device with best SQ and price value?

[Alex M]

right now I have an E270 but I want something better that lags less(doesn't take 5 seconds+ to change a track).  A removable battery or reset hole/switch are essential.  The E270 does not have those easily accessible(screws on the back, no reset button).  Video playback should be better than the Sansa.  Price is a bit of an issue so the iRivers are out of the question.
What should I go with?

[nls]

The sansa has a hardwired reset that you trigger by holding the power button for about 15 seconds.

If you mean smoother video playback and no smaller resolution you can skip all the portal player based players, and if irivers are out of the question, (iaudio x5 has lower res display than sansa e200) you have narrowed the field down to... the gigabeat F/X (assuming you are only interested in currently supported targets). I don't know how the SQ is on the gigabeat though.

[Alex M]

do the ipod photo and 5th gen sound worse?

[Llorean]

They have worse video playback. They don't have the noise problem the e200 has though.

[Alex M]

and when you say the noise problem, you mean the distortion, right?  SQ is a priority over video quality though..

[soap]

right now I have an E270 but I want something better that lags less(doesn't take 5 seconds+ to change a track).  A removable battery or reset hole/switch are essential.

I believe the Sansa E series has the most accessible battery of current targets.
(can not speak as to the M:Robe)
All iPods have a problem reproducing bass frequencies with low-impedance headphones.  The 5th is better than the 4th generation, but the problem still exists.

How bad is video playback on your E200?  It should be faster than realtime on wide-screen content.
How are you encoding your videos?

I think Llorean is speaking to the white noise problem the E200 has on "disk" access. 
That should be the primary problem with the E200 series.  If I Recall Correctly it RMAAs out pretty well on all other aspects.

If you are suffering distortion during normal playback when the buffer is not being filled I strongly suspect you have too much gain in the EQ stage without creating headroom with a negative preamp setting.

You should set the preamp to a negative value equal to the largest positive gain you set in the EQ.

[Alex M]

I am picky about bass.  But yea, I do notice the hiss.