gearhoundism: cheap 'n easy samplers?

[Benjamin Furstenberg <benway@cea.edu>]

Hello,
Sorry if this question has been discussed to the point of tedium, feel free
to tell me to check archives or elsewhere.  But I'm hoping to get people's
current subjective takes and real-world experience while I'm comparing 
specs
and eyeing the horizon.  I'm toying with getting a cheap and fun sampler
small enough to drop in my backpack to complement my set-up.  I have a
Kurzweil K2000RS which I'm still trying to get to know more profoundly, but
am not having that much spontaneous sampling fun with, despite its power.  
I
have a Kaoss Pad, which is fun but an unprogrammable toy. For the ref, also
have Nord Modular, Lexi MPX 1, JamMan, Vortex, R-8M, etc.
    Let's say under $650, what has the most fun-to-fiddle-with and useful
set of features for looping, spontaneous experimentalism with an emphasis 
on
weirdness?  The thought started while playing around with an SP-202, but
then a friend recommended a Yamaha SU-200 which is 44.1/16 and has auto 
beat
matching.  Then the electribe sampler came out.  Then the Roland SP 808 and
the Yamaha SU-700 started to drop in price.  Should I wait for the 
Repeater?
Should I consider a S/W sampler, like Reaktor or Unity?  Maybe this and a
Peavey 1600x fader controller is the right combination of flexible,
feelable, and fun...but not portably practical w/out a powerbook.
    I'm considering a Roland DJ-70 MkII for $650 but it seemed silly to get
something 5 years old...wrong?  It has SCSI, upto 32 MB RAM, a 
scratchwheel,
BPM matching, roland's Realtime Phrase Sequencer and supposedly good
filters, but no effects.  The Sp-808 seemed better despite its poor SCSI.
thanks for any advice, Ben
SF CA USA