Boss 612UA MP3-Compatible Digital Media AM/FM Receiver

• Single-DIN mounting, Active black mask display, Illuminated control buttons Single-DIN mounting Active black mask display Illuminated control buttons
• PLL synthesized tuner with 30 station presets, USB port / Front panel AUX input, Compatible with audio output of iPod and other MP3 players
• ID3-Tag display, Quartz digital clock, Separate bass and treble
• Max Output Power / Channel : 50 Watts x 4,1-Year Free Parts & Labor

Pros: price, both USB & SD(HC), id3 tag display, and sound quality. Cons: crappy docmentasen [sic;], warranty will cost you, and the mp3 read order. I did the research and knew what to expect for the price I was willing to pay. The unit therefore meets my needs; the sound exceeded my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised that it takes 8GB SDHC media. Not so happy that it did not have standard mounting screw holes, in fact no mounting holes; easy to fix. One of my dislikes is that mp3 files are read in the order written to the USB/SD, not in alpha-numeric order. It therefore requires a bit of planning when putting a larger number of folders (albums) on the device (and even more planning for Mac users...hint rsync really helps!). Nice ability to skip forward & backwards by ten songs or by an entire folder (album), and doesn't have a problem with nested folders, but remember it plays files in the order written, not in the order your file system might show them to you! The other dislike is no illumination control (for night driving).

I did not have the problem others reported of the volume reseting; I don't know about issues with the randomize feature since I generally listen to albums or pre-arranged playlists. FM seemed to pickup the few stations I listen to as well as my old radio did. I was very pleased with the fidelity; 320kbps mp3's sounded clear with full dynamic range, 128kbps I could hear the drop-off. Did not hear any distortion as I turned to volume up to what I consider "too loud to enjoy" or ~30 on the unit's scale of 40 max. Mounted in a 2005 Prius stealth mode can finally listen to mp3 on USB/SD or iPod via AUX in my Prius at a fraction of the cost of other solutions. Note: warranty requires you to ship the unit with $20 (thus loss of a rating star for just that).

I would recommend this for the budget minded (e.g. unemployed), mildly techno person. I would not put in my wife or daughter's car!

-Update --

Five months in service and working fine. There have been a few times where I have turned the volume all the way up to 40 for some soft classical passages, and no distortion or hum noticed. One problem that another view noted and I am now seeing: it is resetting the volume to level 15 every time I start the car. Generally this not an issue with SDHC or USB (the volumes are fairly low at 15), but if the radio is selected, you will be quite wide awake when you take your road trip!

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I installed this on a 2000 Oldsmodbile Alero and I had no issues. Just made sure that I matched the color connectors and hooked it up with the existing harness and voila, it worked. Also purchased an auxiliary cable to hook up with MP3 player and it worked like a charm. Lots of powers (200W) and could receive AM/FM signals. This unit has no CD player and is replaced by an SD Card which is fine. CD's are almost the thing of the past. All in all, I recommend this Boss 612UA car stereo/mp3 player/am/fm receiver.

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I threw this into my winter beater since it was only five bucks more than what the junkyard wanted for a factory unit. I gotta say, this thing is worth the money as long as it lasts (only had it for a week). The tuner pulls in stations as well as a factory GM unit, and will even fill your presets automatically if you wish! Aux, SD and USB all work great. It took a 8 gig SD with no problem, which I have problems with my other mechless reciever in a different car. The clock is tricky to set, but at least you have one, unlike my other mechless unit. Since the manual is worthless, this is how to set the clock: /// 1)Hold the mode/clk button for about two seconds and clock will appear. 2) Release button and immediately press again for two more seconds; clock will flash, release button. 3) use volume knob to adjust hour. 4) Depress volume button, and minutes will flash, again use the volume to adjust minutes. 5) Clock is now set. //// However, I have not discovered how to constantly display the clock. You have to hold the mode/clk button for two seconds every time you want to see the time. My other mechless reciever is the Dual XR4110, and it will be replaced with one of these come spring time as long as everything keeps working well. This thing is awesome, love it!

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My early Impressions are as follows

User Interface:

The UI is simplistic, but easy to understand. Most of the buttons on the receiver serve simple functions, and auxiliary functions are accessed by holding the buttons down. Their feel is hard and they click with a hard "snap" feeling every bit as cheap as the radio costs. The volume control knob is depressed to access settings, and held to turn off the unit. This is not very favorable as it is possible to hit the button when attempting to turn down the volume, forcing you to wait until it returns to normal function. The pale blue backlit display is adequate during the day, but the bright blue accent lights around the volume knob shine too brightly at night. At this price point you cannot expect a color changing display, but a dimmer would be nice.

