Tripp Lite ECO350UPS 350VA 180W UPS Eco Green Battery Back Up Compact 120V USB RJ11, 6 Outlets

• Protects PCs and peripherals from downtime, damage and data loss due to power problems
• Saves up to $50 on annual energy costs
• 99% power efficiency saves energy around the clock
• Energy-saving ECO surge outlets automatically turn off idle equipment
• Free PowerAlert software for safe unattended computer shutdown and file saves

Just a quick review 1.) I purchased the item as a backup for a laptop and two external drives; no heavy duty use there. 2.) I bought it on 7/19/10 on 8/28/10 the red replace battery light/overload came on and the unit shut down not only the battery backup but the surge only outlets; so I unplugged it and rebooted it came back to life. 3.) On 9/28/10 the red light came on and the unit shut down and will not start (for more than a second). 3.) I said well bad unit so I went to return it and was informed that my return time expired on 9/6/10 however I could return it for a partial refund if it qualifies, and as far as I can read it does not. 4.) I looked on the back and it says that there are no serviceable parts on the unit although it does say it has a battery but do not open the case. 4.) Confused me too I guess you get what you pay for but less than 60 days is that fair? 5.) I should have bought it a BB or $taples where they would be happy to take it back. 6.) I have 8 other units from APC and Cyber Power and no issues other than replace a battery now and then, this is not your father's Oldsmobile or maybe it is the unit is dead like Olds. Hope this helps

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I have an office in an area where the power goes off (usually briefly) every once in a while... My computers have their own UPS's but, the cable modem, router, ethernet hub, etc, all resets everytime. This powers them for longer than my computers' UPS will keep them going. And, I think it offers protection against the surge that happens when the juice comes back on.

All in all, I'm glad I got it.

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This is a terrible product. The point of a UPS system is to prevent power inturruptions, but this UPS cuts power for no reason when you least expect it!

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Oct 12 2009

When the power went out for really long periods of time on previous units, those units would drain the battery until it was dead. When the battery goes dead it will no longer recharge properly. Hopefully that won't happen with this unit.

I've had the UPS for about a month now and I get a short (under 5 minute) power outages every few days. I haven't had a really long outages yet. I use this UPS to battery backup my Monitor, Computer Tower, and Router.

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I was not at all happy with this. I used it for my desktop pc setup. It actually caused trouble for me rather than saving me trouble. When it stopped working, it caused problems for the devises that were plugged into it. When it stopped working it also made many beeping noises that really bothered my dog's until I got home and unplugged it.

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GPX WF308 Multi-function Flashlight Radio Combo (Red)

• Please see the above description.

I like this product except for the clock feature. Having a clock running on an item that is mostly for emergencies just means that the batteries are going to be less effective than I want them to be. Crank lever improvement in design but radio still to easy to turn on by accident.

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The GPX WF308 isn't a top of the line AM/FM/NOAA Radio, that you can spend anywhere from $50-$100 on. However, in a pinch, this little radio will suffice. I tried this radio indoors when I received it first and it did pick up AM/FM stations. I didn't pick up any NOAA alerts (which is a good sign, of course), however, am a little skeptical of the reception without an antenna. I have tested this outdoors as well. Where I live is rather secluded (in the woods), and it was good that I received a signal indoors/outdoors. Nonetheless, having this and my Scorpion Emergency Radio in my bug out bags puts me a little closer to being at ease. On to the pro's and con's:

The Pro's:

Fairly Light (for what it offers).

Runs on C Batteries and Hand Cranking.

Picks up AM/FM frequencies.

Flashlight and Lantern (which are decent enough to help guide you in the dark).

Plastic casing doesn't seem too cheap, but I wouldn't get overly aggressive with it.

The Con's:

The clock simply drains the batteries as well as any juice that you've given it by cranking. The clock is the only real downfall to this product.

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Very happy with this. It got me through hurricane Irene. No electricity for a week. Easy to figure out. Best of all, it doesn't need D batteries, which are hard to find when their is a storm coming.

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We just purchased this for our office emergency use and had to use it last Thursday...it worked like a charm...

We like LED lights for camping and mini-emergencies. This lantern lights either four or seven LEDs in the flashlight and five in the handle floodlight. Both of these are bright. I also want better switching for dim energy saving lighting. The mono FM radio seems fine. No earphone jack. AM reception seems weak. It has a weather radio also.

There is a (small?) built in NiMH battery that is charged by the crank or charger. Also four C cells can be inserted after which the unit will not balance on its end where the flood light is most practical. It is not clear if rechargeable C cells will be charged by the crank or external (not included) 12VDC chargers. The unit is solidly made and might be very useful.

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iHome iP98BR Dual Alarm Clock Radio with Dock for iPod and iPhone (Black)

• Plays and charges iPod mini 1G; iPod nano 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G; iPod classic 4G, 5G, 5.5G, 6G; iPod touch 1G, 2G; iPhone 1G, 3G
• Wake or sleep to iPhone, iPod, playlist, AM/FM radio, or buzzer
• High-fidelity stereo drivers in specially designed Reson8 speaker chambers deliver astounding clarity, depth, and power
• Auxiliary input for connecting external audio devices
• Remote controls unit and iPod, including menu functions

Hi,

I bought this clock four (this is important) months ago from a brick and mortar store (not Amazon, which is selling it for about $50 less. Darn.)

The design is very good, and the interface is intuitive. It comes with a nice remote control, which is handy, although some of the buttons could be better arranged. My only other design complaint is that the tuning/volume "slide wheels" are made from the same slick surface as the rest of the unit. This makes it harder to turn with your finger than it ought to be. But these are minor quibbles with an otherwise well designed product.

Here's my real complaint: after about two months, I wasn't able to play music from my iPhone through the iHome, which let's face it, is pretty much the reason I bought it. I already had a very nice Sony alarm clock thankyouverymuch.

I really thought the problem was my iPhone, and it took me a couple of weeks for met to get to the Apple store and have the Genius test it out. He ended up trying the phone out on an identical iHome in the store, and bingo, the phone worked fine, which means my iHome was the problem (Strike 1).

I called iHome customer service, that afternoon, and they were closed (Strike 2). Apparently their customer service people aren't interested in heard from customers in California past 4 PM eastern time. Then I emailed them, and received a prompt reply the next day (better!).

It turns out that iHome products only have a 90 day warranty! HELLO? 90 DAYS? I was 95 days in. Even though the unit clearly failed during the warranty period, I was outta luck. (Strike 3)

I was giving the option to have the unit repaired for a $30 fee, which shipping both ways at my expense. By then, I'm halfway to the cost of a whole new unit.

The level of quality and warranty length are just unacceptable. I would not purchase this unit again, despite my happiness with the unit while it was working.

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Pros:

A convenient way to charge your iPod or iPhone on your night stand

Sound quality is a 4 out of 5 stars, with clear highs and and adequate bottom for a clock radio

Handles all iPhone audio (except calls), including video and internet radio

Clean and simple remote control with good across-the-room range

Backlit buttons and display have several light levels, dimmed at the touch of a button

Solid construction, compact

Line-in for additional source

Does indeed block out Edge/Wifi iPhone interference (in my personal experience, you milage may vary) as long as you're in iPod/iPhone mode. There is some inevitable interference when in radio mode. This is the nature of RF, folks.

Cons:

No internal AM antenna, so you'll need to use the included loop

Input select button cycles through AM, FM, and Line Input but not iPod/iPhone. The iPod/iPhone is selected as the source by pressing the play button or if the iPod/iPhone is already playing audio before being plugged into the dock. This is fine if you plan to use only the iPod functionality. If you're an internet radio listener, you'll need to get the station streaming before plugging in. Not a big issue, but worthy of note.

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Overall, this is a pretty good iPhone dock. I use this almost exclusively with my iPhone 3G,and so far it's done a good job. As an alarm clock, it's very full-featured, which is a great set of features. The sound out of it is far beyond most alarm clocks, but not quite up to the quality of some of the more expensive docks.

The remote works pretty well, although you kind of wish it could do a little more. It can really only handle the iPod functions. It would be great if it could control other apps, like Pandora for instance. Probably a limitation of the iPhone interface.

The GSM shielding works pretty well, I haven't heard any of the static I hear with other products.

Two big downsides for me which is why it gets 3 stars:

When I plug my iPhone in, it says that this accessory is not meant for use with the iPhone, and asks about turning on airplane mode. You can just say no, but it's really irritating for it to come up all the time.

