesome. But give me digi in and xlr ins! Or lower the price...
* Zoom/Samson was not at show, too bad, I really wanted to check out the H4.
I didn't really look closely at the Tascam and original FR-2. My first impression of these units are, they are
too big! Give me something smaller.
Anyhow, I'm saving my money for a Korg. I might give the H4 a try in the meantime since it's pretty cheap and could make use of it's daw and guitar effects capabilities. Meanwhile, I'm sticking to my MT.
It's really nice there are so many choices out there now. Wasn't too long ago there wasn't really much
available in 24bit recorders. I'm sure the fr2-le will do well.
Mandoman