Spent last two weeks doing location sound for a documentary.

In addition to the normal Wireless Lavs (Lectrosonics ZS-LRLT and Sennheiser EW 112P) I experimented and added in a Tentacle Track E w/ Lav Mic to the mix.

These options (wireless vs. built-in recorder) operate very differently and have their own pros & cons:

Is there a solution that combines the benefits of both?

Tentacle Track E, pros:

• Really neat product, the whole thing is very small, to the point I almost got it through a TSA checkpoint, including the body scanner AND pat down
• Records 32-bit float on device, so you never have to worry about levels
• Records 32-bit float on device, so you never have to worry about wireless interference or signal loss
• Battery lasts 10 hours, and no wireless receiver to worry or fuss with
• Records timecode automatically (of course, it's a Tentacle) so syncing audio is a non-issue
• Start and stop recording from my phone (like, if someone comes back from the bathroom and forgets to 'unmute' the mic -- I don't have to bother them to check, I can see the status from my phone and click 'record' from 50 feet away..)

Traditional wireless lav system, pros:

• Easier to monitor the audio -- important to make sure the lav mic is not rubbing against clothing, hasn't fallen down inside their shirt, etc
• Some people may prefer all audio tracks to be recorded on one device (Personally I don't care about this, especially having Tentacles on all the devices, syncing everything is actually fun)

You can technically monitor the audio of the Tentacle Track E thru the phone, but I didn't find this to be practical, and certainly wouldn't be the case if I had more than one Track E going.

I really, really like the simplicity and reliability of the Track E's, but I'm just missing that extra monitoring component. It's like, I want a lav that records locally in 32 bit float, but also transmits audio for monitoring. I'd feed the audio into my Zoom so I can monitor it, then throw out that channel in post, and stick to what was recorded locally.

Thoughts?