Like all the other iHome products, the only thing holding the iPhone is the dock connector. This really has been fine for other iPods, but there are times I need to touch the top of the iPhone (say, when controlling Pandora) and the lack of any back support on the iPhone is really disturbing. There really should be more supporting it.

Overall, if you need an expensive alarm clock that will control your iPod's, it's a great product.

Update 3/28/2009: 3 1/2 months later, one of the buttons on top broke. Basically with normal use, the button kind of started to fall into the unit. Not the kind of quality I look for in a $110 alarm clock. And with a very short 90 day warranty, it's not going to get fixed.

At this point I'd say that, if it breaks beyond use, which seems likely now, it will not be replaced with the same model. I can't change my rating, but it would go down to one star if I could. A $110 alarm clock should last far longer than 3 1/2 months.

Update 12/12/2009: About a year later. More buttons are starting to break. The rotating scroll wheel now hardly ever actually turns. Very disappointed about the quality. A definite negative on the recommendation.

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I got this off my wish list for my graduation. I've used it for about a week now. I originally placed it on my wish list because I heard that this was the first iPhone-compatible alarm/radio system that eliminated the problem of cell signal interfering with fm signals. It's the really loud "bleep-beep-beep" noise that you hear when your phone is too close to the radio. I won't get technical in this review since I don't know much about why that happens, and I'll write this review from a point of an average consumer.

First, the system has pretty good sound quality given its compact size. The design is quite cute, not to many buttons and self-explanatory. The remote is very helpful. You can set the length of the snooze, have two alarms, set them to weekdays, weekends, or all 7 days, and wake up to radio or to music in your phone.

It's all good, except I still occasionally hear the interference when my phone is near the unit or connected to it. It's no longer the "bleep-beep-beep," rather it's more static-like noise, but still very loud.

The interference is not as frequent as I hear in my car stereo, but the fact that it still occurs really bugs me. It's very sporadic too. I'll hear it in succession (say, 3 times in 30 seconds), then not hear it for an hour. I haven't been able to find a pattern.

So it seems like i'll have to wait again for another product that will solve this problem. Because this one hasn't yet.

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I was excited to have an iPhone clock radio so was eager to buy this product.

First problem was that the interference problem was not completely solved and sometimes it didn't recognize it as an iPhone accessory so I still get the prompt to put the phone into airplane mode.

Design problems are many and it just seems they didn't really think it through. The wheel controls are illogical and the light dimmer is annoying. You have to go through 7 brightness settings to get it to the lowest brightness. If you miss, you have to go through all 7 again. That's usually still to bright so I turn it all the way off. In the morning the radio comes on to wake me up and since the dimmer switch is also the snooze bar I have to turn the radio off to see what time it is. There is more, but the short summary is it's poorly designed.

As for quality it's a wreck. One wheel no longer turns so I can no longer control my iPhone through the device. But that doesn't matter because the doc connector now no longer works so I can't even plug my phone into it. I've had this for 3 months and it's pretty much completely useless at this point.

Very disappointed

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Elgin 3514E Bedside Alarm Clock

I bought this clock because when the morning sun comes in my window, it makes it impossible to read the time on my LED clock so I needed a clock with ordinary numerals to see the time in the morning. This clock looks great on my bedside table and does the job I needed it to do. I only wish it were a little bigger and heavier and I could see where someone trying to read the time in the dark may have a problem fumbling to press the button on top of the clock to turn on the face light. Five stars for my purposes, three stars for most other users needs makes it a four star clock.

The universal standard for a clock is reliability. The single AA battery is easily dislodged, stopping the clock. Although I like the fact that it's analog with a retro style, it is poorly engineered and shoddily manufactured. Additionally, it took over six weeks for delivery.

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While I chose this clock for it's look, I still wanted a good clock to use as an alarm clock. The clock is very flimsy, and is easy to knock over. Also the alarm would not wake anyone up.

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Hi everybody,

Though I like the looks of this alarm clock (still do), it hasn't worked reliably from the start. I kept putting in new (brand name) batteries, but that doesn't help. The clock keeps stopping, e.g., when the clock gets moved slightly (picked up to operate the light, for example). Obviously, I end up not using it because I don't feel like I can rely on it kind of the opposite what you need in an alarm clock! I'd like to return it, but I won't because of the hassle... so, at least I want to warn potential buyers that this was NOT a good purchase! In fact, a waste of money. I strongly recommend *not* to buy this alarm clock.

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I was so pleased by the appearance of the clock when it first arrived. But within the first 24 hours, the sweep second-hand had broken off, and within 48 hours it no longer worked at all. I tried playing around with the battery placement after reading others reviews, but I got nothing. It LOOKS great, but it is very shoddily made. I'd return it but I threw out the packaging. I would not purchase it again.

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Memorex Clock Radio for iPod

• Powers and charges your iPod devices with docking compatibility
• Digital FM radio with station presets
• Connect CD players, MP3 players and other media devices via line-in jack
• 30-pin dock connector
• Battery back-up for time (uses 2 "AAA" batteries, sold separately)

The product works great, although the buttons for control have a plastic like feeling, no issues with functionality.

Not very intuitive to use, had to play around for an hour to figure out major functions.

Don't let the size deceive you, speakers are surprisingly powerful.

Over all great product with great features at a very reasonable price ( .. mine was refurbished ).

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i got this for my daughter for christmas. she wanted to wake up to her ipod. she is 12 and figured it all out on her own. the sound quality is not top of the line but it is decent. it is nice and slim to fit in a tight space. also it has a sleep feature also easy to use. one last feature is the battery backup if the power goes out you can still wake up on time. i would recommend this product for a bedside music station.

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Found it difficult to set the time and alarm. Otherwise I like the compact size and charges ipod well. Radio is good.

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not an easy clock to use, buttons stuck at the onset and I was ready to return it. Became easier after time. All in all , it is not user friendly. The illuminated numbers have two brightness settings which are both too bright to sleep by. I have to turn them off at night which defeats the purpose of telling time. The quality of sound is very good.

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Pyle PyleHome PICL29B Docking/Aux Input Clock Radio with FM Receiver and Dual Alarm Clock for iPod/i

• LCD Display Backlite Display - 120/90/60/30/15 Minute Sleep Mode Feature - 3.5mm Aux Audio Line Input
• 12/24 Hour Clock Display Format Selectable - Snooze/Dimmer(3 Level) - Power: 1.57"(5W) x 2 Stereo Line Output
• Alarm Wake-up to FM / iPod / iPhone / Buzzer - FM PLL Radio Tuner with 20 preset memory stations - AC/DC adapter: AC 110V-240V DC 5 V 2 Amp
• 4 Step Progressive Light Turn-On(1 minute prior to alarm time) - 30 Pin Ipod/Iphone Docking Interface Port - Dimensions: 7.48"W x 1.81"H x 6.92"D
• Clock back up battery 4 x AA size (Battery Not Included) - Compatible with iPhone 3GS & 4G, Ipod Classic, Ipod Video, Ipod 5G, IPod Mini, IPod Nano, & ITouch (All Generations) - Color: Black

This is a very nice ipod/iphone clock radio. It's sharp looking & has large enough numbers that it's easy to read in the night for those of us who are half blind without their contacts. The interface is very intuitive & the sound is quite good, especially from a such a compact package. Good reception on the radio & I had no problem getting my ipod to play. It will play whatever is playing on the ipod/iphone, so you can stream pandora if you like. Basically, it does everything it should & does it well.

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Kenwood DPX308U Double Din WMA/MP3 CD Receiver

• Double-DIN AAC/WMA/MP3 CD receiver
• 50W x 4, iPod/iPhone control
• Steering wheel remote input
• 50W x 4,iPod/iPhone control, 50W x 4
• iPod/iPhone control

After using this new receiver for a couple of months, I like it so much I purchased another for our other car. I love the fact that it has a clock in the display, most aftermarket head units do not. And best of all, you can either let it cycle through the various colors on the display, or select a specific one to match the rest of your dash. Oh, and it sounds great, regardless the source, my MP3s on a flash drive, my MP3 player, or CD. I would recommend this head unit to anyone whose vehicle need a double-DIN sized unit.

