Motorola V557 Cell Phone Cingular AT&T

Pros:

1. Clearest, most consistent reception of any Cingular phone I have used (metro Chicago).

2. Intuitive, flexible navigation typical of Motorola.

3. Loud ring and earphone volume.

4. Reasonably large and high-res screen.

5. Easy to access and get detail on recent calls and messages.

6. Battery life is fantastic.

Cons:

1. As other reviewers have noted, the news "Ticker" takes up lots of screen and doesn't tell you all that much.

2. Web navigation is s-l-o-w and clumsy.

3. Vibrate mode is weak.

4. Screen colors and themes limited.

If you want a phone to make phone calls, the V557 is a winner.

Topeka, KS, Cingular service. Just got the phone yesterday, but I've played with it enough now to be pretty pleased with how it is working. The other reviewer has an axe to grind (he put the same low rating on ALL motorola phones!)

Back to this phone... very nice fit and feel, love the non skid surface it has, and also like that it has some weight to it. Camera is adequate, but not great, but as others say, buy a digital camera to take nice pictures and get over it. I do not have a problem with the volume button on the side, but I am able to put it on 'soft' which does not alow you to adjust it from the outside. Vibrate and other options probably will help, I don't know what someone would do if they need it on loud.. my SO has one also, and we will see how he gets along with his today.

Keys are big and easy to use, the center 'mouse' is very easy to use, personalizing the keys is easy.

Reception is crystal clear, and signal strength is equal to or better than the nokia 6340i that I had (TDMA/GSM quad band phone)

I'll know better when I do my 3.5 hour run to Nebraska in a few weeks, and will try ou the speaker phone then as well.

Both inside and outside screens are nice and clear and easy to read. I've turned the brightness down to the lowest setting, and it is plenty bright. The menu is different, but pretty intuitive, I am able to find and personalize most things without the manual. I'm not taken by the ticker...on the fence on that one, but I get my news fix from the Net on a computer. Seems to have quite a few ads on the ticker so far.. bleah.

Acessing the net for the channels on the ticker is very easy. There is a pause between accessing, but not as bad as my s l o w phone connection at home.

Not much for ringtones, but I'll get it figured out how to add some, hopefully without a ton of money spent.

I'm going to try the blue tooth headset.. haven't yet.

Checking out the battery life, but there are quiet a few options, screen saving, turning off the ticker, etc that would probably extend it.. like having the options to do that.

Buy Motorola V557 Cell Phone Cingular AT&T Now

I love this phone! I originally made the mistake of buying the sony ericsson z520a and hated it. I have always been a motorola fan and always will be. This phone looks great, has killer reception, and is very well made (it is really solid). I am very picky with my phones and this is by far one of the best phones I have had. My husband is very jealous for he has the new nokia flip phone and is not too happy with it. I would recommend this phone to anyone who wants a quality product that truly shows. This phone has made me a motorola fan for life!

Read Best Reviews of Motorola V557 Cell Phone Cingular AT&T Here

So, a RAZR is sexy, yes, but let's face it. Everyone and thier grandma wants a RAZR, and most people will buy it now that it's cheaper. I really never saw universal acceptance as terribly cool. Now then, I owned the V300 from Motorola via T Mobile. I broke it. The phone was sturdy; I was just a bit of a jerk. T Mobile on the other hand, was fuzzy, vague, and too costly. The V556 is an improvement over my past phone, and I love the design. It also has features similar to a 1st gen RAZR, but hey, you're on Amazon, you can figure that out yourself.

Cons:

*Accidentally pushing a button and accessing Cingular's internet is too easy to do. That internet, as best as the manual tells me, often incurs charges for data transactions, not just online services.

* So many nice features, so little onboard memory.

* Motorola is very afraid of a flash with thier camera.

* Cingular is stingy with the ringtones and backgrounds. Seriously, T Mobile included at least 4 times more for free. It shows a very business decision, which is a not so nice reality check when I'm switching providers on the basis of consumer benefits.

* Online features, like headlines, weather, and sports, are overrated. They take up a large portion of the screen whenever you are at the main menu, and you pay for anything more than a summary. They cannot be hidden without deactivating the service. It's a bit glaring when you have the instant $$ internet button but no way of hiding this feature that is so lauded and convenient.

* The fact that I can't hide the online features I do like when not using them puts me off. So much so, that I won't even look at the pay options. Why pay to be annoyed?

* It was so nice of my phone to warn me of the fact that elaborating on the online features (such as a headline) incurs a charge. Found that out on day two. Said feature has been off since.

Pros:

* Rubbery grip equals less slip. Rhyming, unfortunately, does occur.

* Bluetooth.

* Big buttons

* Battery life is phenomenal.

* Never had a clearer sounding phone.

It feels like an empty victory. Much better phone, better features, but trying to do anything other than placing a call feels like walking through a bazaar with a belt made of dollar bills. T Mobile was cheap on the features, but they didn't make it so easy to waste your money. This phone is like an attractive date who's only interested in your money. I'd dump it, but we have this commitment... and it's sad that I won't find a hotter phone.

Love the phone, but the unabashed way they want my extra money does little to "raise the bar" on phone service.

Want Motorola V557 Cell Phone Cingular AT&T Discount?

If you've ever switched brands, you know it can be a challenge. Adapting to the Motorola V220 flip-phone from a Nokia "candy bar" style phone was OK, but after losing my V220 (no longer available) I tried an LG 1500 and found it unusably alien, its display inferior. I returned the LG and got this V557. It's quite a bit more expensive if you buy the phone straight out (I paid $269), but just about worth the extra money. The display looks like a miniature TV!

It loads games noticeably faster than the V220 did although it occasionally hangs for a second or two during play. The video and camera work fine and have more memory. IT RUNS FAR LONGER ON A CHARGE than any other phone I've had! Wow! Inexpensive car chargers are available at Wal Mart and Target. Overseas (notably SE Asia), you can just buy another SIM card at a 7-11 store and then you have a local phone number --just call from that to pick up your voice mail at home; it's cheap. (The 7-11's also have scratch-off cards to "fill up" on usage minutes as you go --no contracts.)

One thing about the Motorolas: if you turn off caller ID so that the person you are calling cannot see your phone number, it's for the "next call only" and then it goes back to sending your number. It takes fifteen (15) clicks to do this(!) on the V557, so if you want it off all the time, this might not be the phone for you. The only problem I've had: twice in four months it said "unable to charge" while on the wall charger. I unplugged the charger, removed & re-inserted the battery, and that fixed it.

The recently-dialed list holds sixty numbers, many more than the V220 held. On Cingular you get free news headlines (can be turned off); you don't pay unless you press "More" to download the entire article. There are built-in messages such as "Will arrive in 15 minutes," plus you can store your own. The speakerphone on back doesn't work as well as a real speakerphone, but it'll do if you just want to play your guitar into the phone for a minute. :-)

7 Inch Touchscreen GPS Navigator with DVR (Video recorder, Bluetooth, AV-IN, FM Transmitter) with 2

• 7 Inch Touchscreen GPS Navigator with DVR which lets you get to your destination effortlessly, record videos for memory or insurance purpose, and comes with rich multimedia features to keep you entertained.
• This wide screen GPS navigator supports spoken voice directions, automatic route re-calculation and even speed limit alarm and road speed alerts that lets you find your way more easily. The Bluetooth function allows you to pair your mobile phone with the GPS and make phone calls hands free. Your driving is safer with this product, which means you and your family or other passengers can relax more and enjoy the journey.
• The build-in car video recorder enables you to easily capture video of road situations in VGA quality. The applications are boundless: insurance purposes, court evidence, capturing an officer's abusive behavior or just plain fun. This is the only portable GPS navigator on the market that comes with DVR function!
• Aside from playing the web's hottest audio and video file formats like MP3 music as well as MP4 movies and TV shows, you can also enjoy reading your favorite books and playing some fun games on this GPS navigator. With direct WINCE access, you can even made a few edits to your Word, Excel, or PPT files while waiting for the green traffic light.
• US map pre-installed, if you are from country other than US, please contact us before your purchasing.

After watching a bunch of Russian dash cam accidents (shout out to liveleak), i decided i need one my self. But i also wanted a navigator since i get lost quit often. So this navigator with a video recorder was perfect fit for my needs.

Pros: Reasonable price, navigator with US maps preloaded and video cam in one, fairly simple to use, 4gb memory (upgrade able up to 16gb), extra goodies to mess around with.

Cons: Video quality not the most impressive 640 x 480 .

All in all i would recommend this, if you don't mind "ok" video quality.

Buy 7 Inch Touchscreen GPS Navigator with DVR (Video recorder, Bluetooth, AV-IN, FM Transmitter) with 2 Now

The Operation/Instructions are difficult to understand for two Reasons...

1.) The English used is pretty poor....and confusing.

2.) The Instruction Manual is printed in such a small Font that it is almost impossible to read without the use of a Magnifier Lens !!!

The Unit is in Fact a 7"Tablet.......

Is there a Possibility to load new Maps/Updates for this Unit??

Read Best Reviews of 7 Inch Touchscreen GPS Navigator with DVR (Video recorder, Bluetooth, AV-IN, FM Transmitter) with 2 Here

It has great features. I bought it because it was a great price. Like the large screen and it's easy to use.

Want 7 Inch Touchscreen GPS Navigator with DVR (Video recorder, Bluetooth, AV-IN, FM Transmitter) with 2 Discount?

It did not work-the gps receiver was broken. Costumer service was friendly though and offered a replacement but I had to mail back to China which was too expensive at the time and too much of a hassle compared to what I paid for it. I might still try getting to the USPS to mail it, who knows, possibly a great product and possibly was damaged in the mail.

Geovision GV-1480A 16CH Displayx480fps, RecordCIFx480 , with free CB220D

This card is very rich in features. The one thing that is important to know is that if you connect 16 cameras to it, and plan to view video history over the internet, ensure that you have a capable quad core processor in the PC.

