Haier SBC20 20-Inch 2-Channel Soundbar with iPod/iPhone/iPad dock (,2)

• 2-Channel Soundbar with iPod/iPhone/iPad dock
• 3 x 2-inch Full Range Speakers
• Total System Power: 20W (10W x 2)

I bought this sound bar and subwoofer a couple months ago after watching a very good review from CNET, and I must say I am thoroughly pleased with everything this soundbar and sub woofer have to offer.

At first when I read some earlier reviews, I was a little scared about the audio decoding issue, but the review on CNET made it sound quite unlikely that it would be an issue: CNET wrote: "One technical note: the Haier Evoke Slim doesn't decode Dolby or DTS, so make sure your TV and other sources can send PCM signals (rather than bit stream) to the sound bar. If you don't know what any of that jargon means, don't worry, it likely won't be a problem for your home theater." I also knew Amazon would take it back for a full refund if it was a problem, so it decided it wasn't much of a risk anyway. Therefore, CNET and Amazon's return policy assuaged my fear, and I have had zero problems with audio not coming in as it should from right out of the box.

For a little background into my decision-making process I live in an apartment with a small-medium size living room, so I wasn't looking for a huge 7.1 surround sound system. I have a 60" Panasonic (P60GT30) plasma tv. My goal was to upgrade the plasma's speakers with something that sounded much crisper and lively for watching regular television, but also packed some rich room-filling bass for the action scenes on blu rays or for playing video games like Call of Duty of XBOX 360. I am also hoping it plays music pretty solidly for the Pandora app on my tv. I considered many different sound bars, as well as some 5.1 HTIB's (Home Theater System's in a Box), and also gave the Bose Cinemate II sound system a long look. I'm a fan of a less-cluttered look, so I was looking to avoid a system that needed a bulky receiver. I was willing to spend up to around $650, but would obviously prefer to spend less if I could get a solid sound system.

I seriously considered some of the 5.1 HTIB's (Home Theater System's in a Box), but I already have a blu ray player and access to online apps like Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, Pandora, etc. via both my XBOX 360 and my smart tv, so most of the features of the newer HTIB's would have been much use to me. My old roommate bought a $500-$600 Sony HTIB last year. It sounded pretty good, but my big problem with it was that the dialogue would get drowned out or come in much lower than more "explosive" scenes. So it made watching a movie at night (if one of us were trying to sleep) difficult because we'd have to turn volume up high to hear dialogue, then we'd get blown away by the volume of loud scenes. I was looking to avoid drowning out of dialogue, and I was also not very impressed with the HTIB's that I went and listened to at Best Buy. Therefore, I decided to skip the HTIB's.

What I really considered was the Bose Cinemate Series II speakers. I was very impressed with what I heard at BestBuy, and I was drawn in to how small the speakers were, but they still packed some real power with a separate bass unit. However, in the end I ultimately decided against the Bose system because I felt the price being a bit high($600), the fact that I read some complaints about the dialogue getting drowned out, and the CNET's rave review of this Haier sound bar really sold me that it could be just what I was looking for. Long story short, I researched many of the other top selling sound bars, and what I read from CNET and elsewhere made me thing this sound bar offered the best mix of features and ability, so I went with it.

Without further ado, my pros and cons of the Haier SBEV40-Slim Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer:

Pros:

1. Very easy set up. Right out of the box, the feet (included or wall mount brackets) assemble onto the soundbar in seconds. From there, it is just plugging into wall and making a connection or two with your selected device(s). I currently have my cable, blu ray, and Xbox all hooked up to my tv with HDMI, so I just bought a $5 digital audio cableAmazonBasics Digital Optical Audio Toslink Cable, 6 Feet, and hooked up strait from the TV to the sound bar, and that was it. I never have to change inputs on the soundbar. Whatever I have playing through the tv, plays through the soundbar speaker and sub. It's got good connectivity with a variety of inputs too, if you'd rather connect strait to the soundbar then the TV. All I had to do was plug the sub woofer into the wall and it automatically synced up with the speaker.

2. Crisp, clear sound. Dialogue sounds great.

3. Overall slim design is awesome. That is one of the main unique features of this soundbar is that it is so much more stylish and less bulkly than nearly all others that I have seen on the market. Big thumbs up on being able to do this but not have a dropoff in sound quality compared to other soundbars. For anyone who has a wall mounted plasma/LED, this is the perfect sound bar with its 1.1" profile, and included mounting equipment. If they can make tv's as thin as they are nowadays, why should the sound bars be 5-6" thick? Haier is ahead of the game in this matter. The sub woofer is a slim build too, but it packs some very deep and clear bass (plenty for special effects to sound great). I was a little worried that maybe the sub would not be up to what I wanted, given the slim design, but that is not the case.

4. The wireless Sub and the Speaker really work well in unison right out of the box. This was one of CNET's big points about it, and I have to say I agree 100%. Overall, the bass just seems to be in perfect harmony with the sound bar.

5. I really like and appreciate the fact that the sound bar has a light up LED screen that shows when you change setting, go up or down in volume levels, or mute it. Many other sound bars do not have screens, and I really like the fact that it disappears after a few seconds.

6. Price. Around $250, it is very reasonably priced for sound bars, while I personally feel like it is the top class of soundbars and would have expected its price to be in line with the highest premium-priced sound bars. It's a great deal in my opinion.

7. Plenty loud and can fill the room with ease. Like I said, my living room is an apartment that is not too big, but I think it would do fine in a relatively large room too (20 x 15). I love what it does for movies and playing video games. Makes them so much more engrossing. Music from Pandora sounds pretty darn good too. And just for reference, the volume goes up to 25, and I typically watch tv at around level 6.

Cons

1. While I like the simplicity and look of the remote control, I dislike how flimsy it feels (light plastic). I just feel like this soundbar and sub deserve a more substantial, less cheap-feeling remote.

2. You can't tinker with individual settings, such as bass level. As I said above, I really love the synchronization of the bass, so i's really not an issue for me. However, are a few pre-set settings to switch through (Surround, Movie, Music, News), and one of these settings usually fits whatever I am looking to listen to. However, if it is late at night and you are watching a movie, the bass may be a slight bit loud at certain points if others are sleeping in close rooms. However, there is the option on the remote to completely turn off the subwoofer, just not the option to change its volume, which would be nice to have.

3. Soundbar slightly blocks my tv IR reader. This is a problem with many soundbars if you place right in front of tv where the IR reader is. Would be nice if the sound bar shot out the signals it received from remote to the rear for the tv IR, (which I believe I saw on a Yamaha sound bar), but it does not have this functionality. With that said, it's not a problem with me because I can do some minimal remote angling and it will get to the tv with ease.

4. While I really like the sound of this sound bar, it is still a soundbar, and you aren't going to get a great or true Surround Sound experience. This soundbar and some others try to sell that you get the surround sound feeling with just the front speaker(s), but I am just not really buying into it. It fills the room great, but you don't hear the car come from behind like you may with a rear speaker surround system.

All in all, I am very impressed and pleased with the sound, style, and price of this sound bar 5 stars for sure!

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This particular soundbar is nice looking and sounds great. It has ample inputs including 3 HDMI, optical and direct line in. The remote control is nice and easy to use. The sub woofer is wireless and very easy to use as well. So why only 1 stars; well because this soundbar only accepts PCM audio, not stuff like dolby digital. So basically it works great with my ps3 and Wii, however it doesn't work with OTA HDTV. OTA HDTV broadcasts in dolby digital, my TV only has an optical output so I cannot use the soundbar when watching TV, which isn't what I wanted, especially when football starts. So be warned, if you need this soundbar to broadcast dolby digital, buy something else, it will not work on this soundbar. If I would have known this before buying, I would have went with a different soundbar. Otherwise a great product, it is a shame and a huge weakness that this soundbar does not support more audio types. Honestly I pretty much wasted $250.

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Got this from Fry's last week. And wow, what a difference in sound. Didn't expect the sound quality to be so good. I generally am pretty picky about my sound quality and have gotten 3 sound bars to compare: the LG 3510A (low bass, no HDMI), the vizio vht215 (ugly, ARC didn't work correctly) to this.

This is by far the best one out of the bunch. The sound is crystal clear, bass is clear and rich.

Bottom line: Awesome value, and looks great to boot!

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It's not the best soundbar out there, but for the price you get a good bang for your buck. It totally beats trying to listen from my laptop or phone tho.

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Works great and I like the features for Movies, News Etc. I called Haier over a month ago and wanted them to send me the 3 digit code to convert over to one commerical remote. Guess what---They have not sent the code to me. Sales person said they had to contact their engineering dept. This would not rate very high in customer service.

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Custom Autosound USA-230 Vintage Style Radio for All Vehicle Types

• AM-FM digital stereo; 200 watts; digital clock; 4 channel RCA pre-outs jacks on back of radio.
• Auxiliary input RCA to 1/8-inch pin jack on back of radio to connect satellite radio, iPod/MP3, etc.
• 16 Pre-set radio station settings (12FM and 4AM); power antenna lead included.
• Electronic tuning and volume controls; pre-set scan and seek/scan tuning; USA/Euro tuner.
• 4-way fader; front/rear fader; separate bass and treble.

I bought this radio for my 1973 F-250 Highboy. The dash had not been cut, thankfully, and so I decided to go with a vintage style radio. After much searching and price checking, I found this deal to be the best! (The same exact radio through one of the magazines was almost $100 more!) Upon ordering it, I received a phone call from the seller, asking for the specific make and model info. I received the radio quicker than expected, and its absolutely beautiful! The only thing I dislike is that on the screen it has the lines for the old dial types, but since this is digital you dont need them (just for looks), and it makes the screen a little harder to see. I wouldnt by any means hold that against it though! I would reccomend this product to anyone looking for that vintage look, but wanting AUX plugs that new stereos have... without cutting your dash!

