Panasonic SLSX285 Portable CD Player

Rating:
Summary: LIFE WITHOUT MUSIC WOULD BE A MISTAKE, RIGHT?
Review: 1 Nice Christmas gift. (Thanks WBHW!)
2 Belt clip should be mandatory on all portable cd players! Love it! Love it! Love it!
3 Problem--not loud enough. (I'm a head banger like the "electronics fan from Dallas, TX" reviewer. {Smiles} The only way to listen to Dream Theater is full volume!)
4 Above "problem" solved by replacing headphones provided (too-short cord for exercising/jogging too by the way) with longer, alien-ear lookin' ear buds by Sony. (I'll review that next.)
5 Plays burned cds perfectly. (Thanks ZA!)
6 Doesn't skip as promised and I have even dropped it! Oopsie! Ha. Tough little puppy.
7 Recommended.

Music is my elixir. This little gadget makes me very happy. Rock on everyone and soar to the music!

Rating:
Summary: LIFE WITHOUT MUSIC WOULD BE A MISTAKE, RIGHT?
Review: 1 Nice Christmas gift. (Thanks WBHW!)
2 Belt clip should be mandatory on all portable cd players! Love it! Love it! Love it!
3 Problem--not loud enough. (I'm a head banger like the "electronics fan from Dallas, TX" reviewer. {Smiles} The only way to listen to Dream Theater is full volume!)
4 Above "problem" solved by replacing headphones provided (too-short cord for exercising/jogging too by the way) with longer, alien-ear lookin' ear buds by Sony. (I'll review that next.)
5 Plays burned cds perfectly. (Thanks ZA!)
6 Doesn't skip as promised and I have even dropped it! Oopsie! Ha. Tough little puppy.
7 Recommended.

Music is my elixir. This little gadget makes me very happy. Rock on everyone and soar to the music!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful value for the price
Review: Hey, all I can say about this is it is GREAT value for the price. You can get other cd players for twice or three times the price but you won't get anything exceedingly better. This is quality at its finest. Granted I have only owned 3 cd players but this is by far the best. If you are looking for a mid range player that has everything you need including a remote then you have found the one. For a little...you are getting the best money can buy. This has 40 second shock protection and plays your homemade cd's. I was worried about this at first but my burned cd plays perfectly. All I can say is that if you are looking for a cd player for school,work, or just exercising this is it. Also, the only bad part I would say is the headphones. Well, they aren't "bad" but I added a new pair of Philips Hp170 full-size headphones and the sounds are MUCH improved. If you save the money on the cd player and buy this then pick up a new pair of headphones and you will have the best money can buy... Hope this helps!

Rating:
Summary: This thing is awesome!
Review: I bought this one at Best Buy and then took it to Europe while I was on vacation. There, it was stolen, so I bought it again on amazon; and the price was so much better! This is an awesome CD player, mostly because of the remote control; making it so much easier that having to pick the whole unit up to change a song or change volume. Works very well with almost no skipping just be sure to push in the remote control plug all the way in or else it will not work. The only problem is that it is favored by French gypsies and other thieves.

Rating:
Summary: Good CD player at a great price
Review: I recently purchased a CD player to use when I am working in my yard. I bought this CD player because I have purchased other Panasonic products in the past (TV's, VCR's, etc.) and I have been very satisfied. **I used to only buy Sony products, but...** I am very pleased with my purchase and I only have one minor complaint. Pros: 1)for the small price you pay you get a lot from this player 2)it comes with a belt clip that easily attaches to the player! This is great because I looked at the cd player jogging belts and they [cost extra money]. 2)this player is very light. I can hardly tell that I have it clipped on. 3)the remote is an excellent feature. I can turn up/down the volume or skip forward/backward to another track without having to fumble for the buttons on the player (which I have clipped onto the back of my shorts) while I am working in the yard. 4)the headphones do not hurt my ears. I wear the headphones for about 2 to 3 hours while doing my yard work and my ears never hurt. 5)it plays CD-R/RW. I only have a couple of CD's that I have burned, but they all work great with this player. 6)I have yet to make this player skip.

Cons: 1)sound The only complaint I have is that it just does not get loud enough for me (only when I am mowing). I listen to Metallica and Megadeth and I like to listen to them extremely loud. I want to be able to hear every symbol being hit and every blistering note being played at all times, but the player can not produce enough sound to compete against the mower. I have to turn the volume to the maximum setting, which makes the headphones distort. Don't get me wrong - I can still hear the songs, but for me to give this player 5 stars I would want my ears to be blown off my head while mowing and not have any distortion. I am going to purchase the earbud style headphones to see if that helps.

Overall, if you are like me and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a cd player that you are only going to use once a week then I would buy this player. It has a lot of features and can be purchased for [a good price]. If you are going to be using the player on an everyday basis, or you plan to hook it up to your stereo or you are looking for the best sound quality possible then I would not recommend this player. Pay the extra money and get a top of the line model.

Rating:
Summary: Dissappointed
Review: Purchased this new portable CD as a second player to my older Sony D307. Read many reviews that said Panasonic is now the player to own. Unlike Sony, it's still made in Japan (Not Malaysia). Brought it home and hooked it up to both my Grado SR125 and Koss Portapro Headphones. Sound quality did not compare to my older Sony (I mainly listen to these players for quality of sound, not bump resistance).

I returned it immediately. I got very concerned that I would be unable to find a player that matched the sonic quality (thru quality headphones)of my old Sony. I read many articles claiming that as the portable CD manufacturers designed their newer units to be more battery efficient and to increase the effectiveness of their anti-skip circuitry, sound quality suffered.

I took a chance and purchased the new Sony D-EJ621. This unit sounds excellent - better that my old Sony. Plays CD-R/W's. Comes with an AC adapter (285 does not) and has a line output to hook to a home stereo or boom box (285 does not have line out-I'm not hooking it through the headphone jack!). I moved the player around and could not get it to skip (with the G-protection on of course - The unit allows you to turn anti-skip off for longer battery life and most importantly-better sound quality -The Panasonic does not).

The Sony is the player to own for sound quality. If your going to listen to either of these players with their supplied headphones (bad sound)- it probably doesn't matter. Get a good set of headphones and realize the quality of sound available from a good portable. ...

Rating:
Summary: Very good for the price
Review: This is a great portable CD player. I jog with it probably 4-5 days out of the weekend,and its still holding up fine after a few months. It comes with a soft carrying case which can be tied around the waist. Only problem I found is that wearing the CD around the waist causes a lot of skipping even at a light jog. My solution was to use the straps on the carrying case to wrap lightly around my wrist and jog like that. I rarely ever hear a skip with it on my arm. Panasonic does sell a wrist attachment for this model off of their website. I wish it came with an AC adapter but that too can be bought off panasonic's site for about $... (or here for that matter when they are available). If this is your price range for a portable player, then get this one. Overall its great.