in terms of ease of use and features for cost
Zoom R16 is probably as reasonable a choice as you are going to find
the original Fostex MR-8 supported four simultaneous inputs but the MKii only has two & when available the originals are still getting $250 used, with R16 b-stock showing
for $300-360 R16 is just, a reasonable value
(usual disclaimer about the URL no connection to retailer and no specific endorsement, and haggling with any retailer might get the new into the $350 range)
happy enough with the Zoom r16 that I'm likely to get a 2nd (one reason for researching b-stock) and postpone purchase of A&H Zed r16 (@$2k) while I wait and see about price of Zed r24 and whether they will fix the r16's faders (use different faders on 24 can't 'fix' the 16's)) back in '97/'98 got a Korg D16 (@ about $1500), the Zoom R16 is really the first thing 'similar' and a lot more flexible . . . there have obviously been a lot of stand alone hd recorders in the interim . . . but the features for which I was looking, including portability & ease of use, were in relatively short supply . . . lots of stuff with more features and bigger price tag, lots of stuff that didn't support minimum number of simultaneous inputs that i needed . . . I had several cassette 4 trks, several 8 trks and Korg D16 seemed to be first digital update (in terms of capability and portability) that actually justified the cost . . . the Zoom I find, for me, to be a similar 'update' for the D16 supporting the same ideas
I will not pretend that it is the greatest thing since Edison's first cylinder recorder/player, nor do I think its build suggests it will last as long as the D16 (which I do not use very often but did as recently as two years ago to record a live show outdoors in high heat, lot of dust (and probably a couple of other things that would have challenged the laptops) but it will take me a couple of years to wear it out completely