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I Have a bug 1968, the seller contact me to know the model and year of my car, and send me the correct model. The Radio stay very nice in car panel and I love it. It has a Aux input that I can plug my mp3 player. I recommend for classic and custom cars.

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I ordered this radio for my husband who is restoreing a '71 F-100. I wanted something up to date but without changing the look of the truck. This was PERFECT. It was exactly what they said, fit like a glove. No adjustments needed. The original brackets and all were compatible. My husband was so surprised because he didn't even think to look for a radio that would fit and it was so exciting to see that not only did it fit but it looked great! I highly recommend this to anyone restoring a vintage vehicle, you will not regret it!

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I bought this for a 1966 impala that was undergoing restoration. I had the radio on the shelf for five years before it was installed. It never worked at all. I didn't expect it to be replaced for free, as the warranty was up, all I wanted was for it to be repaired. I shipped it back to them and was informed that it could not be repaired. So it was a complete waste of money. I can't even use the cd changer on a new radio.

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iSound Theater Sound Premium Bluetooth Speaker for iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android, Tablets, Smarphones,

• Fashionable
• Functional
• Sounds Great
• Connect devices wireless via Bluetooth or wired using either a 3.5mm audio cable or RCA cables (Both Included)
• 40W 2-Channel speaker system for rich, full sound
• 3D Surround sound effects
• Bass boost
• FM clock radio

meets expactations for the money.

Acceptable sound, great Bluetooth connection, nice radio tuner.

Works and looks nice.

Would buy it again.

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This speaker is quite nice. I'm no audiophile, I was simply looking for a bluetooth speaker, preferably with a clock, when I came across this at a local store. I gambled and brought it home and so far I'm very happy with it. I've only had it for a couple of days, but I've used it quite a bit in that time. It easily synced up with my Android phone and iPod via bluetooth, and I was streaming Pandora right away--nice!

Pros:

Nicely constructed--I hung mine from the wall and it looks good.

Sounds very good (to my untrained ear) at low and moderate volumes. I haven't had it super loud, but it projects nicely into a large living room/kitchen at moderate levels.

FM and bluetooth have been seamless.

Cons:

The clock only displays 24-hr time. I don't mind because I am in the military and I'm used to it, but it's a very odd engineering choice. This is why I'm deducting one star.

The remote could be better, and it's required for some functions (like setting the clock) so take care of it.

I know there are similar speakers from Creative and others, and I can't give any comparison to those. One last comment I'll make, though, is to consider the size. This speaker is sound-bar sized, whereas some of the Creative speakers are much smaller and may sound just as good.

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Replaced broken speakers in our. 32" Sony, provided good FM reception

and sound on the radio. Bluetooth hooked up smoothly and quickly. This unit is a great value, sounds great and easy to use.

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Not much bass at all and not very loud. Couldnt get it to work with my VIZIO TV. The bluetooth function works great though with the IPhone.

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I purchased this soundbar and after hooking it up to my Samsung TV it was not working correctly. I verified that the settings were correct in the menu setup for an external speaker, but could not hear the voice through the sound bar. Background noises in a program could be heard, but actual conversation was not audible. I purchased a higher quality RCA connector through Radio Shack and the sound bar is now working as expected.

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TEAC AG-790A Stereo Receiver

• Product packaging includes - AG-790A receiver, remote control, user's manual.
• Delivers 100 watts per channel audio power for distinctly clear stereo sound.Four audio inputs.
• Digital FL display shows radio station numbers, selected input and clock / timer
• Built-in digital AM and FM radio allows you to select up to 30 stations for quick access using a built-in memory programming mode
• Sleep timer

First my qualifications: I am older, with a large collection of vintage vinyl, and a love of on-air classical music. My stereo system uses two Acoustic Research AR-2Ax speakers. I am not a modern audiophile.

That said, I am completely satisfied with the Teac AG-790A receiver. I required phono inputs, and this relatively inexpensive receiver has those and they work. I also listen to a local classical music FM station (Santa Barbara still does have one) and this unit has endeared itself to me by the way it locks to that signal. I have also used its video input to play the sound from a six hour VHS tape of swing band music.

In short, it has done everything I wanted. If your needs are similar to mine, you'll not go wrong with this unit.

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I had a 7.1 channel Home Theater Receiver (HTR), but I got rid of it in favor of this stereo receiver. For me, the HTR was excessively complicated with too many menus to work through just to play music from my collection of LP's, cassette's, or CD's. The Teac AG-790A is simple to use for playing music. This receiver can control four speakers. The description of this product does not mention that if you want to control two sets of speakers (4 in total), they should be identical. There is no way to adjust for differences between two sets of speakers with different sound qualities or power ratings. TEAC's manual makes the same recommendation for identical speakers if you are going to use four speakers. The controls are very easy to use, although as one reviewer mentioned, I too would have preferred more dials instead of buttons. I know, "old school". Still, the buttons are very easy to use. I have a phonograph, cassette recorder/player, and CD recorder/player all attached to this receiver with a couple of Bose speakers. The radio tuner is great too. The sound of music this receiver produces is fabulous. However, for those times when I want to emphasize the bass sounds, I might add a powered sub-woofer as my "second set of speakers". There are bass and treble controls on this receiver, which work great. I am really talking about the sound quality of my speakers and not the receiver. I am talking about really pumping up the bass beyond what my speakers can provide. A sub-woofer with its own internal power system connected as the second set of speakers will allow me to adjust for the differences between the different speakers independent of this receiver. With the bass, treble adjustments available on this receiver, there really is no need for a powered sub-woofer, unless you are a bass freak as I am sometimes. That is just a personal choice. This receiver provides a lot of adjustment with its bass, treble and loudness controls. The bottom line is I highly recommend this receiver for music lovers.

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The TEAC AG-790A could use some improvements, even considering its budget price. I have several complaints. From the moment I turn on the unit, there is an ever present background hiss coming through the speakers. It is especially noticeable during quiet passages in music, or when listening at low volume levels. The tuner sensitivity is very weak; only the strongest local stations come in good. One thing I find extremely annoying on this model is that some of the settings will always return to their default settings, no matter where you put them. For instance, when you select FM mono, it will return to stereo as soon as you change stations. Another is the tuning mode; when you select "manual tuning mode," it will keep returning to "preset tuning mode!" Speaking of presets, there are no numeric buttons for direct preset access on the unit or the remote, so you have to scroll through them all to get to your station. The volume control is another major issue. It tends to "jump around" if you are trying to make fine adjustments to the volume. It, like most models today, has the type where digital numbers appear on the display when you turn it. I will have it set to 10 and want to go up just one or two; as soon as I grab the knob, it "jumps" down to 8 first. I even had it jump to max volume while listening with headphones. I almost threw my headphones across the room! I prefer the older style volume control where you had a pointer on the knob with a numeric scale around it. Oh, and while we're on the subject of knobs, here's a neat trick: make the bass/treble/balance control buttons round so that in your frontal product photos they will look like conventional knobs even though they are actually buttons! To adjust the bass/treb/balance, you must press the button then turn the volume knob to make the adjustments. I hate this! I like to just grab a single knob and tweak my settings, not go through a two step process every time I want to make an adjustment. Another peculiarity is the sleep timer setup. The scale counts down instead of up. In other words, if you want to set it for 20 minutes, you have to press the button to go from 90, 80, 70...all the way down to 20. If the timer has counted down to 10 minutes and you want to add another 10, you must count down to 0 first and start over at 90 and count down until you get to 20 again! I have never seen a sleep timer on any other device that works in reverse like this one. They usually count up, so if you want to add time you just press once or twice. The functionality of the sleep timer is not usually a major consideration when I shop for gear, but it just seems a little strange that they would design it that way. Another thing that is worth mentioning is that the phono input sensitivity seems a bit low; I have to turn the volume control up to a fairly high level before getting a decent sound level when using my turntable, and I have a phono cartridge with a high output level. I originally purchased the Sherwood RX-4105, but I returned it because it did not have phono input or tape "monitoring."(see my review of the RX-4105) As far as sound quality goes, I think the Sherwood was a little better, due to the hiss I mentioned on the TEAC. However, the tuner was just as weak on the Sherwood. I went with these models because my old receiver gave out and I was looking for an inexpensive model to tide me over until I could save some money for a more expensive model. The TEAC fills the bill to some degree, but I wish I had spent a little bit more and got one of the Onkyo models. At least they have numeric preset buttons, and conventional bass/treb/balance knobs. This review may be too much useless information for some people, but I know the product specs and features list doesn't always tell the whole story.

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I bought this a little over a week ago and I'm extremely pleased with my purchase. I had a "bookshelf" stereo system in my bedroom where I have my home gym set up but after years of use it finally went on me. So, my intent was to by a reasonably priced CD changer and receiver to put in my bedroom and this fit the bill. It is a no nonsense stereo receiver. It is very easy to set up and sounds great. It really is loud, and I have some high end floor standing speakers that I attached to it and boy, it can kick some volume out.

The remote is standard/easy to use as well.

So, if you are in the market for a simple setup or if you are on a budget, I highly recommend this product.

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This receiver is great. It replaced a Technics receiver I had owned since 1977. I had recently replaced the surrounds on my woofers and this receiver with the 100 watts really tested my refurbished high end Epicure 3 way speakers. They sound as good as new back in 1977. It can blow the windows out of a 1200 square foot basement. Awesome!!!

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8" In Dash 2-Din Car DVD Player with GPS Navigation Radio Bluetooth TV Map Car Stereo Auto Video for

• Specific car models: KIA NEW SPORTAGE 2011; 3D Animation User Interface, Super Anti-Shock System (ESP Function), Steering Wheel Control Function, Built-In LCD Clock Display Function.
• USB/SD slot maximum compatibility: Can support soft drive such as USB flash drive, or MP3 player with maximum 16G compatibility, Can't support portable hard drive. Can support micro SD Card of maximum 16G compatibility.
• Picture in Picture Function (Dual Zone): 1. Enjoy Navigation with car speakers in the front zone; while backseat passengers can enjoy DVD movies through the AV output of the unit. 2. You can listen to the music while using GPS navigation at the same time.
• Support iPod/iPhone 4 Input; Support iPod/iPhone Music Playback: iPod CLASSIC/iPod NANO/iPod TOUCH/iPhone3/ iPhone 4s; Can be charged when connecting.
• Accessories: 1 x Remote control *1 x Screws and mounts*1 x English User Manual*1 x power & AV cable*1 x GPS antenna*1 x USB cable*1 x IPOD cable*Free Map; Optional features: ISDB-T($36), DVB-T(1 tuner: $60; 2 tuner: $70), CANBUS:US$50.

Sorry, I do not find you as providers ratings of these teams, so I want to know how safe it is or how to contact them directly in USA.

this is the product that interest me.

8" In Dash 2-Din Car DVD Player For KIA Sportage 2010-2012 with GPS Navigation Radio Bluetooth TV Map Canbus Car Stereo Auto Video

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Sony Dream Machine ICF-CD843V CD Clock Radio with Digital Tuner

• Triple alarm for three different alarm times
• Snoozinator allows for custom snooze function with the press of a button
• Nap timer can be set for 10 to 120 minutes for quick cat naps
• Plays standard CD and CD-R/RW discs
• Tune in AM/FM, TV, and weather channels

This is a clock radio for the serious radio guy. It is a bit on the beefy side for the nightstand, but that's where it will provide the most pleasure. It has several thoughtful features. You can adjust the brightness of the digital read-out. I found the medium setting to be just fine. The digitally-tuned radio provides good reception. One complaint I have about most clock radios today is that they are puny when it comes to pulling the stations in. This one does an adequate job with both AM and FM, at least in my neighborhood. Of course, it has nice pre-sets for favorite stations. The CD player sounds good, with or without the bass boost. You can select CD shuffle, repeat, etc. One small complaint would be with regard to the volume control. It is a thumbdial on the side towards the back. You have to fumble a bit to find it in the middle of the night, and we all know that if you are listening to radio in the middle of the night you don't want it to blast. If you are changing from station to station or to CD, there will likely be a big difference in volume that will have to be dealt with. All in all, a heavyweight entry in the AM/FM/CD clock radio field. There is no earphone jack, but that may not matter to most people. There is also no battery back-up, but the radio retains its memory during a short power interruption.

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Very nice sound, better than the Philips product of similar price. However, some deficiencies make it a bit disappointing: (1) no digital volume control, so you can't set volume level for an alarm, and there is no progressively louder alarm; (2) (as someone else noted) if you want 2 alarms at 2 different times (e.g., 5am & 6am), they need to be on different music sources (e.g., 5am radio, 6am CD).

I'd still recommend it if the features don't make a big difference to you, since the sound is good and everything works well.

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The unit I bought was defective, losing power for no reason several times a day. However, this was hopefully just one bad unit, so my rating and review cover the features of the clock radio as I'd rate them if it hadn't been defective.

The major flaw in this item is that it has no battery backup. If the power goes out, it won't wake you up and you have to reset not only the clock, but all three alarm times and all twenty-five preset radio and TV stations (assuming you've programmed a station for all of them). This is enough of a problem that I wouldn't buy this model again, even though it has many good features. Other, more minor weak points: each of the three alarm times has to be set to a different wake sound: radio, CD, and beep. You can't set it to wake to the radio, for example, at three different times. Also, the button to choose the wake sound is slightly inconvenient because you have to keep pressing it to cycle through all the possibile combinations of alarms: just radio, just CD, just beep, radio then CD, radio then CD then beep, etc. However, that's only a minor inconvenience. As with most small CD players, you can hear the CD whirring as it spins, which is a little distracting if listening to soft music or nature sounds at low volume while trying to fall asleep. Still, that problem is less obvious than on some similar products, and at higher volumes it's not an issue.

There are many good features of this model. Most clock radios are terribly designed when it comes to the buttons and other controls. This one isn't perfect, but is much better than most. It doesn't give you a bunch of indistinguishable buttons in the same place, all the same size, as many models do. The placement of buttons seems fairly logical and different function buttons are grouped in different places on the face and come in different sizes, making it easier to remember which is which. One great feature is that changing radio stations works like it does on most car stereos: one button to change the band (FM1, FM2, AM, TV, Weather), then five separate buttons for each station you program within that band. There is a wheel-style volume control on the side of the unit, which works well and avoids cluttering up the face with up and down volume buttons. There is also a nap feature, which is nice to have, though this one jumps from 30 to 60 minutes, so you're out of luck if you want to set it for 40 or 50 minutes. (A nap timer is simply a countdown timer, and some models allow you to set it at any 10-minute interval. It allows you to quickly set an alarm to go off in, say, 20, 30, 60, or 90 minutes without having to reset one of the actual alarms to a precise time, then reset it again to your usual morning wake-up time.) The sound of this model is pretty good for a clock radio. Not hi-fi, but it does have two speakers, which is better than the one in many cheaper models.

Overall, this would be a very, very good product if they would add a battery backup. As it is, I would reluctantly avoid it for that reason, but in most other ways it is well designed.

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At this price point I can't complain too much about the Sony 843: Excellent AM reception. Slightly above average FM but bear in mind hard-to-get stations could give you trouble since the 843, like 99% of clock radios, relies on a little coiled plastic antenna in the back. Where I live in Los Angeles, KPCC 89.3 sometimes gives the Sony 843 problems, which I can only rectify by holding the tip of the wire antenna during my entire listening session. Needless to say, this is annoying and not practical. But the most glaring weakness is the CD player. It is so noisy that listening to music on it is too distracting so I quit playing CDs a long time ago.

But still if you can pick one up for fifty dollars or less it's worth it just for the radio and easy alarm functions. If you want a high-end clock radio with a telescopic antenna, there's only one that I know of, the Tivoli Songbook, but realize the Songbook costs nearly three times as much.

Update: I personally don't use my Songbook by my bed because it tips over. I use my best reception radio performer ever--my Grundig G4000, which I got on Amazon for $99, a very good price. It has a clock and alarm function but the clock digits may be too small for many. If you want a real clock radio by your bed and don't mind spending 99 dollars, you might check out the Sonido (made by Sangean). It's sleek and attractive, it has AM, FM, TV, and Weather bands, and it boasts a high-performance speaker, like its more expensive brother the WR-2, but even better than the WR-2, it has a telescopic antenna and it's 60 dollars less than its only competition, the Tivoli Songbook.

Update 1-29-07: If you want an attractive retro-modern clock radio with remote control, high-grade speaker and excellent reception, check out the Eton Sound 100. It retails for 150 bucks or so but can be found on sale on Amazon through other vendors. If you don't need a headphone jack or remote, the Boston Acoustics Receptor can be found on Amazon on sale between 100-120 dollars even though it retails for about 149. For bright sound, the Boston Acoustics is my very favorite.

What happened? Did the world forget how to design clock radios? I decided to buy a simple CD/Clock/Radio/Alarm unit. The world of electronics has been making these for ages. I was amazed at the fact that of the over 800 units listed on Amazon, basically NONE Of them got consistently high reviews. Even the best were lacking very basic features like battery back up for power outages, head phone jack, etc. Now, some of the gripes I read by various people were just preference differences. But it seems to me that in this day and age there are some very basic things that ALL digital alarm clocks should have, with the rest being options:

THE BASICS

TIME ACCURACY one Sony unit got dinged for losing 10 minutes on the hour ... now, in 2006, that's unexcusable.

MULTIPLE ALARMS / ALL MODES let's get real, if you're going to feature 2 or 3 alarms, let us set any of the unit's features for any of the alarms (CD/Radio/Buzzer).

DISPLAY SIZE/ADJUSTMENT I can't imagine an application where someone would want tiny alarm clock numbers, so bigger seems universally better. Make 'em as big as the unit will allow. As for dimmer settings, 2 was always OK for me, but I've seen folks complain that 3 wasn't enough. Perhaps an analog dial for the dimmer? Infinite control.

VOLUME CONTROL Simply put, you should be able to adjust the volume of the radio from barely audible to the full capability of the speaker, without distortion, either analog (before turning the unit on) or digitally (after turning it on). Some folks like each, so offer both and you'll get everyone.

ADJUSTABLE SNOOZE NO matter what number the engineers pick for the snooze delay ... someone won't like it. So, make it adjustable, with the option for it to become progressive (longer or shorter with each pressing of the snooze bar).

BUTTON TEXT Many of us sleep in dark rooms at night ... shocking I know. So why so many clock designers insist on black knobs on black radios with black lettering ... baffles me. If the unit is dark, the lettering should be bold and bright. If the unit is light, the lettering should be bold and dark. If the unit is mid-tone, the lettering should be bold and either white or dark. Not that hard to figure out.

FLAT TOP DESIGN when did someone decide that appliances with rounded tops were a good idea? Ever try to set your classes on top of a rounded alarm clock?

USER FRIENDLY BUTTONS ... ALL OF THEM I read one great review of a Sony unit with a great Snooze button and a collection of rather useless and overly small buttons for everything else. Think about it. Guys, when we wake up, we're sleepy ... we need easy to find, easy to use buttons.

