Pioneer DEH-P5200HD CD Receiver with HD Radio and iPod Direct Control

• AM/FM radio, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3/WMA/AAC, USB, HD radio receiver
• 4 x 50 Watts maximum power with two 2.2V RCA preamp outputs
• Detachable faceplate with one-line, 12-character segment OEL display, red key illumination
• Front panel auxiliary input and USB; add adapters for iPod control, Bluetooth, SAT radio
• One-year warranty
• Bluetooth and SAT radio
• Front panel auxiliary input and USB , add adapters for iPod control

For the past 4 years I've been using a Pioneer DEH-P6700MP car stereo which is almost identical to the Pioneer DEH-P670MP. I really liked the Pioneer as it seemed to really be able to liven up my 1998 Toyota Corolla factory speakers and had several features I regularly used and loved. I decided it was time to upgrade recently as my old Pioneer was having difficulty playing CDs while the AC was on, and it was making ticking sounds with many of my CDs. I decided right off the bat I was going to stick with Pioneer.

I spent a few days researching units and the main thing I kept noticing with many of the new 2010 Pioneer CD Players was the choice of going with one that had HD Radio or going with one that had Bluetooth functionality. It doesn't appear you can get a Pioneer with both. I decided to go with the HD Radio functionality due in part to the talk about how FM broadcast quality was greatly improved. (I'll post a small rant on this at the end of my review.)

It seems like all Pioneers have the ability to read MP3 CDs still which is great, but one of the nicer additions is the USB port on the front. You can plug in your iPod, Zune, or USB thumb drive and play music off it instead of burning a CD or MP3 CD. It also works for charging USB devices. I tried plugging my Black Berry 8350i into the USB slot, but it would not recognize it as media and would only charge the phone. Another input on this Pioneer head unit is the aux audio input jack on the front of the face that you can plug into with a male to male stereo audio cable. An unannounced features this unit has that will be useful for many is RDS support. The unit will display the song/artist when listening to radio stations that broadcast this information.

Installation: I thought going from one Pioneer to another would be a breeze and that the stereo wire harness would be the same as my old Pioneer. Just to be sure I contacted Crutchfield whom said many stereo manufacturers use the same harness for several years. Unfortunately I want to confirm in my review that the one from my DEH-P6700MP and the one in this new DEH-P5200HD are not the same. They look similar, but they are wired like a mirror image of each other and will not fit each other. *A note to the beginners, if you've still got a factory stereo in your vehicle, do yourself a favor and buy a harness adapter so you do not have to cut the factory wiring in the dash. That way if you ever go to sell your vehicle or you decide you do not like the stereo, you can just disconnect the harness and put the factory stereo back in.

I've been using the Pioneer DEH-P5200HD for a few weeks now and I like the unit a lot. Many of the various equalizer settings are the same as what was available on my old unit, and MP3 CD playback is about the same as well. Having the USB slot on the front is extremely convenient and I use it frequently to plug in a 8gb USB thumb drive full of songs. When you pull out the drive and plug it back in, the unit remembers where you were at in the last song and picks right back up. One major thing that takes some getting used to is the control knob on the radio. It seems to control everything in that one knob and it takes time to get used to. The remote control will help ease you into things as all the buttons are easily spelled out on it. It's also worth noting the remote is identical to my previous Pioneer remote and both were even cross-compatible.

Pros:

-Same fantastic EQ options Pioneer is known for. Includes bass frequency filtering options.

-USB & Aux input on the face

-USB input plays immediately when you plug in a USB drive, it also remembers what file and where it was at when the device was last plugged into it.

-iPod control from the face or remote

-RDS support for showing titles of songs from broadcast radio

-No lights and animated character distractions flashing all over the display.

Cons:

-Face detaches to the left side instead of flipping down which may be harder to remove depending on your dash

-HD Radio is not much of an improvement in quality of FM radio.

-USB input when reading from a USB thumb drive appears to read the folder order from last to first. (Song order is also affected if you add more songs to a folder later.)

-Control knob is an awkward all in one with a bit of a learning curve.

Do you remember upgrading from a tube TV to a flat screen? Do you remember the difference in picture quality? HD Radio is NOT that same upgrade. The HD FM radio broadcast quality is almost the same as what you've heard for years except now you don't get static, instead you get cutting in and out for seconds at a time when the signal starts getting weaker. Sometimes you hear the radio DJs talking about how much better their station sounds in HD, but the truth is there isn't much of a difference. I've read AM broadcast is hugely improved, but I have no interest in most talk radio programming so I have not tuned into any of it.

I'll try to come back and update this review once I've had some more hands on time.

*UPDATE 5/21/2010*

HD FM Radio: I've had this unit installed for a month now and have spent more time with the HD FM Radio functionality. I have turned off the blending mode that combines the HD and regular FM signals and find HD reception to be bad. I live minutes outside Houston and the reception on most the FM HD stations is extremely poor. For HD when the signal gets weak, the broadcast just cuts out all together. When I go downtown the signal is usually exceptional, but at 20 miles away from one of my frequent stations, quality becomes more miss than hit. When I drive to the southeast side of town, most the HD stations are unavailable at all. If you live inside a large city and are close to the radio stations you might enjoy HD radio, but for those of you who live in suburbs or you are far from the radio stations FM HD Radio is probably not for you.

Sound quality: I have finally decided this unit out performs my old Pioneer in sound quality. One of the custom features you can set and adjust that makes this possible is the ability to filter low bass frequencies from your 4 regular speakers. For those that like to turn up their music really loud sometimes, this can help you from blowing a speaker and also get rid of some of that extra distortion you can get from turning up the volume too much. That's not to say you can't still blow a speaker, but it should help.

Other than the HD Radio and the occasional issue with the all in one control knob accidentally getting pressed in when changing the volume, this Pioneer is a great unit. I'd definitely buy another Pioneer car stereo, they have not let me down yet. I'll update this review again if I come across anything new or something worth updating.

*UPDATE 6/22/2010*

USB Input Reading: I have finally found out what the order folders are read from USB flash drives. Apparently all folders and subfolders are read from the flash drive based on the order in which they are copied to the drive. While you would think this wouldn't be an issue, it can be an annoyance for those with multiple folders. If you select and copy multiple folders at a time to a flash drive, Windows seems to want to copy the folders from last to first. It does the same thing if you copy a folder with subfolders in it. Also if you go back and add more folders later, those will play after all the other previously copied folders.

Song playback order is also affected by the order in which they are copied. If you go back later and add songs, they will play after the previously copied songs in that folder. If you are like me and have purchased multiple albums from an artist and want to play them from oldest to newest, you'll have to copy the folders to the drive in the order you want them to play. If all this file order talk sounds like too much, the good news is that you can burn a MP3 CD with folders and they will be played in alphanumeric order without any special copying order or anything. For those of you with iPod, none of this order playback should be an issue since the iPod is actually playing the songs and sending the music to the receiver.

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I installed the P5200HD in a Mustang with a Mach460 sound system. I chose to go old school and hard wired it without using a wiring harness; but, please save yourself a few hours and get the wiring harness!

The things I like about this receiver are:

1) The unit puts out incredible sound and the HD radio is crystal clear. I live just North of Austin and haven't noticed any of the cutting out that other reviewers have described. I'm sure the quality of your local HD radio stations will impact your experience quite a bit.

2) I love that I can plug a USB thumb drive full of songs into the receiver! To me, this is far more convenient than using CDs or even pluggin in my iPod most of the time.

3) Although I prefer using the USB thumb drive, the ability to use my iPod through the radio is also great. I hadn't played with iPod tagging before now, but it has turned out to be a nice feature.

Although this receiver has been very nice overall, there are a few problems that I've run into:

1) For some reason the unit automatically came with the clock feature turned off it took a while to find that and turn it back on.

2) I felt that the method for setting up preset channels was a little antiquated and the instructions were limited. Once I played with it for a while, I got the hang of it.

3) If you plan on removing the face, the side mount is a bit of a pain and it gets hung up on my dash. I really have to play with it to get it off so I suspect I'll probably just leave it in place.

Overall, I am very pleased with this head unit. It looks great, sounds awesome, and has more features than I have ever had single-DIN car stereo.

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This is a typically good Pioneer head unit. The sound quality is good. The ergonomics are pretty decent. The ability to shape the sound (equalizer settings, etc.) are fine. The detachable faceplate works fine and is useful for those who live or park in higher crime areas. Pioneer makes some of the better head units, and this one is perfectly in line with the typical qualities of their lines. The current price for feature set is also reasonably attractive.

What I don't like, and why I'm docking this to three stars, is the implementation of the one set-apart feature of this head unit, namely the ability to connect an iPod of USB storage device through a USB port in the head unit. Sounds like a great idea, and I was quite excited to be able to use it. I duly copied a bunch of folders of music to a multi Gb USB storage "thumb drive", attached the drive to the unit, and started to navigate the music on the drive...

...only to discover that the unit presents the music on the storage device in order of the timestamp on the files (????!???) You're reading that right. If you have 50 or 100 albums on that storage drive (easily accomplished on a 8 or 16gb storage drive), you'll get to flip through them in a relatively arbitrary order. Not alphabetical order. Nope. By the timestamps. This is ridiculous. And the same problem applies to the files within each album folder. So unless you're careful to make sure files in each folder are copied in the order you want to play them...the albums will play out of order.

In 2011, I think this is simply unacceptably amateurish coding of the USB navigation.

If you don't plan to use the USB input, I'd say this is a solid 4 head unit, especially at the current street price. But if you don't plan to use the USB input, there are other attractive options at the price.

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Lot's of nice features but what a pain to use. The volume knob does everything and it's very awkward to use. You have to push, twist, rock right or left and go thru lots of menus to make any kind of change. It's also rescessed and hard to get a hold of. I would have to pull the car over to make a change in the bass setting. I'm sending this one back.

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I just want say: Great deck! I have a 98 Chrysler T&C with factory Infinity sound system. I got it today and installed it in a couple hours. No aftermarket components other than the deck. I exchanged my old Pioneer deck that I got a year and a half ago in favor of this one because of the USB port and HD Radio. I live in a major city so HD radio comes in great and sounds 10 times better than the standard def radio feed, plus all the major stations have 2 HD feeds. The real benefit of this radio though is the USB connection with my Iphone. It sounds 10 times better than the AUX connection I used to use. That's because the Pioneer deck takes the MP3/ACC file, or whatever, and uses it's internal processor to play the music file rather than the headphone feed the ipod/iphone produces. It's much more powerful than the ipod and sounds much much better, clearer, richer, and zero static/white noise. There is no distortion at high volume, and it feels like the surround sound is better balanced. Anyways, I don't have all the audiophile jargon, but it just sounds fantastic. I am not having any of the problems some of the other reviewers have noted with the controls. It's well fabricated and pretty easy to figure out in about 10 minutes. Didn't have to read the manual for more than 5 minutes and I got my pre-sets set up and clock set. I even drove around and was able to switch inputs and radio stations just fine. I usually don't write reviews but I was just so pleased with this deck. I also think it looks really cool with the all black and red back-light color scheme.

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Philips Fidelio DS1110/37 30-Pin iPod/iPhone Speaker Dock

• Surprisingly rich sound, Rich omni-directional sound to fill your bedroom.
• Elegant and compact design to fit on any bedtable,360-degree design for gorgeous look from any angle
• Designed for your bedroom, Auto clock synchronization with iPod/iPhone when docked, Soft glow night light.
• iPhone compatibility, Compatible with: iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4
• Neodynium is the best material for producing a strong magnetic field for greater sensitivity in a voice coil.
• Better bass response and a pure balanced sound quality.
• Charge your second mobile device via USB, Dock, Dedicated app available on the App Store for more functions any iPhone/ iPod, even in its case
• Designed for your bedroom, Auto clock synchronization with iPod/iPhone when docked, Soft glow night light,
• Neodymium speakers for pure balanced sound, Shielding technology to block mobile phone interference
• Neodynium is the best material for producing a strong magnetic field for greater sensitivity in a voice coil,
• Better bass response and a pure balanced sound quality.
• Surprisingly rich sound, Rich omni-directional sound to fill your bedroom,

I definitely enjoy this product. It works well with my iPhone 4S with Apple bumper and speakers are nice and loud enough to fill the room. I saw people complaining about the app, but the one I downloaded just by searching for Philips in the app store is stable for me. I don't use it as it is unneeded in my opinion. There are volume controls and light controls at the top of the docking station where you plug your iphone/ipod in. I personally am considering buying another one for my office.

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I got this product for Christmas, having had it on my Wish List. I thought the unit was cool, and offered some 21st century connectivity. I also thought the ambient light options were cool. Having had it on my night table for about 24 hours, I am underwhelmed at best. The ambient light turns off arbitrarily after a few hours. Further, speaking of the ambient light, when setting the light to its lowest setting, and when an iphone (iPhone 4, in this case, along with a 3rd generation iPod Touch), is set on the unit, there is an audible 60Hz hum from the unit, as if there is a dimmer switch in use for the light (which of course, there is). One does not want a hum from a bedside clock. There is practically zero connectivity or interaction between the iPhone app and the bedside unit as well practically no creativity went in to developing that I could have done the same thing in an afternoon.

In short:

ambient light turns off arbitrarily after a few hours.

60Hz hum comes from the unit when using the ambient light on its lowest setting.

poor interaction between the iPhone app and the bedside unit, leading to an under-functioned product from Philips.

For a $76 unit, this bad boy is on its way back to the cyberspace from whence it came.

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With only one real drawback, Philips Fidelio docking station and external iPhone/ iPod speaker system delivers a rich, vibrant sound.

There are literally dozens and dozens of iPhone/ iPod docking station-speaker combo you can buy and compared to the one I already own, this one is far better in every way.

One of the first things you'll notice is that it's relatively small. At it's broadest area, it's about 6.5" broad and 2" tall.

I also like the way it's engineered. They placed the speaker cones facing up (as opposed to the side by side). What this means is that if the speakers weren't of the higher quality, the sound would simply dissipate as it moved up and spread out.

But, this wasn't a concern as track after track within the space of a 15' by 15' room, the 4-watt speaker system delivered very, very high fidelity.

(Tracks on my lady-friend's iPod Classic sampled:)

"Dale Caliente" by Daddy Yankee

"Down On Me" by Jeremiah (w/ 50 Cents)

"I Wonder If..." by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and

"Let Me Clear My Throat" by DJ Kool (w/ Biz Markie, Dougie Fresh & Funk Master Flex)

The only real drawback from this system is that there's no remote control. You'll quickly discover that you'll need a remote. Plain and simple. The 4-touch control on the face panel: sound up/ down, light/dim, and clock setting is on a circular touchpad, but depending on the particular iPod (or iPhone) sitting on the dock, you may have trouble accessing the volume control. I had this issue with the iPod Classic that we used. Wherever you set this speaker system, you will have to walk over there for any reason to make a sound adjustment. With a remote, it frees you of this hassle.

Other than that, the price is right. The other docking station that I mentioned earlier for the iPhone retails for $75 more than this Philips. But believe me when I tell you, the sound on the Philips is WAY better. It's smaller and the bright LED display is clearly seen across the room. There's also a USB port for charging through a computer.

With the exception of missing a remote, this is by far one of the better iPod docking station/speaker system combo.

4 stars.

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This is a wonderful small speaker set. It's nicely designed: it's circular, with a glossy piano black finish, and blue digital time display. The top of the unit is the speaker system; in the center of the circular speaker is the iPod dock and assorted controls. It's a slick little speaker system, and accents a room or desk wonderfully: the small size makes it perfect for one's nightstand.

The unit is intuitive to use: one plugs the iPod into the dock, and from there, the unit charges the iPod and streams music. The sound quality is surprisingly excellent for such a small device: it offers rich bass and strong highs and mids. It worked easily right out of the box

My biggest complaint was that there's no incorporated iPod control into the unit itself. The volume can be adjusted from the dock, but songs can't be changed, nor can the iPod contents be navigated. Doing so from the iPod itself is an awkward process, since it remains connected to the dock.

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I've been using it for a couple of months. Bought one from BB initially and now buying a second one from Amazon. It does what they advertise, and does it very well. This is not a standalone alarm clock, it's a docking station that will play your alarm sound, and in stride! It works with a bunch of different apps with alarm capability, not just the one from philips (which I actually don't like very much). This works for a lot of people since you get to charge the phone. I feel that making it a standalone alarm clock with AM/FM radio might have messed up the simple minimalist design of it which is a key selling point in my opinion. The sound is very impressive for a device of that size and price-range. The support mechanism for the docked device is well thought out you can have any kind of case on your phone and as long as the port is fully exposed, it will work! And it also has a separate USB port for charging other devices, which is great!

An aux input for connecting other audio devices is the only thing missing in this thing. And I'm not a fan of the cloth top, can get dirty real quick. Another complaint I have is that the amber night light seems to turn itself off after some time... some people might want it on all night. A toggle switch would have been a good addition.