The card uses the PC processor to render the video streams. When viewing video _history_ over the internet, if you don't have a quad core processor, the video history will be choppy (frames will be dropped.) This is not a negative point for this card, it just needs to be matched to the proper equipment (in this case, a capable processor.) If you don't plan on viewing video history over the internet, you can get away with a dual core (though I would not recommend it.)

Obviously, sufficient upload bandwidth is also required to view the video over the internet. The more cameras you have, the more bandwidth will be needed. To get decent FPS over the internet, plan on having at least 32KB/s of upload bandwidth per camera. For a 16 camera setup, that translates to half a megabyte per second of upload bandwidth which is more than what you get (by default) with most internet providers. 32K really is the minimum per camera. If you can get more at a reasonable cost from your ISP, don't hesitate to get it.

Also required is more than one hard drive in the PC. Have Windows on one drive and the cameras storing their video on another drive. You can get away with using only one drive (provided it is really fast) if you are only using a few cameras (say 6 or less) but, even then, there will be occasions when frames will be dropped.

The PDF manual that comes with the card is adequate (not great but not too bad.) Demonstration videos of the card capabilities are included in the CD. Plan to spend some time going over the manual, there are lots of nice features, some of which you will likely find very useful.

Conclusion: This is a very capable product, works very well when installed in a capable PC and offers lots of features. A short review like this one cannot make justice to it.

I will never buy anything from Amazon and its affiliate sellers. This company I bought the card from never responded to my concern about support for this card. Second, this card and the software included don't work. I couldn't download the driver for it. It always gives me (download fail) message. I called other Geovision websites, and they charge $39 per hour to help fix the problem. I don't recommend buying anything from this company.

Buy Geovision GV-1480A 16CH Displayx480fps, RecordCIFx480 , with free CB220D Now

Livescribe APX-00006 8GB Echo Smartpen EFIGS Voice Recorder

I am a consummate note taker. Note taking is also a memory builder for me as I am a visual learner. I am a tax and business consulting CPA, and I take notes in each client meeting either by phone or in person. This product allows me to keep a record of my hand written notes and save them to our computer network. I can access from any computer. I can also perform text searches on my handwriting! Yes, my beautiful, yet sometimes illegible writing. So, the neater you write, the better. Although I do not use the recording feature with clients, I do use it to track my notes from Sunday School class. The pen can track four different books, so my Sunday School class notes and the recordings thereof are in a separate book. An awesome pen system. Export to PDF or transcribe into text to Word. Upload to Evernote, Dropbox... I bought the 8gb. I synch every couple of days; recharge less frequently. Have never run out of storage memory or battery. Great little calculator built into the front of each book is very handy for an accountant. Just an incredibly useful product, and I have nothing but praise. Wake Forest, NC and Henderson, NC.

The Livescribe Echo pen has worked very well (after I performed a firmware update) and I have found it to be a very useful tool. I use it to audio record meetings with links to my written notes and to transfer my notes to my computer for future reference. I also sometimes transcribe my notes using the utility that they provide. While understandably the transcriptions aren't perfect I find them good enough to be worthwhile. I recommend this pen for others who have faulty memories as I do and could benefit from a way to refer to complete records of meetings.

Buy Livescribe APX-00006 8GB Echo Smartpen EFIGS Voice Recorder Now

The 8GB Echopen has been immensely useful--especially the ability to playback the relevant portion of audio by tapping a section of the notes. I use it primarily to record notes and audio on conference calls.

Read Best Reviews of Livescribe APX-00006 8GB Echo Smartpen EFIGS Voice Recorder Here

I have purchased three of these pens form Amazon and 10 from a local store. I have had a battery problem with one. That problem was solved by a replacement pen. Customer service was great. Before I bought the last two Echos I read all the comments on Amazon as well as the Forms site. It seems there is a repetitive theme that rate the pen as poor. Most of the problems are between the pen and the screen. Read the manual and work with the pen and its qualities. Its easy to understand the drop of the developer programs.Is the paper too expensive, only if your labor is cheap.Livescribe is a great product and better than any alternatives.

Want Livescribe APX-00006 8GB Echo Smartpen EFIGS Voice Recorder Discount?

I found the range, clarity, and ease of use to be exceptional; actually far more than I expected. The pen has proven to be invaluable tool for taking notes during meetings. The only thing I do not like about the pen is its cap; it is too easily misplaced and I can see losing it soon.

Save 20% Off

Archos Gmini 400 20 GB Digital Audio/Video Jukebox

• Archos 500637 Gmini 400 20 GB Digital Audio/Video Jukebox
• Hard drive-based digital audio and video player and gaming device
• 20 GB hard drive stores up to 300 hours of music
• Play MPEG4 video back on the 2.2-inch LCD or connect to a TV
• Built-in CompactFlash slot

First a little background info on me. I am 18 and a sophomore in college. I have wanted an mp3 player for a while, but could not justify the cost for just music. I spent weeks reading about all sorts of players, but all of them were mostly the same. Then I saw the gmini, and after reading lots of opinions, I decided to purchase it. I also have a LOT of friends who own iPods, so I have seen and used them.

When people see me holding the Archos Gmini 400 (gmini) they often say "Is that an iPod?" iPods are all the rage lately and people can't seem to get enough of them, but why? For those of you who don't know much about an iPod, here it is in a gist:

MP3/AAC player

Games

Portable Hard Drive

Black and White Screen

Unique Touch Interface

The games are limited to basic black and white games, still fun, but they get old. It plays MP3 and AAC, and is the only player to support songs purchased in itunes. However the portable hard drive feature can get a bit confusing. You CANNOT upload your songs from an iPod. You can only upload DATA off of it. You can upload songs if you store them as data... but then you can't play them from the iPod. So don't expect to use it to transfer songs between computers or even to just save space on your hard drive by deleting your music once it's on the iPod. You can play it off the iPod to your computer, but you won't be able to retrieve the actual song files, so when the iPod dies, you're out of luck.

Now, onto the gmini. It is the same size as an iPod, and it plays MP3's, that is about all they have in common. The gmini has the following features:

MP3/WMA/WAV music playback

MP4 Video Playback (Divx and Xvid)

Games

Photo Viewer

CF Card Reader

AV out for viewing on a TV

Audio in for recording

Mic for recording

Color screen

Portable Hard Drive

The gmini has a much larger feature set, for only a small amount more, but what are the trade offs? The battery lives are similar. The 4G iPod is about 12 hours, while the gmini is 10 for music. The iPod, right now, is very stylish. It's white, it's sleek, and it has no buttons. The gmini, is, well, not. It looks almost like a shrunken gameboy with more chrome. I have to admit however that it is not as ugly as the pictures make it look online, and does feel nice in your hands. The fit and finish of the gmini is just not as good as an iPod. I've handled many iPods and they are all smooth and perfect. The gmini has some spots where it just doesn't look as good. The buttons have space around them, which are likely to attract dust, and it just doesn't seem as modern as an iPod with it's click wheel. What you give up for looks is gained back, and more so, by the features.

Screen/Video Play Back

The screen is amazing. Though it is not the best resolution wise, it has great color, contrast, and brightness. Horizontal viewing is limited (it turns blue if you move too far to the side) but this device is really only meant for one person to use, so this doesn't matter. The movies, if encoded to the right format and a resolution about the size of the screen, play back extremely smooth. If you use a higher resolution for playback on a television then the FPS drop and it becomes choppy at times, but it is still watchable. The video feature is the big draw over the iPod, but there is more. Here is a general summary of everything there is to know about the gmini.

OS

The OS is much like windows 3.1. If you have ever used windows, you will know how to use this OS. You can navigate through folders, or it can organize your songs into categories based on the ID3 tags. If you want to know how to use more advanced features, like copying from a CF card to the hard drive, a quick glance at the manual will solve all your problems.

Photo Viewing

What can I say, other than it is there. It isn't astounding, but it works. The pictures load slowly (at least mine did, at 1600*1200 resolution in jpeg format) and when you zoom in, it seems as though the gmini lowers the quality of the image. However, it works and is useful for showing off shots of last nights get together, etc. Also, having the CF slot is a really useful feature. Did your camera fill up? No problem, dump the pics in the gmini and keep on shooting, I wish I had this at the NYC auto show.

Music Playback

You can create play lists on the fly, open existing play lists, browse by ID3 tags or the file system, and it all works just fine. You can even play all your music files at random, which is what I do most of the time. The only part that is annoying is finding the song you want in a long list of titles. I have terrible memory when it comes to names of bands, so I usually just know the title of the song. When searching through thousands, it gets annoying without an iPod like wheel. You need to sit there holding the dpad down, which takes some time. It does speed up as it goes along, but then you end up passing where you wanted to go, etc. It isn't that big of a deal, but if I could change one thing, I would change it to touch interface instead of buttons. How is the sound itself? Good.

Games

The games are based off of the mophun game engine, which is mostly used for cell phones. You can get a lot of 80's like games which are a fun distraction, but do get boring if overly played. I hear there is a 3D rally game coming out this Fall though (2004). The only downside is you cannot play music and play a game at the same time. Overall a nice extra feature to have.

Portable Hard Drive

Connecting the gmini to a PC could not be any easier. Here it is, step by step:

Plug in the USB cable

BAM, you're done. You get a new drive letter under "My Computer" (in windows, and it's similar for mac) and then you just drag and drop your files onto the gmini. The gmini archives all the new files when you disconnect the usb cable, so there is no need to use proprietary software. No drivers, no hassle. You can even upload all your data, music, video, whatever, off of it at any time to any computer. When you decide to put some video onto it, the video converters actually come on the hard drive, and you can install them right from the gmini. Having the gmini is like having a 20gb jump drive. You'll never use a floppy again. For that matter, you won't even use a CD.

General Downsides:

The included headphones are not too great, but when have included headphones been any good?

