I bought my TCD3 shortly after its appearance in Japan where it was almost half price (in 3500F), and yes it was a good machine despite control buttons way too small.
The big weakness in my opinion was dedicated batteries expensive, hard to find too quickly and lose their capacity over time, to become unusable after two or three years.
My DAT I could still use even with a power supply eventually break down permanently last year; mechanics seize up from time to time already before. It will still be held 15 years Maintenat ... I have nothing to listen to my tapes to CD or transfer ...
Should I buy a DAT-hand, but it's still too expensive for my taste for machines relatively fragile and doomed to disappear.
I just offer me a PCM D-50 for my recording.