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OK, so Im starting to loose faith in reviews of people on Amazon.com. I bought a Pioneer DEH4300 for my Altima and its the worst car stero I have ever owned, it doesnt look good, it has very poor sound quality and it basicaly sucks, for lack of a better word. And it has a 5 star rating! That is a freaking joke. I just had to say that because this particular stereo is in one word, amazing and it has a lower rating then the Pioneer. The sound quality you get from this stereo is just brillant. I listen to rap, rock, country and this thing makes my rockford fosgate speakers sing. When I get bored I just drive around in my truck listening to music for hours. Also I have 2 Kicker L5s and this stereo makes them come alive. Everytime someone gets it my truck they dont shut-up about how cool it looks in my Titan, especially at night. But during the day even when the suns beaming inside your car you can still see the screen unlike alot of stereos. This was the best audio decison I have ever made. Im actually getting this product for my Altima and selling the Pioneer or using it for target practice. Please just get this stereo. Its very affordable, looks great, and cant be touched in sound quality.

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Finally a receiver that is worthy of my Honda civic hybrid, this is the easiest to use nicest looking sub 200 dollar receiver that i have seen i would have paid 350 dollars for this thank you amazon. the colors are awesome and the buttons are crisp. add a 16gb small flash drive and you have a headache free system no buttons to push no cables anywhere i am in love with it

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I've had this unit for about 6 months without a single complaint. The controls are clear and easy to use, and it looks great in the dash. It also works perfectly with the iPhone 5 via USB, which I wasn't expecting. I would recommend this to anyone. Great value and impressive features for the price.

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This is a great stereo and it was a great deal. This kenwood stereo is a great fit in my 2003 chevy silverado. It was what I was looking for. I wasn't looking for a dvd player. But I was looking for a double din cd player and I needed a Ipod hookup. this was perfect. Kenwood is one of the best brands out today it puts out awesome sound with the right kenwood stereo speakers and it has tons of options. the remote is very handy keeps me from messing with the bottons and knob on the receiver. So to sum this up This Kenwood Double din cd player is super great and super simple and a great price.

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Jensen Docking Station/Alarm Clock/Music System for iPod (Black)

• Output: 2 x 3W PMS
• Remote Control
• AM/FM Stereo Receiver with Digital Tuning
• Multi-Function Back-lit LCD Display
• Digital Volume Control

I just got this product from amazon.com. It seemed cheaply made. It was also a little difficult to get the settings set to my preferences. The alarm didn't work this morning, so that is still a work in progress. I have been using the radio and the docking station just fine. Bottom line: It is overpriced. If the price dropped to say, $35, then I would be satisfied with my purchase.

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Bought this for my son. It's great. My husband bought one for me which isn't nearly as nice.

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Onkyo TX-NR708 7.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver (Black)

• 110 Watts per Channel at 8 ohms, 20 Hz?20 kHz, 0.08%, 2 Channels Driven, FTC
• HDMI (Version 1.4a to Support 3D and Audio Return Channel
• Network Capability for Streaming Audio Files
• 7 HDMI Inputs (1 Front/6 Rear) and 1 Output
• HDMI Video Upscaling to 1080p with Faroudja DCDi Cinema

I've really been enjoying my 708. It runs cool enough to be fine inside my tv console with the door closed. Another thing I like is it comes with RIHD (disabled by default) which basically means it talks to my Samsung TV that also has RIHD. I can control the AVR volume with my tv remote. The TV automatically turns off it's own speakers and outputs sound to the 708 if the 708 is on. Otherwise, it just uses it's own speakers. Also, if I turn off my tv it automatically turns off the 708 for me.

Networking with Windows 7 was a breeze as well. All I had to do was make sure Windows Media Player allowed the 708 to use it and I was good to go.

Getting internet radio was also easy. I didn't have to do anything special to get it to work. It's nice to be able to listen to net radio without having my computer turned on. vTuner is nice since it has several local stations. I've always loved Pandora and this makes it that much better.

Switching inputs does take a few seconds but that's not really something I care about and wouldn't have really noticed if people hadn't asked about it due to issues with previous Onkyo models.

I use my fat PS3 to watch Blu-Ray movies and they look the same as they did before which is great. It seems to do surround sound just fine through the PS3 as well using Linear PCM. The analog tv signal also looks the same as it did before.

I haven't hooked up my PC through this yet but will get around to it and update my review.

Edit: RIHD has started causing problems. With it enabled I've had times when I would turn on the receiver and get no sound from the speakers. The only things that worked to get sound from the receiver again was to either A)unplug it B) turn off RIHD.

I've also had Pandora lock up the NET/USB input. It would get stuck at 100% buffering. With RIHD on, the only way to get use of the input back was to unplug the receiver and plug it back in. I now have RIHD permanently disable because it's just not worth the hassle.

I've now hooked up my PC through the optical input and it sounds great. The HDMI input is worthless though. My video card outputs to the 16 x 9 resolution my HDTV uses but the 708 is still scaling it to a 16 x 10 ratio which makes the tv cut off some of the top and bottom of the screen. I just went ahead and plugged the computer video back into the tv and only use the 708 for the sound and that works fine.

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Synopsis: The TX-NR708 is a great value in this price range. It has THX Select 2, three 7.2 sound fields; they include 7.2 discrete HD/EX, Dolby z, and Audyssey DSX wide. There are connections for up to 11 speakers (excluding the 2 subs. Note that the 7.2 specification means that there are 2 preamp outs for 2 powered subwoofers). There are more than 50 listening modes to obtain the perfect sound for your room and source. For video processing, there are a total of 7 HDMI inputs (along with 2 component, 4 S-Video, and 5 composite inputs) 6 in the back, 1 in the front. Digital audio inputs: 3 coax and 2 optical. The remote is easy to use and setup for your other components. Menus are relatively straight forward, though there is a learning curve, depending on complexity of your particular setup. This receiver also has network connectivity with Upnp, and a webpage interface, making it simple to change fields without your remote, enhancing the TX-NR708 network's usability. With the release of future firmware updates, one can envision Onkyo adding features that will keep your home theater cutting edge. The power rating is 110 watts per channel, 8 ohm, @ .08% harmonic distortion, providing this receiver with enough power and clean sound for a small to medium sized room.

Setup

If you have all HDMI inputs, setting up the TX-NR708 is a breeze, given you already have your speaker wires run, of course. The binding posts are high quality and have a smooth feeling and, unlike some other receivers, it's easy to tell when the wires are secured. Since this receiver has binding posts for 11 speakers, connecting the speakers would have been confusing if I had not first researched the new Audyssey DSX and Dolby z sound enhancements, which are simply awesome in my view (more on that later). The drawback is that you need 4 more speakers to enjoy them. I extended wires and labeled them for testing later. If you do this make sure that you do not allow the wires to short. Tape them until you are ready to connect your speakers.

My setup, speaker wise, is nothing special. I use 2 large generic 3-way speakers, placed on either side of a 6' entertainment center for my fronts (not sure who makes them, but they have good balance and frequency response). A Polk CSi3 center channel sits above my 50" LG plasma TV. I advise you not to skimp on the front and center speakers. For surrounds and Audyssey DSX wides, two pairs of Sony SS-B1000 speakers serve nicely. For the heights, I thought I'd try a pair of Pyramid 4080 budget speakers, with wall mounts included. It was a perfect solution for the z channels, and they go down to a solid 100 Hz after being broken in. A BIC America V-1220 12-Inch powered sub provides all the low end punch I'll ever need. Placement for the `wide' and the `high' speakers can be tricky. Perfect placement (according to this diagram: is generally not an option. From the diagram I mathematically calculated placement for my room, and was able to place them pretty close to where their sweet spots were supposed to be. The heights (Dolby z speakers) are about 5 feet above and 3 feet wide of my fronts, while the wide speakers (Audyssey DSX) are placed at ear level, about 4 and a half feet toward the center of the room away and 3 feet wide of the fronts.

Listening and Watching

The first thing I noticed when I powered up the receiver was an improvement in my satellite TV picture, especially in the text at the top of the screen. Next, I ran the Audyssey speaker setup and it balanced out all the disparate speakers perfectly into a seamless sound field. I popped in "The Transporter" movie (DVD), and tested the new sound fields. They were both awesome. "IP Man" is a good movie to test the z channels, as well, especially the final fight scene. The Dolby z field makes your room seem bigger than it actually is, expanding the front sound stage, while the Audyssey DSX field seems to bring the front action closer to you with more detail. At least that is the best way I can describe it. No doubt others will describe their sound experience differently with respect to these new fields. Whatever the case, these new sound dimensions provide a definite enhancement, in my view. And the discrete 7-channel DTS-HD Master in "Shoot `Em Up" does justice to that new Blu-ray sound format, as does "Hellboy II: The Golden Army."