Bottom line if you care about looks and sound quality, this fits the bill.

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Pyle PLR33MPD AM/FM Band Radio USB/SD Receiver with Detachable Face

• AM/FM-MPX PLL Tuning - Front Auxiliary Input Jack - AM Frequency Range: 530-1710 KHz
• USB Slot & SD/MMC Card Port For MP3/WMA Music Files Playback- Fold Down Detachable Panel- FM Frequency Range: 87.5-107.9 MHz
• Preset Equalizer - Full Function Remote Control - 4 x 60 Watts Maxumum Power Output
• Encoding Volume, Balnace, Bass, Treble & Fader Control - Seek/ Scan Function - Dimensions: 17.8'' W x 10.5'' H x 5.0'' D
• 30 Radio Preset Station Memory 18GM-12AM - ID Tag

I have to say that I was pretty impressed with this little unit. I just installed a JVC in my wife's Jeep and I wanted something new for my car. For 40 bucks, you can't beat this little stereo. I picked up an adapter kit and a wire harness at a local retailer (if you ask, they'll throw in a fist-full of crimp caps for free), and had it installed in my 2004 ion in about 40 minutes. The stereo sounded great hooked to the factory antenna. The FM was crystal clear and adjusted easily. The multiple input slots are a great feature. I put seven or eight songs on a flash drive in WMA and MP3 and a couple of albums on a 4GB SD card and gave it a shot. From the flash drive, the stereo read both file types seamlessly and ignored any additional data that were on the drive. It also read cleanly from the SD card. The sound was good for both. I also ran my iPod through the AUX jack, and it sounded excellent. Another plus is that you can charge the iPod from the USB port while playing through the AUX jack. For what amounted to about $80 (stereo, adapter, harness), it has vastly improved the audio options that I have available.

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JUST a USB player, what more do you need? My parents got me a CD player for Christmas that included a USB player as an extra, and after just a week, my wife and I found that we ONLY used the USB player. It was great! An 8GB card and plenty of songs, and I found that I haven't used the CD player in months and months.

So, when it came time to replace the player in my wife's vehicle (1984 Ford Bronco), I found this player, which is simply a dedicated memory card player. No need to pay extra for moving parts, gears that can strip, lasers that can get dirty, etc. etc. Just a straight up memory card player. Perfect!

The player sounds amazing, and the clarity is better than the old stereo we had in there. The USB and radio sound is crisp. This player works wonderfully. The blue background also has a wonderful look to it, and the controls and features are easy to use.

However, to the downside, and why I only gave it 4/5 stars.

There are a few features that aren't a show stopper, but are REALLY annoying.

The first. The volume reverts to a pre-set setting every time you turn the vehicle on.

Next, if you start the vehicle immediately, it'll keep in memory that you're using the USB player. However, if you turn the vehicle on (but not start it), and the player boots up and starts playing (like if you're sitting in the parking lot waiting for someone), and THEN start it, it'll reset and go to radio and forget it's playing the USB. You'll have to go back to the song you were playing. Plus, if it was on random, it'll start playing the same songs over again when you randomize it.

Last, you can only view the time for a few seconds. You can't keep it on the clock. Irritating.

So, in summation, a GREAT player with awesome features, the future of dash players, a great price, and wonderful sound. Just a few bugs that really need to be worked out. They won't ruin anyone's day, but they can be a little annoying.

In the end, however, I highly recommend it.

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As others have mentioned, this unit has a few quirks:

* Audio volume issue (defaults to 20 on power-down).

* EQ display is just random pulses and doesn't reflect anything.

* Clock cannot be left "On" to display constantly (I would have preferred this to the fake EQ function on the display)

And a couple I've noticed that I didn't see mentioned:

* Tracks "fade in" over the first second or so, which is irritating for songs that start right in. I would love to find a hidden menu or firmware update to disable this "feature".

* No "Local/DX" selector switch of function. The radio seek is stopping on faint signals, so you end up pressing the button two to three times more than in a more refined unit.

All in all, it's a good value for the price and I'm not going to return it, but I wish I had waited and paid a little more for a higher quality unit.

One feature I really like is that the SD card and USB slot can be used independently, allowing one to have a great deal of music on board.

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I expected little for $37, and I got what I expected -until the unit stopped working completely within 6 days of installation.

Benefits: Cheap, easy enough to install, good feature set (USB, Aux., SD(really?), remote, etc.) for the price.

Detriments: (1) When you power the radio off while playing a USB file, the unit starts playing /at the beginning of that file/ when you power it on again. Since I listen to a lot of interviews that are about 20 minutes each, this was quite annoying. (2) It's underpowered; there's just not much power there at max volume. (3) Inconvenient navigation of content stored on USB. (4) Oddly laid-out controls, where the >> button (FF) is located below /and to the left of/ the

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Sony Desktop Music System, Works with iPhone, Made For iPod, Single Disc CD Player, CD, CD-R/RW, And

• Charges iPod while docked
• Single disc CD, CD-R/RW and MP3 playback
• AM/FM radio with 30 station presets
• Clock, alarm and sleep timer
• Aux-in for use with MP3 players, PCs and other audio sources

I wanted something that had a radio, alarm clock, cd player and iPod charger all in one so I did not have to have a device for each. This is so wonderful, compact and easy to use. I love it!

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Sony Ericsson CK15A-PK txt Pro Unlocked GSM Phone with Slide-Out QWERTY Keypad, Touchscreen, Wi-Fi a

Great phone, works great. PRO Basic functions, Good battery life, good screen, 3.5mm jack. CON Very small keyboard even for my daughter's small hands, no included headphones, not alot of available cases.

Good phone for the price. It is as described. Phone is small and so is the keyboard but that was what i wanted Lightweight as well. Works great.

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I bought this phone in November of last yr. It has limited uses with at&t in the UNITED STATES... it is made by a manufacturer in CANADA so if you live in Canada and are purchasing this phone, it may be a wonderful product. Amazon wanted me to pay a restocking fee and would only refund me 15% of the cost of the phone if I returned it. SONY asked me to send it in, I had to pay postage (rather expensive because they wanted it boxed and packed with bubble wrap) and when they sent it back, it was in an unprotected plastic bag. SONY said that it was my fault because I didn't know the phone had limited access in the US (which I did not know because this description does not tell you that). Now, I currently own a very expensive paper weight.Sony Ericsson CK15A-PK txt Pro Unlocked GSM Phone with Slide-Out QWERTY Keypad, Touchscreen, Wi-Fi and 3.2 MP Camera Unlocked Phone US Warranty Pink

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This is a great texting phone if you don't want the high cost of a data plan. I love the slide out keyboard.

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Great phone for a while, daughter loved it. After a year it functions well but it is in lots of parts with a rubber band til we find screws for it to replace what fell out

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Jvc KWR900BT 2din Bluetooth Usb.aux Pandora

• iPhone controls
• Requires 2 DIN installation
• CD receiver with built-in MOSFET amplifier (20 watts RMS or 50 peak x 4 channels)
• Included Bluetooth adapter for hands-free calling, music streaming, and app control
• Plays CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs, including discs loaded with MP3 and WMA files

Originally looking at the Clarion X501-(which had great reviews) and then stumbled across the JVC KW-XR810 4 x 50 Watts Dual USB/CD Receiver for my 2012 Nissan Xterra. Just about when I was going to purchase the XR810 after reading countless reviews I decided on the KWR900BT. Everything was the same across the board except two things: This unit came out March of this year, and it had 6V instead of 3V for the sub...and was only $6 more. This is my first car stereo purchase and after reading all the amazing reviews for the XR810, I decided on a JVC.

In this world of ANTI-Android and PRO-Apple world-it was nice to find a deck that could do android-I have a ATT Galaxy S2 skyrocket mounted on a holder on my driver vent near dash. Wanted to talk bluetooth first and stream music second. Wanted a deck that looked stock-so it wouldnt get stolen. Wanted it to be Android user friendly.

Pretty happy with this unit-here are my pros and cons!

PROS:

LOVE LOVE LOVE the total control of color scheme to match your dash at night and during the day-little hard to see 1. during the day but whatever. Gorgeous Display. No annoying flashing demo going "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" like some of those cheaper decks that rely on that to look good.

