Just jumped on the 680 train. All I did was power it on last night to make sure it came to life, and browsed some of the menus. First impressions: 1. I hope monitoring and adjusting levels on different channels is quicker and easier to do in the dark than it looks; and, 2. While I'm sure I'll get used to the meters, it seems like they actually downgraded the display from the HD-P2 (I didn't measure them, or look at them side-by-side, but that's how it looked to me).
I have a lot of reading to do, but what I've already established (tell me if I'm wrong):
1. Powering with either my MP3300 or MP3450 is fine, so long as I lock it in at 12V prior to connecting.
2. I should get AT LEAST a few hours on a fully-charged battery, even with the backlight on all the time (which is all I ever need, since I don't do festivals). I'll only be running P48 on 2 channels (for now). Plus, I always keep AA's in my units for backup.
3. I should get some breakout cables made to run my mics into channels 1/2 and the occasional SBD feed into channels 3/4 (Ted will probably have a PM coming.....).
4. To record pairs of channels separately, I need to set it to STEREO (as opposed to 6-channel, which records everything as a single 6-channel WAV file, unmixed). I assume the 6-channel mode is ideal for recording 6 mono direct outs from the board.
5. For the rare occasion when I run my V3 in front of it, I can record just the digital signal to either channels 5/6 or 7/8 (selectable in the menu).
6. I can record a mix on-the-fly to channels 7/8 (though I really can't see myself doing that).
That's all I can think of now. Fingers are crossed that I don't have any of the problems that others have had.