Style is not the greatest thing ever, though it is made of Aluminum which is pretty neat.

The screen is extremely prone to scratches, and there is no included case, or one you can buy, at the time of this review (10.7.04)

No replaceable battery (neither does the iPod)

Buttons instead of a scroll wheel, or similar touch interface.

Overall, I think it depends on what you want. Do you want a device simply to listen to music, and show off to friends? An iPod will work for that. Or, do you want something that is actually useful? Music, movies, games, CF reader, Real Portable Hard drive, for slightly more than an iPod. Everyone has an iPod, why not try something new? In my opinion, this is the best "player" on the market right now. It crosses the lines between MP3 player, and Portable Media Center.

.Recommended.

Buy Archos Gmini 400 20 GB Digital Audio/Video Jukebox Now

First off don't listen to reviewers who just looked at the package in the store and never bought it, that makes me mad they have no basis to review a product. I've had the Gmini for a while now and this thing rocks! It's not just an Mp3 player, but it stores and allows you to view photos and videos, has decent games, and at 20GB it's big enough to handle a ton if data. You might read about people who knock it for its size, but I purchased an ipod case made by Case Logic and it fits perfectly..It's virtually the same size as an ipod.

Another cool feature is the movies, if you can "acquire" movies on your computer then you can convert them to a format that the Gmini uses and then watch movies on this little awesome machine. Tell me how cool this is, recently on a cross country flight I watched the movie The Italian Job which I downloaded, converted, and copied to the Gmini. I had plenty of battery to watch the movie and listen to music the rest of the way. The guy next to me was watching and then at the end of the flight he was asking all about the Gmini and how he could get one.

The Mp3 player is also very cool. You can create playlists on the fly, as well as break you music collection down by artist, album, genre, year it was released, song name. Playlists are very cool because they take up very little space on the hard drive, but they allow you to do so much. For example I have 3 different playlists for when I workout...One for running which is upbeat and has songs that I really get into which take my mind off of running ;)... another is for lifting which contains much more aggressive music that gets me all fired up!...and the third one is my cool down music that I play as I'm walking or stretching. Very cool.

I purchased 2 great accessories for the Gmini. The first was a 3 in 1 case made by Case Logic, model # MPC7. This thing can be used as a belt pack, as an arm band, or detach all the straps and the case has a hand strap. It's very nice and convenient. The other cool accessory is made by Irock and it is a device that plugs into the cigarette lighter of your car and into the headphone jack of the Gmini and basically broadcasts your Mp3's over a radio station that you tune your car's stereo to. It's very cool cause now your Gmini is locked and loaded for long road trips! Just watch out if you accidentally play that aggressive workout playlist while you drive you might develop a case of ROAD RAGE!!!

The photo function is very handy for me as well because I have a 4 month old daughter and love to show off pictures of her all of the time. One of her pictures is also set as the wallpaper of the Gmini! The CF reader is a nice function to have as well. I have a Canon A75 which uses a CF card and I've just messed around a little bit with this but you can take all of the pictures from the CF card and transfer them to the Gmini and then continue taking pictures. Very handy if you shoot tons of pictures, or are like me a little paranoid to take a ton because you are worried that your card will be full when the perfect picture moment comes along.

Anyway, I am rambling. Forget the ipod photo, or other ipods the Gmini is well worth your money and has features that leave the ipod in the dust (mainly the movies). If you don't have any desire to watch movies or play entertaining games then the ipod and Gmini are very similar and it probably comes down to personal preference. Archos has created a real winner here; I don't believe you will be disappointed.

Read Best Reviews of Archos Gmini 400 20 GB Digital Audio/Video Jukebox Here

Archis Gmini 400 is a great device with many capabilities. Gmini 400 is one of the best choices if you compare its features to competitors. Certainly, it is not as beautiful and intuitive as an Ipod, but it does so much more. Its music features are not as extensive as Iriver mp3 players, but it is so much smaller and has video capabilities. Its video mode is not as advanced as many other devices designed as entertainment centers (such as those that can record live TV), but Gmini 400 is much cheaper and it still has a beautiful color screen. The fact that Gmini 400 is the second best choice in many categories makes it a very strong overall choice. It is a Jack-of-all-trades, and being a master of none is not necessarily a weakness if you are looking for a broad set of features.

I bought Gemini 400 a week ago from Amazon, and put it to a good test since then, because I was not sure if I wanted to keep it or send it back. Gmini is a small device that looks like a game boy. The box comes with connection cables, headphones, charger and a multi-jack adaptor. No carrying case is included, and the last time I checked, Archos did not have one for sale. It looks well-built overall, although, to my dismay, the browsing button was a fit flimsy. The charger is unbelievable light and it works for input voltages from 100 V to 240 V, perfect for international travelers. Archos also included handsomely made plugs to be used in Europe and Britain. A full charge takes about 3 hours. One of the great things is that you don't have to wait until the batteries are completely drained before you can charge your device. I did not test how long the batteries last (the company claims 10 hours with music only and 5 hours with video, and the latest firmware update claims significant improvement over battery life), but if you fiddle too much with the screen (and, believe me, you should if you want to learn how to use it), they will obviously drain quickly. I think it is easily possible to get 8 or 9 hours if you only listen to music on your Gmini 400, but this may not be enough for some users who demand more battery life, especially considering that there are alternative products with longer battery life.

Gmini has an ingenious system of file manipulation: Similar to the previous versions of Windows explorer, two windows appear when you want to copy or move files, when you add songs to a playlist, or when you copy photos to the device. Therefore, you can use it as a back-up hard drive, but 20 GB hard drive space (about 18 when formatted) may not be sufficient for people with a lot fo music files and movies to store on the device. I think Archos should have offered a 40 GB version as well.

Gmini 400 becomes ready to use a few seconds after you turn it on, even when the hard drive is full of music and other files. I heard horror stories with other mp3 players that took 20 minutes to switch on, and this is a big deal for me. Operating system in the device looks stable (Gmini 400 crashed only once since I bought it). When I received it, I immediately updated the firmware to the latest version (1.2), which is extremely easy to do. I suggest you do the same before putting any files on Gmini. This is not the easiest mp3 player to use, but learning to use it is not rocket science either. Reading the included manual carefully (there is a more detailed manual on the hard drive of Gmini) is not a bad investment considering how much it increases your enjoyment.

I am not an "audiophile", but Gmini 400 sounds very good. The included headphones, as you can guess, are completely useless. Transferring music is very quick with a USB 2.0 connection. My files (11 GB) took less than half hour to transfer. You can adjust bass, treble, and deep bass on your device but no equalizers are included. One of the best features of Gmini is that Windows XP recognizes it as an external hard drive (you will need to install drivers for other operating systems). Then, you can copy your music files (and other files of course) onto Gmini 400 without using any software (but, if you wish, it is also possible to use Windows Media Player 9 to syncronize files). At this point, you have two choices: either browse through your music using your own folder structure (if you organized your music well) or let Gmini 400 detect your ID tags and organize the music based on Artist, Album, Title, Genre, and Year. Recognizing ID tags (you need to do this every time you add new music) takes about 15 seconds for my 11 GB of music. I had one minor problem. Gmini did not recognize Blues as a genre, and replaced "Blues" in ID tags with "0". Everything else worked fine. When you skip to another song without waiting to the end, Gmini searches its hard drive for a short while, but if you are listening to an album or a playlist, it does not include any extra silence between tracks. This should work great for classical music listeners. Finally, you can easily create playlists in the fly.

The video capabilities of Gmini 400 are limited. You cannot record from TV or any other external source. You have to transfer video files to Gmini using your computer. It is certainly possible to watch an entire movie, but the screen is a bit too small for my tastes. However, you can connect Gmini to your TV and watch your movie on TV screen. Gmini is able to play only specific types of movie files. Requirements (30 or less fps, less than a certain resolution, etc) seem extensive at first. However, Archos included a utility in the hard drive of Gmini. After you install this utility, converting your movies to the format Gmini likes is very easy. You do not have to know anything about this procedure, since almost everything is automated in the process.

The photo mode works nicely. You can transfer your photos directly from your digital camera into Gmini. You do not even need a cable for that (as opposed to other mp3 players). You simply plug your compact flash card into Gmini and it recognizes it automatically. This is also much better than Ipod photo because you do not have to use your computer to place these files on the device. If you go on a trip with the intent to take a lot of pictures, but you do not want to carry your notebook computer, Gmini offers a perfect solution.

Gmini also lets you play games, although I am not interested in this very much. I feel like extensive gaming on this device can ruin the buttons in the long run. Five games were included on my Gmini, and three of them were demos. You can buy games directly from Archos if you pay an additional $6 for each.

You can record voice using Gmini but it does not encode your files into mp3. Also, the sound of the hard drive is clearly audible during the beginning of the recording. You can also record from analog sources using the line in connection. You can even edit these songs on Gmini, but this is nothing fancy. You can simply cut out sections from the beginning and the end of the file. If you would like to listen to and record from the radio, you will have to buy an optional accessory: the remote control. The Amazon website sells Gmini and the remote as a bundle. I think the remote is worth the extra money you pay for it not only because adds radio capabilities, but also it reduced battery consumption of the main unit. You do not have to turn on the screen on the main unit every time you want to search or skip a song. Also, the remote has a microphone to record voice. If you do not want to hear the hard drive on your voice recording, you will need the remote. When you record a song from the radio using the remote control, you have the option of "retro-recording", which lets you capture 30 seconds of the broadcast before you actually pressed the record button-a very useful feature, I believe. You can also edit recordings from the radio right on your Gmini. One problem with the remote is that the record button is placed too conveniently. It is easy to accidentally press the button.