2. I'm not a big EQ fan, I just use the preset settings, but it definitely has a LOT tweaking you can do on the settings

3. Love making calls through the blue tooth, people said it sounded pretty good and has three mic settings

4. Love the Double display-Clean, easy to read, and looks great at night.

5. Enjoy the fact that it mutes music when calls come in, and resumes when done talking.

6. Don't use the DVD player at all, and like that I have a cable in the Glovebox for Ipods-Flash drives what not

7. I like the look of this unit over the Clarion and the XR810X.

8. Glossy black finish looks nice

9. Happy to have a phone that will work with and designed with Android in Mind

10. Stock Xterra Speakers sound 100% better than OEM deck-pretty clean.

11. Ordered the Scosche Mounting harness and it looks stock, and my install guy said it was quality, matches the car to a tee....the only thing that doesn't looks stock is the Glossy black of the JVC-but If I was a car thief I'd consider it-but would probably move on to a car with a DVD screen-so good job there.

12. I use my phone for Googlemaps GPS and like the fact that the volume of the streaming music can be set at a different level than the voice of the GPS Navigation. Props there. Though you have to manually set each one-in it's own app.

13. 6V preamp vs 3 on the X810 for six more bucks made this year? yes please!

CONS:

1. Beautiful Double Din face-and JVC doesn't use all of it!! WTF!! Names of songs, Stations and playlists scroll in this tiny 1 line 1 inch part of the entire face. What a waste of real estate.

2. IF you DO NOT have an apple device connected-whenever your connected blue toothan ugly PAUSE in a box flashes continuously right in the DEAD CENTER of the face all the time-there is no way to remove it. What engineer thought of putting this right in the middle blinking ALL THE TIME!?!? Come on people did you drive around with it in an actual car for five minutes and see how annoying this is!?!? You couldn't put it in some box to the right, the side? anywhere but dead center-it even covers the time and is in all faces and modes. So Dumb. Rewards I phone users, and not Android-definitely one of the most annoying aspects of this unit.

3. The Bluetooth is AWESOME...when it feels like pairing. It was a breeze to set up, and get both the phone and head unit to pair...from there-it feels like an on again off again relationship with a girlfriend that wont give it up. One minute working fine, stop for 2 mins to go into seven eleven and will not pair for the love of god when I come back out-wtf!

Turn off bluetooth, start bluetooth, turn off radio, turn on radio. Hope that one finds the other-Sometimes it takes a minute at least to find each other and they are literally less than a foot away. Really?

4. Bluetooth should have been integrated not included. I don't notice the little bluetooth receiver in the front USB slot anymore-but I don't want to put it in the glovebox-so might as well have called it 1 or the other USB. sometimes I jiggle it to make sure its blinking otherwise throw another shrimp on the barbie and good luck trying to get the devices to pair. For the love of god DONT change your device name AFTER youve paired them-I had to do a factory reset just for it to find it again. And go slow and read all the screens for bluetooth.

5. JVC Unit will randomly disconnect from my phone after a short or long conversation-just because it feels like it. But here's what's crazy, I will go into the submenu of the JVC and manually choose to connect to the phone-and it will blink CONNECTION ERROR-yet the second manual connection screen for Audio is still connected?!?! WTF!! So it's connected and stays that way for one part of the unit, but disconnects after a call? well that defeats the purpose of Bluetooth calling and streaming music. So it will still play music, but when someone calls it rings on the phone (Which you can set) but I didn't set that-It just chose to disconnect-I push the button and think I'm gonna hear their voice any second-nope. Sorry.

6. Only way to research for Bluetooth without doing it manually is to press the Function button 4 times back to BTF to search or turn the deck completely off and on again. Sometimes wont find it then. Sometimes I turn the car off at a light just for the deck to re search again.

7. I have about 1200 individual numbers in my android-and it was advertised as having a larger downloadable phone book size 2000 compared to 1000 on XR810. One of the reasons I bought it. Guess what-Its actually 400 numbers with 5 number contacts technically making 2000 entries. What?!?! Most people I know don't have more than a cellphone and work phone. Not everyone in my android is a drug dealer with a 2 pages, a lan and 2 cellphones. Uploading names errors out often and I gave up after about 10 entries. Cumbersome and boring task. And the only thing it does when someone calls is display it in the 1 inch 1 line text instead of the whole face (See complaint above) which is basically useless, and whats the point of putting it into the head unit again? I can't make calls with the headunit unless the phone is near, and it's faster to say my friends name then go into a submenu to select the name on the head unit. My android is mounted right next to me. Way more efficient.

For all my bitching its a solid deck-the Bluetooth drives me crazy sometimes though, and I just give up and switch to radio instead of fumbling with all the buttons while I'm driving. Feels like JVC thought of everything-and made it smooth...and tossed in an old Bluetooth adapter and didn't test it fully with devices before shipping it out. Hence the -1 star.

'Hope my review helps some people!

~Mike

Buy Jvc KWR900BT 2din Bluetooth Usb.aux Pandora Now

I bought this head unit to replace an older Alpine aftermarket single din head unit that was in my 2003 Mazda Protege that replaced the original double din factory one, in I think 2006 or 2007, from what I could gather.

Anyway, as good as that Alpine was, it lacked several features I was interested in. Bluetooth, USB and the Aux jack connectivity, now virtually universally available on even the cheapest decks, at least the USB and Aux jack anyway.

I also chose this over the other related models because it had a much better display as it was not a fixed single line display, but a dynamic 3 line unit instead. This, I reasoned would make using the search feature MUCH easier, and it was a wise choice if you plan on using thumb drives for your music storage, like I am doing. I also liked that I can stream music from my phone via Bluetooth if I want to, though I generally don't since I play the thumb drive almost exclusively.

But using a thumb drive in this unit has a major caveat emptor. There is no obvious instructions on how to not only rip your files, but how to tag them for proper parsing of folders on this unit. Without tagging, the HU won't understand that a particular file (song) goes in a particular folder, in a particular order, if you are like me, and create your own CD's and want to keep the playlist intact as you intended them to be. This caused me headaches, until I found, through Google searching the proper way to name the files to maintain track order, and how to properly tag them so they stay in their respective folders.

Some things I've learned on setting up your music on a thumb drive.

The instructions DO say how to format the drive, but I'll repeat here, don't use NTFS, but the FAT (12/16/32) file format and keep it at a single partition.

1. Set up a folder for your tracks. So if you have a CD of say, Miles Davis' "Sketches in Spain", and you want to keep it as is, create a folder named, sketches in spain and then rip your tracks to it, as files.

2. when you rip your files to the drive, save them as such. 01xxxx, x being the name of the track, so for instance, "01help me" would be track one, "02stand", for track two, and so on, through track 9. For tracks 10 and up, just do 10xxx, 11xxx, and so on, even when you get to 20 and above. I would not recommend you have more than 22 or so tracks per folder, as that's how many I can fit on a standard CD, at full CD audio if each track is no more than 3:30 long or so. If I have extended length tracks (those that go over the 3:50 minute mark, such as "In A Godda Da Vidda" by Iron Butterfly, which is over 17 minutes long), then obviously, I'll have less tracks in a folder/CD. This equates to roughly 750MB of music, as most CD's can handle 800MB at full capacity, or around 72-75 minutes of music at full CD audio max. There is a good reason for this, that's about how much the HU can support per file anyway. I forget exactly the parameters, but it's in the manual and heed it or you'll be sorry. Also, as a rough estimation, an 8Gig drive can hold about 30-32 CD's at 320bps MP3 format, more if you drop the bit rate down, but your sound quality will suffer though.

Next up is to TAG your files.

I would recommend you find a tagging program if you are using Windows XP since it lacks the ability to do album artist in its properties dialog box, a crucial aspect of tagging. Vista, Windows 7 and up will, so you can simply use the properties dialog box to tag in the later Windows OS, don't know if anything similar is available for the Mac.

One thing about tagging, supposedly, you can't tag WAV files, so they have to be WMA, MP3, or AAC. This unit will do WMA and MP3, but not AAC, I don't think, can't recall right now. Anyway, I stuck with MP3, as I can run my files to 320bps, which will be very close to CD quality sound as WMA only does 190bps, and yet, still be able to tag, and it'll mean my thumb drive will work in ANY head unit, even a cheapie unit or factory HU should I need to since MP3 is universally accepted.

For Vista and up, right click on the saved file, chose properties, in the general tab, make sure the top dialogue box has the file name, in this case 01xxx (it'll probably show as 1xxx)

In the details box,

For the title, type in the track name

artist, the name of the artist/band that did the track

Album artist, if an album by a particular artist, it'll be the same as above, but if it's a mix folder of songs by various artists/bands, then put "various" in its place, this tells the HU that it's a mix, and yes, this track is supposed to be there.

All other info is already filled in, click apply if applicable, then OK and go onto your next track. That's how you tag your files. Once done it should play correctly when plugged in.

