I have been looking for a reasonably portable, inexpensive mixer that has at least 4 XLR inputs, 6 would be better; decent mic preamps, standard set of effects; that would hold up well to lightweight use. Yamaha makes a nice one at a reasonable price.
Behringer, whom I usually avoid, has come out with a new mixer that looks pretty interesting. Along with the 6 XLRs, it uses their new XENYX preamps, and also has USB out. That would be a great setup for me, but I would like to hear some reports from people that have actually used this mixer. The model is XENYX 1222FX and is fairly new on the market. I am well aware of Behringer's poor reputation, but I am willing to give them a chance if people I trust (YOU FOLKS! ) aren't too negative. If it is yet another piece of B junk, so be it.
Thanks for any input!

I like that particular Behringer mixer....had it for about 4 months and it's been very dependable, both in my home studio and onstage (we use it to mix the hand percussion - congas, bongos, etc - into two channels of my Carvin PA1200 PA mixer).

That is the type of reply I was kind of hoping for. I'm glad to hear it's working well for you. Sounds like you use it much the way I was planning, both with my studio and performance work. I have a decent power amp, just wanted to add some XLRs for the mics and my guitar.

12 inputs, of which 4 are XLR.
This one's been gigged with and used in our drummer's home studio.  We've had it since June (so 3 and a bit months to date).
It's small, reliable, and simple to use.
Live we have it connected to a 1400W power amp (also Behringer), although the setup we use means that we can only play at about 600W!  At that volume, the mixer produces hardly any background noise.
I know it's not a report on the Xenyx mixer that Behringer make, but the UB1202FX is pretty well established now, so you're not moving into "new" technology.

Yeah, I had looked at the 1202, and it is actually a better size for me, 4 XLRs would work 95 percent of the time and it would be more portable and fit better in my tiny space. But I am curious about the xenyx preamps, Behringer thinks they are wonderful, of course, but I wanted to hear some opinions from the real world. Nice to know that the 1202FX works well for you. Are the effects any good? I presume it's the same set in all those lines.
I think there may be a xenyx version of the 1202 as well, I will have to check it out. BTW, eBay does have some very good prices on these things.

If your going to record, I'd stick with the XENYX 1222FX or a larger version of this mixer. I have not used this mixer myself but know a local band the uses this mixer they said it was working out for them and the preamp was similar to a presonus or preamp along those lines.
Other options (Ihave not used this mixer) is the mackie fire wire mixer line with fx that has it's own pci card , plus, you can buy another mixer and hook them together for more input.
I know that's probably not what our looking for. Just thought I'd throw that out ther though. I have some behringer stuff and it's not bad for the price. It's not what i'd call pro gear but on a fixed budget it ain't bad.

Presonus preamps are supposed to be quite good, so that is a real plus. I do expect to use this for recording, as my little Boss only has 2 input channels. That is usually enough for me, but if I wanted to record more people or run more mics on my guitar, it would be quite useful.
The only downside I can see on the 1222FX is the physical size. No way to get around that, of course, but that is the trade off between the 1202/1204 and the 1222.
I can get the XENYX 1220FX for under $200 on eBay, I think I will look at the Mackie.
And yes, that was exactly the type of response I was looking for; thanks!

I'm not a big fan of mackie (of course I haven't tried any mackie stuff for quite some time) but some of there stuff is ok, I here. Here is a link to the firewire mixer.
 
http://www.mackie.com/products/onyxfirewire/

Yup, checked 'em out on both Mackie's site and eBay. Very nice features, particularly the firewire option; but the system is just a tad spendy for me. I also know that there have been some quality issues over the past year, so the upsshot is that Mackie is probably out of the running. $530 bucks is more than I have, and the firewire is an additional $400 on musiciansfriend.com. Behringer has had their fair share of issues as well, but the word seems to be that the xenyx stuff is OK for home use. At under $200 with USB on board, looks to be the way I'll go.