The Dolby z field works well with THX and gives you a lot of versatility when it comes to sound conditioning. Perhaps in a future firmware update, Onkyo will allow you to put the z and width channels together, like they already do with some of their high end receivers. If so, one might expect a net reduction in the power output, since more speakers will be running at once, and the power will have to be divided between them; thus, it would be equivalent to 9.2 or even 11.2 surround sound coming in the form of new listening modes.

Even though I only listened to Winamp radio and network radio, the sound quality was superb. I listen to jazz mostly, so I cannot comment on rock or other genres. Additionally, one would expect the sound quality of CD's and higher quality input sources to be even better.

Ease of Setup: Menus.

For the most part, I found the TX-NR708 menus to be pretty straight forward. I had no problem assigning components to my inputs of choice, with one exception. That exception being the sound input for an HDMI source when it does not come from the HDMI connector. For some reason the TX-NR708 does not let you do it from their main I/O Assign menu; you can only do it by using the "home' button on the remote while in that particular source mode. This might be necessary, for example, if you want to use computer motherboard digital coax sound with your HDMI video card output. Since Audyssey did such a good job setting up my speakers, I did not need to change any of those settings. Keep in mind that the Sub crossover frequency is set automatically in accordance with the rest of your speakers. You can, however, adjust the LFE crossover setting manually if you want. There are menus for THX and other sound conditioning (such as Audyssey EQ and Dynamic Volume), as well, and you'll need to experiment with those to find out what best suits your particular listening preferences. There is also a menu for programming your remote, eliminating the need to reference a manual for a code list.

Remote Control

The remote control that comes with the TX-NR708 is very good. The buttons are well organized and, unlike my last receiver, it is the only one I need for the basic listening functions of all my components. Programming this remote for other components, such as your TV, satellite/cable, and Blu-ray player is made simple by an onscreen menu. And once you're all set up, the pre-programmed macro buttons simplify operation even more. Moreover, this remote is a great improvement over the one that came with my Dish Network receiver; the TX-NR708 remote is more powerful than the Dish remote, eliminating the need to aim and press a button multiple times to get the receiver to respond.

Network

The network features that come with this receiver are sweet. Being a computer technician by trade, I appreciate the added functionality. Most users probably will use the default DHCP setting for assigning IP addresses, but you have the option to set them manually as well. Be aware that it is a wired connection, so you'll need an access point, or a bridged computer and a switch to make use of it, unless you already have an available network cable wired to your entertainment center. In many cases, the v-tuner feature will make it unnecessary to use an external FM antenna to listen to local stations. Add Pandora, audio streaming from your computer, and other services, and you have just about everything you could ever want from a network connection for playing music. One thing I really love is the web page interface for accessing network fields on the TX-NR708. This makes it easy to change network settings via a computer keyboard, rather than the remote, which can make setup much quicker and simpler.

Heat and Power Consumption

The receiver runs cooler than any other receiver I have ever owned. Nevertheless, I placed a small 12V computer fan atop for additional cooling. With that extra small fan my TX-NR708 runs as cool as a cucumber. One thing I did notice, though, is that the receiver stays warm, even when turned off, or when in the standby mode, indicating that it is consuming power (probably because the network is still active in the standby mode). So in order to conserve energy, I have it plugged in to a surge protector strip along with my TV, and turn them both off at night.

Summary

I believe you would be hard-pressed to find a better receiver at this price anywhere. It is packed with features that even many higher priced receivers do not have. Whether you like listening to music or watching movies, the TX-NR708 has most everything the home theater owner will ever need--and then some. I highly recommend it and give it a solid 4.5 stars.

Read Best Reviews of Onkyo TX-NR708 7.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver (Black) Here

I won't go into details; I actually have not gone into much of what this receiver can do.

I set this up in one evening with 5 HDMI sources and 1 Component source as well as set up the internet radio, AM/FM radio, DLNA connection to media on a home server, and the automatic tuning. All of this goes to a single HDMI (upconverted) out to a 46" TV. My set up is a 5.1 system at the moment.

I almost had no problems installing the above and have connections to spare. I have not messed with any settings yet (so all is at the 'default' setting) and the sound is amazing. I previously had a Sony entry level receiver (fried by lightning) and had spent hours trying to set that up to get a decent sound; never understood why it was so hard to just turn it on, play a movie, and listen.

The On Screen Display is a God-send, although this also has my one complaint so far, it is weird that it only seems to come on intermittently can't figure this out, I think it only is available with certain inputs or something? One other small complaint is that the Harmony Remote I have does not have some of the keys mapped correctly and so I am having to program this manually (but this isn't Onkyo's fault).

Anyway, I highly recommend, if this is in your price range (I paid $550), you'll have a ton of connections, lots of features (ie ethernet connectivity and OSD), and the sound is great without much fussing.

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The NR-708 was a fairly robust receiver for this price range, and I was very satisfied with its performance, features and functionality overall...until it became unuseable after 4 months. At first it began switching inputs at random. But I was able to simply revert back to my original input choice. Then within a week it all the sudden became completely unresponsive to the remote or to any inputs on the front panel. In fact, it would not even shut off, and the problem could not be resolved by a reset or reboot. The reciever is now completely useless, and unfortunately I am finding several others online reporting the same problem.

February 1, 2010 update: My HR-21 problem appears to have been corrected by a DirecTV software update. Today both DirecTV channel 103 and 106 work through the Onyko TX-NR708 HDMI connection.

I bought this TX-NR708 to replace an excellent performing TX-SR804 to gain the new 3D capability with DirecTV's added 3D offerings. However, it will not pass the DirecTV's 3D HDMI output to my new Panasonic TC-PX65VT25 Plamsa. If I connect the DirecTV receiver directly to the Plasma input it works as advertized. However when I go through the TX-NR708 it produces two side by side frames much like the old stereoptican viewers my Grandmother use to have.

I called Onyko Tech Support to see what I was doing wrong. Unfortunately, the Tech said there is a known problem working with DirecTV 3D receivers. No estimate when a solution will come out. If you are a DirecTV subscriber stay away from this until DirecTv or Onyko finds a fix.

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Jensen Universal Docking Digital Music System FM PLL Receiver with Sub-Woofer for iPod (Black)

• S-Video Line-Out for Playing Videos From Your Ipod on a TV
• Audio Line-In For Connecting You Ipod Shuffle, MP3 or Other Digital Audio Players
• Play and Charge Your iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod classic, iPod (5th generation), iPod (4th generation), and iPod mini (iPod not included)
• Wake To Radio Alarm Or Your Ipod
• FM Stereo Receiver With Digital Tuning

I am buying another one of these to replace one I owned but gave away as a gift. It sounds great with an ipod. I did have some issues with charging but the bass is bumping. I give it 5 stars on sound and 4 on everything else.

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We ordered this receiver for our son's birthday and the sound on it quit working after having it for 6 weeks 2 weeks after Amazon's deadline to return items. If I had the option to rate this item with 0 stars, I would.

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This is the saddest excuse of a product that I have ever had the misfortune to purchase, when it first arrived I was thrilled with it's performance and gave it a very sparkling review, now I am editing that review to reflect my disatisfaction because after about 4 hours of usage it bloody well up an died, nothing works at all....it turns on but then just sits there looking stupid, no radio functions, no iPod functions and cannot set the clock, the function buttons do not work, the remote turns it on and off but thats about it, do not buy this piece of trash, better to give your $$$ to the ASPCA.

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My mother bought this from Amazon for my son as a Christmas gift and while it sounded good, the remote didn't work. I tested the battery with a digital multi-meter and it read OK, so we had her send it back for an exchange, which was very fast. Just opened the 2nd one and this one also had a remote that wouldn't work. After reading one of the reviews, I went and bought a new battery and wouldn't you know, it works! Why bother putting a junk battery in there at all? I would also like to echo some of the complaints about the writing on the buttons of the remote. They should have used a brighter paint to silk screen the words, because they are very hard to read and tend to glare over very easily. My 8 year-old son loves it though and is at this moment is jamming to Kashmir by Led Zeppelin.

Pros:

Sound

Features (alarm clock, sleep timer, etc)

Size

Cons:

Remote doesn't work out of the box

Printing on remote buttons

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I purchased this item on June 30, 2011. It quit working by December 8th. I can't seem to figure out why it won't come up blue light but no function then it shuts off. All attempts to research the problem have failed I am left with the option of sending it to a "customer service corp." with a $50 check. $50 on a $75 5 month old item, not making good financial sense. Unfortunately I have seen other reviews that do not give a good review to the repair group. Frustration level very high!

