I think that overall, the concept of tape being the only possible storage medium for documentary work is passing as the media gets less and less expensive.
P2 is actually far superior to video tape for robustness...the harddrives you empty the cartridges onto however, aren't.
However...it's probably not a ton different than shooting film, the data storage (harddrives) need to avoid heavy shock, and exposed film needs to stay sealed, water and light-tight.
P2 has a relatively large advantage in that you can delete botched or unusable shots in the field without having to shuttle through and sort it in the logging step prior to post. If you have a lot of hours of footage, this can have quite an impact.
HDV is OK for this type of work, and the tapes are very easy to carry, but these days so many of us carry laptops anyway that off loading P2 cards at the end of the day onto harddrives isn't as bad as one might think if you plan for it.
I use the FireStore products and like them a lot and BenB mentions that he uses a FireStore disk recorder to increase capacity. This kind of gives you the best of both worlds...roll to P2 when you're riding in the back of the bumpy truck pursuing the poachers across the veldt, and use the FireStore for the long and informative interview with the park ranger in his office...
