I picked up a Juiced Link CX231 on ebay for around $130 shipped. Next, I ordered a Zoom H1, so I am hoping I get great quality with that combination for a total of about $230. I can post tests once I get the Zoom if there is interest.

I used the Tascam DR-100MKII and was good enough, but now i'm using the Tascam DR-60 and i feel a little better floor noise performance, is a little big for my taste but is very functional using it under the camera, you can record sound on the unit and on camera at the same time which is nice for backup proposes, also record on two channels with different levels.

I've used the preamps on the DR100mk2, i.e. microphone>DR100. The results were unusable. Please keep this in mind: these portable recorders are NOT intended as field recorders, they are built and marketed with musicians in mind. They are made so you can place the unit in a rehearsal room and record your jams/practices/ideas. They are not made to amplify the signal of a boom mic in a 'quiet' environment to capture pristine audio. They don't claim it in the literature and they don't deliver this kind of performance in practice. It is better to go the mic>preamp>line-in of portable recorder route. Remember, the further your microphone is from the ideal distance of the talent (<12 inches) the more gain you have to apply (inverse square law). The more gain you apply, the more of the internal self-noise of the amplifying device (and microphone) you will record with your audio. A major pain to deal with in post. You will very, very rarely have a situation where your boom mic will be 12 inches or less from your talent (in a narrative shoot).

A juiced-link and a portable recorder will net a much cleaner result. More shit to carry than a DR100? Yes. Better results? Ditto. Alternatively, you could opt for a sound devices 702...

I can't comment on the DR680 as I've never tried it.

Doubt I'll be spending that much for a DR680. The next port of call would probably be the DR60d, which seems to have preamps comparable to the 702. Very leery of the whole lack of a proper potentiometer, though lots of people seem to think that this is not really an issue.

Already got a used NTG1.

That's not too bad, I guess, but I find it hard to justify paying almost $150 for only somewhat better preamps and proper gain control and losing out on the DR60d's convenient form factor.

I did some tests with my setup. I am very happy with the Zoom h1 (low-quality preamps that are turned down) paired with the Juiced Link (better quality preamps that are turned up). Unfortunately there's some traffic noise in the background, as well as a high pitched whine coming from my light fixture, so please ignore that.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev Oh really? Doesn't it work well mounted underneath the camera? (I wouldn't feel safe mounting it on the GH3's hot shoe). I did look at his other video, the one comparing it to the 702, and to my ear, it really didn't sound that much worse, which is really damn impressive. Still, without the form factor, it loses a lot of its versatility. The idea was that I would be using it on both one-man shoots and those with a sound guy.

@xenogears from same guy's ibc report

Another semi-cheap DR680 on Ebay, but at this point, I think I may actually be more interested in the DR60d. I was told by a Tascam employee (see: http://jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/topic/16619-introducing-the-tascam-dr-60d/page-2) that it actually has better pres than the DR680, so really, the only thing it's lacking is all those inputs and proper potentiometers, something that the same Tascam guy said is being worked on.

Hmmm...