I'm in the same boat (although I hate mail order and the VF160 isn't something easiliy found on the shelf - not carried by Guitar Center, etc.)
The VF gives you 16 mono tracks, whereas the 2488 has 12 mono and another 12 that are stereo (only 6 faders for those 12 tracks).
I've never seen any complaints about the VF, but the 2488 has some issues - a huge problem is that Tascam tech support is referring customers to a non-Tascam, 'user group' website for answers! People seem to like it, but there are some nagging issues and I question Tascam's commitment to fix them - they basically priced the profit margin right out from the beginning.