This way, when you search, you can find the folder, then the track you want as the name of the track will show up in the menu as "01help me" for instance, but when you play said track, the data will simply say, help me, joni mitchell, if you set the display to show all data info.

This unit has several options for displaying your tracks and the clock and I simply chose to use the display for the clock, the track name is at the top, but it allows me to easily root through my music as necessary, since I tend to find the folder I want, tap the volume/enter knob and let it just play, from the beginning, and onto the next folder. What this means is that when I tap on the menu button, it brings up 3 lines, beginning with the track, hit the back button, and I get the top folder and I can then switch folders, again, 3 folders are displayed, the middle one is the one you are on at any given time, the lower down models don't have this ability, as they only display a line at a time IIRC.

If you are like me, and make many mix CD's, some of them a series, you can set it up as such as well. The MASTER FOLDER will be the full CD name, and under it, sub folders with the partial name, and vol # will suffice, and each folder will contain the tracks for THAT CD volume.

As far as playing music from a thumb drive, it's much like playing a CD, except you have more music at your disposal to play, and is much like having a 6 disc CD changer on board, but really, it's just data files on a memory stick. I always play music from said thumb drive so when I leave the car, the thumb drive sits plugged into the tethered cable out of sight, the Bluetooth dongle is plugged into the front USB port (completely agree, it should've been mounted on the circuit board inside). When I get in and start the car, it automatically, after reading the drive, resumes where I had left it previously, exactly like a CD and always remains in the source I last left it in, so if I'm playing a CD, it'll remain in CD mode etc.

At least, I have not noticed it playing the source hierarchy but then again, I made sure I got ALL wires when I wired up the pigtail adapter that came with my unit as that was the bulk of the install time and this included the memory lead too, was all that soldering! The actual install was pretty straightforward, and in the Mazda, didn't need the trim adapter kit at all, as it fit perfectly as is, with the stock plastic trim in place that came on the HU and it looks great in my little Mazda.

I installed this HU back in May and it's been several months of use, and I have come to really like it. There are lots of features, including digital sound processing, namely to correct for proper stereo imaging for your car and it seems to work wonderfully. I use the dynamic EQ preset for my car as I am using the stock speakers, 6x8's with satellite tweeters in the sail panels up front, 6.5" full range units in the rear doors, and a spare tire sized sub by Pioneer in the way back, as I have the 5 door Protege5, a wagonlet and the sound is fantastic with lots of detail and decent enough bass too.

Using the HU took a bit of time to get used to as you have to hit the enter knob (volume) for just about every function, meaning at least 2 button presses to make your selection, such as source, pressing the source/power button cycles you through your sources, select the one you want by pressing the enter/volume button to go to it. The menu button does not automatically go to the top of the hierarchy structure, so having to press the back button below to get to the top of the file structure is a bit annoying at times, but once you are there, you can then scroll through the master folders, select the one you want, press enter, and let 'er rip from there, as I tend to do.

The Bluetooth functionality has its quirks, at first, and occasionally, it looses contact with my phone, but a power down, and back up of the HU seems to reset it. Occasionally, I have to reset the phone itself as it gets wonky too (and it'll be obvious which one is wonky, most of the time).

I use the Motorola Droid Razr, which does not push my contacts to the HU, fortunately, JVC saw fit to add the option of having the unit search your phone for your contacts. At first, it would not remember to look in the phone and thus had to reset that option every time I went to use the BT to make a call, but over time, it does now automatically look there, and even displays them on my HU too! I now run the latest Android OS, (Ice Cream Sandwich) and it works great with this HU.

I love how if the HU is powered up, and I go to use the phone's dialer to dial something, it automatically puts me in speakerphone mode, muting/pausing all music playing, and when done, it resumes where it left off. Nice. Calls on it are clear for the most part, though I do wonder if most of that is the poor phone connection than anything else, because when everything is fine, people, even my largely deaf mother can hear me, and understand what I'm saying for the most part, and she has hearing aids too.

Overall, this is a great head unit, and has lots of features to customize it, like the display through various color combinations, both the buttons and the display itself separately for the money. I have my buttons in red, to closely match my dash lights, and have a blue display, and have it automatically dim when the lights are on, which is ALL THE TIME, this is good for night time use, though it sometimes means the display washes out, but it has enough contrast that it becomes a negative image in bright light, though the glare from the shiny bezel can hinder viewing at times during the daytime. Overall, the face of the unit works well with my car's dash, and looks like it might be a stock HU even though it isn't, exactly what I was after since I live in the city, and park on the street.

Overall, a great head unit for the money and am glad I bought this when I did, as it came in very handy for several small road trips I took this past summer, like when I had to call my best friend, while on the road to discuss where I was after he'd left me a text message to call him at the cabin. I was taking a long time to reach their beach cabin, due mostly to the awful traffic on the first leg of the trip, and taking the long way around, as previously discussed to AVOID said traffic on a Friday in late July, only to have a huge event making the situation even worse. Nice to just press the phone button, and speak, no fumbling for the phone, or a BT ear piece, or a clip on unit who's battery decides to die while in use etc. Bliss.

One last suggestion. I'd recommend you backup your thumb drive with another thumb drive or a dedicated portable hard drive using an app called robocopy, if you have Vista and up, or a similar mirroring program as it will not only mirror your files and folders, but it's hierarchy structure, and all tags too so if your drive were to fail (and they will as they have finite read/write capabilities), you can grab the spare, and mirror it to a fresh spare drive and resume as if nothing has gone wrong. Beats having to re-rip/tag everything, especially if you are using more than an 8GB drive.

Read Best Reviews of Jvc KWR900BT 2din Bluetooth Usb.aux Pandora Here

This stereo was exactly what I was looking for, when I first set out to upgrade my car audio system. After installation I immediately connected a small USB hub to the back of the unit and ran it through my glove box, now I can have more than two items connected to the stereo. I do not have any problems viewing the screen during the day, even in direct light. The directions for setup were very helpful and do a favorable job of guiding a new owner through the setup process. The blue tooth connection works great and my phone connects instantly (Motorola Atrix 2). I have had some people say that it sounds like there is a little bit of static when I speak through the microphone, yet others do not. I think it may just be the phone connection.

The one quirk that I have experienced with this unit that is more bothersome, is that the unit automatically switches to different audio sources when you turn it on. For example, if you shut the car off while listening to the FM radio and you have a USB stick plugged in. When you turn the car back on, the unit will automatically go to the USB drive and start playing. So, you just have to switch back to FM, if you want to listen to that source. After owning the unit for nearly six weeks, that is my only issue with the stereo.

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I didnt know what to expect when i ordered this item even though i had seen some good reviews for it. Installing was an an easy job even though it was my first time installing a head uint. The instructions that came with this HU were easy and straight forward. My biggest highlight is how the bluetooth works on this HU, its fast and has clear connection both with calls and streaming music.All in all this is a great unit for the price, and it sure does add loud crisp music to my factory speakers.

This is a great replacement for a stock stereo. I installed this in a 2005 Chevy Cobalt. My car has a stock sub woofer in the trunk and a six speaker system. The sound quality is fantastic. I use the bluetooth and really like it. It links to my phone about 95% of the time. If it does not link I just turn in off and back on and it seems to be fine. It is very rare that it does not link to my phone and it is the only bluetooth connection I use with my phone at this time. I have a samsung phone. It plays and controls google play after linking with my phone. I can choose the song on the phone or just hit forward or reverse on the headunit to change songs (on a playlist). Since I don't have an Iphone I don't get a display of my tracks, but I'm more than ok with that. The only thing I don't like about the unit is that it will not change the time on the display if the temp of the unit is too low or high. Well, I'm not sure why but in the winter to see what the actual time is I have to adjust the volume or change the display (hit a button on the headunit) and then the clock will show the correct time. It usually takes about 15 min in cold weather for the inside of my car and thus my headunit to warm up. JVC reps let me know that this is part of the design to protect the display..... does'nt make sense to me, but that is the only issue, if you want to call it that for the stereo. Let me just say againg that I love this stereo, it has totally changed my driving experience. I may upgrade my speakers at some time but the sound clarity is amazing with this thing. Amazon had the best price on this unit that I could find. I saw a review that said I would not need a mounting kit(crutchfield)...but I did for my car and a local stereo shop charged like 30 bucks for it... amazon was like 12 for the same thing. It was easy to install and I am glad I got it. Check more reviews on line for the stereo, I did and everyone seems to be happy with it.

