Hey there,
I know it's not popular and I see on this forum there are mostly Sony PCM10 fans, but I can give my opinion on Roland R-05 - my first handheld recorder. Got it just a week ago and it's not bad. Actually before I used only my cell phone, so you can imagine for me it's a huge upgrade. Price is not bad - I got it for $199 Canadian from Long&McQuade music store chain.
Since I have no previous recording experience, still a long way to go. And no matter I just taped yesterday one guy for first time, I won't use it for taping music. My application is to record urban sounds, which is everything appearing on a street, plus sometimes street musicians. Also I am music maker by hobby and when inspiration strikes I usually use my cell phone to sing what melody I have in mind, but when listening back to it it sounds bad, so wanted something which would catch better my ideas. So I was not aiming at the hi-end recorder, neither I need it, neither I got the money for it right now. Also important - I need the urban sounds for my samplers, so I always record at the 16bit 44kHz - unfortunately my samplers does not support better quality. Well at least the guy I taped yesterday could make it on 96kHz, but just forgot to switch. Anyway.
What I considered initially was Zoom H1, then Alesis TwoTrack came out, but the guys in the store recommended me R-05 over H1. Guy from another store recommended me some Olympus, but from the moment I saw R-05 it really attracted me.
And in short - a very intuitive, easy to use product, nice casing, very user-friendly menus, some on-board sample editing, including conversion to MP3. Formats: WAV 16/24 at 44-96kHz, MP3 too but I didn't researched the MP3 functionality as it's out of my needs. However noticed mentioning the support of VBR and also recording of both WAV and MP3 at the same time, considering the MP3 for uploading purpose. 2GB SD card included with manuals and demo songs. USB cable included but off no use - serves only to transfer files back and forth to a computer, but same could be achieved by simply pulling out the memory card if you have a card reader on the laptop. Foam windscreen included but it's a total joke - looks very clumsy and barely covers the mics, however a basic ordinary foam $5 screen fits perfectly (I got one Apex from the same store same day). Via on-board switches it does have mic sensitivity control high/low, a switch which controls either limiter or automatic gain control on/off, and finally a low-cut filter on/off. 2 standard alkaline batteries are included. The unit supports NiMH as well. The user manual is wonderfully written, English only, but the quick-start guide is on 7 languages.
In general - I'm happy with it, at least for now. I have it always in my backpack, ready to shoot. So far still use the same batteries, no idea how long I have been recording but I think it's less than 2 hours.
If any R-05 related questions - shoot. Will be glad to answer. I did put on Youtube both unboxing video and a review, a demo and the guy I taped yesterday.