I can't see any 12v battery box which connects directly to the MT on the SP site are you sure your not confusing it with the dongles to give plug in power to the TRS inputs?
this must be it....price sucks
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-MICROTRACK-MIC-POWER[/quote]
Yep, that's it, and yep, the price sucks! I just wondered if the convenience of it becoming a "part" of the MT would be worth the extra $$$. No extra cable connections to worry about could be a plus as well.
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Oops my bad I didn't notice they'd put a 12V battery in that!
Despite the price I personally think it might be quite nice to have one package of the microtrack and bat box, the only downside (price excluded) is the unusal battery, if it's the one they use in their other mini boxes
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ENER-A23BP-2 I used it in a bbox I built and was concerned about battery life but it managed 3hr so seemed acceptible for my uses. Getting hold of them isn't as easy as 9V bats but not impossible with planning.
Of course this still depends on which mics your using. I'm not sure they all would like 12V's, the AT853's I've tried and cetainly work fine with 12V. But if you're considering AT's then with the standard sound pro battery boxes wiring they can still overload at REALLY LOUD shows so you might then want to use either phantom power or a 3 wire battery box.
Having said all of this I tend to agree with you that one package would be nice as less chance of coming disconnected and if you're stealthing only one item to crotch.