Not bad

We purchased this product for our toddler for long car trips. The unit works well and is quite durable, and for the price the screen is pretty good. It is bright enough for daytime use and refresh is acceptable, though the quality of the picture degrades quite a bit when viewing anywhere other than head-on, so it isn't a great choice if multiple children will be sharing a single unit.

The images of this product I've seen online are misleading. There is an additional battery pack that attaches to the base of the unit adding a bit to the overall height, although it isn't a big deal. We haven't let the battery run out, so I can't comment on its max battery life, but the battery has more than enough juice for at least a typical 90 min. movie. A car power connector cable is included with the package we purchased, which is a plus.

The double-duty controls for movie playback and game playing aren't great. The gamepad-style orange rubber buttons are also used for DVD menu navigation, and their use isn't intuitive in all situations. In addition, there is no "lock" button to prevent toddlers from messing with the controls while a movie is playing. The DVD loading mechanism can be difficult to access, although this does prevent young kids from popping a movie out too easily.

The 8-bit, NES (original Nintendo)-quality games may be in interesting addition for slightly older children, but they probably aren't a great reason to purchase this product on their own. The games are homebrew quality, with no name-brand titles. The gameplay is, however, well matched to the physical limitations of the sluggish controls.

PROS
-durable
-nice screen for the price

CONS
-screen quality degrades when viewing off-axis
-no control lock

Rating:


Virtually unusable

There is only 1 noticable problem with this device. It is just about impossible to open the door to put in a new DVD. I really have no idea how any engineer could have designed something so incredibly bad. Maybe mine was broken, but it sure doesn't look like it, and it was new. I literally have to return it, it is that bad. Everything else about the device seems fine. The display is good, etc. But not being able to easily open the drive-door makes it a waste of money. You have to push the spring-loaded switch toward the middle, while lifting the door. The only problem is you have to do that with a fingernail on about a 1 millimeter high piece of plastic. If that wears off, the device is worthless. I look forward to other reviews that tell me the correct way to do it, and how easy it is, because I am stumped.

Rating: