i have had the zoom h2 for a while now, and I highly recommend it based on recording quality and price. the mic in is useless, but if you use your batt box/pre to line in, you should be good to go. The unit hasn't been out long enough for people to start breaking it, but I'd say the build quality is at least as good as the MT or R09. Any of these affordable units are going to be kind of plasticky. The Sony Hi-MDs are tougher, but you are familiar with their limitations as well. It's all a matter of what you want to put up with, I guess.
Ozpeter, who posts here, has done lots of in-depth testing of the H2, which is posted here:
http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2007/04/zoom_h2_digital_recorder_detai.htmlThere is also a very interesting test of the surround capabilities of the h2 v.s. very high-end equipment here:
http://www.radio.uqam.ca/ambisonic/comparative_recording.htmlthe samples are not up yet, but it should be pretty cool.
The best thing about the h2 for my needs is that the internal mics are very useable, so in open situations, or jam sessions at home, etc., you can just point and shoot and get very good results.
That said, you should also wait for the new Sony deck, as someone else suggested. It looks pretty cool