KillerReviewz.info

Great product with a number of nagging issues

1. The positive
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* Excellent screen size and resolution
* Versatile (can play numerous video and audio formats, plenty of inpus: SD card, USB, DVD/CD, Bluetooth, auxilary)
* The USB input works flawlessly, recognizing the files fairly quickly
* The LCD has 3 different tilt levels for better viewing angles, and various brightness settings
* Looks and feels well-built / solid
* Auxilary input in the front (3.5″) allows for easy connecting of MP3 players / cell phones (particularly useful since the Bluetooth is worthless on this device, per below)
* Comes with a small remote

2. The negative
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(1) The Bluetooth: Drops out all the time, listening to Pandora or other streaming radio through the cell phone impossible. The sound quality with the included microphone is mediocre at best. Have not tried to pair the Bluetooth with a laptop or a device with a more powerful Bluetooth signal than a cell phone, but again, I don’t plan on using a laptop while driving. Hence, the Bluetooth is worthless in my opinion.

(2) For some reason, after few hours of continuous watching, the movies running off the USB start ’skipping’, which can get very obnoxious. Thankfully, this only happens occasionally, and it may have something to do with overheating of components while driving in a hot summer day, even though the device has a cooling fan in the back.

(3) In addition to the $25 for the wire harness, a $15 antenna harness is required ($40 at worstbuy; I was quoted $60+ elsewhere). The radio is not HD/digital and the reception quality is noticingly worse than my stock stereo.

(4) The SD card input is very slow, taking 1-2 minutes to “load up” the list of songs on a 4GB card. The recognition is much faster with a high quality SD card with smaller capacity (i.e. 2GB Sandisk ultra/extreme).

(3) The cooling fan can be loud, and the LCD brightness is not adequate for bright, sunny days. The movies are still watchable with the screen tilted down, but much is washed out.

(6) The remote must be directly pointed at the IR sensor to work, and the layout is not very user friendly / intuitive

SUMMARY
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Overall, it’s far from a perfect device, but comparing its price to some bigger names (which I’m guessing are no better in addressing the issues I mentioned earlier), and the amount of joy it provides on loooong cross-country drives, this system is well worth it…

Update (5/17/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Boss BV9995B 7-Inch In-Dash Motorized Widescreen Touchscreen TFT Monitor/DVD/MP3/CD Combo Receiver with Built-in Bluetooth Electronics, was written by Gabriel Kron.

The average rating for this item is 4.7 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.