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Naztech Universal 3.5mm FM Stereo Transmitter - iPhone, Blackberry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and

I was so excited to have found this item on Amazon for a reasonable price, considering a prior purchase through Ebay with a similar product went sour. However, this item ended up being no better. The transmitting was weak and during song changes, static would overtake the frequency. No matter how many frequencies I tuned into the same incident would ALWAYS occur. This item had the option of operating of 2 AAA batteries or a cord that plugged into the cigarette lighter. Nonetheless, after some failed attempts of trying to get the unit to function (without interupption) the transmitter went on the "blink" and ended up COMPLETELY dead. Now, it will not turn on with the cord or batteries. So I retired the PIECE OF JUNK to my glove compartement. OVERALL, I have came to the conclusion that I will have to live with regular FM stations. I would have sent the item back, but I nolonger have the packaging. :(

I used this once with my blackberry and mp3 player and it worked fine. Then 5 minutes later it stopped working and hasn't worked again since. I deserve to be sent a check. You'll probably just be let-down. Buy a better quality product.

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This transmitter is under powered. I had to turn the car's radio volume all the way just to hear the music from my android.

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I bought this product in February, since then it's been my companion wherever i go. The size is so handy and the sound is so clear, not mentioning the good price.

I recommend this product to everyone who likes to hear a clear music.

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5.3 Inch Capacitance Touch Screen I9220hd Android 4.0 Smart Phone 8 Mp Camera Wifi Dual Core Mtk6575

I was very cautious when I bought this phone I was unsure of what to expect. I can honestly say that the phone exceeds my expectations. It is very fast with little no lag, it also has the Android Play store pre-installed so that you can get up and running downloading apps. The battery life is excellent and the phone is very light. The screen is a little dull because it is not amoled display. The camera is definitely not 8mp and the quality is very poor. The phone only has 2gb of internal memory so one has to keep this in mind when downloading files. The phone call quality is average with calls sounding a bit low but the speakerphone is fine. Most apps work with the exception of gameloft games, I tried shadowgun and grand theft auto 3 both ran flawlessly which was really impressive. Overall a great product, I recommend giving it a try. BTW Im using simple mobile as a provider and the device is only capable of edge internet speeds on t-mobile's network.

Added 8/5/12

Unfortunately, the display began to malfunction, the display would show garbled and i would have to remove the battery to reset the phone. Eventually the display just stopped working which is disappointing because I really liked the phone.

5.3 Inch Capacitance Touch Screen I9220hd Android 4.0 Smart Phone 8 Mp Camera Wifi Dual Core Mtk6575 1g Mhz. I PURCHASED THIS FOR MY SON. RECEIVED IT TODAY. FIRST OF OFF THEY SAY ITS ROOTED. ITS NOT. SECOND THE CAMERA IS TO BE A 8MG NO WAY!!! I TOOK MULTIPLE PIXS THERE HORRIBLE. I HAVE A DINOSAUR CELL PHONE THAT TAKES BETTER PIXS. THE PIXS ARE WASHED OUT AND FADED TO A POINT THAT THEY LOOK BLACK AND WHITE. SO IF YOU WANT A PHONE THAT TAKES GOOD PIXS THIS IS NOT IT. THE PHONE IS LOUD. THE SCREEN NICE AND IT LOOKS NICE. MY BIGGEST ISSUE IS THE CAMERA. I BROUGHT THIS SO MY SON ALWAYS HAD A CAMERA WITH HIM FOR THOSE PERFECT SHOOTS. VERY DISAPPOINTED. WOULD BE A GREAT DEVICE IF THE SPECS WERE CORRECT. I WOULD NOT RECOMEND THIS DEVICE.

after calming down because the of the camera issue. i installed several gameloft games and to my surprise they all work. this phone would be perfect if the camera lived up to what it is supposed to do. outside the pixs are average. not a inside camera. so to update over all the phone is a pretty good budget phone. if its games you like this is for you. it has loud sound and plays videos very well . in conclusion i would give it 4 stars for gaming. 5 stars video and music. and 2 stars for camera.

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I received my phone in records time!! It is perfect, JUST as described!! It's fast and works great with Straight Talk unlimited service!! I can't put it down! Would highly reccommend for the price!! Do not let the fact that it comes from China worry you...doesn't everything??!!

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I previously owned a Samsung Note well ... it literally got ran over by a semi when I happened to drop it while taking off on my motorcycle ... ANYWAY .. I needed to replace that phone but didn't want to shell out the big bucks.

This phone works for what it is. The camera is definitely weak I'd say about 1.5MP (cheap optics). However, other than that and of course the lack of space (I installed a 16 gig sd card and now I'm fine) it doesn't make me miss my note much. The screen isn't as flashy as some of the new phones, but its ok.

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First off, I love the phone for what it is: big screen, excellent speed, very responsive to touch controls, thin, fits in my pocket with no problem, good battery life, cameras work fine for me. And the seller (Super Saving Store) is excellent (I had a problem with the proximity sensor being mis-calibrated, so I emailed the seller, and within an hour I had a step by step guide to how to fix the issue and it's now working fine).

However, I specifically chose this phone, because it is listed as "dual core" (I wanted something a little more future proof). But when I received it, I discovered it's not (it identifies itself as an "ALPS A9550", and the Passmark benchmarks confirm it is, ranking it just above a Galaxy S in performance). Last week I also purchased this phone (same seller, for my wife):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084S70Q2/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

which benchmarks the same (even slightly faster). That phone identifies itself as "Alps E1808_v75_jbl2".

Both phones have impressed us (I'm coming from an Optimus T), and so far no serious problems (my wife's phone is finicky about how you hold it and WiFi connectivity, probably the metal rim doubles as an antenna?).

The seller is the most responsive I've had the pleasure of dealing with on the Internet, I recommend them (also very fast shipping, less than 1 week from China). I contacted them about the "dual core" issue, but they say the product listing description is not under their control.

In case you're interested, rooting it presented no problems (I used SuperOneClick to get the USB driver, then TPSparky).

UPDATE:

Netflix was laggy, until I found the "Force 2D GPU rendering" in Settings, under "Developer options", that fixed Netflix. I read that some games don't like that option, but Angry Birds, and GLWG don't seem to mind.

Some benchmarks:

PassMark 1107

CaffeineMark 8386

Vellamo 1031/363 (1139 on Vellamo1)

(for the most part, these scores compare favorably against the dual core MT6577 )

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Philips DC190 iPod Docking Clock Radio

• Play and charge your iPod
• FM digital tuner with 20 station presets
• MP3 link lets you play music from any portable device
• Gentle wake up with increasing alarm volume
• Stylish compact design

I bought this item because of it style and listed functions. It does look good, but the device is a little difficult to get used to. Just about all the control buttons are flush mounted because of this style, and as a result are sometimes hard to locate, especially when you are in a morning funk when the alarm is going off. The all-important "snooze" button is a classic case of this. It is also recessed, and you can easily miss it, smudging the beatiful smooth surfaces in your attempts to snooze it. All in all, it's OK, it is just that I bought it as a daily use alarm clock, and it is taking me a while to come to grips w/ it.

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I've had my new Philips clock for about 2 months now. It's a lot smaller than my Sony Dream Machine, which I loved for it's speakers/audio as well as the easy-to-use features like snooze, nap and switching from standard to daylight savings time. But enough about that old clock...

I purchased this clock for several reasons, but primarily for my iPod (there is a non-iPod version of this clock). For an alarm clock, I'm happy with the audio quality. It's small, it looks sleek and it's relatively easy to set up in terms of selecting the iPod for the alarm. Additionally it includes 2 alarm settings that you can associate with 1 day of the week, every day or Mon-Fri.

As an alarm clock, it's not so wonderful for two reasons. The buttons, including power, snooze and volume, feel cheap and are not easy to push/press (in order to push a button, I have to apply equal pressure on the other side of the unit). And as far as I can tell, the snooze only works for up to 30 minutes and then it automatically shuts itself off.

I'll keep this clock for awhile since it wasn't cheap and I didn't keep the packaging to return it. Or I'll bring it into work as an iPod player. Then I'll seriously consider buying a Sony for my next alarm clock.

Read Best Reviews of Philips DC190 iPod Docking Clock Radio Here

The Philips DC190 is a decent alarm clock and docking station. Setting up the alarm clock was simple, although I did have to consult the "Quick start guide" to learn how to set the time and the alarms. I used an old ipod photo for testing and it fit perfectly into the cradle.