HEADPHONE JACK My CAMERA has a headphone jack ... so why can't my alarm clock AM/FM Radio / CD player?

BATTERY BACK UP Power outages happen. So unless your clock has one of those cool gadgets that automatically resets itself to the Naval Observatory Master Clock ... give us a battery back up option?

I've got a very nice RCA unit at home now that lacks only 2 things I want ... a CD player and a headphone jack. It keeps good time, has battery back up, big numbers, easy to use buttons (though the text by the buttons is too small and it is "black on black"). Otherwise, it's pretty good. But it didn't come with a CD option.

I had a very nice Sony CD/Alarm/Radio/Clock a few years back, and it worked fine, until someone stole it ... and they don't make it any more.

So ... the search goes on. Come on, guys ... let's design a unit worthy of the name. I know people so fed up with their search for a reasonable and well designed unit that they've taken to using their cell phones as their alarm clocks. That's pitiful.

JTD

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Lasonic Electronics High Performance BT Music System

Weak base output for the size of the unit. Overall sound quality underwhelming. Physically it looks like it would be powerful unit but pick it up and the light weight tells you it is largely an empty box

I was trying to decide between this and the iHome boom box for my boyfriend. So glad I chose this. The sound is great and the kitschy retro design is a huge hit. The remote comes in handy and the Bluetooth means you can change the tunes from your phone while in the other room. Just keep in mind this device is pretty big.

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Bluetooth works great. Looks awesome. Gets super loud. Audio quality could be a bit better.

Overall it's the best. Very happy with my purchase

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The model number and customer image do not match the product title and product image--I want the BT, but this one looks like it might be the BTQ, which doesn't have the classic multicolor skin. The skin costs another $20 from the Lasonic website, and if I have to ship the skin I may as well get the boom box for less there. It would be helpful to know if anyone has ordered it if this is the model with the colors or the added equalizer.

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Cheap buttons. Volume control doesn't work correctly. Stickers for no reason. USB doesn't work for for apple products.

Best thing to say about it is that the sound does sound good. When controling the volume with that good sound, just not even close to par.

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RCA RC127i Clock Radio Charging Station for iPod/iPhone

• Wake to radio, iPod, or buzzer
• Custom-flex charging connection lets you charge without removing the case
• Audio line-in for audio playback (pigtail type)
• Digital tuner for FM radio reception
• Sleep and snooze functions

This clock radio may not be sleek looking, but it has a lot of nice features. I loved it. The price great and offers some nice features. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you can't go wrong.

Cons:

Doesn't have a "fashionable sleek" design

Doesn't have a battery back upI live in Florida and get many thunder storms. At times, the electricity is temporarily interrupted. Because this unit doesn't have a batter back-up I need to reset the time.

Pros:

Compact Fits nicely on any desk or night stand.

You can charge your iPhone/IPod WITHOUT removing the protective case. I love this feature

Has two wake up settings. You can set the alarm to radio or alarm.

Nice sized Snooze & Sleep function button.

Audio in-line so you can play music from your IPod/IPhone

20 Programmable Preset Stations for the FM Radio.

Charges iPod/IPhone quickly.

Nice clear sound when you use the FM radio.

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The RCA Clock Radio Charging Station for iPod/iPhone works great. This is a handy item to have when your household has numerous iPod products that all need charging at the same time. It's also great that you can play your music from your iPod through the speakers. While not fantastic sounding, it isn't bad for the product size. The radio works good, we are able to tune in to our local radio stations that we like to listen to and they come through nice and clear. The numbers on the clock are bright, but not so bright that they bother us at night. We have used this product with an iPod Nano and an iPod Touch and both charge great with no problems and no adapters needed.

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If you own an iPod/iPhone, having a combination clock radio/charger is neat. The RCA Clock Radio has a few cool features:

* Reset up to 20 of your favorite stations

* FM antennae

* Two alarms--a serious plus

* Large numbers

* Large snooze button on the top front

* Option of alarm or radio

* Compact: slightly over 4" x 4" and only 2 ½ high

As far as a charger goes, the one major thing to catch my eye was "Charge without removing protective case" on the side of the box. While it's true, there's more than enough room on the dock for a case, the two-part OtterBox won't fit. If you take off the soft rubber part and leave on the hard plastic shell, then yes, the case and iPhone will connect.

One huge negative is there's no battery backup. We live in an area where the electricity goes out often. Sometimes for thirty minutes, sometimes much longer. Once the power goes out, the settings are erased from the clock radio. Who wants to go reprogram the stations time and time again? Not to mention the alarm just failed.

Another negative is this isn't dummy-proof. The how-tos aren't clearly marked. An example is "Stand by" mode. Nowhere is there a stand by button. You sort of have to figure it out on your own. I also didn't find setting the alarms to be that easy. Also in the above description, there's a mention of GRADUWAKE, a feature that slowly wakes you up with gradually increasing volume. I never found such a feature and the manual doesn't mention it. Speaking of which--many of your devices have manuals posted online. This device is one. It's a great way to read all the features before purchasing. Just type "RCA RC127i Manual" into your Google search engine. Look for the [PDF] link.

Though the negatives are fewer than the positives, I'd recommend passing on this one for a better model. Most of the positives are standard on any clock radio.

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It is a nice little clock, and the charging dock works well. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because you have to use an additional plug to play your iphone songs through the clock radio speakers. Using the additional plug isn't that big of a deal, but it wasn't very clear in the instructions and it was quite frustrating to figure out.

But all in all it's a nice product for the price.

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works just fine and keeps the I-pod charged

I would buy it again and recommend it to anyone

I can sdee the time at night

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Sony SRF-HM33 Walkman FM/AM Stereo Headphone Radio with 20 Preset Stations

• FM/AM Stereo Digital Synthesized Tuner
• 15 FM/ 5 AM preset stations
• LCD tuning display; large volume controls
• Digital clock and battery power indicator
• Light reflector on adjustable split headband

This is by the far the best AM/FM headphone radio I've owned and I have owned quite a few. I searched every electronic store in my area trying to find a headphone like this and could only find it through amazon.com.

The clarity of the radio reception is excellent. Having 20 preset stations makes it so easy to switch stations when you don't like the song playing on the current station. This is also the most comfortable headphone radio I've had. I can wear it for hours and it never gets uncomfortable. I also can't deal with having the wired headphones or the ones you wear on your arm, so this one is ideal.

I actually liked this headphone so much I bought two more, one to keep at work and one to give to my husband. He likes it as much as I do.

For the people who gave this product such poor ratings, you must be abusive with your things. I use my headphone so much and switch stations constantly and I have never had any problems with it.

I highly recommend this headphone for anyone wanting a reliable, comfortable, great reception radio, with no wires and the ease of changing stations at the touch of a button.

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I am totally pleased with the Sony Headphone Radio. I am an electrical engineer and have designed receivers for many years. No FM receiver can receive FM without being subjected to multipath distortion caused by reflection of FM signals from metal structures or fading due to movement of the antenna. Both of these situations cause reception to fade in and out as you turn your head or walk. This radio works as well as any I have ever used and probably as well as is technically possible.

The AM performance is governed by the size of the antenna. Since the antenna must be small in a headphone receiver, the received signal will be much less than that of a car radio for example. However, I am able to receive AM stations as well as any similar product I have ever used.

I am also impressed by the headphone audio quality and the double headband used to keep the radio/headphone in place as you move.

Overall, I am very satified with this product. And if you recognize the technical limitations of a small receiver with a moveable antenna, then you will be as impressed with this product as I am.

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I use these while gardening and walking in my neighborhood, as well as while my husband is around (he doesn't like to listen to the radio).

They're generally pretty good. The automatic presets work well and are easy to memorize and use without removing the headphones from your head. The built-in clock is handy, and batteries generally last for a long time. They are fairly lightweight and comfortable to wear.

Minuses: the reception varies quite a bit. Near dense walls, both AM and FM will cut out temporarily; you have to move or turn your head to get reception back. FM is particularly sensitive. Close to walls, I often lose an FM station whose transmitter is less than 5 miles away.

For the money, this is a solid little pair of headphones with good multiple uses.

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Until I came across this radio, I was beginning to think I would not find one that would work for me. I tried 2 different models of headband radios that made the skin on my ears sore within the first hour of wearing them. I returned those radios. The Sony SRF-HM33 is very comfortable, even after wearing it all afternoon. It is durably constructed. It fits loosely on my head, which is okay, since I just listen to news and music while working. Even though I work in a basement, the reception is not static and the stereo sound is great. This radio has a good antenna.

This is the best hands-free walkman I've found. The earphones are comfortable (I even wear earrings and they don't bother me)and they stay on your head even while trail-running. The reception for me is almost perfect; there are some spots in my neighborhood where I don't get certain stations.

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Apple iPod nano 8 GB Graphite (6th Generation) OLD MODEL

• 8 GB capacity for about 2,000 songs with 1.54 Inch TFT LCD display
• Up to 24 hours of audio playback on a single charge
• 1.54-inch (diagonal) color TFT display with 240-by-240-pixel resolution (220 pixels per inch)
• Support for AAC, Protected AAC (iTunes Store), MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV audio formats
• One-year limited warranty

But it's not a Nano. Once you get that, the rest is easy. It's also a bit of a mixed bag.