I did not have an encounter with the Archos support yet, but it seems they are at least updating the firmware for Gmini 400 quite frequently (in relative terms, of course). In any case, make sure you buy one from a reputable place with a good return policy (like Amazon, which also has the best price as I am writing this). After thinking about it a lot, I decided to keep my Gmini 400. If you only want an mp3 player with plenty of extra musical features (equalizers, etc.), Gmini 400 may not be the best choice. If you want a very simple device that does nothing but plays mp3s, Gmini is not a great choice, either. However, if you like a little bit of everything, Gmini looks like a great choice. When you add the color screen, the photo and movie features, and the small size of this device, Gmini 400 becomes a strong contender. Good luck finding the right player for you.

Want Archos Gmini 400 20 GB Digital Audio/Video Jukebox Discount?

I bought the Archos Gmini 400 to replace by 10 GB 3rd generation Apple Ipod that I've had for over a year. I wasn't sure what to expect with this thing, but it turns out to be great. Unlike my Ipod which I only ended up using in the car because of its limited features of only being able to play music, I carry the Gmini everywhere I go since I can not only listen to music, but also record stuff or play videos.

The Gmini's user interface may not be as fancy or simple as the Ipod's scroll wheel, but the Gmini is not that difficult to use, and it's rather easy to use once you get used to it and learn the controls. The Gmini is sort of like a little Windows computer itself, so if you are good with a Windows PC, you'll have no problems navigating around with the Gmini. If you are a Mac user and need things to be as simple as possible, then you may have some problems learning the controls. I like the fact that I don't have to use any junk software on my computer to transfer the files over to the Gmini. I just connect the Gmini to the USB cable and copy them straight over as if it were another hard drive.

The screen on the Gmini is quite stellar, and it almost looks like a small laptop screen it is so bright. I also like the look of the Gmini over the Ipod also, it is nice to not have to worry about getting scratches each time you touch the thing, unlike the Ipod which scratches up rather easily with its polished back casing that ends up looking pretty bad after a while. Just to be safe I put a PDA screen protector over the screen of my Gmini to protect it, and I also use the case for the Ipod with my Gmini since it is the same size and fits perfectly.

It is very easy to play music with this thing, and it's also easy to create play lists or delete files on the go. One very cool feature is the album art that shows when you play your music. I recommend downloading Musicmatch Jukebox Plus and using their super tagging feature which fixes your MP3 tags, and it also adds the album art into the tags for you which are perfect for the Gmini.

The Gmini works very well as a recorder, even though you can sometimes infrequently hear the hard drive spinning. This thing is perfect to take around with you and record your friends making fools of themselves at parties, or to record a concert you go to.

If you want to put videos on the Gmini, it does take some time encoding them in the proper format, but it's not too hard to do if you are computer savvy. It is cool to be able to watch videos on the Gmini or to use the included cable to watch them on your TV. It is sort of like carrying around a DVD player or VCR in your pocket if you go over to a friend's house. I've also used my Gmini to put photos on from my compact flash card, and this is also a breeze.

Unlike Apple who appears to not care about customers who purchased previous models and they try to make you buy a new model when in reality they could release a firmware update with the same features included. It appears that Archos routinely has been releasing updates for the Gmini, and they have just recently released their third firmware update (1.3) the other day. This update can easily be downloaded from their website onto your Gmini as a portable hard drive and it's rather simple to update.

If you are somebody who wants what everybody else has or if you are trying to fit in with your friends who aren't very tech savvy, and if you buy into all the hype and advertising generated by a corporate giant, then go buy yourself an Ipod. If you want to stand out and be cooler than those friends with those feature lacking Ipods, and if you know how to use a Windows computer and don't need things to be as simple as possible, go buy yourself an Archos Gmini 400. You'll be much happier with the extra features you get, and you won't be feeding more money to the giant that is Apple, who purposely leaves features off of their Ipods, only so they can release new models later on with features they should have had a while ago. I am going to be selling my old Ipod on eBay, and I won't miss it or Apple one bit.

I bought the Gmini400 after doing a lot of research on many different MP3 players.

After doing this research, I found that the Gmini was, by far, the best value if you want a function loaded device. I travel a lot so some of the key selling points for me were the video and the plug and play capability. The video playback is great and better looking than I expected from the small screen. I've been converting my DVD's to Divx format with some free software I got off the net and they look great.

The PnP capability is great too. Unlike the IPOD, this thing can be plugged into any computer without adding software and it just shows up as an external hard drive. I've used it on 6 different computers with no problems at all. Just drag and drop files from/to yours and your friends' PC's.

Bottom line is this thing is way better priced over IPOD's competitor, the IPOD photo, and it has a lot more features voice recorder, video, plug and play, plus everything the IPOD does.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone.

Stealth Cam Prowler HD IDVR with 54 Infrared Emitters, 60 ft Range

I live in the Northeast in a heavily wooded area, and I purchased the camera to take videos of critters visiting our backyard late at night. I mounted the camera on a large tree, low to the ground so that it's at the level of the animals. I've gotten great videos of red fox and coyotes in the yard. The images are high resolution and a lot of fun to watch. Low light sensitivity of this unit is excellent, and the weather seal is sturdy (the camera is right in the path of one of our backyard sprinkler units but has shown no sign of leaking despite being pounded with water 15 min/day, 3 days/week over the summer). This is a pricey, top-of-the-line, item, but if you can afford it, you'll get good results.

This is the second Stealth Camera I have owned. The first was stolen after two years of great pictures. The Prowler HD IDVR takes very good pictures. Night pictures are clear enough to count points on a 5X5 point Bull at 35 ft. The day light pictures are nice color and show all the detail you need for a scout hunting camera. The only thing it lacks is a viewer. You must have the SD card or the camera to view the pictures. I like this camera and would buy it again.

Buy Stealth Cam Prowler HD IDVR with 54 Infrared Emitters, 60 ft Range Now

The video quality is excellent as you would expect with the HD. Having audio makes it so much more amazing to watch. Really makes it feel like you're out there in the woods. Battery life seems excellent so far (I've been using the same set for well over a month and the batter indicator still says full).

The issue I have with the camera is the trigger definitely seems more sluggish than with my other two cameras, which are Stealth Cam Rogues that I bought a few years ago. I've repeatedly put both the Rogue and the Prowler in the same spot, one after the other, and the Prowler gets far, far fewer videos. If you're a hunter looking to get only deer then it'll probably be fine because they seem to be big enough and slow enough to trigger the camera. If you're trying to get any and all wildlife that goes in front of your camera, like I am, then this camera is not for you.

Here's a summary of what I've gotten with each camera having put each of them in the same spot three times:

Prowler: deer

Rogue: deer, coyote, red fox, opossum, porcupine, gray squirrel, bobcat, house cat

Read Best Reviews of Stealth Cam Prowler HD IDVR with 54 Infrared Emitters, 60 ft Range Here

This is a top quality camera, that has proven reliable over the last 5 months of use. It doesn't leak, has plenty of battery life, and takes outstanding audio and video of its surroundings. The optional battery is a must if you want lots of videos, and I suggest it. Currently, I'm using it for animal wildlife research, and it has proven to be very informative.

The only downside is that the trigger is a bit slow, and the temperature sensor seems to be inaccurate. Overall, a very good camera for the money.

Want Stealth Cam Prowler HD IDVR with 54 Infrared Emitters, 60 ft Range Discount?

We like the camera. Just takes a little time figuring it out. Good night pictures. Well worth the money. Happy Hunting everyone!

Save 49% Off

Sony HVR-Z7U HDV Professional Video Camcorder

Sony HVR-Z7U Review

For the last 3 years I have been using the first Sony HDV camera, the Z1U, with great results. We took it in over 21 countries for the filming of a documentary and it preformed just great. However my Z1U, as much as I loved it, was growing old, so I went for the next generation, the Z7U, that I just got a couple days ago.

The first thing to notice as I unpacked it is that is noticeably heavier. I knew that from the spec sheet, but I thought I wouldn't notice the 0.6 pound difference. Anyway, the newness of the camera and the fact that is a lot shorter than its predecessor got me excited enough to get over it.

I also noticed and liked the new frontal design where the far reaching built in microphone of the Z1U is missing. This allows for bringing the camera much closer to the airplane or car window for instance, something I will value as a documentarian.

The Lens

The removable lens hood is easily removable by the push of a button, opposed to the screw system of the Z1U, a nice little touch, to be valued when you're strapped for time.

The main advantage that I went for on this camera is the removable lens. So first thing I did I removed the Vario Sonnar 12x lens that comes with it. The process was easy and intuitive. Upon my first field test, I got to like this lens a lot better than the built in Z1U. It seems that the new model achieves a much better shallow dept of field, the nirvana of any professional. I also really liked the "Digital Extender" function, built in this lens, that brings the subject 1.5x closer when you're zoomed in to the max. First I thought in might be a cheapo "blow up the pixels" trick, but while watching the footage on a 50inch HD monitor, I could not tell any quality drop while using the "Extender".

The focus ring is large and handy and must be pushed forward for "Auto focus". This is handy as you shoot, but it is guaranteed to move the shot if you're on a tripod shooting. I remember that the centrally located AF button of the Z1U could be moved without any jerk while shooting. The other disappointment is that there is no Autofocus push button, unless you go trough a convoluted programming procedure from the book.

The zoom is handy and smooth, and what I liked the most is that the servo zoom is a lot smoother than the older one. More than that, the servo zoom on the handle bar can be programmed to various speeds and once it reaches the upper or lower limit it will ease to a stop. Totally cool and professional.

The iris is located as third ring on the lens. I liked that too, and there is an Auto Iris button, but I like doing my own exposure.

The Camera

There are 3 ND filters as opposed to two and they work like a charm. I was able to shoot a sunset reflection on the water without closing the iris at all or being overexposed...

There are 3 gain levels and they are programmable as a new feature. I dindt change the DB levels but I used them all and could not see any image graining even on the "H" setting. I wish that was the case with the Z1U. So, yes, the low light performance of the new Z7U is net better, a Godsend for a documentarian that can't always control the lighting.

