|  | | | Used and New: | | |
| All | |
| $269.99+ $5.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $270.00+ $5.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $275.00+ $5.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | |
| $299.99 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | |
| $345.00+ $5.49 *Shipping | New | | |
| $471.30+ $5.49 *Shipping | New | | |
| $499.95Shipping Free | New | | |
| $499.99+ $12.95 *Shipping | New | | |
| New | |
| $299.99 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | |
| $345.00+ $5.49 *Shipping | New | | |
| $471.30+ $5.49 *Shipping | New | | |
| $499.95Shipping Free | New | | |
| $499.99+ $12.95 *Shipping | New | | |
| Used | |
| $269.99+ $5.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $270.00+ $5.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $275.00+ $5.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | |
| | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Archos Handheld Review Mar 12, 2010
The Archos Handheld connected seamlessly to my home wi-fi network. I am able to download email and surf the web on the go. With it's huge built in storage, I have barely touched it's capacity even though I have downloaded pictures, videos, and music. I would highly recommend this handheld for anyone who needs a small, lightweight computer.
 Getting familiar...but so far..so good! Mar 11, 2010
I purchased the Archos 5 after a business trip and a co-worker had one. Seemed simple enough...liked the features. I even had it shipped next day to the city I was in. Didn't like the fact that it did not come with an outlet for the wall to charge. I had to wait to get home to charge it on my computer. I think that should be standard. So I had to order a wall charger with the DVR Snap on. This is pretty cool, because I can record television shows after connecting the wires to my Cable box. WOW! The best feature!!! The only drawback so far I can't seem to press the correct keys when I am typing on it. I've been trying to connect it to my wireless network at home...I know my password (or at least I thought I did) but for some reason it won't connect. I will try again today...but so far...so good! I would definitely recommend the Archos 5...OH BTW...I did connect it to my laptop and it uploaded EVERYTHING from Windows Media Player...pictures, video, music...really cool!
 Great idea, dodgy product Mar 07, 2010
The concept of the Archos is really, really great. High storage media playing device, internet client, DVR, TV, all sorts of stuff. It really is a cool product in theory. However, Archos fails when it comes to making these ideas and abilities of their device usable. It is EXTREMELY slow, laggy, and buggy. The internet client or anything that streams from some sort of connection is mediocre at best: low quality, pixelated and laggy as well. All of the additional add-ons will cost you the same as a brand new Archos. Sad to say when you get the product you can use about half the features. Otherwise, shell out another $100 here, $70 there, etc. etc. for the DVR station, antennae, battery extension, etc. etc. Fortunately for Archos, they have a fantastic and very solid idea on their hands. Unfortunately, they have a very laggy Linux based firmware. PRICEY add-ons make it not worth your time, even if the storage capacity is great.
Archos for a Non-Geek Mar 02, 2010
I'm not one of these people that goes out and buys whatever's new. I listen to a lot of music, so I like mp3 players but, prior to this was given to me as a Christmas gift this past year, I had a 20gb Dell that had a two color screen, was around ten years old, and cost me $50 used. It didn't have nearly enough space, so I wasn't terribly happy with it, but I also wasn't willing to pay $300 for a new one that had more space.
At first, the Archos, to me, seemed like too much. I don't really have an interest in the video feature and have a general bias against touch screen devices because I think they're automatically more prone to damage and general breakage than something with buttons.
But then I really got into it. I was able to upload all of the music that I had sitting around in mp3 format, including all of the stuff that my previous mp3 player couldn't hold. When uploading, I discovered one of the Archos' big, initial issues: the initial battery charge. When you're uploading, you're actually using more battery than the little USB can take in to recharge so, you'll get weird messages on your computer and, at times, your Archos will just outright turn itself off. This is obnoxious, and it caused some sort of data corruption where I now have a couple of folders on the device that I cannot delete. I thought my device was messed up when this first happened, but I found stuff online documenting the same issue, so I just take it as a device flaw. Lesson: charge it up fully before you try to upload anything.
