Topic: R-09 accident... but still ticking

[tapeheadtoo]

There have been a few comments here regarding the R-09's build quality... not the most confidence-inspiring, even without considering the flimsy battery door.  Well, the other week I had a little accident with my unit.  I was on the road, had to get my miles in (training for half marathon coming up in 2 weeks), had just recorded a gig the night before and I *really* wanted to listen to it so I brought my R-09 to the local gym.  (Being on the road without my lappy I didn't have the opportunity to offload the SD card or somehow transfer it to my iPod.)  I set it carefully on the treadmill shelf (not in a protective case), headphone cord was long enough, got into my run with some good tunes... everything was fine for 50 minutes but then... somehow while wiping my face with my towel I managed to knock the R-09 off the shelf.  It bounced off the moving surface of the treadmill (a drop of about 3 ft) then got propelled backwards, slamming into a wall about 2 feet behind me.  F%$k!! 

Well good ending to the story, the unit shut itself off but when I powered up again everything seemed fine with controls and playback.  I have subsequently used it for recording and all is well.

I realize that the somewhat "soft" surfaces of a treadmill and drywall are nothing like concrete or tile, I know an encounter with a hard surface would be no match... I just throw this out there FWIW.

(And please, don't -T me for not taking care of my stuff, I was dying to listen to the gig I'd just recorded and after all everything *had* been going just fine on the treadmill for almost an hour)

[lbgspam]

+T!

Nice to hear this after all the people writing here that the R-09 felt poorly made! Thanks for posting the story!

[svenkid]

you probaly hit the headphone cable as you went to wipe your forehead.

[china_rider]

Just my .02... I've had the microtrack and the now have the R-09.  I would say that build quality is pretty much equal between the two.  The only thing that lowers the R-9 is the battery door.   That being said when I first got the R-9 I opened/closed the battery door about 50 times in a row to get used to it and can now do it in my sleep.  I think I would rather have the door as designed rather than a non user replacable battery.  However, I am really surprised that when designing the r-9 a different door could not have been made.

[gewwang]

It might be a pain to open but to be able to fit the usb, card slot and 2 AA batteries behind one door instead of three separate ones probably helped keep it smaller and fewer parts to break. What I really like about it is that after you close it, you know it isn't going to pop open accidently like the door that holds the AA's in the SBM for instance. I don't have to tape this door down like I did on my SBM.

[tapeheadtoo]

you probaly hit the headphone cable as you went to wipe your forehead.

Yeah I think that's exactly what happened... I let down my guard since I was almost finished my run... the whole thing happened so fast.  Even though there was no damage done I don't think I would want to chance it again...