I am considering picking one up from a local shop.

Its got two Tascam cards loaded into it.
Are there adapters to connect TDIF to ADAT?

What would be a good deal on this mixer and are there any issues that would steer me away from this mixer?

I am looking into eventually getting a hard disk recorder. as opposed to my computer for a portable recording rig.

I am looking for that kind of thing to use primarily for mix down. The smaller the better (size-wise).

Has anyone used this board? How does it sound? Any cons?

 I need a digital patchbayfor a few reasons, obviously. Here is the situation. I want to put an A/D D/A in front of an Avalon VT747SP and rout it's signal through the digital patchbay with other digital devices. I could run my complete mix as well as some individual parts through my GoldChannel, for some of it's "finalizer" characteristics, the HEDD (when I get one) and the 747.