**Update** (09/12) All-new 7th Generation Nano with much larger 2.5" screen, Bluetooth, and video playback announced by Apple. =]

Clip is gone though, and @$149, it ain't cheap. =\ **

**Update** (10/11) Version 1.2 Software Update released that

includes option for Large icons (but not large fonts)

allows Fitness/Nike+ app to work without an add-on device

includes more Clock faces & Wallpapers

Price also drops $20 (8 GB), or $30 (16GB). **

**Update** (02/11) Version 1.1 Software Update released that

1) Finally allows users to turn the Nano COMPLETELY OFF by holding down the Wake/Sleep button. No more 'it only goes to sleep'.

2) Sets the Wake/Sleep button as a 'Next Song' button, double-click to advance through your songs or radio presets.

This change also improves battery lifefrom AWFUL, to merely poor (5-6 hrs) as you're now less dependent on the power-gobbling touchscreen to advance songs.

Due to these improvements, am upping my review rating to 3 stars (battery life & pricing remain issues).

End Updates. **

Many ppl are confused about the radical re-invention of the Nano, not realizing that the Nano is, essentially, dead. The Nano's mission was to be a compact player that still did some higher-end stuff such as video and picture-taking-a nice portable 'media' player. No more.

The new Nano, aka Super Shuffle, is focused on a different task entirely, and much the same one as the regular Shufflethe gym. To that end, Apple radically reduced the size and gave it an integrated clip on back a la the regular Shuffle. It is now 'wearable', and is the 'Shuffle with a screen' that some have wanted for a long time.

The downside is that others loved the 'true' Nano, and now they can't have one unless they go running for the old 5th gen models before they're gone. Some will wonder why this was an 'either/or' thing for Apple, i.e. couldn't the Super Shuffle and 'true Nano' have existed side-by-side?

Still others might say the Super Shuffle is inadequate even for the gym. "I don't want to look at a SCREEN to switch songs or change the volume!", they'll say.

But to be fair, you don't have to look at the screen much, because

The Super Shuffle has physical volume buttons. They're small, but still easy to use. And with the 1.1 SW Update, you can double-click the Wake/Sleep button to advance songs/stations, a MUCH-needed improvement.

It has the 'Shake To Shuffle' featureliterally shake it to advance songs. However, STS is clunky to usesee notes @end of review.

It supports VoiceOver. But to use all VO features requires the Apple Earphones With Remote & Mic, which aren't included (Apple either wants another $30, or still hasn't solved the sweat/moisture issues those 'phones have had in the past).

So, some caveats aside, the Nano/SS now works fine in its role as a 'gym' Shuffle with a screen.

Features-wise, it does photo-viewing (but not taking), audiobooks, podcasts (minus any video), voice memos (w/the optional 'phones w/Remote & Mic), is a pedometer, and does FM radio besides. And stations do sound amazingly clear in any halfway decent reception area. Even low-power college stations usually come in cleana BIG plus, since they often have more innovative music programming than commercial FM.

The Nano also keeps the 30-pin dock connector, so you retain access to the universe of iPod accessories (for some examples, see 'iPod Nano 6G Docking Options' on YouTube). This is all well and good.

So MY BEEF with the Super Shuffle (aside from battery life) isn't that it killed the 'true' Nano (enough demand = they'll bring it back), but rather the level of 'milking it' Apple's gone with here. While I own/use one, it just isn't worth the additional $$$ over a regular Shuffle.

They do much the same thing, after allthe features it adds to the Shuffle are fairly minor (for example, ever try to get consistent FM reception inside a large concrete building, aka your typical gym? Best be at the window).

Sure, you get the touchscreen, which is sharp/clear, fun to use, and almost eerily resistant to smudges/fingerprints (nice). But the screen's also REALLY small going larger would make it less 'wearable' which compromises text readability and ease-of-use ('fat fingers' syndrome). And it scarfs WAY too much battery (see notes @end of review).

You do get 6GB more storage than the Shuffle (though that cost Apple $8 to put in there). But a 'gym' Shuffle doesn't really need to hold 2,000 songs (4000 if you opt for the 16GB), nor does the tiny screen lend itself well to navving through all that. The capacity and price points are Nano legacies, but as we know, this ain't a Nano.

All in all, the advantages don't add up to the price charged/value provided. You can buy 2-3 Shuffles for the same money.

A 4GB model for $99 would've made sense, as that's about what a 'Super Shuffle' is really worth. Sure, a Shuffle with a screen is COOLjust not cool enough to justify the $140 (as I found out).

I do want to dig ya Super Shuffle, but the pricing/value-for-money is your Kryptonite. =[

Also, as mentioned, battery life is poor (see below) and there's some minor bugs/interface issues (also see below). Oh, and durability? So-so. I finally dropped it after 22 months, from less than 3 feet, onto asphalt. Result: Marfed-up screen corner, and a hairline crack running the length of the screen on the left side. Disappointing, but at least it didn't die.

To be fair, with the 1.1 SW Update finally making song-advancement easy, and the price drop, Apple HAS been improving matters. But some things won't change 'til the hardware doesnamely, it desperately needs more battery. With that and a $99 price point, the Super Shuffle would be an out-of-the-ballpark home run.

But Apple wanted it supermodel-thin, and the profit margins fat. The result is something pretty, expensive, and high-maintenance.

_________________

Note #1 (Colors): The casing colors are more muted than they appear in pics. Example: the blue Nano is a very pale, smoky blue in person. The exception is the Product Red model (only in Apple Stores), it's a VERY vivid red in real life. But the other, more subtle colors aren't bad, and do look 'more grown up'.

Note #2 (Battery Life): This is VERY dependent on how much you use the touchscreen. Playing around with it lotswhich is exactly what you'll do when you first get onejust KILLS the batt juice. No way around it: the T-screen, while fun, is a HUGE. BATTERY. HOG.

And the screen sleep behavior makes it worse, by keeping the screen lit way too long after a touch. This isn't changeable in Settings either.

Thus I HIGHLY RECOMMEND putting the screen to sleep MANUALLY via the Wake/Sleep button EVERY time you're done touchscreeningdon't let the screen turn itself off, it's VERY SLOW to do so. Your battery will thank you.

Oh, and Apple's claimed 'UP TO 24 hours of battery life' seems to assume no screen usage. NOT realistic, since you do have to use the screen at times. Be especially careful with the touchscreen radio tunertaking too much time looking for that 'perfect' station = pure battery kryptonite. (Tip: Set up your radio presets, and turn off Live Pause toosome report battery issues w/it).

Even being careful, you'll avg only 5-6 hrs of battery life, real-world. Be aware the Battery Life icon is VERY schizo1st use after a charge can read as taking NO battery, while a similar later use can read as taking HALF the battery. You'll be recharging lots regardless. Reducing Screen Brightness may help a bit.

Note #3 (Bugs, Interface issues): aka 'Things I hope Apple fixes in future Software Updates'.

Some touchscreen controls need to be upsized. My hands are medium, yet I still hit the wrong controls often with my now suddenly 'fat' fingers.

In low-but-usable radio signal areas, you'll often get erroneous 'No Radio SignalPlease plug in headphones' messages. I get 'em WITH my 'phones plugged in, on stations that are coming in a bit quietly but otherwise fine.

When using the Wake/Sleep button to song advance, volume will at times jump to MUCH louder for a moment (may be a weird interaction with Volume Limit, which I use).

If you set text to 'White on Black' in Accessibility (which improves contrast/readability/looks cool), all icons & wallpapers get turned into weird photo negatives of themselves. Whaa? This should affect text & solid-color backgrounds only, not images.

The Battery Life Icon and Time should be visible on ALL screens (such as 'Now Playing'). Navving back to the Home Screen just to see these is annoying.

'Shake To Shuffle' needs help. Technique-wise it's too iffy, and since STS only works with the screen ON (Apple fears accidental triggerings), it's inconvenient to use, as you have to hit the button, THEN shake.

Kudos to Apple on the 1.1 & 1.2 SW Updates. But they still need a 1.3, with a focus on power-saving.

Note #4 (Protect Your Hearing): Volume Limit in Settings is your friend. Best procedure: Set your max volume w/it while in a QUIET room. At the gym, loud equipment can easily make you 'crank it up' to the point of causing permanent hearing damage, given enough exposure time.

Volume Limit is a hearing saver. Use it.

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With the announcement of the new Apple TV, and now the release of the drastically revised iPod Nano, it would appear that Apple is in the process of re-evaluating its product line and re-tooling the entries to match what it perceives to be the needs of the consumer.

With the Apple TV, they have correctly, I believe, simplified the complexity of the original offering, removed any notion of storage, which tended to confuse the average user, and prepared it for an app driven iOS future. They claimed these changes resulted from a close look at the usage of the current Apple TV, and that they made the changes they felt were needed to more closely match what was desired.

The Nano, I believe, follows the same path.

I have an iPhone and and the new Nano. I also have the previous generation Nano. I tend to agree with Apple: I never the older Nano once to watch a video. I never used the contacts, the calendar, nor did I play a game on the Nano. I bought it for jogging, I only used it for jogging.

All those things removed from the new Nano I currently do on my iPhone. These removed features were worthless to me and will not be missed.

But the Nano did do exactly what I wanted it to do: become smaller, and be easier to use. Though I am getting used to a virtual pause button vs. a physical button on the older model, I find the new Nano to sound a little better and is less intrusive during running.

Apple has apparently moved away from the "same feature set, different design" view and has moved to "what's best for the intended useage?" model. They now have a mature line of music players, each with a clear and intended purpose.

The Classic is for those who wish to carry their entire music collection with them.

The Touch is the top of the line universal player and application machine. Not intended for exercise, but rather for those who don't have an iPhone but want its best features.

The iPhone, a Touch with a phone built in. Same positioning as the Touch, but replaces your phone if you are in the market for a phone.

