it seems that "zoom" the company that we bought from in the end
have now
put out a (what looks to be much easier to use than ours) version called a zoom H2
here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoom-H2-Handy-R … pd_cp_ce_0

and
the edirol 09 is quite a bit more expensive
however
it looks like it is a more robust piece of kit
and 
i have to say our zoom H4 is a bit tacky (although it does the job fabulously)
edirol is here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edirol-R-09-Res … B000FDFWWS

i guess
edirol is kindov the industry bunch making a v nice bit of kit
whereas
the zoom guys are much cheaper perhaps a little tackier but still darn good

ps
the main reason we got the zoom H4 was because you got the joy of XLR inputs