i personally know more people using good units than the few people on here with bad ones. I still don't think the handful of people with bad units here is representative of all dr 680's. When the box first came out everyone reported its specs called for 12v but they reported it "would" work on a 9v then a multitude of different batteries that are below the factory specs were being used and problems began to arise. I would still like to know how many people who ran a 12v fixed voltage battery from day 1 had issues.
In response to you and Kirk...
It's a cheap deck and a lot of units are 'in the wild.' Of course there will be a fair number of users completely loyal to their unit, having never experienced issues. However, that argument, in and of itself, is not an argument that the 680 is a reliable unit that should be trusted.
Kirk, you've had two working decks? That's fantastic! Unfortunately, I've personally had two bricked decks, so if we're playing a numbers game here looks like the score is still tied.
On this board, there have been at least 10 decks reportedly go bad. Two by myself, two by Chuck, one by Gak, another by Darby. The list goes on and I'm sure I left out a fair number of users who have reported various anomalies, but who maybe have not yet had to send it back to the factory for a complete repair.
The issues stem from a variety of factors and is not limited to simply use with a Tekkeon. Gak only powered his via 9v dvd battery and started to experience bad channels. Is this the result of an under powered DC-DC converter? We don't know because Tascam, while having fixed Ted's deck for $200, didn't specify a root cause, nor have they done so for any other user who sent their deck back for servicing.
When I sent back two decks with a full blown "Sys Rom Error" (i.e. bricked), Tascam USA didn't even so much as flinch in sending me a new unit. There was no debate, and they didn't even bother to ask me what might have caused it. In my mind, that either indicates a lack of interest in trying to identify a root cause or means they already know the exact cause and are simply trying to deal with it through the RMA route.
So where does this leave us in the argument of 'is this a good deck or not?' Well I won't go as far as to say that it is a known lemon. My third deck, which as been carefully powered, has worked quite well for 6 months now. If someone needed more than 4 channels on a budget, I would certainly recommend the 680 with caveats. However, I would never suggest the 680 over an Edirol R44 for someone that didn't need more than 4 channels regularly and could afford to spend a bit more on something that was reliable. Hell, even if someone only
occasionally needed 6-8 tracks, I would probably recommend two decks with a clock syncing unit like the USBPre2 over the 680.
In my mind, the 680s powering circuit was either poorly designed or there are quality control issues in manufacturing that are causing component failures. A deck should NEVER blink "Sys Rom Error" and brick out on you at a show. That's is a mortal sin imho and should not be taken light. An improperly powered deck, at worst, should blow a fuse that requires a new, user-serviceable component.
I would have liked Tascam, after having received 5-10 bricked decks from users on our forums, to have issued some kind of statement through their Service Factory in regards to the root cause, but that is a pipe-dream. Maybe we will see a 680 MKII that improves reliability, but that's only speculation. The bottom line is that the 680 is not on par in terms of reliability with nearly every other deck that our forum members would recommend. It's much closer to a Microtrack 2496 than the SD 788 and until we see a design improvement, I'm afraid my opinion is pretty much set. It's a good deck when it works, but don't be surprised in the slightest when it starts showing issues.
Topic: TASCAM DR-680 portable 8-track #4 (Read 102861 times)