The Shuffle: the low cost entry point into the Apple ecosystem. Probably the only way Apple could offer any product under $100. With its small storage, and lack of screen, it appears to be essentially a gateway device for some to enter the Apple world.

And finally the Nano. Not the universal player anymore. Not the smaller iPod Classic, like its predecessors were. The Nano seems to be targeted to the highly mobile exercise crowd. The Nano is really only good for playing music, which, along with the Shuffle, make it the only "pure" iPod left. If you want a music player, and you want more than 2GB or storage, but you don't need apps or video or games because all you want to do is listen to music, than the Nano seems ideal. It fails when we try to make it something is clearly not intended to be. And for those who grieve at the loss of the features, I am sure Apple's answer is that "you really want a Touch." They're right, too. The days of the Nano needing to be a stripped down Touch or Classic vanished the day the Touch was released.

So, though not perfect, I think the design and intended use of the Nano fits in nicely into the Apple music player offerings.

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Bought this for the Nike + feature...liked the idea of a music player built into a system to track my runs. The Nike + part of this unit worked great, easy to understand and easy to use....in fact I like it so much I am going back to my old mp3 player (creative product) and getting the nike sportsband so I can keep using the Nike + features. However I have sent back two different ipod nano units due to serious problems with the music component of this device.

1) This unit does not have a way to completely shut it off...only a sleep wake button. If you do not make absolutely sure that all music is stopped, the radio is off, this thing drains battery life very quickly because you cannot fully shut the unit off.

2) The headphone jack is not very secure...using the ipod's headphones and another set of headphones from a different mp3 player the cord came out easily, when the cord was jostled sound would cut in and out making listening to the music annoying. Also becuase the radio antenna is the headphones it was constantly losing radio reception or unable to locate stations.

3) Volume control seems like it would be easy with buttons on the side..however on the units I tried the volume would lock itself to either no sound at all or set so loud I could only keep one port in one ear. I like to be able to adjust volume as I am running or working out based on the song, the environment, etc...not very happy with how difficult it was to deal with the volume.

4) When I could get radio reception and made sure not to jostle the cord (sitting down outside) the unti shut itself off after 60 seconds unless I kept hitting icons on the unit. It didn't do this when I was playing from my songlists...just in the radio mode.

5) When you want to shuffle a song while running...you have to wake the unit up then either figure out where on the screen to tap (without getting your sweaty fingers all over the unit and without tripping as you look at the screen) or shake until hopefully the device realizes you are trying to change songs (I was not very impressed with the shake to shuffle feature).

6)This device does not come with a manual...you have to go to the apple page to get the manual and download it. Customer service was useless. THank goodness for Amazon's amazing return procedures!

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Nice for music, but that's about it. I bought this to listen to Audible.com books, and it does not keep your bookmarked page beyond a day or two. I have to keep a pencil and paper with me to write down where I stopped reading and manually fast foward through chapters and pages to find approx. where I left off. This is a big discussion on the Apple Nano forum, and various fixes have been tried. Including at iTunes. Nothing works so far. I like the size and clip because I listen to books and music while I work. However, I going back to my Sansa Fuze for listening to books. Sure wish this new Nano had worked out. It's a clever little concept!

I could not be more disappointed in this Nano 6th generation model. I have the Nano 5th generation and the only thing missing was a clip. That is what lured me into ordering this 6th generation, the clip. Now that I have it, I am sorry I bought it. All the good Nano features are gone. The size is too small. The tiny touch screen does not work well for me at all. I don't know why they couldn't keep the familiar Nano style and features and add a clip. There is also no lock like the former Nano models. I would not recommend this 6th generation to anyone. I don't know how they even have the nerve to call this a Nano. Buy a 5th generation and you won't go wrong.

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Sangean AM/FM Stereo/SW Digital Tuning Worldband Radio

a nice radio and top rated by Radio Netherland

here are my nitpicks:

1. LCD backlight only stays on for 7 seconds

2. 1KHz tuning increment setting is inconvenient (you have to push in and turn the rotary knob first, and it only lasts for one tuning session)

3. too few SW memory settings

4. the back stand is useless unless you use the radio while sitting at a desk a much better approach is to take an 8x10 sheet of plexiglass, heat and bend to make a stand so the radio sits more upright for use...

5. the build feels 'flimsy' as the radio doesn't have a solid feel

6. there is a discernable (1-second) delay when entering digits in the direct-access keypad you'll need to get used to the delay, and the keys require more pressure than you'd expect for a keypad..

7. battery life is not great

I did a lot of research before buying the Sangean 505 and must say, now that I own it, that I'm disappointed on two fronts: the cheap plastic feel of the radio and its weak AM reception. I live in LA and the Sangean 505 gives me a weak signal for a major AM radio station 790. The internal AM antenna is such that I have to turn my radio far south to get the aforementioned station. There are the radio's strong points: clear speaker, strong FM reception, easy-to-use presets. My Sony SW35 has clearer AM reception, a more solid feel, but alas, has a tinny speaker, so I can't recommend that either. In contrast, my Grundig S35, which has no pre-sets and relies on a spin dial tuning system, gets strong AM and FM reception though it is the size of a lunch box. For digital tuners with presets, I'm still looking for a portable radio that delivers good speaker and strong AM reception. I may have to start looking at two-hundred-dollar models, such as the Sangean 909.

Post Script: Several weeks later I have found the radio I wanted Sangean 505 to be: The Kaito 1102, which gets great AM radio, has stronger FM than the Sangean, is smaller, and costs significantly less. To save even more money, the Kaito clone, the Degen 1102, costs another 15% less but arrives with only a Chinese operating manual.

Update: The Kaito 1103, in spite of its ergonomical difficulties, is the uncontested king of FM reception with above average AM reception. Ironically, the cheap GE Superradio III is the king of AM reception, largely because it has an 8-inch internal ferrite AM antenna, twice the size of any other radio.

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Hi folks its Vince the Radioman . I have a large collection of radios and I love to do compares and share my thoughts. The ATS 909 and 606 , if you've seen my reviews are great buys and probably Sangeans best radios. The 505 is a very good buy for someone who want Single Side Band and can't spend a large amount of money .The 505 is the least expensive radio out there with side band and fine tuning( 1kh increments). The overall construction and quality of the build is ok at best and the radio is a little top heavy and bulky . The tuner sensativity is far better than the Grundig yb400 on AM and FM but on SW the 505 is about equal on its best day. The step down to 1 kh tuning is inconvenient where you need to push in the tuning dial to go to the fine tuning mode. The dynamic range and selectivity is good but the ATS 606 blows this radio away, same price , but the 606 has no SSB. The new Eton E 10 ( probably the best of the new Eton line for the money) also blows it away but no SSB. So , if you want SSB and a fairly decent radio for a low price this is a no brainer. If you want a mid-sized and priced radio for AM/SW and FM get the Eton E 10 or the SONY SW35 or the Sangean ATS 606.

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I purchased this radio after buying and using a Grundig G-2000A for about a year. The Sangean is a little larger, with perhaps a three inch speaker versus a two inch speaker for the Grundig. The Grundig has only moderately good sound quality for AM and FM. This Sangean has surprisingly good sound quality on AM and FM, particularly for a radio this size. I put it in our kitchen, and when someone is down there playing it I noticed that I can hear it upstairs and the sound is really like a much bigger radio with a larger speaker. The sound is clear and has very good tonal quality and richness. This Sangean has settings for both music and voice programs. Tuning and reception are also good. The Grundig is kind of a battery hog, that will run down in around three weeks with moderate use. The Sangean has better battery life with similar use, although I think using the shortwave bands seems to be a greater drain on the batteries of both radios. If you haven't used a shortwave radio before be prepared for a booming and fading pattern of the sound. Both radios have this quality, and it is a characteristic of shortwave transmission. You are likely to find that this will detract from your listening satisfaction with some programs, but again, I would have to give the nod to the Sangean for overall quality on the shortwave tuning and sound. With either radio you certainly can listen to some stations you have never heard on AM and FM. I was listening to a station in Florida one night and then when I changed channels some, I was surprised to find that a Cuban station was coming in pretty clearly. The Sangean also has a small light that changes color to help you determine the strength of radio signals as you adjust the tuning knob to find stations. This Sangean is quite a nice radio, and I think most radio fans will like it.

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I love this little radio. I was looking for an inexpensive world radio to fool around with. I looked at various sony, grundig, and sangean radios. I chose this one because of the price, features (lots of presets, digital tuner, range of bands), and some solid reviews. Now that I own the radio myself, I couldn't be happier. I work in an office full of electronic equipment, an d the building is build into the side of a hill. My office is 1/2 below grade and radio reception is bad. This radio can pickup many stations that I previously thought were unreachable from my desk. The sound is really amazing for such a small radio. It's rich and full (a nice pair of headphones lets you enjoy the fm stereo). Battery life is wonderful, plus the ac adapter was included. The radio feels solid and well made. Also, the included protective pouch is a nice thing to have when transporting or storing the radio. I would recomend this radio to anyone.

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Zeikos New Orleans Saints Slumber Dock

Speaker doesn't work. Everything is muffled. Confusing to use. Doesn't even play iPod. The alarm doesn't work. Everything is wrong with this item.

Sound quality wasnt very good. Clock turns off when you turn off the radio. But it looks cool. I would spend a lil bit more money and get something better.

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I bought this for my 8 year old son who is a major fan of the Saints. The radio looks cool, but the time only supports military time (which my 8 year old does not understand). The iPod dock is very flimsy and not adjustable -I expect it to break soon. The controls are not friendly and are very difficult to use. The sound quality is reasonable, but not great.

