The vf80 is an 8 track digi recorder with a mixer, correct ? Then you will want an 8 track and I would recommend a TASCAM 388, if you wish to have a great all-in-one station, or something like a TASCAM 38 or TSR-8 with a matching mixer ... something like an M30, M35, M200 or the M300(B) series. The "B" stands for Phantom Power for all channels. The 300's come with or without that feature.
Tape is cool. I still remaster stuff I did on tape and get some good sounds.
But, but, but, well, no argument....it just takes so much time to "rewind" tape. And, and, and,....well if you know your DAW, it can out-perform the tape.
These IDEALLY should be crated in their original boxes or at the very least double boxed with thick packing between the inner and outer box. Otherwise they WILL be damaged in transit - at the very least internally.
Shit, even if you had to drive out and take a whole day's trip to pick these up, that would be better.
Yeah, if the original poster is after a cassette format then the 688 is a nice one and so are the 244 and 246 and 234 (without a mixer). The last 3 are 4 track cassette recorders but they do sound great. Note that an open reel WILL sound better.
That's really not surprising as fitting 8 tracks onto 1/8" tape is quite a task - a 488 (or any 8 track cassette) may be a lot easier to use than say a 2816 but the extremely thin tracks (and comparatively slower speed) will take a lot away from the sound quality. Still, I really dig the tape format (as you do), no matter what it is.