With the DC190 you can set separate alarms for both the weekday and the weekend. I like to sleep later on the weekend, so it's nice not to have to remember to change the alarm on the weekends. On the other hand, the DC190 does not give the user a lot of flexibility outside of the weekday/weekend options. People who have to wake up at different times on different days, may not find this alarm clock useful. While it's easy to learn the stops involved in setting up the alarm, it would be a pain to have to change the alarm time every day. With my cheap Walgreens alarm clock, I'm able to change the alarm in a snap whereas the DC190 requires fiddling with several buttons in order to change the alarm.

The quality of the speaker is about what a person would expect at this price point. It's neither exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. The alarm increases in volume over the course of about 30 seconds before reaching its maximum volume. You can also set the volume to be either loud or soft. I found it comforting to be woken up by music as opposed to a loud beeping sound.

I recommend this system to anyone who wakes up at about the same time each day. It's easy to use and it does what it claims to do.

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I've had this docking station next to my bed for several months, and I've come to the conclusion it is junk and not worth its price. However, I still use it because it's nice having a charger and a clock even if it isn't particularly good at either function.

I hooked the device up to my Kill-A-Watt for a day of just being a clock. During that time, whatever energy it used, was beneath the ability of the Kill-A-Watt to measure. Playing the radio or a docked iPhone draws around 2 W.

As a Charging Station

I have a variety of iPhones and iPods. It is very convenient having a charger here on my bedside table, more so than having a USB charging cable which would spend half its time falling behind the table. This device, unfortunately, is less than ideal at charging an iPhone as it takes both hands to nestle an iPhone into the dock; the act of docking causes audio to play, and a warning from the iPhone about going into airplane mode to avoid cell radio interference, making docking a complicated series of shoves, touches and button pushes. Still, it's nice to have a charger, and an iPod Touch, which has no cell radio and is thinner, can be docked one handed.

As an External Speaker

These are not great speakers. They are downright cheap as could be expected in an low end alarm clock. Still, they are better than the little speaker in an iPhone and way better than the casual listening speaker in an iPod Touch. If you want to fill a bedroom with sound, these do the job. I've seen my son watch a movie on a charging iPhone while laying down, head flat on a pillow using this device for sound and it does a credible job.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there is often an interference style noise when using the iPod/iPhone input method. I had originally thought this was due to audio frequency interference from the iPhone's cell radio, but it happens with my iPod touch. This makes the speakers worth little for playing docked iPods.

As a Clock

Nice clock for a bedroom, good choice of color, doesn't distract when you want to sleep. The numerals could be bigger for those of us with severe myopia.

As an Alarm

My major beef with the device as an alarm clock is that it has controls spread over literally 4 surfaces and it is complicated setting the device to do anything. However, I am not a big user of alarm clocks, having done without them for 20 years, and it wasn't that hard to do following the manual.

As a Radio

The radio reception seems about what you'd expect from a low end device. I can tune to a local station and it sounds OK (for FM). I wouldn't waste time listening to music, but it's good enough to wake up to.

Conclusion

I think it's too annoying using this with an iPhone, and iPod Touch sound quality is low, but the charging dock does work, so I'd avoid it in preference of better designed products made of better materials.

Philip's DC190 iPod Docking Clock Radio is a stylish iPod compatible clock radio with sleek space-age stylings resembling a device right out of the Jetson's. As far as core functionality goes I have no complaints. The clock uses a yellow/amber display set against a mirrored finish background. The clock display has 4 levels of brightness allowing you ample room to customize your brightness as you see fit. Most iPod's are supported (excluding the iPhone) and I had no trouble plugging my 3rd Nano into this clock and getting it to play through the clock's speakers while keeping it charged simultaneously. This device also includes an audio-out cable allowing you to plug in non-iPod mp3 playback devices, but the only downside to using non-Apple devices is that you can't use them as an 'alarm' option the way you can via an iPod. The clock also has a digital FM tuner, with a built in wire-antennae and allows up to 20 station presets so along with the standard alarm clock chime this device provides plenty of audio wake-up alarm options.

As mentioned earlier, this is a very stylish product. Its a bit lighter and smaller then I initially expected but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The device looks right at home whether set up on your desk or your nightstand and looks equally handsome with or without your iPod plugged into it.

There are 2 minor complaints that I have with this product preventing it from earning a higher review score. First the device has a bit of a learning curve to it. Setting the time as well as an alarm will require you to consult the instructions at least the first several times. This clock has 4 arrays of functional buttons (the top, the sides and the back) and the layout of these buttons are not very intuitive and will require a good deal of guesswork if you're the type that can't be bothered to consult instructional documentation (me!) when setting up your morning wake-up. But once you get over this learning curve you'll discover that this little clock packs a great deal of functionality over other alarm clocks you get 2 alarm settings for weekdays/weekends, there's a plethora of audio alarm options and the default audio alarm tone is actually pleasant and I really appreciated the option for a gradual audio volume option (the alarm starts off soft and works its way up to loud).

My other complaint was a mild disappointment with the overall audio quality of this device. Granted, audio still sounds better then 95% of most 'budget' alarm clocks but the lack of bass and an overall sense of rich audio was disappointing and not befitting of a product that otherwise looks so fantastic with a decent feature set to boot. Still, this is one of the better sub $50 iPod compatible clocks out there and I highly recommend if you can overcome a tiny learning curve and live with the slightly 'tinny' audio quality.

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Altec Lansing Octiv Mini Speaker System for iPhone and iPod (Black)

• Charges while you listen
• Fits in nearly any space
• Add alarm functions with free Alarm Rock app
• Compatible with all iPhone and iPod models
• Listen without interference, shielded for mobile phones

I really didn't expect too much from this mini speaker system for my iPod nano. But I was wrong. It is really great.

1. The speaker is smaller than I expected which is real plus. It measures about 4" (width) x 4" (height) x 4" (depth). I placed it on my desk and it looks nice and it doesn't take much space at all.

2. The sound quality while not mistaken for Bose, it is clear and generates decent bass sound. Plus, it can carry the sound far. It is powerful I must say. Even with the 1/5 volume of my iPod can fill the whole room with a clear sound.

3. I love the fact that my iPod is being charged while it is playing.

4. It has aux input at the back of the speaker, so you could connect other devices of your choice. (NOTE: However, there is talk that Altec Lansing will remove aux input from future models).

Overall, I am pleased by the product. Only thing you might want to consider is the price. It might be a tad expensive.

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I've tried several small speakers in an attempt to easily bring my iPod music to rooms without a stereo system. This Altec Lansing is the best of the bunch, although I haven't yet tried any of the very high-end products out there.

Pros:

1. Set-up couldn't possibly be easier. Unpack it. Plug it in. Turn on your iPod. Done.

2. Small footprint. This fits nicely on a wide window ledge, so I don't have to rearrange table-tops when I move it from room to room.

3. Good sound, not tinny. Bass is obviously not going to be robust with a speaker this size, but overall the sound is good. Not "room-filling," but good.

Cons:

1. While it has a small footprint, it definitely isn't tiny. This isn't a speaker you're going to toss into a bag to take on a trip.

2. The speaker is covered with black cloth (like traditional in-home speakers). While this probably helps with the sound, it also makes it slightly less portable. And again, you're not going to travel with it.

So for my uses easy-to-move in-home music without a stereo this is about perfect. I docked a star because it's not really something I'd use anywhere else, and I prefer multi-use products. For what it is, it's a good product at a very fair price point.

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The seller advertised this as "Works with all iPhone and iPod models". It does not work with the iphone 4. the phone displays, "Device not compatible". On the box it only lists up to the iphone 3s. If you want this for the iphone 4 you need to order the Octive M112, not this one. This is the older model, M102.

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This is our third Octiv Mini and are immensely pleased with the product. Don't expect a speaker that costs less than a few value meals at McD's to fill your house with music...but you may be stunned at the quality of the sound. This third Mini is destined for my 8 yo daughter's room as she is the music buff of the house. For a 12x12 bedroom or office, the sound is perfect. Plenty loud to satisfy the ear and plenty quiet to keep the windoes from shaking!

My wife and I both have fairly slim cases with our iPhones and they fit fine without issue. However, both my kids have the Otterbox Defender and you will need an adapter or male/female cable to use this speaker while inside the Defender. Not an issue and still a bargain after factoring in an extra cable.

All sound functions work as expected and charging is effortless. Ours have found heavy use as: nightly sound "white noise" machines, morning news and podcast player, and of course the evening dance off with the kids! We do have a quality, room-filling dock for use in the center of our home, but that unit was over 20 times the cost. This little gem certainly has its place and will satisfy all but audiophiles for small space Apple audio.