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I ordered this for my son to charge his Ipod and have a speaker system to play music. While it worked on batteries and the sound was not bad, we were only able to get it to work on the AC adapter once before it failed. I will be returning this to amazon and I am kind of disappointed because it was a gift. It was exactly as pictured and not a bad deal for the price if it had worked as it was supposed to.

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Wave® Music System III - Platinum White

• Lifelike sound from Bose® waveguide speaker technology
• Plays all your music sources: CDs/MP3 CDs, FM/AM--plus your iPod®, smartphone, computer, tablet or Bluetooth® device with optional accessories
• Includes CD player, advanced FM/AM tuner, headphone jack, remote, clock
• Now with: Touch-top on/off/snooze controls; dual independent alarms; displayed song/artist radio info

What a big sound from such a small package. I use to have last version of Wave Music System II and it was great, this new one is even better. They made radio sound so good, and it let you now the name of the song and the artist. The touch pad on top is very usefull to turn on or off the unit. LOVE this Music System.

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Really enjoying having a CD player in the living area. Loving the on/off with a touch. That said, the sound is not crisp. Doesn't seem to be a way to change that. Compared it to the sound in my 19 year old Honda and 7 year old Toyota. The Honda player won hands down with the Toyota system also way ahead. As a trained musician I admit to biases. I don't like muffled sounds. Suspect I could have paid a lot less and gotten better sound than this.

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Has really great sound, but ALL controls are on VERY small remote, which is easily misplaced!! Buttons on remote are especially small for elderly aunt, which gift was purchased for. Needs to have some controls on unit itself for when remote is lost

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We were looking at bigger options but this one absolutely does the job without taking up the whole counter. Really nice sound.

It's a bose. It sounds much larger than it is. It works for us just fine. We mostly just use the radio, not the disc player.

What is causing me to deduct 2 stars is that it's basically entirely dependent on the remote. I loathe electronics that require you to not lose the remote even for very simple operations.

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Kaito KA1101 AM/FM Shortwave Radio, Black

• Dual conversion technology + wide/narrow AM filter + 50 memories
• Four tuning methods: direct, manual, scan and preset
• Built-in automatic battery charger, alarm clock and sleep timer
• Compact design, ideal for travelling
• 1-year USA limited warranty

Kaito/Degen has done it again! I needed a small AM/FM/SW radio for travel and have compared several including the Kaito KA1105, the Kaito KA11, the Kaito 1102, the Grundig G6, the Grundig YB-550PE, the CCRANE SWP (Redsun RP300), the Tecsun PL-450, etc. I am still not done with all my evaluations, but I definitely think that the Ka1101 is a great small and very inexpensive ($~55-60 depending on the vendor) and a very excellent receiver! The identical radio is available in both silver and very dark gray/black. I am extremely impressed right out of the box how well it performs even for quite weak signals and with the antenna on SW not even extended.

PROS:

1) Comes with rechargeable batteries, velcro-sealed slip case, earbuds, long antenna wire, adapter/charger and very readable manual (which fits nicely inside of the supplied slip case!). Batteries are designed to be easily recharged inside the radio.

2) Excellent weak signal reception on ALL bands including Low frequency FM or FML (starting at 70 MHz). It really performs very well!

3) Excellent bandwidth choice for the Wide/narrow switch on the keyboard on AM (MW) and SW and a separate FM, FML tone switch (labeled as Music/news on the right hand side of the radio), a Mono/Stereo switch on the keyboard as well as a Local/DX switch on the left hand side of the radio.

4) Lock switch and external antenna jack.

5) Back light controlled by available ambient lighting with an on-board light sensor system.

6) Numerous tuning methods available.

7) Very high quality and very readable display with numerous icons for charging, battery life, Mono/stereo settings, wide/narrow filter setting, etc.

8) Very long battery life.

9) Simple direct system for changing the 5 individual bands in direct order only (no reversing of the band change direction is possible).

10) Finally, it has a nice and very easy to use reset button on the front panel just in case the system acts irregularly (which I have not observed at all).

CONS: These are all very small and of no great significance whatsoever!

1) Tuning is limited to only the up/down slewing keys with only a 5 KHz frequency step which is relatively coarse, but usually sufficient given its bandwidth (Wide/Narrow) capabilities.

2) Only a total of 50 presets are available (10 on each of the 5 bands), however they are extremely easy and very intuitive to set and recall.

3) Smallish speaker (after all, I wanted the radio to be small and portable so this has to be the case!).

4) No signal strength meter available on-screen or otherwise.

5) It uses 3 AA batteries instead of a pair of batteries. Also, when rechargeable AA's are used, the full battery charge will not register on the screen (only 3 of 4 of the battery indicator icons are visible under these conditions).

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After reviewing many radios, I decided because of its price to go with the Kaito. When I received the radio I tried to charge the batteriesone battery refused to charge in a powerex charger. I tried a refresh with no luck. I replaced this battery with a Panasonic that was fully charged. As I opened the battery compartment lid, it fell off. I used tape to hold it on. I could not stand the moth ball smell of the nicely designed case so I threw it away.

Performance is poor. I live in a fringe area and did not expect miracles, but this radio does not come close to pulling in stations that were a breeze with the CC Radio. The DX switch is a joke-it is there for cosmetics. It did nothing! Shortwave is a silkscreen label-not a fact.Kaito KA1101 AM/FM Shortwave Radio, Black

Ergonomics: The buttons are poorly designed. The on-off switch is flush

with the case and almost impossible to activate by touch.

The volume potentiometer is located on the side of the case where it can be moved accidentally.

It is low cost and that says it all. I will stick to Grundig and Sanjean.

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Pretty darned good radio for the size and price. I bought this one after much consideration for travel.

It has everything I need and seems to pull in harder stations with ease. Turning off the sleep timer is a

bit of an annoyance and it would be nice to have the option to turn the backlite on.

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I bought the Kaito KA1101 and it was stolen before I could review it. I had it just long enough to know that I had to repurchase it. I bought it from Electronnix through Amazon for $49.95 and free shipping.

Our minivan was totaled while visiting relatives in Indianapolis and then eight days later, while completing our trip in a rental, our car was robbed in Columbus, OH and the radio lost along with my Kaito KA321 and Kaito Voyager V1 (also reviewed).

This is a good radio, excellent for the price! The AM has a "wide/narrow" filter that allows the user to separate one station from another near above or below. Example: 760 WJR Detroit from 780 WBBM Chicago can be listened to without interference using "narrow" setting from where we were staying in Indianapolis. This filter works on AM and SW stations.

This radio has been available from a long while and has always had great reviews for its sensitivity (good solid reception). It comes complete with NiMH batteries, built in charge, AC adapter, earphones that actually sound good (wish could buy them separately), case, long wire antenna and manual. The speaker sounds great for a portable.

SW is divided in two bands and I have no trouble receiving English broadcasts of CRI China for a different view of world news. Amazingly CRI broadcast US sports scores. May broadcasters still use shortwave and times and where to listen can be found on the internet.

FM stereo is excellent through the included headphones and better reception than my home AM/FM receiver.

This review is based on two KA1101's since I didn't have time to review before my first was stolen. I still have to replace my other radios. The Kaito KA 1101 is a very good radio and Electonnix via Amazon shipped quickly at an excellent price.

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Works very well. Sensitivity and selectivity above average. Good quality. AM and FM also seem to be above average for this price range of shortwave receiver.

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Garmin nüvi 850 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

• Sleek, ultra-slim design fits in a pocket;High-sensitivity GPS receiver for fast satellite lock
• Pre-loaded with City Navigtor NT maps for North America, including more than 6-million name-searchable points of interest
• Speech recognition -- speak menu options and keep your eyes on the road
• Multi-destination routing -- enter several destinations and get the best route to all of them; "Where am I?" and "Where's my car?" features
• Full feature set -- text to speech for spoken directions with real street names; MP3 player, and Photo viewer

I recently bought a Nuvi 850. Here's my advice for what it's worth.

The real value of a Nav system comes from the fundamentals.

* Receiver

* Maps

* Routing Engine

* Display

* User Interface

Garmin does a solid job in all these areas. But that's not why you're paying a premium for an 800 series Nuvi.

This model has a couple of "nice to have" features that were introduced on the 700 series of Nuvi's.

* Where Am I

* Where's My Car

Both are very well implemented and can be very handy. But again, all of the stuff I mentioned so far can be found in a Nuvi costing $300 less.

So what are you paying a premium for?

* Voice Recognition

* User Replaceable Battery

* Front Mounted Speakers

Well, the front mounted speakers are still drowned out by moderate road noise. So, I wouldn't pay a nickel for that. The only real sound solution remains the FM transmitter that everyone complains about. It works OK for me, in my car, in my area. Your mileage may vary.

The user replaceable battery is excellent. For $30 you can carry a spare battery and go totally wireless in the car or use the Nuvi for 8 hours of walking around a city. I'd pay for that. In fact, every portable device should have user replaceable batteries.

OK, that leaves the "Big Kahuna" feature, voice recognition. Don't believe the hype from the professional reviews or some of the hosanna's being thrown around in Amazon reviews.

Does it work? Yes, it works amazingly well. In a dead silent environment.

With moderate road noise or even indoors with a TV at low volume 15 feet away the thing to gets confused about what it's "hearing". It should have a microphone with low sensitivity and high directionality to screen out spurious noise. A little DSP noise filtering wouldn't hurt either. Unfortunately, the standard piezo mic that Garmin also uses for bluetooth phone calls will pick up any sound coming from any direction. The result is that voice recognition becomes an excercise in frustration.