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CC SWPocket AM/FM Shortwave Pocket Radio

• Exceptional AM reception and audio quality
• Sensitive enough to outperform all comparable radios in its class
• You can quickly and easily retrieve up to 200 of your favorite AM/FM and Shortwave stations
• Alarm clock, direct key entry, stereo headphone jack, sleep timer, display light, and carry pouch
• The CCRadio-SWPocket also has a keyboard for direct access to any frequency.

CCrane/Redsun (its Chinese manufacturer) definitely has a winner with with the CC-SWP(Pocket) radio! I needed a small AM/FM/SW radio for travel and have compared several portable receivers including the Kaito KA11, Grundig G6 Aviator, Grundig YB-550PE, Sony ICF-SW35, Grundig eTraveller VII, Kaito KA1101, Kaito KA1102 and the Eton E100, etc. I am still not completely done with all my evaluations, but I definitely think that the CC SWP (CCRANE Shortwave pocket) or the Redsun RP-300 radio (available directly from China) is a great, extremely small (and one of the smallest available!) and also inexpensive and yet a very excellent receiver! I am extremely impressed right out of the box how well it performs even for quite weak signals with both very good sensitivity as well as selectivity.

PROS:

1) A single conversion, PLL (Phase-locked loop), fully digital pocket-sized radio that comes with a velcro slip case, carrying strap, earbuds and a VERY readable manual heavily edited by CCRANE (available on-line on their website too).

2) Excellent weak signal reception on ALL bands (am/fm/sw1/sw2). It really performs very well!

3) It has a fine and very useful tone switch (Music/news) with stereo through the earbuds as well as a two position Local/DX switch (RF gain attenuator for SW frequencies). This "tone" switch works well on both FM as well as on SW frequenices, thus providing a very effective frequency filter for detecting weaker signals on SW.

4) Lock switch and backlight control (with 8 second duration orange backlighting illuminating the display, only from the left side however).

5) A dedicated DISPLAY button with a different set of information provided by sucessive key pushes with the radio either on or off.

6) Numerous tuning methods are available including a fine tuning knob for AM and SW and including an ATS (automatic station retrieval tuning system), but unfortunately NOT for the automatic storage of available radio frequencies, direct keyboard frequency entry, etc. Coarser tuning is also available from the up/down scanning keys themselves. FM frequencies however only have the coarse tuning step available (0.10 MHz) regardless of the tuning method used.

7) Very high quality and very readable display with many many icons for indicating battery life (at a low battery condition) and a signal reception TUNE icon (as on the two digital Sony radios still available) and that works extremely well, wide/narrow (Music/News) tone filter setting (AM/SW), etc. Clock time and station frequency are not displayed simultaneously, but can be found on two separate DISPLAY screens.

8) Very long battery life (up to ~70 hours) using only 2 AA batteries

9) Easy channel memory presetting and automatic preset recall system using the tuning knob for the recall of 200 (00-199) preset memory locations.

10) It has an easy to use reset control pin hole on the bottom of the radio.

11) It has an internal group of setting for storing key performance features such as 9/10 kHz steps for international travel, 12/24 hour world clock time, wake-up alarms with times and a stored radio frequency or separately using an internal buzzer alarm, sleep mode (0 90 minutes in 5 minute increments), etc. These items are indicated on the unit's dedicated DISPLAY key indicated earlier above.

CONS: These are all extremely small however and of no great significance to me whatsoever!

1) Smallish speaker, but the sound quality is very good for its size.

2) Volume controls are a little awkward and uneven in level changes. 16 digital levels are also indicated on the screen. In addition, on other radios switching bands from SW to FM for example can be a very instantaneous ear blasting situation, but not so on the CC SWP radio which has a time delay built in between switching the individual bands giving the user a reaction time to change (usually lower) the volume levels. If the uneven volume levels are of concern to you a $7.95 volume control switch can be bought directly from CCRANE to adjust the levels analog-style with a "potentiometer" {pot) and the volume buttons on the keyboard once set initially can be left alone entirely. Plans are also apparently underway for a second version of this radio to be issued by Redsun in China with the volume control level unevenness issue due to be corrected. Personally I have not found this issue much of a problem at all especially with the easily connected volume control switch which is inserted in series along with the earphones for easy listening.

3) Most keys are initially hard to get to function unless a significant pressing is made. As time goes on they are definitely getting easier to push much more reliably however.

4) Shortwave reception is done in two very broad, but separate bands with a small frequency gap from 7.50 to 9.0 MHz (this gap region is NOT a super important part of the overall SW radio spectrum however). The two bands for SW are SW1: 2.30 7.50 MHz and SW2: 9.00 22.00 MHz which covers the vast majority of the available shortwave meterband spectrum.

5) It doesn't recharge the batteries internally and the battery compartment door is NOT attached to the radio, but the door nonetheless fits very snugly as the unit is quite well made and yet also very inexpensive compared with many other radios.

6) There is no external antenna jack available, but the internal ferrite rod antenna and the telescopic whip antenna seem to both pick up stations very reliably.

7) Band scanning is a little bit slow compared to several other portable receivers, but reception is NOT muted during scanning so stations can be very readily identified for listening).

8) FM stereo reception is always supplied to the earbuds. There is no control switch to ever be able to turn it off. For the stronger FM stations that is just fine, but for very weak FM it is of course somewhat problematic.

9) It doesn't come with an AC/DC adaptor charger unit, but one is available at least and quite inexpensively.

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This is a very good-looking pocket radio! GREAT LOOKING, and a nicely built exterior.

BUT, that volume problem . . . I wrote to CCrane regarding my complaint about the lack of low volume control on this Signature radio and they responded but no resolution to my complaint.

I like to run my radio on my bedside all night long . . . at a volume that I can hear, but not enough to disturb my wife but this radio's electronic control starts with 1 bar (barely audible) then jumps to 3 bars (heard across the room) volume.

Therefore, I have brought my KAITO WRX911 (BLUE) back into the bedroom and banished CCRADIO-SWP to the bathroom for the morning news, or whatever.

Currently, CCRANE is advertising "orphans" (returned CCRADIO-SWP units) at $29.95 each, subject to availability.

Read Best Reviews of CC SWPocket AM/FM Shortwave Pocket Radio Here

I was looking for an upscale pocket radio to replace 2 "tried & true" Sangean portables (the 200 & 210) with a speaker and a reputation for above-average reception. Since I have a CCRadio Plus already, I was excited to see this "baby-size" version of their new CCRadio SW. I'm not a shortwave junkie, so the AM/FM combo suited my needs just fine. Here's the deal with this one..........

It looks fabulous! I like the overall design and the buttons are clearly marked. The power button is positioned just where it should be. The size is great for pocket use and the display is large enough to show all it has to, along with the clock (12hr). The illuminated dial feature works at the push of its button and stays on for a few seconds unless you push it a 2nd time which switches it off! I love the generous amount of station memories allowed, which can be set totally randomly(allows band mixing as well). Scanning the favorites is a snap by turning the tuning dial, with use of the M. Scan button. Speaking of tuning, the always helpful 1 khz fine tuning knob is a nice addition. Otherwise standard 10 or 9 khz tuning is used for AM. As with most of these radios now, the local/DX switch does NOTHING for AM sensitivity. Speaking of AM... its reception is on par with that of any Sangean portable, and as mentioned the 1 khz tuning can help with adjascent frequencies. I don't know the technical jargon here, but I noticed that on some frequencies when listening to a distant station, they'll be an annoying "hum or squeal" which cannot be eliminated by fine tuning. FM reception can only be described as fair.

One of the sour notes is its poor FM sensitivity. We have alot of FM stations around here, and the "biggies" pop-up with annoying images ALL over the dial! YES, the local/DX helps some... but not enough. The whip antenna is not very long... and doesn't do the job of what a Kaito portable of this size can do. What annoys me the most of this radio, is the electronic volume. There's no dial, just the up & down button. The overall sound is very good for a speaker of this size, but trying to listen at a selected low level is nearly impossible. It goes from dead silence, to a 2nd level, which if you were in a quiet setting with others around you, would be louder than if you could simply raise the volume by a hair. The preceeding levels raise predictably, and a bar graph shows the increments. Listening with earbuds is almost worse, because the left bud has low volume and the right is higher. So on the lowest setting, the right is already borderline too loud. Raise it another notch to make the left palitable, and you'll blast yourself on the right!! Haven't tried it with headphones.

Everything else works reasonably well, except a good solid press is needed on most of the buttons before they'll respond.

For the price, you can't go too wrong... depending on your needs.

Want CC SWPocket AM/FM Shortwave Pocket Radio Discount?