In summary:

VERY small footprint!

Great sound (within reason)!

Well-constructed and up for daily use by the family!

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Not sure why others are having issues with Iphone 4 operation. I plugged it in, worked just fine right out of the box. It requests that I download the Altec Lansing alarm clock application (not sure why). I didn't even recieve the "not optimized for iphone" message that I have recieved on other docks. Anyone that orders this expecting to use it at a house party has unrealistic expectations. Sounds great as a desk or counter top speaker. It does not come with an Iphone 4 dock adapter plate, so the phone is not entirely secured in the dock, but won't just fall out. The only thing that this is missing is a remote and/or external controls. You control the volume and navigation from the phone. If you are looking for a simple, good sounding speaker dock that works with Iphone 4, you can't beat this speaker for the price. If you are looking for audiophile levels of sound quality or a speaker that is built specifically for Iphone 4 be prepared to spend alot more $.

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Pyle PHST92IBGL 600 Watt Digital 2.1 Channel Home Theater Tower with iPod and iPhone Docking Station

• iPod/iPhone/MP3/AUX Input - Full Function Remote Control - LCD display - Tweeter:Dual 3.5 inch - Power: DC 21 Volts w/ 110V Adapter
• Built-in FM Radio With Memory - Independant Control of Each Channel - Output power:600 Watts - Subwoofer: 8 inch - Dimensions: 7.48''D x 11.42''W x 39.37''H
• Alarm Clock Control and Time - iPod Can be Controlled Through Remote - L (150Watts x 1) R (150Watts x 1) Subwoofer (300Watts x 1) - S/N: 85dB - iPod not included
• 2.1 Channel amplifier - iPod Charged Automatically - Frequency: L,R 150Hz-20kHz Subwoofer 50Hz-180Hz - THD: 0.1%
• Real 2.1 Channel output - Touch Key Control System - Mid Range Driver:Dual 3.5 Inch - Wood Construction w/ Beautiful Exterior

The Pyle Tower with iPod player arrived on time and nicely packaged. On removal from the box it is very attractive in the Piano finish. Easy to set up but the instructions on setting the sound quality, base, treble, etc. Are not clear and it took some creative thinking to figure it out. Overall sound quality is better than desktop iPod players but disappointing for a unit this size with an 8" sub. The base is weak and treble is not crisp and sharp. Sounds like Pyle used third tier driver components. Another disappointment is that, even though the unit is marketed to be compatible with iPhone, the "non-compatible" message in the iPhone pops up each time it is docked. Also, the loud annoying iPhone interference noise is frequent if the 3G signal is weak. That seems to be better with a strong signal. Another disappointment: I emailed Pyle tech support as instructed in the manual about the interference and got no reply. I expected better but decided not to return the unit.

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I purchased two of these units for my two son's for Christmas. One worked fine but the other had a problem cutting out as my son reported to me. When I checked the unit it was only working on one side and the sub so I gave it a few taps to see if there were loose connections. Sure enough the right side also went out leaving just the sub working. I popped the 8 screws out that hold the power amp and circuit boards in the back and sure enough a ribbon cable block connector was barely on and loose. After securely re-connecting this obvious problem and getting the unit back inside it works fine. These are good units but I think there is a problem with the ribbon cables coming loose during shipping which would explain alot of bad reviews. With a phillips screw driver and small bit of investigation the unit was back in great working condition without any need to hassle with a return or refund etc. Too bad the manufacturer doesn't blob silicone on these to secure them for the shipping which would save them and some customers alot of PITA.

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I was away in Maryland to visit a friend who had music playing throughout his home. It was such a different feeling from our often dry and quiet environment. I got back to new York and promptly seartched for an ipod dock player that could do the same for us, and came across this item. Not only is it beautifully crafted, it sounds awesome!! Take this from a guy with many thousands invested in component sound systems (they could not play my playlist). This is fantastic and inexpensive. I recommend this very highly. We have brought another piece of joy into our fine home.

DB, White Plains

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Audio Output failed after just a few hours of use. Had to return to Pyle Audio still to be determined if this is a reliable product. So far, a bit disappointing, beside the failure, there are significant problems with the documentation. The English translation which is obvious is poor to say the least. The Menus and controls are not at all intuitive. Something as simple as turning the unit off is a challenge, still haven't figured it out short of turning off the main power switch on the back of the unit, which I'm sure is not the intended method, as it also resets the clock if you leave it off for 24 hours or more. I could live with all that if the audio was great, but unfortunately it's not that great, it's OK, but not great. I get far superior audio performance from my Samsung TV Surround sound system with sub, which cost about the same and also supports IPod/Iphone and has a DVD/CD Player. I will say that it is a beautiful piece of furniture I have the Piano finish Black Model and it is a nice piece to look at. Still holding my breath on this one, waiting to see how Pyle handles the return/repair process. Their instructions for returning include me paying the shipment to them which is normal and acceptable, but also me paying either $50 in a money order or providing a credit card number for them to ship it back to me after repair, which I don't think is right as this is a warranty return and should be on them. Hope this helps, good luck!

Update Pyle's parent company repair facility Sound Around USA is HORRIBLE! They returned the repaired item to me, charged me $25 for shipping, and shipped it in cardboard without anything to protect the finish and with damage, claiming they received it that way! The item was sent to them in perfect condition and they returned it with three broken/cracked corners! The best part of this unit is its looks, and now that is ruined! Was so mad after receiving, didn't even bother to check if it worked don't care now that it's damaged. Lousy customer service, hard to reach and liars. If they had received it damaged, they should have notified me so I could make a UPS claim, but they did not, furthermore they used the original shipping material as padding for the box they returned it in and there is no indication of any damage to the box that would account for the damage the unit has. The damage was obviously done at the repair facility, and the weasels don't want to admit it. There are several reviews showing the same output problem I had initially, seems to be a common problem with these units. We only had about 10 hours on this when it failed. I would recommend you stay away from Pyle Audio, because if you have to deal with the repair facility, they are horrible! When dealing with them I did not speak to one person that had any customer service etiquette, they were all rude and unhelpful, that is when you could actually get someone on the phone.

Fortunately AMAZON came the rescue contacted Amazon customer service after the repair facility refused to do anything about the damage and Amazon agreed to take the item back on return despite it being past the 30 day return rule. Hats off to Amazon for supporting their customers unlike Pyle and SoundAroundUSA who no doubt will be out of business soon if they continue their bad practices.

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I bought this unit for my office to play the iPhone and it plays very

nice the sound quality sound like you are in a home theater I love

this unit.It also has a beautiful finish and makes my room looks

great

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Logitech Squeezebox Radio Music Player with Color Screen (Red)

• Listen to infinite music, news and sports from every corner of the globe with this easy-to-use, all-in-one Wi-Fi music player-all without a computer
• listening to free Internet radio stations, online music services, and your personal iTunes collection in minutes-connects easily to your home network via Wi-Fi
• Bring full, high-quality sound to any room with an ultra-compact design that fits easily on your night table or kitchen counter
• Just turn the dial to browse radio stations, music tracks and even album art, displayed on the full-color screen
• Recommend music to Facebook friends instantly right from your Squeezebox

I am a long time owner of Squeezebox products and was pretty excited to find out about the little table top Squeezebox Radio model. I picked one up and thought I would share my thoughts.

The first thing you notice is how much heft this little player has. It is really well built and the fit and finish is superb. It has plenty of weight and solid rubber feet so that it won't skid around on your night stand or table top. The screen looks great and all of the buttons have a nice solid tactile feel. Compared to many other cheap wireless network streaming radios, this device feels an entire order of magnitude better in its construction quality. The only disappointment here is the lack of back lit buttons, for using the radio in low lighting. It's also worth noting that the entire radio has a high gloss finish that will be a magnet for fingerprints. Looks great though!

The biggest challenge for most consumers with this device will be the initial set up. You need to create an account at in order to set up your new Squeezebox Radio. The device uses this connection to play free internet music services as well as download software updates, etc, to the Radio. I already had a Squeezebox account so this was not a huge challenge for me, but it might be for some people who might be confused that they need to set up an account before they can use the device. There is an option to set up the account from the device itself. Don't do this (it is slow and tedious)! Go to the website and set it up in a few seconds and then just type your login and password on the device.

Other than the laborious task of entering my full email and password for the rest of the setup is very easy. The Squeezebox Radio supports push to connect wi-fi set up which is common on many newer model wireless routers. It's similar to programming a garage door opener. Simply point the Squeezebox Radio at your wireless network and for 120 seconds it will try to connect with the push to connect functionality. Then just push the connect button on your router and it's automagically all set up.