Still, I'm gonna keep the darned thing. I'll simply enter destinations in the quiet of my home, office, hotel room, or a restaurant before heading out on the road. The remote will live in my briefcase. It does save you from a lot of tedious keyboard entry. But, it is not the mobile safety feature that reviews would have you believe since voice commands are all but useless in a car. You can get essentially the same features in a Nuvi 760 and save yourself $300.

Your decision.

EDIT: Update.....OK maybe I was a bit harsh first time round. I have found that the unit will respond with moderate background noise.....some of the time.....if you yell at it. It appears to have the ability to lock in on the loudest sound it "hears". So, if you are relatively close to the microphone and speak really loud (yell), it does respond some of the time.

On the upside, connecting to the Garmin website was very easy. I registered the 850, downloaded the newest firmware, and downloaded/installed the latest maps (2009), all in about ten mintues without a glitch.

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I am a Realtor and have been using my Garmin GPS for almost four years. (It was the 2720 and had cost $999 when I bought it.) It's invaluable to me in my business. Today it died as I was previewing a dozen homes and I went back to where I bought it originally and picked up an 850. Boy, am I disappointed!

The new graphics will take some getting used to, but that's not the problem. With the newer technology and all the bells and whistles, I had expected this unit to be MORE intuitive than my old one. Turns out it's not. Twice it told me it could not find addresses in older neighborhoods where my old Garmin never had a problem. I had to guess my way across unfamiliar areas to find them and, sure enough, once I got there, the street names registered on my screen. I immediately saw what happened but was shocked that Garmin hadn't picked up the slight differences.

One street is named McLain Road. I typed in Mclain (small "l") and it couldn't find it. The old Garmin used all upper-case letters, so it found every address regardless of upper or lower case. This one obviously needs you to know which to use -very frustrating. The second one is spelled Hollowbrooke Lane. I typed in in every which way I could think of -Hollow Brooke Lane, Hollow Brook Lane, Hollowbrook Lane, etc. Now that I'm home and could play with it a little, sure enough, it found it. I should have typed in "Ln" instead of Lane and it had Hollowbrooke without the "e." When I had typed in Hollowbrook Lane, it couldn't find it because I spelled out the word Lane. Again, the old Garmin knew that Lane and Ln were the same thing.

Another very annoying thing I found missing on this new one which was on my old Garmin was the display of streets. Typically, each street will show up as I get near it, whether I'm turning onto it or not. With the 850 it doesn't show streets unless they are major thoroughfares. I finally clicked on the "plus" button twice in succession and it started to give me lines (which represented streets), but it rarely showed the name of the street. Again, the old Garmin showed every street you came up to.

The voice prompts are also unreliable. Several times the voice prompt did not match up with the screen and if I tried to answer based on what I saw on the screen (for example, a city was on the screen and the voice was asking for a street address), I could not get it to sync and had to start all over or (more often than not) just gave up and tapped the information into the GPS. Again, a nice concept but frustrating if it's not working properly!

I can't figure out why this newer model would be LESS intuitive than the old system. I'll play with it for a few days, but at the price I paid, I won't be keeping it very long if I can't figure out how to make this work better.

And, not to beat a dead horse here, but I'm shocked that the unit doesn't come with a carrying case. I just bought my daughter a nuvi 350 last week for her birthday and it cost a fraction of what the 850 cost -and it had a carrying case! SHAME on you, Garmin!

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This unit functions perfectly as it is described. The voice-activation is nearly perfect. Probably one of the best implementations to date that I can remember. The map is a bit under-detailed for the price but it gets you where you need to go. Voice commands from the unit are very easy to understand. Controls are easy to navigate as are the menu options. One thing that I think is a bit ridiculous is the absence of Bluetooth Hands-Free calling. For $800 they could have included that and it is the reason that I gave it four stars instead of 5. Many of the options included with the device are useless to me to be honest. Games? Picture viewer? MP3 player? I don't need any of these but the voice-commands for unit control are awesome.

If you have the money to buy this unit, get it... if not look at some of the lower-priced 700-series Nuvi's

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[Feb 28, 09 update: I've had the unit for several months and have grown increasing more frustrated with the unit for several reasons

1. The screen update is "laggy". I've turned off everything that could slow down the system (e.g I've set map details to normal and lower) and the map is about 3-5 seconds behind. I live in a near dead-flat area with no hills or buildings. The unit obtains 6+ satellites at full strength. It says that I have 10 feet accuracy but too often it doesn't seem to know where I am. Because of the delay, it'll tell me to turn a bit too late and when traveling at 65MPH on a busy highway with multiple exits, even one second is way too long let alone several seconds. I've tried every option. I reloaded the firmware to an older level. Same results.

2. Too often I get poor/useless directions. I keep getting "Recalculating, recalculating, recalculating". I was speaking to someone who was driving in in a car I kept hearing "recalculating...". Yep, he also had a Nuvi and he said the Nuvi drives him around in circles. I didn't tell him that I experienced the same problem myself.

3. I'm walking along and am using the Nuvi to get me back to the hotel. Even though I'm right next to the ocean withe the battery nearly full charged, it just wouldn't find any satellites. I kept turning the unit off for 8+ seconds, taking the battery out, holding it up to the sky (either hoping to get a signal or maybe I was praying). After 5 minutes, I asked someone for directions.

4. I'm tired of screaming at the unit.

I'm asking myself why I paid over $500 for something that isn't helping and even taking me longer to get somewhere.

I'm going to bring the unit back and try again when they update the unit; whenever that might be.]

--Original review ---

I bought the 850 nuvi last night. Before taking it out on the road, I spent a few hours learning how to use it and read the forums.

First off, I installed the latest firmware. The new Garmin software makes that extremely easy.

Here's my major gripes so far:

1) The speech recognition turns itself off after entering several voice commands and I have to keep turning it on every few commands. THIS DRIVES ME NUTS AND IT'S NOT SAFE. There's nothing in the manual that explains that. Yes, I read the entire manual. I reset the device by turning it off for 8 seconds. That didn't help. For me, voice recognition is extremely important. I nearly drove off the interstate once when I was using my fingers to access an old GPS navigator. I stopped using it that day and never used it again for driving.

2) The POI are seriously out of date. I asked where the nearest hospital is and the nuvi returned hospitals 5+ miles away but there's a hospital one mile away that's been there for over 4 years. I asked where the nearest police station was and the nuvi returned just a few of the major police stations. There are numerous police substations here, one is nearly within walking distance. I'm guessing that the maps are about 5+ years old. And Garmin wants *me* to pay for a map update. No, I don't think so.

3) The nuvi 850 CANNOT be used when it's plugged into the USB port.

4) The accuracy of location is woefully lacking. I have 7+ year old Garmins that are accurate within 10 feet. The Garmin nuvi 850 says that my house is 200 feet away from where I set my home location. We have very good satellite access due to lack of mountains and buildings. The satellite indicator has all bars lit up.

5) Keeps crashing. This has already happened several times. The system is completely frozen and I have to reboot or it reboots itself. When this happens, some of the values that I set are reset to the default values. This is unforgivable.

6) When navigating, the unit doesn't display the destination. If I accidentally enter the wrong address from my favorites whose locations are somewhat near each other, I won't know about the mistake until I'm there. I've tried every button to find to display the destination location but it's nowhere to be found. If it's a matter of knowing a secret set of steps, then the product was poorly designed. This too is unforgivable.

7) The screen dimmer intermittently goes bright then dims again. I have the unit sitting untouched on my desk and it alternates between dim and bright.

Minor gripes:

My last two old Garmins came with cases, manuals and wall-plug rechargers. This came with nothing. I searched on the Garmim site for the manual and couldn't find it. Eventually I found it by using "Garmin 850 manual download" into Google. The web site sucks. I wouldn't have a manual if I didn't have access to a computer.

I found a location on the Garmin site where I download vehicle icons. After an hour of searching, I never found that location again. I should have bookmarked it.

On the positive side, it seems that the voice recognition is pretty good (at least in my quiet office). I can mention part of the street name (e.g. just Northway instead of Northway Court or Northway Drive or Northway Street) and it will bring up all of the possibilities. Still, that requires you to look at the menu instead of the road.

Volume and clarity seems pretty good (at least in my office).

By accident, I came across a feature that I didn't find in the manual: You can scroll the screen with your finger like an iPhone. Move your finger across the screen and the map moves but it's not nearly as smooth as an iPhone (and the iPhone is a lot less expensive).

On another note, I've been reading the debates in the forums regarding the practicality of the "anti-theft" mechanism (a misnomer since the thief is going to steal it anyway if the unit or mounting bracket is visible). I decided to use the PIN since I don't have to enter my PIN if I'm already at home, BUT, it takes quite a few seconds for the Garmin to acquire enough satellite data to know that you're at the "security" location so it's faster to just manually enter your PIN. While the PIN won't deter theft, it's nice knowing that they only stole a useless brick.

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I'm new to the GPS world, having purchased a Navigon several months back (which was stolen). I decided to get a unit with speech recognition, because without it I found myself unable to utilize the GPS safely.

I love my Garmin Nuvi 850, although the model is discontinued (for the 880 I believe). I would never buy another GPS without speech recognition.

I've had no problems with it recognizing my voice commands, and it's easy just to follow the onscreen menus to select commands, but it is also very intuitive, and when I have just spoken a command, such as the name of my destination, or "gas", it responds quickly. I really like being able to choose the different voices (Australian, UK English) for a variety of accents. Before this, I had the Navigon, which I liked, but the onscreen display and graphics are much more pleasing to me than the Navigon.

I tend to forget to push the button to activate speech recognition, but it is easy to use when clipped on to the steering wheel. I was disappointed to find that the MSN service doesn't work in our area...you have to be in a very large metropolitan area for that, but otherwise, this is a great product.

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