The white balance seems to be the same, not much to do there, same with the menus, and status check. The picture profile has a number of sophistication's such as "black gain" and color depth that were a bit above my comprehension without further reading.

The display and the outputs

The first major disappointment was the smaller LCD screen. More than that the colors on it were pale and while is it worked well in the sun, it was still simply too small. I got in trouble a lot in the past by not seeing where the focus was, so I was hoping on a larger display. Sony says that is superior since it has more pixels, but I'd preferred it bigger.

The VCR functions are the same, and the HDV tape is in the back facing the cameraman, not upwards. This is great if you're changing tapes in the rain or a sandstorm like it happened once while I was in Egypt.

The most valuable new output is the HDMI of course. I connected it directly to my plasma TV and it looks just great. I also liked the full size firewire connector.

The new Sony Compact Flash recorder unit is small and it fits in the back, over the battery compartment so you'll need to remove it first if you want to change the battery. That is OK I guess. The unit is small and luckily it takes the wide available CF card. Thank you Sony for not requiring us to buy your overpriced Sony Stick and other non-compatible "Sony Only" kind of cards. And thank you for having a dual kind of output storage. I am a "tape" faithful for storage and backup purposes, but it is nice to have the CF option. I have not tried it yet.

The biggest disappointment happened when I tried to playback on the new camera tapes recorded by the old Z1U. As soon as I put them in, the Z7U ejected them out. They were recorded in the "1080I 60FPS" a format fully compatible with the Z7U. This is highly troublesome since I have hundreds of tapes filmed on 5 continents that I might have to re-digitize one day should my hard disks crash. What am I to do, buy an $3000 VTR?

Sound

The included microphone is nice and sensitive, but I rarely record more than the ambient sound on the built in mic. There are 2 XLR inputs, nothing new there. I like that the mic is easily detachable and can save space while packing the camera. Also with an XLR extension cord it can be used for interviews on a table mount if you're lacking a lapel microphone... This couldn't be done with the old model.

The camera also has the capability to take still pics even while shooting. It has an SD Ram slot and a button can be assigned for picture taking. I never cared much for this feature since you can extract just as good pictures from the HD Video files.

Conclusion

The new HVR-Z7U is a pretty good piece of equipment for the $6000 USD price tag. Despite a couple of shortcomings I don't regret getting it. I really hope Sony will come up with longer lens soon that would make the main new feature "interchangeable lens" so much more valuable. So far Sony offers just some one wide lens for this unit. That's disappointing, great cinema and nature shots require long lens and none are available specifically for this camera. Sony offers some options that require adapters and reduced functionality for use of their still camera lenses with the Z7U, but I am skeptical about using such non specific products.

Mitch Anderson

Mitch Anderson is the producer of the film "The World Without US" . This feature-length documentary debates the implications and consequences of US military involvement in the world today.

The World Without US With Niall Ferguson

I recieved 2 defective JVC GY-HD110's from Amazon. Sent them back and fronted the extra cash for this one. Best decision I have ever made. Recording to Compact Flash cuts my editing time in half. The battery time is 4 times longer with the stock battery than the JVC too! I love everything about it.

Buy Sony HVR-Z7U HDV Professional Video Camcorder Now

I'm loving this camera. There are times when bringing a "smaller" camera into a clients business that this camera may not have the "pro-appearance" factor but none of the clients have been disappointed with the results. The footage I've taken with this have been on national broadcasts and look dazzling!

And, it has proven to be a workhorse by working in cold temperatures, long days, high altitude, and even me when I'm crabby! I'm psyched with my purchase close to a year now of this Sony Z7U and it has payed for itself many times over. I'm glad I have this camera over the Canon or Panasonic in it's class!

No problems (knock on wood)

Thanks Sony!

-jl

Read Best Reviews of Sony HVR-Z7U HDV Professional Video Camcorder Here

Pros: Great footage in low light situations, after factory settings are changed.

I have two Z7Us and 2 MRU units, I have the same issues with both units.

Cons: MRU (Memory Recording Units)continually drop frames. I have to constantly re-synch videos. (I am using the recommended Compact Flash Card)

Out of the box settings are horrible. 1. Must change the internal settings on db (gain) or footage will be unusable due to noise. 2. Color is drab & lifeless until settings are changed.

Manual does not provide needed information to master this camera, or change the needed settings out of the box. I purchased a DVD to help setup this camera. Would highly recommend purchasing a DVD if you choose to purchase this item. Try the one by Vortex Media which is an excellent product.

LCD screen VERY inaccurate on exposure. If you purchase this product, plan to purchase a monitor and use the Zebra setting to gauge exposure. Otherwise you footage will be far overexposed. I lost my complete first shoot due to the inaccuracy of the LCD screen.

Computer will not recognize the cameras if the MRU units are attached. Therefore, when archiving footage while live streaming, you must record to tape. Two afternoons and two technicians later and after reading the manual cover to cover, I found this out on my own.

I would NOT purchase this unit again. Continually dropping frames is a deal breaker. Sorry Sony. My Panasonic camcorders with P2 cards are much better units, much more accurate LCD screen, and have had zero problems with dropped frames. I've had far more problems in the first month of shooting with these units than I did in 8 years of shooting with my Canon GL2s.

Want Sony HVR-Z7U HDV Professional Video Camcorder Discount?

Hard to believe but everything is possible with Sony. I needed the part for my Z7U, I called Sony and they told me that most of the replacement parts for this camera were destroyed in the Flooding in Tayland and they will be no available any more in the future. Since all the Sony authorized services are buying the spare parts from the same suppler, there will be no way to fix your camera if something goes wrong with it. You can immagine if you buy the car and three years latter manufacturer tels you that the parts wont be available any more. Now because of the $85 part I have to put my $4000 camera in trash. No more Sony, ever. Switching to Panasonic or Canon.

Save 48% Off

Dish Network 612 Dual Tuner Hd DVR Receiver

We own a Samsung PN50A550 Plasma HDTV. When you drive a "cadillac" you don't go cheap with the peripherals; you get good quality. Anyway, we have the DISH Total HD package; nothing but HD bliss. I ordered the 612 to replace the HD receiver that we had that wasn't a DVR as well. We couldn't be more pleased. Great HD/DVR receiver at an Amazon price. My wife loves being able to pause live TV and come back to it after breaks. She also loves to be able to instantly rewind show dialog that she didn't get the first time to hear it again. The DVR HD recording is flawless; no HD quality loss whatsoever. Highly recommend however please note the 612 is only good for one TV. DISH does have other HD receivers that will work for more than one TV in the house.

Should add that you can also rent on a monthly basis this receiver from DISH but at the low Amazon price that I was able to score this at I should have it paid for in a short time. The flip side is that if you rent and anything happens to it DISH will just exchange it. I'd rather own it and pocket the savings; why give it to someone else.

This thing puts out more heat than you can imagine. And it has a fan constantly running to keep it "cool". Forget having a quiet living room. This thing is far out the worst piece of AV equipment I have ever owned. Did I mention when you turn it "off" all it does is turn the front panel LEDs off. The fan is still going, the power is still being used, the heat is still there.

Buy Dish Network 612 Dual Tuner Hd DVR Receiver Now

I have only had this receiver for two days from a new DISH install, but I feel I must post a review here since I was apalled at the low ratings others left. I actually was looking for a diagram/picture of the rear panel layout before the system was installed to get an idea of what I would be getting when the system did arrive and saw it here. When I saw the low ratings and read them, I immediately felt that "buyer's remorse" feeling thinking I would be getting a horrible piece of equipment. When the installer showed up, I immediately asked him about reliability/performance of the unit, and he thought it was one that had the least complaints and one that had some of the better features to date. To the contrary of what most have stated here so far, I found the unit to work quite well. Maybe that will change with time, but so far I haven't noticed any of the deficiencies others have mentioned. The unit responds quickly, doesn't lose any frames that I can tell, hasn't locked up, nor has it rebooted at all. Another reviewer said the unit would shut off after 4 hours but it is supposed to do that under the default settings and that can be adjusted or turned off. As far as power usage, I don't think this unit is any worse than others that are out there. It would be nice to have it completely power down when it's off, but it does still need to be active to get updates such as the guide and record programs that are pending. I'm sure there is some room here for improvement with power management, but I wouldn't consider it a show stopper (pardon the pun) when compared the rest out there. I found the noise level to be hardly noticable from even a foot away from the unit, and I can't hear anything from it in the room even when everything is off and certainly not when the TV is on. I guess some people are just unlucky or overly picky about stuff (or from the competition?) Hope this review helps others dismiss some of the bad impressions I got when I read these reviews. Again, so far I find it to be decent product.

Read Best Reviews of Dish Network 612 Dual Tuner Hd DVR Receiver Here

We are on our second one of these and feel sad that we are stuck in a contract with this model. It freezes daily, which is especially bad when another show was recording at the time and now we can't watch it. Every time I invite friends over to watch a Pay Per View I picture them all staring at the TV in disbelief when it locks up midstream and there's no way to find out what just happened because we'll have to spend 5 to 10 minutes rebooting the system and missing the PPV we just spent $55.00 on.

We're told by Dish Network that to use another model DVR costs $200 plus monthly fee, and that's TO RENT, not to buy. They're obviously aware of the problem based on the other reviews you'll find on this model.

Want Dish Network 612 Dual Tuner Hd DVR Receiver Discount?

I have been through 5 612s, and they all have handshake issues with my Pioneer elite sc-07 and my Yamaha YSP-3000. and when you call dish network, they have no idea what I am talking about. I also have a 622 receiver, that I have been happy with.....

Sandisk 16GB MicroSDHC Memory Card, Class 4

Though I wish I had waited a couple of weeks to buy this card (the price dropped 30 dollars in the past two weeks), I have nothing but good things to say about the card. Easy to load, easy to read. I managed to put about 11 gigs on here in the first three days (lots of music) and the access has been flawless. Word of caution, be careful with the card reader. My first attempt led to a corrupted card which I had to return. May have been a manufacturing defect (bought from best buy, not from Amazon. Best buy charged 99.00). I reccomend loading the card in the device before adding data rather than using the reader and then inserting loaded card.