Once set up the Radio will update its firmware and reboot, a process that takes a few extra minutes. After that you are good to go.

In addition to the many built in free online services, you can also play your own music through the Squeezebox Server application. I run the Squeezebox Server application on my HP EX495 Windows Home Server but you can also run Squeezebox Server on any Mac, Windows PC or even Linux box (there are even installable distributions for many Network Attached Storage units). This allows the Squeezebox Radio (and any other Squeeze players) to access all of the music on my home network. It's absolutely wonderful to be able to take the little table top radio anywhere in the home and listen to your entire music collection.

Sound quality is very good, easily enough to fill a small to medium sized room. It gets quite loud with little to no distortion and the controls are easy to use to change tracks, change volume, etc. Wireless strength is superb. I get a full signal anywhere within about 40 feet of my router, and the radio works anywhere on my suburban property with no audio hiccups or dropouts.

In addition to the intuitive controls such as "home", "play", "stop", "back", etc, the unit also features six programmable "preset" buttons similar to what you have on a car radio. Setting these up is a bit more of a challenge than you would expect. You are supposed to be able to hold these down on any song, album, playlist, etc, that is being displayed in the radio menu and have it added as a preset. Unfortunately some items don't add correctly and must first be programmed as a "favorite". It turns out that you can only add favorites for some items (such as playlists) from the Squeezebox Server web based menu, which is quite inconvenient. I don't doubt that Slim Devices (the arm of Logitech that makes these devices) will fix this soon enough.

Other minor glitches include some weird alarm behavior (it will show the time of the alarm when it is going off but strangely won't show the current time, which is annoying if you have hit the snooze button a few times and need to know what time it is), some auto dimming issues (the auto dimming works great but gets almost TOO dim in a dark room to see the radio) and a few other very minor nits.

Slim Devices have a long history of enhancement and improvement of device firmware, so I would expect a lot of these issues to be worked out in the coming months. Additionally there will soon be a battery pack and small infrared remote for the Squeezebox Radio available as a $ add on purchase. Personally I think at $ the Radio should include these items, but considering the great sound of the radio, the high quality screen and the superb fit and finish it is justified that this device costs as much as it does.

Also worth noting is that if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone you can get the iPeng application $ from the Apple App Store which makes controlling and programming your Squeezebox Radio an absolute breeze. iPeng is really a must have if you have these devices and want a wonderful pocket control that works from anywhere in your home. Beats the pants off of what Sonus has to offer!

//Update 1 (Nov 2nd 2009)

Yesterday my SB Radio lost all of the preset buttons which is most annoying. It also turns out that many of the requests for fixes around the alarms functionality have not been addressed and don't appear to be scheduled to be addressed in the next release or two of the software. If your primary use will be a night stand alarm clock I would recommend holding off for now until Logitech addresses alarm functionality issues. If the issues are not resolved I will reconsider my four star rating as it should then be a three star product.

//Update 2 (May 13 2010)

Logitech has not only not fixed many of the initial annoyances with the SB Radio, but newer firmware has in fact made the product less stable and reliable. It still does an admirable job of playing your local music library if you run the SB Server on a PC or Mac in your home, but the network streaming functionality seems to be having issues and I've found the alarm to be terribly unreliable. I would now under the current circumstances rate this only 3 out of 5 stars. It's really a shame too, as the "Slim Devices" that originally brought us these problems was very open and communicative about issues and what was being done to fix them. Logitech has little interest in relaying useful information to its beta testers, err, customers and instead gives us the run around with if and when issues will ever be remedied.

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I've had the Squeezebox Radio for just over a week but that's long enough to decide what I like and what still needs some work. First, set-up was a snap. The radio found my wireless network instantly and I was able to enter the password and connect quickly. The radio them updated its own software so I was working with the newest release.

What do I like? The radio seems solid. It's heavy enough that you can press the buttons with the radio on a nightstand and not have it slide. The front is angled back which helps even more. I'd call the sound quality though not stereo excellent. There's no comparison between how this radio sounds and the Sony clock radio I replaced it with. It has a very clear, crisp sound.

What don't I like? I had the radio only three days when it lost all it's presets. I re-entered them and all has been well since. This is a well known bug. I am using and NOT using my PC so the problem is likely there. Presets should be stored locally, not on a server. I saved all my presets as favorites so they MIGHT be there the next time this happens (then again, maybe the favorites list will be erased, too). I'd like to see an easier way to set the sleep timer. You have to use the menu and it should be a simple button press. Why not use the power button and cycle through sleep settings? i.e. ON ... 45 ... 30 ... 15 ... OFF? There also needs to be a simple way to snooze. Maybe the big button in the middle?

The auto-dimming setting gets awfully dark at night! I should be able to set a minimum brightness level that suits me.

And I'd love to see the apps include weather radar. Yes, this is a radio but it's got a great color display and being able to watch live weather radar on the screen would be super. A general weather app that makes use of this display would be a plus! Come on Logitech, get with it! This radio has more possibilities than, well, radio!

Later: I've had the radio for a month now and am no longer quite so excited. I reduced my initial 4 stars to just 2 stars. This radio is buggy! My initial loss of the presets has now been followed by a loss of the volume control. There was absolutely no way to get it back besides a "factory reset" which removes every setting I so carefully made. You should be able to simply sit down and enjoy a radio, not beta test a product.

I am returning it within Amazon's 30 day window. I've had enough.

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When the Boom came out, I wanted to purchase it right away, but the $300 price tag and the inability to truely make it wireless detered me. Now that the Radio is out with a lower price tag, battery capability and a color LCD, I was totally sold. I've had the Radio for about a week now, and I simply love it. Even the wife was jamming to it when I got home from work the day after I bought it.

So far I have only had one issue with it...I can not find a setting to set the Album Art size to full screen on the Now Playing screen. It says in the manual that it is under the Screensaver settings, but when I go there it doesn't exist. I sent an email to Logitech support, but have not heard back from them yet. [Updated] Logitech just released a new software version that will correct this issue.

Another cool feature that I didn't realize existed, was the ability to control the Radio from the web.

As far as sound quality goes, it is far better than expected. There is virtually no distortion even at maximum volume. I even plugged a set of Computer Speakers into the Headphone Jack and it didn't make that much of a difference. The Base levels aren't that deep, but they are there. I can put it in my livingroom and pump it up near max volume and hear it clearly throughout the house.

I haven't tested the Wireless strength extensively yet, but I was able to hook it up in the garage (1 Floor below and 50 feet from the router) and the signal strength was near full.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase and can't wait to get the battery pack so I can just carry this thing around anywhere.

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This COULD be such a great product, but the radio firmware is HORRIBLY BUGGY! As other reviewers have observed, the radio will power off for no reason, will lose connection to the internet forcing you to constantly unplug the unit, hold down buttons upon restart, and then enter your WIFI codes again and again (not a good thing if you have a lengthy password). I have spent countless hours on the phone with Logitech support. While they are kind on the phone, they don't have an answer, and will walk you through the same instructions time and again with the same results; the next day or two, and your radio doesn't work again. I have been promised call backs from them within 24 hours with "someone who knows how to fix the problem", and no one ever calls. The last person I talked with told me I have to send the product back to them, despite the fact that they know it is a firmware problem which they have no idea if/when it will ever be fixed, and maybe a new unit will work better. What?? I was told they want to further study my radio to find out what is wrong with it, as everyone seems to be complaining of the same problems. How can a unit with the same problems be "fixed" of a known firmware problem that stymies the entire product line's function?? I love the look, sound, and feel of this radio, but it doesn't work the way it's advertised. I'm very disappointed.

This radio has lots of good things going for it when it works. Unfortunately it does so at best half the time at other times it loses the connection to (which you need for almost all functions except streaming music off your PC), powers down randomly, stops playing for no obvious reason, the screen freezes and shows details of a previous show, etc. (We have one desktop PC and two laptops hanging off the same wireless network at home, so are sure that the network itself is fine.) The support forums at logitech and slimdevices have been awash with complaints about this apparently caused by firmware updates in combination with changes at but the problem remains unsolved. What is especially maddening is that the radio worked just fine from Jan to Mar 2010, so it's also clear that this is not a hardware problem! It is possible to roll back to an older firmware version (by installing the appropriate older version of the squeezebox server on a PC, and asking the radio to connect to it using "My Music"), but even the pre-April firmware version (4.2) now has the same problems as the more recent ones.

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