Radio Performance:

The radio is sensitive, picking up even remote stations easily, and sounds quite good. The buttons are small and clustered on the right side of the unit yet are somehow easy to select by feel alone. Tuning the stations is irksome, as pressing the tuning button seeks to even the weakest station. Holding the tuning button sends the radio to manual tune, which is slow to tune and returns to seek after a seemingly random period of time. I set my favorite radio stations in memory and forgot about the tuning difficulties quickly.

Audio:

This radio has only simple settings for audio Bass, Treble, and Loud. A few built-in EQ settings are present, but I favored custom settings. The radio puts out 200W peak, which is just enough to drive my 6.5" Polks. The sound quality is good, but a more customizable EQ would be nice. It has two RCA outputs on the back for an amp, but not subwoofer controls in the menu to adjust volume, crossover, phase, etc.

MP3 Performance:

Coming later but keep in mind: no iPod control you'll have to use the AUX input and control the iPod manually. The unit has outlets for SD card, USB flash drive, and an AUX input, so there are plenty of options for playing MP3s.

Overall Impressions:

Considering it's excellent price, despite some shortcomings this is an excellent radio. Time will tell whether it is durable enough to withstand hard use, but the lack of movable parts should help. My truck sees lots of rutted dirt roads and some 2wd offroading so time will tell whether the CD player subtraction helps. Few people listen to CDs anymore, favoring MP3 players, so I no longer see the point of paying for all the extra moving parts. I'll be purchasing an extra SD card soon so I can keep my MP3s in the truck all the time and don't have to fiddle with plugging in my phone unless I want to play Pandora.

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Odd things of note:

If I turn off the truck with the stereo turned low, when I turn the truck on the stereo comes on very loud.

This unit is only about 4 inches deep so it should fit in even the most shallow of mounting points.

My unit appeared to be prepped from the factory for a Volkswagen it had a VW wiring plug which had to be cut off the wiring harness, and a little VW Beetle features prominently in the center of the display. The wiring harness was easy to fix (just cut off the plug) but the little Bug in the display looks silly in the dash of my F250.

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I just installed this stereo in my Nissan Sentra 03. This stereo works superb! Radio, Aux and SD cards works fine. USB doesn't take input, but charges my iPhone, but I'm okay with that. In fact, SD card thingy even remembers to start from where you last left (I've read many reviews where this feature doesn't work in other cheap stereos). I haven't created folders in my SD card so I don't know about folder navigation. The stereo has no off button as far as I could see, but I don't care, I Just turn the volume to 0.

So the stereo feels excellent for a reasonable price.

(Those who are interested to know something about the installation which doesnt necessarily concern the stereo performance but which you should know esp if u have a Sentra! I had trouble finding help on youtube with this ;)). The stereo box doesnt have screwing holes (Sentra factory radio panels had brackets which screw onto the radio set which had these holes. The guy at the electronics shop told me all other "standard" shop stereos have them, but I don't know about that.

So I had to jam this new stereo somehow. If I pull really hard, the stereo will come out of it's slot!. Also, I'd bought a sentra stereo panel from amazon, and I had to "expand" the installation panel's slot a bit (using hacksaw and pliers) so the stereo could go in.

Also the inputs to the stereo and the car stereo wires are not directly adaptable. Meaning you can't just plug the car wires and the stereo wires and play. You've to buy adapter ($5) for your particular car, which has color coded wires. This adapter will join to your car's wires which feed the speakers. Then you cut off the adapter plug that comes with this stereo, expose the stereo's wires, and join them to the adapters' wires. This process is fairly easy if u have the wire cutter pliers, the adapter, and the butt connectors.

To do all of this you'll need-

Philips screw driver ($14)

Torx star-shaped screw driver (esp if u have a sentra, I don't know about other cars) ($12)

Wire cutters ($10)

Pliers ($9)

Butt connectors ($4)

Hacksaw (depending on your whether your car's installation kit panel needs trimming)

It took me 4 hrs to do all of this. I din't mind doing it, and I also saved around $85-ish which otherwise would've gone towards the installation charges.

If you think you're interested in installing yourself, go for it! Else go to your auto shop to get it fixed. Your choice. Hope this helps