All in all, a miracle of storage on a tiny card. I eagerly await the 32 gb in a year or two.

Great card, works great, is exactly what it says, and comes with SanDisk's standard warranty. A couple things to remember, 16 "gigabytes" in manufacturer terms equates to about 14.9 true formatted gigabytes (because a kilo for a computer is 1024). Also the MicroSDHC standard is the same card and interface as the old MicroSD; the difference is in the compression method. This means that many smartphones that didn't support SDHC when they were made can support it if the software is upgraded. An example of this is any Windows Mobile phone that has been upgraded to WinMo 6.1; 6.1 supports SDHC.

Buy Sandisk 16GB MicroSDHC Memory Card, Class 4 Now

I bought this microSD card for my G1 phone and it works great no problems.

Read Best Reviews of Sandisk 16GB MicroSDHC Memory Card, Class 4 Here

I bought this for the purpose of dual-booting Android from it (on my Barnes&Noble Nook Color). See Short version: for this purpose, buy Sandisk-branded class 4 microSD cards. I've been using it for over a month and the performance has been enjoyable, so I guess they're right. :)

Want Sandisk 16GB MicroSDHC Memory Card, Class 4 Discount?

I was looking for a Micro SD card to add more memory to my AT&T HTC Inspire. I was weary of buying it online once I found out that there were so many rip offs online. I figured I'd look on amazon and find one that had the shipping fulfilled by amazon at least. When I ordered this card on May 27, 2011...the shipping was fulfilled by amazon. As of June 7th, 2011...it's no longer fulfilled by amazon and even sold by a different seller.

So this review is for the item being sold by 'MemoryMogul' and the item being shipped by amazon.

This card is the real deal. When I emailed the seller and asked if the card was real and if it came in the retail packaging...they told me that it was new...but since they purchased in bulk, it only comes in the small plastic container along with the memory card adapter.

I went ahead and ordered one. You couldn't really beat the price they are selling it for. Retail for a 16g class 4 Micro SD card is anywhere from $70-$80! For about $20, I got the same thing.

It arrived on time. When I opened it up, like they said, it was just the plastic holder and it was in a small plastic baggie. I put it into my phone right away and my phone adjusted to it very quickly and easily. I checked the memory available, and it was just a bit above 14g. I don't remember the technical aspects...but I do know that you don't always get the FULL memory of any type of memory card. So I knew that the card was a real 16g card.

So far so good. My phone is working beautifully and I am not worrying at all about memory space. Great buy. I would recommend item...as long as the current seller sends the same product as the seller that I purchased my Micro SD card from.

Save 33% Off

Coby 2-Inch TFT LCD SNAPP HD Camcorder/Camera CAM5000 (Black)

The price point when compared to the Kodak or Flip is great, however video quality is not up to the same standard as these competitors. Video appears slightly washed out and grainy. Have also noticed a consistant issue with a horizontal line that appears in every video approx every 5 seconds.

If you are looking for an ultra cheap'o mini cam just to post video to YouTube and your Facebook account then these faults might not be so concerning. If you are in it for the long haul and would like the best possible picture quality out of a camera in this form factor, you might want to consider the other options out there. I will be returning my recent purchase.

I bought this camera, Christmas 2009. It is now March 2010 and the camera is fully dead.

I noticed a problem about two weeks into using the product. It developed a "tick" during recording....tick...tick....tick....tick....like a clock....I was disappointed to hear it on playback as well...I wrote to the tech support crew from the Coby website. I never received a response.

Sometime Mid-February, the camera developed a bug where, when I turned it on, it would say "HDMI" and the screen would black out, making the camera completely unusable. Again, I contacted support asking for help and never heard from them. At this time, I took the camera back to Fry's where I bought it but they wouldn't return/exchange it because it had been 6 weeks. I got it to work a few times after that by connecting it to an HDMI TV to get to the menu's, but that really didn't help. The problem persists.

How disappointing. Another inexpensive technology that only lives up to its promise for a limited time then dies. Combined with *zero* support from the parent company, this product is a no-buy.

Think about how many resources get consumed manufacturing products like this only to have them junked into landfills less than 6 months later. We need to stop purchasing cheap technologies or Earth will pay the price...Lesson learned!!

Buy Coby 2-Inch TFT LCD SNAPP HD Camcorder/Camera CAM5000 (Black) Now

Good for casual use. Noise when you click for zooming. No remote. Only 4x zooming.

Just a backup camcorder. If you're shooting e.g. graduation or weddings, for a little more money, use a good camcorder. If just shooting short but good quality videos, consider investing in high-end cellphones/pda. If you carry your psp or nintendo ds with you, cameras for these gamers might be enough for short low-quality videos.

Read Best Reviews of Coby 2-Inch TFT LCD SNAPP HD Camcorder/Camera CAM5000 (Black) Here

I bought this about a month ago and I just opened the box to recharge the unit via its USB port.

Has anyone had the same thing happen to them with this device?:

It takes FOREVER to recharge its battery.

From what I gather at the Coby website it should take a least 12 hours of recharge to finally get the device to work on a full charge.

I would rather not keep my computer running for 12 hours as the battery gets its "juice"...and there is NO way of recharging with an AC recharger.

I like the look of the device and it would be perfect for what I would use it for, but this recharging the battery is a major chore (speaking for myself!).

It's been two days on recharge through computer and the still the small red light blinks...meaning it's not done yet.

I may just return it.

Wotta pity!

Peace

Want Coby 2-Inch TFT LCD SNAPP HD Camcorder/Camera CAM5000 (Black) Discount?

Sony CFD-G500 CD Radio Cassette Recorder Boombox (Black)

• CD, cassette, and radio boombox with CD-cassette synchro dubbing and aggressive, power-drive design
• 10 watts RMS per channel x 2, with two 4-inch speakers and a 4-inch Power Drive Woofer for powerful bass enhancement (includes PDW indicator)
• Compact remote control with 10-key direct-access buttons for tuner and CD; 20 FM and 10 AM station presets; drift-free digital PLL tuning
• Stereo minijack (.125-inch) analog line input for hooking up an MP3 player, minidisc player, or other device
• Audio CD-R/CD-RW playback compatibility, 20-track programming, and 4 preset sound modes (rock, pop, jazz, and vocal)

This (the CFD-G500) is the successor to the Sony CFD-G70. I own both. The sound of the CFD-G500 has better definition (is cleaner), is louder, and even has cleaner bass than the CFD-G70. It easily provides music for a water aerobics class that takes place in a swimming pool that is the size of a tennis court. (In fact, before being a pool, it was a tennis court.)

I had worried that the G500's sound would suffer from lack of separate tweeters, which the G70 does have. Not to worry. I don't know how Sony did it.

The G500 also has some improvement in the user interface (compared to the G70): the volume control have moved from the top to the front and is colored silver rather than the same color as the box itself, and Line-In is on top rather than at the bottom of the front.

Note that as I write this, Amazon's link named "Technical Data" is inaccurate in at least the following. Takes 8 batteries, not 6: Weighs 18 lbs with batteries (15.5 lbs without), not "7.25 with batteries," and its size is substantially larger than 15.25 x 6.5 x 10 inches.

In summary, this is the best-sounding battery-powered boombox that I've ever heard, and I've heard many boomboxes in the last 30 years.

Buy Sony CFD-G500 CD Radio Cassette Recorder Boombox (Black) Now

If you're looking at SONY boom boxes, you may be considering both their black CFD-G500 and their silver CFD-F10. I bought both and would like to share my impressions thus far.

Appearance: I really love the sleek even elegant lines of the silver F10.

Portability: The silver F10 is lighter and more stream-lined, so if you want a unit that you can move around, this is an advantage over the heavier and bulkier G500.

Sound: I listen almost exclusively to classical music. Both models do a great job of providing a full rich sound. The MEGA BASS and MEGA Xpand of the silver F10 give it a sound quality comparable, at least to my ears, to the larger and somewhat more expensive black G500 (which has a power drive woofer).

But the black G500 has two advantages I really appreciate over the silver F10:

1. It has a feature that allows me to select 5 different audio emphases: one is good for the whole dynamic range (great for classical), one is best for vocals, one for percussive sounds etc.

2. When I'm playing a symphony at fairly high volume, and the orchestra reaches a real crescendo, the black G500 conveys the full blast of music with great clarity. The silver F10 does a good job of handling a high volume but not full blasts without losing some sound definition.

Bottom line: I'm delighted with both. I bought the silver F10 for use in my den, where I want to hear full rich sounds played at low to medium high volumes. I bought the black G500 for use in a corner of my living room, where I need higher volumes to reach into my kitchen and dining room as well.

Read Best Reviews of Sony CFD-G500 CD Radio Cassette Recorder Boombox (Black) Here

I wanted a small table top one piece portable receiver that plays cass. and cd's and would fit on my nightstand. What I got was a huge, tacky boombox that could be used as a PA for a small outdoor concert.

The sound is great and the soundfields in the built-in equalizer actually work. But the unit is excessively large and the grill work on the front, with it's red neon lights, is reminiscent of a 50's jukebox.

I suppose this is one of the disadvantages of shopping online. Pictures can be deceiving and if you're not really paying attention, you can end up with something totaly different than you imagined. The price was great but it did come in an open box. The first thing that came to mind is that the last person who purchased this item was surprised at the dimensions and returned it.

Bottom line is that this boombox sounds as good as you would expect something this large and heavy to sound.

