I currently have an ADK built Daw in my studio with a pro 40 and I light-piped in an ADA8000 for a total of 16 analog in's.  I have 2 clubs that would like to be able to have me come do some live recordings of the bands sometimes.  On these occasions the club would pay me to run sound for the night and the bands would then have the option to pay me for a good solid mixdown of the set.  Nothing fancy just eq, compression, levels, panning, and send it.   So I have been thinking of buying a digital mixer that will run via firewire as a controller too for in the studio.  I probably could get away with 16 channels on this new board but would rather grow into a board than spend a bunch of money and then outgrow it.  I am down to the Presonus 24.4.2 Studio/live or the Behringer X32. 
   Both are going to require me getting a nice case for them, for mobile use I will need to buy a good snake as well.  
*The Presonus looks good but will require me to also buy a laptop and a firewire card for it to record outside my studio.
* The Behringer  x32 is a behringer yes... but!  the had just acquired Midas and this board is the 1st of the "hybrid" of the behringer (generally entry level junk), and the Midas (high end audio gear).  I noticed when my band opened for Sevendust this past year that they were running an X32 for the front of house.  I asked the tech before the show what he thought of it and he said it was the best board he had ever run, that it was midas with a behringer name tag on it, that the pres were clean & the controls and layout were top notch and really intuitive.  It looks great and this board can record all of the Wave files of the tracks, busses, mains etc. to a thumbdrive in the top of the console (no computer needed for remote recordings!)  That alone is bad as hell! It unlike the presonus has motorized faders for in studio automation, and you can add plugins/updates to the on-board DSP but, from what I gather, this board does not play nice with Sonar, it has a much bigger footprint, and I will likely never need 32 channels at one time.
 
I can't decide what the hell I want to do here!  I am putting together $2500-$3000 to achieve my goals here one way or another.

I would post this in Gearslutz under "Remote Possibilities-Mobile recording"
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/
and even the general forum too. http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/
There you find people who are using this gear. That's who you need to talk to. 
 
I to am nervous around the "B" name being the proud owner of a trash can full of stuff that only lasted a few years. And I know I'm not alone. The music shop I deal with downplays it but will admit to "B" having more issues than all the other stuff they sell. 
Dig in there, might be this mixer is an exception. But until something has been out there on the road for a few years I would approach with caution still., reviews by "new" owners mean nothing to me. Only time will tell the truth. I want to talk to happy owners after 3 , 5 or 12 years. Like my Yamaha 01v. Made in 1998, still going strong..well 98% of it is. 

Hey Chuck would this work? Its got 16 ins and outs and recorders to ipad if you got one. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DL1608L/

The Alesis HD24XR is fantastic for live recording. You need to import the tracks into your box after tracking but it's rock solid and without issues for me. There is a free utility called HD24 tools that works awesome for importing.
 
Rocky

The presonus has a good reputation and it has been around awhile.
 
The b-word would probably be OK, for a couple of years before the whole thing gives way or you lose something important on it.  It depends upon how much money you think you'll make and how long you want to keep the gear for.  Anything over 3 years definately the presonus.  If you aren't sure about the money to be made, probably the B.  If you start making good money it is all gravy.  IF not, you haven't lost as much.
 
@

Well guys I went with the Presonus 24.4.2 a couple of weeks back.  I like the board a lot and I am trying to get real comfortable with it before I start bringing bands in here in January after a break for the holidays.  it is cool to be running true hardware monitoring.  NO LATENCY!  Who cares how high the PC's buffer is!  I am not listening to it anyway!     I customized my desk (I really hate where my keyboard is here & I am changing that soon, but otherwise... this is pretty cool.  It has become the center hub of everything in the studio now.  It is the board for live band practice, my iPod in, monitors controlled via monitor knob, mains out to Amp to PA speakers, Mic's -->snake-->inputs,   Aux outs-->headphone amp-->snake returns for headphones where I need them!  I don't think I want to ever unplug all this crap to go mobile!  I am gonna need to buy a 16.4.2 for that!  haha