I purchased this radio knowing it would be a quality item, as I have purchased a number of CCrane items and have been pleased. The CCrane items have been generally good. This radio is JUNK. The only way I can prevent this radio from depleting the batteriesOVERNIGHTis to remove the batteries. I originally purchased the radio for my son, and it took a while for it to get to him (overseas/deployed), and discover the problem. I got it back, knowing CCrane would support the radio and fix the problem. WRONG. The lady I spoke with esentially told me tough luck. This radio is a fine paperweight, but good for nothing else. The CCrane support and promise is in a sad state, especially over an item as inexpensive as this radio.

Save 18% Off

Mine quit working this morning.

I've only had it for about six months.

Arlene at CC Radio says it isn't their problem, and they will not back their products.

I learned my lesson; NEVER buy a CC Radio product.

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LG Xenon GR500 Phone, Blue (AT&T)

And what are those needs?

I wanted a phone a step below a smartphone with cool features... no need for web browsing, navigator or the higher priced data packages.

small enough to fit in my pocket

physical qwerty keyboard for tons of texting (the touchscreen qwertys really irritated me so buh-bye iPhone and Samsung Eternity)

decent camera

I narrowed it down to the LG Xenon and the Samsung Impression. They are both great and are almost identical in looks and features. The Xenon won for two reasons: the price on amazon at the time of purchase (a penny vs. $49) and the size... the Impression is just a tad larger. Also, I've owned many LG phones with Verizon (switched because of no reception at my parent's new home) so I guess I could throw in brand loyalty to that list.

And after five days of ownership, here are some PROS: great battery life, very intuitive, responsive and bright touchscreen, memory slot is easily accessible on the side, three tabs on the homepage to organize/group your favorite contacts(very useful!), the camera (with flash) is AWESOME even at just 2MP, the huge and rubbery qwerty keyboard and I actually like the blue "xenon" color. And judging from the LG phones I've owned in the past, this phone should be very durable and reliable.

CONS: the speakerphone is horrible for both the talker and the listener (kind of a shocker because all my past LG phones had great speakerphones) and I'd like it if the slider were a bit more resistant (now I'm just nitpicking).

Overall a great phone!

**** UPDATE: 5/15/09 ****

I had to return the phone. AT&T's service was horrible in my area (San Francisco Bay Area). Tons of dropped calls and static. I asked a few friends who also have AT&T (which I should've done before switching over) and they agreed about the service. Most of them are iPhone users and put up with the terrible service just to keep the iPhone!

It's a shame because the phone really is good... but I think a phone is only as good as the service you're getting. Also, I did find a few more flaws during my three weeks with the phone:

noticeable scratches and scuff marks on the keyboard from the slider.

slight freezing with the three homepage touchscreen buttons on top (favorite contacts, home, star features)

the enunciator drop down menu (accessed by pressing on the top edge of the touchscreen) stopped working altogether

phone randomly didn't ring for incoming calls, but would alert me if caller left a voicemail. (not sure if it's a phone issue or an issue with AT&T's horrid service)

phone would occasionally freeze when trying to make outbound calls

The freezing issues with the touchscreen and outgoing calls may be a bit of a concern. I noticed it started to do it after I loaded the phone with contacts, pictures, text messages, etc... So I would take away one star if I could.

And I have to just mention that it was a bit of a pain to return. It took about four days before I finally got the right info. I spoke to three Amazon reps and some were clueless about the return process. One guy put me on hold for five minutes before telling me he would just email me instructions... the email arrived two days later but required I call AGAIN to get authorization. Just a very clumsy and disorganized return process. So my suggestion is if you're going to go through Amazon, be sure that this is the phone you want.

I decided to go with another online retailer for my replacement. Not sure if I can post the company on here, but feel free to ask me privately for the info. They were great and definitely instilled more confidence in their buying and return procedures. (this is the first time I've had to return anything to Amazon, so I'm not sure if this is common or just isolated with the cell phone department.)

So now I'm now with T-mobile and received my new Blackberry Curve 8900. The service is awesome... no dropped calls and the call quality is superb. I never thought I would own a blackberry, but this phone is GREAT! Review on that will be coming shortly =)

The Xenon is about near to perfect as I have found for my needs in a cellphone. First off, I have tried the Dare, the Omnia, the Behold, the Zine, and the Nokia 5310. All of them had some neat things, but weren't for me. I had initially been attracted to the phones with the high MP cameras because I didn't want to have to carry a camera with me, but I found that a higher MP doesn't necessarily mean a better picture. I also wanted something that could have music, which all these phones have, but some have the sd card inside. I wanted easy access. I wanted something that wasn't too small, which the Nokia seemed to be. I really liked it, otherwise, because it also had an FM radio. I was afraid I'd lose it, though. The Zine was okay, but I didn't like the keys. I really can't put my finger on why I didn't like the Behold. The Omnia was a smartphone and with it came the higher phone bill. It just had too much on it for me. I don't think I liked the side pullout menu of these two Samsung phones. It was neat to pull the icons onto the main screen, but they could be very cluttered. The Dare was a cool phone, but it was lacking one very important thing for me and also had some problems with locking up or turning off at the wrong time. It lacked a place in the contacts where I could input a street address with the contacts. I liked the touch screen and camera, though. I have written a review on the Dare, so I won't go further.

On to the Xenon. I like the smaller size. I like that it has both a touchscreen and keyboard. The qwerty keyboard slide is comfortable to text on. The keys are fairly flat, but they still feel like separate keys. I have big hands and it is great to use. I appreciate the .com, @, and text related keys along with the quick access keys for email and IM. It has AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo! Messenger. Although the keyboard is four rows, you must use the Fn key (blue) to access numbers and symbols. It wasn't difficult to use. The sliding action of the keyboard feels solid to me and not springy. The covers for the sd card and charger/headset port are a little different. It's best if you have a bit of fingernail to grip the indentation and then carefully pull on the cover piece because it has a plastic post for the little covers to swivel on. I found it a bit tricky at first.

The touchscreen is quite responsive with haptic vibration and the accelerometer is quick when you go from portrait to landscape (qwerty). I like the layout of the menus and the Xenon offers different ways to access the things you need. It is as if LG tried to accommodate almost every possible user. You can use a virtual dialpad to text in T9, tap, or just use the qwerty keyboard. It also has a copy and paste feature. To access contacts, you can do so from the slideout qwerty keyboard, by using the green call button, and by the bottom icons on the screen using either the rolodex type icon or the menu icon that looks like a dice. AND, you can input street addresses in the memo area of the contacts! The dice button will bring up the various menus, as well. At the top of the screen (hidden from view), you can pull down a menu for messaging, your calendar, bluetooth, stop watch, music player, and ring options. Just below that you can access three icons. When you are on the home screen, only the person and the star icons are highlighted. The star icon brings up your favorite menu items, which you can move/drag to the order you want. The person icon brings up your favorite contacts with some cool features, which I'll write about in a moment. When in either of these areas, the home icon will be highlighted to quickly close your favorites. On the home screen, at the bottom left is a small pullout menu that gives you quick access to notes, calendar, pictures, music, an alarm clock, and world clock. You can drag and drop these onto the home screen, if you want. It is a very full featured phone, but not a smart phone. In between the call (green) and end (red) buttons is a task manager button, which is handy if you have a couple things going on. The back function is virtual on the touch screen.

The neat thing about the favorite contacts is that you have an icon that you can save a picture ID to and when you click on it, four options become available. You can call, text, see if there are messages from that person, and view the phone number. You can also quickly access all the contact info for that person by double tapping on the picture and edit also. In addition, you have three locations within the favorite contacts area, denoted by three little dots towards the bottom of the screen. You can have one be for your family, one for friends, and one for co-workers or whatever your three favorite categories would be. In these areas, your icons can be set grid-like and stationary to a designated spot or they can have the ability to shift as the phone shifts by pressing in the empty space around your icons until a small menu pops up at the bottom of the screen. The menu will have a plus sign so you can quickly add to your favorites, a grid icon that will put your icons in place, a push pin icon that will give you the option for your contact icons to shift with your phone orientation or be fixed in the position you want. I like a little more stability so I set them to their places.

The camera is a 2MP with a flash that is very bright. The Xenon offers so many options to have fun with pictures. You can morph, stamp, draw, edit, colorize, etc. It doesn't offer a panorama or multi-shot function that I have found, but the other options make up for the lack of these. It doesn't have a zoom. The photo quality is good. It also has a video option so you can video call or just take a quick video.

The battery life is pretty good. I charge it about once a week with a lot of use. I'm not a heavy texter, but I've been playing with the phone and learning what it can do. I didn't find the learning curve to be steep at all and I didn't read the manual. The speaker phone is okay, but I never really use that feature on any phone unless I'm waiting on hold. I've yet to experience a really clear speaker phone conversation on any phone. The normal call sound is clear. I can't comment on the internet function because I don't use the internet on my phone, but from researching the phone, it appears to be good at that, also. It has GPS capability, but that wasn't really important to me.