A couple of things that I love about this thing: the disk space and the web radio feature. It not only scans those mostly awful internet radio stations, but also the usually great, independent over-the-air stations around the world that have streams. Most of the time, when I'm at home, I find myself just plugging in the local community radio here (KXCI), WBER in Rochester, WCSB in Cleveland, WSPN in New York, KCRW in LA, KEXP in Seattle, or one of the other great, independent radio stations that are out there. It's really nice to have them in one, easy to access list, and you can also add them to your "Favorites" so that they're even easier to access.
Now, let's talk issues.
I mentioned the battery life above and that comes up again and again. The wifi feature, whether used with the web radio, internet browser or anything else, sucks it up at a really surprising pace. If it's not plugged in, you're looking at, maybe, 1-2 hours of battery life, and that's if fully charged already. Luckily, the wifi does NOT use more battery than the charge can take in, so it won't die if you use it too long.
Then there's the "standby" issue. If you leave your device unplugged and inactive, it goes to a standby mode where it requires the "On" switch to be pushed when you want to access it again. Fine. Problem is, the whole time it's in that standby mode, it's using a surprising amount of battery. If you leave it unplugged in that standby mode overnight, it will be down to about 1 bar on the battery, or even right above dead.
Now, you can avoid this by actually turning the device off. Strangely, this isn't as intuitive as you'd expect. To do this, you have go into "Tools," then "Settings," then "Power," and only then you'll see a "Device Power Off" button that you can use. When completely turned off using that button, the device uses 0 battery and really does not take much longer to start up than if it were on just standby. Now, there is the power button on the side, but that's really only for hard resets and, just knowing how doing that on a computer can damage it, I don't like to use it. It will also turn back on when you do that sometimes.
The most obnoxious issue by far though is the hard drive delay. When listening to music, it often doesn't buffer the next track. When you hit the next track, the hard drive is often on standby and has to spin up (you can hear it doing this). I'd say 1 out of 20 times, it doesn't spin up fast enough, and you get a "File is corrupted" error on the screen. This requires you to push the "OK" button to the error, then restart the music. You can just play the same track and it will work (unless it really is corrupted), but it's really annoying, especially if you're in the car and can't look at it to navigate the touch screen.
The proprietary plugs are a little annoying. It comes with a single USB plug. I just happened to have both a car USB charger and a wall outlet USB charger, so I just use those as opposed to purchasing the Archos stuff. I did lose my car one (left it in a rental), so I had to buy a new one and paid $20 for it. Excessive, but less excessive than what the Archos store charges for the stuff. The down-side to that is that, of course, you only have one plug and, if you ever lose that, you're screwed.
All in all, I think it's a good device. I would say that it's not of tremendous quality, and that comes through when you start using it. It's cheaper than comparable products by quite a bit though, so you have to expect that.
Archos 5 250GB Feb 25, 2010
I purchased the Archos 5 250GB Internet Media Tablet a few months back for $199. I was skeptical due to all the negative reviews about reliability and poor customer support from Archos but I figured for $199 I would take a chance. Mine has worked nearly flawlessly. I mainly use it to watch movies and play flash games but also use the Widgets and browse the internet occasionally. I have had one shut down and restart since I have owned it. (browsing the internet and it unexpectedly shut down). The only other problem I have had was I have one bright pixel in the upper part of the screen. I emailed Archos support and 12 hours later they responded back saying I could return it to be fixed under warranty. We exchanged 3-4 emails back and forth clarifying that I would get MY Archos unit back or a new Archos and not someone elses returned unit. They were professional and very fast in returning my emails. One was within 5 minutes, all were within 30 min. I decided to keep mine based on it's reliability thus far. It's not worth risking getting a lemon for one pixel.
This is probably the best purchase I have made in quite a while. I use it every day to watch a movie. I am very impressed.
|
| | |