Want Sony CFD-G500 CD Radio Cassette Recorder Boombox (Black) Discount?

this boombox is simply amazing. it is much better than last years model which i bought for my dad last year for fathers day. when i first bought this boombox, it was for a cookout at my friend's house. they did not have any cd's and i did not have any ranchero music cd's either. so i borrowed a bunch of my dad and mom's cd's and put them all on my hi-md minidisc player and bought a very cheap wire to connect from my minidisc player to my line-in jack. man my friends were amazed at the sound and the music out lasted the party. when i brought it home, my mom was amazed at the sound and said she was going to buy one too. she never did so i gave her mine one day and tried to see if i can find another boombox out there, but there was no luck. after months of seaching, i came up with another sony boombox, which i called it an experiment. this boombox had a mp3/atrac3 cd player. it sounded good with my 80's hard rock collection. then when my mom would crank up the boombox i gave her, it sounded so good all over the house. i could not stand it anymore and i took off to target to my g500 cuz i really missed it and this time i was going to buy a shelf for cuz before i had the other one on a stool. then i was going to connect everything to it. i connected my playstation2, my directv and the unbeatable reunitement of my sony mz-nh600d minidisc player. nothing out there can beat that combination for the price. i have seen some reviews on this boombox that it can not play cdrw's, well this one plays them fine. i have heard of the bose wave radio at a grocery store and this radio rivals that radio easily. i am not going to say that it beats that radio, but for a much lower price this radio can do more than that radio. the bose wave radio is not portable ha! ha! you can not take the bose radio to the beach or just get up and go to target or anywhere else and buy one like the cfd-g500. the bose radio has not impressed my friends and family either and probably cannot beat my mini disc boombox combinations either. i don't know why sony does not just come up with the name subwoofer. it always has a different name like power drive woofer or super woofer. this boombox has a four inch SUBWOOFER. in the back of this radio there is a port and you can feel all the air coming from the subwoofer. i would recomend this boombox to anyone cuz i am now on my second one and believe me you will spend 5x more for the bose and not even get a cassette player either. also the remote is much different than the one pictured.

WOW!!!

I just bought this boombox, I love the powerful sound quality solid bass and loud crisp sound,really love this boombox sound like Bookself HIFI stereo's, forget those BOSE and crap systems out there , put them for 100's dollars, this do the job with great brand and price, worth every penny I paid! ...A+

Magnavox DP170MW8 Up Converting HDMI DVD Player, Black

• 1080P Upconversion
• HDMI progressive scan output
• Kodak Picture CD
• Digital audio output
• Easy To Use

This DVD player is excellent for computer people who want to play back their cd's or DVD's that have Divx / Xvid encoded files. Flows smoothly and even presents a menu list of what the titles are providing the file was named on the computer. I have been able to cram up to 35 hours of Xvid encoded video (with great compression) onto a regular DVD-R or DVD-RW! Three thumbs way up!! (I'm a martian)

Buy Magnavox DP170MW8 Up Converting HDMI DVD Player, Black Now

I bought this DVD player to compliment my new Sanyo DP26649 26' 720p HDTV. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on an upconverting DVD player because the TV was only $295. Thus, I decided to go with this DVD player.

Pros:

Cheap

Doesn't skip or stutter on any of my DVDs

Can play a surprisingly wide range of file formats

Cons:

*Terrible at upconverting*

The reason I starred the con is because it's the main reason I bought this DVD player and it's the main draw of the DVD player. I tried all the different output settings compatible with my TV (480p, 720p, 1080i), and they all looked the same. The picture was decent, but not as good as an upconverted DVD should look. I own an Xbox 360 and use it for upconverting DVDs on my bedroom TV (a Samsung ToC 40' 1080p HDTV). When watching upconverted DVDs on my 360, I notice a significant quality difference when compared to a non-upconverted picture. That quality difference is absent here.

Final word: If you want a cheap DVD player that can play a wide variety of file formats, you may consider this one. However, if you want a DVD for upconverting, stay away from this one, because quite simply, it just doesn't do a very good job at all when it comes to upconverting.

Read Best Reviews of Magnavox DP170MW8 Up Converting HDMI DVD Player, Black Here

I just got this dvd player and was pleasently surprised. I love that it can play Divx files on cds. This really comes in handy. I've got the past two seasons of Doctor Who on Divx files on cds and really wanted to get some way to play them without having to turn my computer on. And it plays the files a lot better than my computer does. Files that will skip or lag on certain scenes on my computer play just fine on the MWD7006. When I picked it up, I was surprised at how light the thing was. Seems a little flimsy to me. But it's worked so far. Really easy to hook up compared to the other dvd players I've had. The buttons on the remote are a bit small for me (I have pretty big hands) but it works just fine. It takes a second to understand which buttons do what and what settings to use to get the picture/sound that you want, but when you do, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the quality of both the picture and the sound. I hope the player lasts as long as other Magnavox products I've had. I had a Magnavox vcr for about five years before it went up....and it was at least a couple of years old when I got it. I had a Magnavox tv and that lasted a few years. The only thing that I would change about the MWD7006 would be to make a 300+ disc capable version of it. Then, I could fit all of my discs (well, all the discs that I have right now. I'll have more than 300 by a few months) without having to touch them so often and put them at risk of getting scratched, dropped, broken, or smudged. All in all, I'm very happy with this player so far. Very good quality and very cool that it can play all (I hope all) of the Divx movies that I have.

Want Magnavox DP170MW8 Up Converting HDMI DVD Player, Black Discount?

This DVD player is the best I've owned! I love it! It plays Divx, DVD-Rs, CD-Rs... It's amazing that, after DVDs have been around for so long, that many DVD players sold today still have serious flaws. This one does not! After trying Philips players that would skip and a Toshiba that played DVDs with the audio out of sync with the picture, I found this Magnavox. I'm proud to say I bought it!

This dvd player is exellent! I have had it for 3 months now and watch movies and box sets on dvd everyday and it has been a great player. Great price!!

Polaroid PRDVDRLS25S Lightscribe DVD-R 4.7GB 120-Minute 16x Recordable DVD Disc, 25-Pack Spindle

Polaroid PRDVDRLS25S Lightscribe DVD-R 25 pack is an excellent buy. 25 for 9.99 Come on, you can't beat that. The lowest I've seen a 25 pack of lightscribe DVD-R's is at least $15. I've paid more for Lightscribe cd-r's.

The Polaroid brand work just as well as any other brand at a fraction of the cost. I haven't had any issues with them. If you're looking for Lightscribe dvd-r's and to save some money, Get these. They don't dissappoint

Well it doesn't replace a true printed label however it does a pretty dang good job. I was fairly impressed however the original color of the DVD does not look very good. Also keep in mind the more contrast you can put into the picture that you want to print the better it will look. It doesn't pick up a lot of middle ground as far as light and dark variation. Does better than I thought it would however. I made a quick video review in hopes that it will help. I apologize that the focus is set and I move the camera a bit much however when you see the Polaroid label come into focus you know exactly how the DVD cover is looking in focus.

Buy Polaroid PRDVDRLS25S Lightscribe DVD-R 4.7GB 120-Minute 16x Recordable DVD Disc, 25-Pack Spindle Now

I know nothing about Lightscribe but I bought these disks based on the positive reviews and excellent price.

I have a brand new 3 week old PC. I put the disk in and my software came back with an error saying that it was not Lightscribe media. All the disks I tried resulted in the same error message. I then Googled "Lightscribe software" and found this page, . I downloaded and installed the latest Windows drivers and the disks were now recognized. Now I had just loaded my burners software 3 weeks ago and updated it to the latest but I still had to update the Lightscribe drivers to get things to work so if you are having troubles with these or any other Lightscribe disks I suggest that you go to this link and update your drivers.

Having said all that the disks perform fine. I've not used Lightscribe before so I cant compare and comment on the quality of the labeling but it looks fine to me.

Read Best Reviews of Polaroid PRDVDRLS25S Lightscribe DVD-R 4.7GB 120-Minute 16x Recordable DVD Disc, 25-Pack Spindle Here

So far I have used over forty of these with no issues. The Lightscribe label comes out great and every burned DVD comes out working. Overall it's a good buy for the price.

Want Polaroid PRDVDRLS25S Lightscribe DVD-R 4.7GB 120-Minute 16x Recordable DVD Disc, 25-Pack Spindle Discount?

This product has worked perfect for what we needed to use it for. We will order it again if needed :-)

Thank you very much

Holux M-1000C Bluetooth GPS Data Logger Travel Recorder (Bluetooth, USB , 66CH, WAAS, 200k Waypoint

GPS logging of bike rides has become significantly more popular lately, thanks to sites like Strava. The biggest problem is the cost of entry can be very high, with the cheapest Garmin Edge 200 coming in at $150. I was curious to find out what would be the cheapest option to get reliable GPS data logging unit for this purpose. I did a bit of research, and decided that for logging mountain bike rides, I wanted to have the following features:

* Simple and cheap, don't need a display during the ride, just want to see the results afterwards. Features cost money.

* Excellent battery life.

* Small and easy to carry. Option to mount to the helmet so it has the best view of the sky. (improves the GPS signal reception)

* Enough recording capacity for even the longest of days in the saddle.

* 1 second logging intervals. On a twisty MTB trail, you can cover some ground between the default 5 second interval found on most loggers, so you need to be able to log more points to get a better indication of how far you rode.

I narrowed my search down to the following four loggers:

* Holux M-1000C (this unit)

* Holux M-241

* Amod AGL-3080

* iGotU GT-120

The Holux M-241 looks very interesting, and has a display so you could actually see speed and things like that. However, it and the Amod AGL-3080 used normal AA or AAA batteries. Although that makes finding fully charged batteries pretty easy, I decided I liked the Li-Ion battery option better, as I can recharge the unit when I connect it to the computer to download the tracks. Otherwise, with AA/AAA rechargeables, I'd have to pull them out and recharge them in a dedicated charger. So, it's a matter of what you want as to which battery you'd prefer. The iGotU looked very tempting because of its size, but I couldn't confirm that it could be configured to a 1 second logging interval, so decided to pass on it. Finding actual information on these units is challenging, and the iGotU "documentation" is just marketing junk, they give almost nothing of actual usefulness.

There are also other dataloggers which look promising (especially the Qstarz stuff) but those are more expensive, and when you're nearing the entry price of a Garmin, it's less of a draw, so I capped my search in the $60-70 range.

The Holux is a nice little unit. Not listed as waterproof, so that's a downside, but I would think that in a light rain it'd be okay. Worse comes to worse, it could be put in a small ziploc bag. It's wickedly simple you slide a switch to turn it on, and once it gets a lock on the GPS signal, it starts logging, indicated by the orange "GPS" light blinking. To stop logging, you turn it off. Couldn't be much easier. I attached the unit to my helmet using velcro cable tie straps, one around the long way, then one around the unit and through the helmet vents. The strap around the unit in the long direction helps keep it from sliding out. This mount is very secure, and stood up to repeated hits from low-hanging branches on an endurance MTB race. I even managed to get some foliage stuck beneath it, and it was fine.

The software that comes with it is not spectacular, and that's being polite. It's kinda ugly. The auto-scan function didn't work for me, and each time I reconnected it, it chose another COM port, which meant I had to figure out which one each time. (I think that's probably a Windows thing, though) The software that comes with the unit is back-levelled and gives errors about the Google API being invalid, so the maps don't work. You have to download the newest version from Holux's website. Then, you have to type in a 28 character product key. This software is essentially useless without the hardware, but they're still so concerned about piracy, they make you enter a longer product key than a Windows installation. And seriously, if you're pirating this software, I'm sorry. While the unit itself is five star worthy, I had to take off a star for the software. I believe there are options available in third party software, but I haven't really investigated that.

That said, doing basic things with the software isn't too difficult, once you've found the device and connected to it. Configuring it for the 1 second logging is easy. You can also download the tracks, rename them, and save them to a standard format like GPX, which can then be uploaded to Strava or your tracking site of choice.

After purchasing the Holux M-1000C, I also found out about the Canmore GT-750FL-S datalogger, which looks like a large USB thumb drive and doesn't offer the bluetooth of the Holux. It's $56 here on Amazon, but I found it for $38 shipped on eBay, so I also picked up one of those. It sounded very promising on paper.

For my testing, I compared the Holux, the Canmore, a Garmin Edge 500, and an old Motorola Cliq MB-200, an Android smartphone running Google's MyTracks app. The Garmin was my wife's, and the phone was what I had been using to log rides. I soon discovered how to pair the bluetooth function on the Holux with my current phone (Samsung Galaxy Nexus, known for having poor GPS performance) so added that to the mix, running the Strava app.

Results:

* After adjusting both the Holux and the Garmin to 1 second logging, I found them to be very close in accuracy. An out-and-back ride on a singletrack trail had both of them overlapping the original track almost exactly.

* The Canmore was significantly less accurate than the Holux, showing some drift on the same out-and-back trail sections. Subsequent testing with the Canmore while walking showed even larger errors.

* The Motorola Cliq was reasonably accurate but had a large amount of small errors, such that a long straight section of trail looked like a jagged line. It stayed close enough to the trail to give good results with matching segments, but the lower quality of the phone GPS was apparent.

* Paired with the Holux via Bluetooth, the Galaxy Nexus running Strava had excellent accuracy from the dedicated chipset in the Holux. This made for my favorite combination, as I can run the phone app, and as soon as I end a ride, it automatically uploads. Plus, if there are any issues with the phone (loses BT signal, battery dies, etc) the logs are still available on the Holux unit itself. Having lost rides to GPS issues before, I really appreciate the backup.

Conclusions:

* The Holux is a great unit. Battery life is excellent, and unless you're into serious mega-endurance races, will be plenty for any one day's use. The use of a standard Nokia cell phone battery is pretty clever as well, since spares can be bought and swapped in pretty quickly if needed.

* The Holux has excellent accuracy, and since I can mount it high on my helmet, gets the best view of the sky, and this seems to be part of the reason why I think its accuracy is slightly higher than the Garmin, which is usually mounted on the handlebars its view of the sky can be partially blocked by the rider.

* Pairing the Holux with a smart phone makes for the ultimate combination of accuracy and ease of use as well as upload speed. Uploading the Garmin involves taking it off the bike and connecting it to a computer. Uploading from the smart phone, depending on the app, can be completely automatic.

* The Canmore was a disappointment. The accuracy is significantly lower than the Canmore, and it doesn't offer the Bluetooth. If you wanted to get into GPS as cheaply as possible, it's a decent alternative, but my choice is still the Holux.

* The Holux M-241 shares the bluetooth connection and GPS chipset of the M-1000C, plus adds a display and can handle standard AA batteries, so would be a very interesting alternative.

* Cell phone GPS units are significantly lower quality than the dedicated chipsets you would find in something like the Holux. Because the units use "assisted GPS", I've had two phones, the Galaxy Nexus and my previous Droid X, which wouldn't even lock onto the satellites unless it had a data connection. That's no good when you're riding in an area without cell coverage. Along the same lines, many of my Strava friends have been bitching about rides not being accurate on their iPhones lately. From a quick search, it doesn't look like you can pair an iPhone with a bluetooth GPS without buying an additional app, but it does look like it's possible.

* A USB serial connection is the standard for GPS units, which is too bad. If you could pair the MTK chipset with a unit that showed up as removable storage, getting and managing the logs would be significantly easier. I don't know of any GPS dataloggers that do this, though, and as I understand, it would render the GPS unit unable to be used as a wired GPS receiver for a laptop.

If you need something with a display that'll show you how fast you're going or how far you've gone, a datalogger like the Holux won't do you much good, and the small display of the M-241 probably won't do, either. For that, you'd want to look at the Garmin offerings. Just make sure to adjust the logging interval from "Smart recording" to 1 second if you're going to be riding off-road trails.

Otherwise, being able to get into Strava or other GPS ride logging sites for only $60 and get the accuracy of the Holux makes this unit a complete win. I'm very happy with this purchase, and have been recommending it to other folks.

I own a standalone Globalsat BT-338 receiver, have a built-in GPS receiver in my HTC Touch 3G mobile, and have a GPS enabled Garmin Forerunner 405 watch/running computer as well. I needed one receiver with long battery life and data logging capability on an affordable price, so I went for the Holux M-1000C. Comparing the reception and the stability of the receivers the built-in Sirf III receiver of HTC has mediocre, the Forerunner has good and the standalone Globalsat and Holux both have excellent sensibility.

The Holux gets fix quite quickly, usually in 30 seconds. It always helps if you don't move while it searches for the satellites, and once it gets fix it never loses again. In urban canyons, such as among the downtown high-rises the signal tends to bounce a bit in every direction, thus later I always modify the tracks with the so called 'clamp to the ground' function. It modifies the height vector based on Google Earth data and eliminates the vertical bouncing and produce a much more realistic elevation diagram very similar to the barometric altitude meter results. Unfortunately the bound ezTour software doesn't offer this function, but for example the (ex-Motionbased) Garmin Connect web service or the free TCX Converter utility do it for you.

The logger function of the M-1000C is excellent. There are 4 preset modes for logging: car, bike, running, hiking. In hiking mode for example records a waypoint in every 3 seconds and in every 10 metres, while these values in bike mode are 5 seconds and 5 meters. But it is possible to set these values manually according your preferences as well. The memory is huge, 4 hours of running log (recording in every 5 seconds) occupies 1% of the memory only.

Handling is easy: you turn it on, wait for the GPS led blinking (meaning fix) and there you go. When you finished just switch it off. Later in ezTour you can see you track in Google Maps and it is possible to modify your tracklog, like delete unnecessary waypoints, moving waypoints etc too. Unfortunately you cannot see the map under your track while you in Track Editor mode, though editing your track is reasonable manageable. While ezTour will not be your primary GPS track managing utility it does the basic stuff.

The Holux M-1000C delivers why I bought it: it can record the track of a week long hiking (with some external charging solution or spare battery as the battery last 'only' 28 hrs in logger mode), and I can use it as a bluetooth GPS with my navigation software on my HTC mobile if the built in GPS receiver gives up and/or I want to record my track.

Oh, did I mention that you can geotag your pictures with it?

Buy Holux M-1000C Bluetooth GPS Data Logger Travel Recorder (Bluetooth, USB , 66CH, WAAS, 200k Waypoint Now

I bought the Holux M-1000c with the purpose of geotagging my photos. The software was really easy to use, and the time synchronization worked great. The instruction manual says that you need a special mini-USB cable in order to communicate via USB, but a standard mini-USB cable worked fine for me to download the data and configure the device.

I've also used the device in my car, and the it works great there as well.

Read Best Reviews of Holux M-1000C Bluetooth GPS Data Logger Travel Recorder (Bluetooth, USB , 66CH, WAAS, 200k Waypoint Here

Frustrated !

USB communication doesn't work. Maybe it is Windows 7 related. The support web site is full of Driver downloads. A driver download resulted in some success, when I turn the GPS off and on, it produces some sound by the PC. But the Holux ezTour SW still can't communicate with the device. I sent an e-mail to the support group. No reply. I called, and most of the times I get "Lines are busy". When I get though, I get a Chinese phone menu. There does not seem to be support from within the U.S. or North America.

Want Holux M-1000C Bluetooth GPS Data Logger Travel Recorder (Bluetooth, USB , 66CH, WAAS, 200k Waypoint Discount?

I have bought this to supply GPS coordinates to my camera adapter. I use a Foolography Unleashed for my Nikon and they work together flawlessly. GPS data gets recorded in the EXIF data straight away, there is no bulky box in the hot shoe and I can stuff the camera in the bag without worrying about attachments. I just turn on the Holux in the morning and then forget about it. It either stays in the camera bag or in my pocket; in both cases it supplies data faithfully.

This combination works very well for me and I am glad to have bought this logger.

I have no use for the logging function and have not tried it yet.