The Xenon is a really fun and functional phone. It's close to being smart. It had enough smarts for me to finally commit to a phone and a two year plan after a year of playing with phones and different providers. My 15 years old daughter has really enjoyed it as much as I have. Thank goodness for the family share unlimited texting plan!

Buy LG Xenon GR500 Phone, Blue (AT&T) Now

You do not need to sign up for ATT's sevice plan in order to purchase this netbook. This is just wrong information, plain and simple. If you want to take advantage of ATT's high speed mobile service, you can purchase it separately and this netbook can then work at the higher speed. Otherwise, you're just limited to wired (10/100) and wireless (54g) broadband and WI-FI service.

Read Best Reviews of LG Xenon GR500 Phone, Blue (AT&T) Here

All over the internet there are reviews of this phone comparing it with the Samsung Impression. I didn't want the impression because it is GIGANTIC and also because as someone who has used Samsung phones for a long time, I've always found their battery life to be horrendous. My last cell was the LG Shine, and I was pleasantly surprised with how long its battery lasted.

Some of the reviews on the internet complained about the haptic feedback (aka the fact that the phone vibrates when you use the touch screen). Actually, you can adjust this feature to your liking (there are three vibrations to choose from) or completely turn it off. Another feature complained about was the sensitivity of the screen, but again if you go into the settings menu you can recalibrate the screen to your liking.

I actually think this phone is better and CHEAPER than the Samsung Impression. It has a screen lock on the side which the impression doesn't have. It also has a camera button on the side so you can take a pic in an instant. The camera is 2 mega pixels, but it takes decent pics and has a flash. Samsung Impression is 3+ mega pixels, but has NO flash. When using the mobile web this phone automatically re-adjusts the screen size. Again, Impression doesn't do that!

Best of all, this phone as a lot of great "little" features. It has widgets, like post its that you can leave on the back drop. It also has a special column where you can organize your favorite phone contacts for easy access. Overall, a great phone for the price!

Want LG Xenon GR500 Phone, Blue (AT&T) Discount?

I've owned this phone for less than 48 hours so it's probably a bit early for a review, but I wanted to set the record straight on just two points from previous reviewers that almost made me NOT purchase this phone.

Point #1: The camera DOES have a zoom function. You just need to set the image size to any of the lower two settings to use it.

Point #2: You CAN save attachments from email messages. I sent several pictures successfully to my husband and could save them on his phone (he bought the same model, just in red as I got blue).

This is my first experience with a phone with a touch screen and I didn't think I'd like it, but so far I'm getting used to it. I LOVE having the QWERTY keyboard to use as well. I also enjoy that if I want to send a quick text message without using the keyboard, I get the option to use the touch screen with a regular phone setup, so you can send quick messages just like you could with a regular phone, using the numbers 0-9 to send the corresponding letters.

Saving contacts on the main page and attaching a photo to those people is great. It makes it really easy to just send a quick message or make a quick call to those people you would call the most without having to search for them in a phonebook.

I'm still getting used to scrolling through my browser screens using the touch screen and zooming in and out the same way, but I don't browse that often so it will probably take some time.

I'm still figuring out how to attach my own self-created sound files as ringtones as well. I'm sure it can be done.

Make sure you read the book on this for a few other tips and tricks. I figured out a lot of it on my own, but reading the book with it gave some other fun stuff. For example, on the main Home page, if you touch the top of the screen above the 3 icons, in the black border space, just to the left of your battery and ringtone indicator, you get another drop-down quick menu similar to the slide-out version at the bottom of the screen with a few more functions. This is something you'd never know if you didn't read the book since there is nothing on that screen to indicate this.

Overall I love this phone so far, but I'll update my review at a later date once I've had some time to use it on a more regular basis.

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Midland HH54VP Portable Emergency Weather Radio with SAME (Black)

• SAME Technology to receive alerts/warnings for designated area
• Weather Scan to find strongest NOAA broadcast
• Home/Travel mode
• 3 Alert Options, Tone, Voice, Visual
• Stores up to 9 County Codes

This portable NOAA weather radio is a gem. It is robust but fits well in my hand. Construction seems to be sturdy. The LCD display is large and easy to read. Best of all, the broadcasts come in strong and very clear. It is no more difficult to program than any other weather radio (that is to say, not hard but keep the directions handy). I programmed in the S.A.M.E. codes for three counties surrounding my area, but really handy is the feature that lets the radio search for the nearest broadcast when I am on the road traveling or on vacation. I use low-discharge rechargeable NIMH batteries that offer long battery life. I've been using the HH54 for about six months now and continue to be pleased.

Buy Midland HH54VP Portable Emergency Weather Radio with SAME (Black) Now

I have this unit because part of my job is monitoring weather conditions for my employer. This was a snap to program. It has the programming options that are really needed, with no extra options to confuse things. It's a convenient size and it's very ruggedly constructed. Battery life is appropriate to this kind of device. Highly recommended.

Updated: Well, I own 2 now. The first one, that prompted the above review, works great. The 2nd one has problems. It works on batteries, but not on the AC adapter. But, the problem isn't the adapter. Anytime you see a lot of 5-star reviews AND a lot of 1-star reviews, with not may in between, you got a product with a quality control problem.

ANOTHER Update: The AC unit no longer powers the 2nd unit. There's obviously a problem.

Read Best Reviews of Midland HH54VP Portable Emergency Weather Radio with SAME (Black) Here

This radio works quite well. I had it a week before I got the first warning. It will definitely get your attention. I recommend buying this radio with the optional rechargeable battery and charging cup (Alkaline batteries last about a week). Or do as I did and contact Midland and order the items from them @ 1-816-241-8500 Ext 289. 1 battery $14.95 or 2 for $19.95 charging cup $9.95 (on back order)

Want Midland HH54VP Portable Emergency Weather Radio with SAME (Black) Discount?

Original post: March 2012

I was looking for a radio that would fill two needs. First, something of my own to have at work so I am not suprised by severe weather. On that count this almost fails. It beeps every time a key is pressed, and it beeps loud. At least the basic radio is quiet enough it won't get unplugged by less understanding folk. Another review suggested a pair of headphones. Let me say, I will likely keep a headphone blank plugged in for the life of the product. Where I can place it will be in good visual range to alleviate the risk of not being properly alerted by a mute radio. Second, I need a radio that travels on road trips in case I should ever again have the misfortune of accidentally driving into a high-risk box :). I wanted a radio which would autotune when the signal is lost as opposed to my last radio which required a little too much attention while driving. This one fits the bill, except for the really loud beeps when the kids are sleeping. If it wasn't for the constant beeps, I would have rated this at least 4 stars if not 5. Oh well.

As some others have noted, it only provides a way to select warnings by county. It does not provide to select warnings by type. For this radio for my intended use, this will work well. As far as a device for the bedroom, I will sleep better with something else. I will add more as the device gets use.

(1) Use a headphone plug adapter to make it shut *beep*. Pun intended.

(2) When changing batteries while unplugged, turn the unit off BEFORE removing batteries. It appears to have some sort of capacitor to supply power to memory for a short period of time. No I'm not going to test just how long, but I have changed batteries while unplugged and not lost settings. Yes, I also tried to turn it on without batteries. Let's just say it's not really a good idea.

(3) Battery back-up implies it needs to be plugged in. When was the last time you left you AM/FM radio LED alarm clock unplugged for a week. Did you make it to work on time?

August 11:

(4) I find the battery back-up to be on the short side. It does not have the power to stay on for a road trip of my distance. Fortunatly I don't tend to leave it on often. This device will now be relegated to generic batteries with a spare on standby (but that is just the same as my old radioshack portable weather radio). No change in rating.

November 12:

(5) So there seems to be an argument over the beep thing. All I can say is my unit beeps. This has also played out on the HH54VP2 (with rechargable battery) reviews. In particular the comments on Kevin Fosler's review show that there are units that have the dreaded beep and others that have menu option. I will check it out on my unit but, as indicated in my comments section, the unit I recieved is probably the former BEEP.

(6) It somehow lost power for a month or so, severe weather season is usually in the winter here, but it still retained its memory. Still not excited about the battery life. Just don't try to turn it on until you know it has good batteries or it's plugged in (see (2)).

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Nice size and weight makes it easy to carry. Battery life seems good thus far. Small speaker can be easily overdriven, but volume level is sufficient.

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