Polaroid PDV-0700 7" Portable DVD Player
purch 12/03, broken lid 02/04; replacement MUCH BETTER
Overall, this has a positive result so please read the whole thing before you form an opinion. <br />My husband bought this for me as a Christmas gift in December 2003.  At the end of February, the top left side hinge (as the unit faces you) had a problem.  It was more the screws inside that hold the plastic that goes around the LCD screen to the top side plastic casing.  Right where the two are held together inside, the screws came undone/fell out/whatever from the plastic tab where they hold things together.  What's worse is that the screws that came loose (there were at least two) started to \\"roll around\\" inside the unit.  <br />My husband took it back to our local Best Buy, where he originally bought it, and the girl at the counter took one look at it and gave him this look like \\"You broke it, why are you trying to return it?\\" so needless to say he wasn't happy.  Finally, he got a manager to look at it.  We have been OVERLY CAREFUL with this thing since day one...  I think we probably used it about 20 times because we've been busy with work, etc. We also have always had it in a nice padded case... <br />The manager at Best Buy took a look at it and said \\"Oh yeah, that one...  Just replace it.  It's marked DEVO anyway.\\"  Now I don't know what DEVO means, but it didn't sound too good.  <br />Also to note:  the replacement that we received was new, off the truck that day, and was much THICKER than the one we originally bought in December.  It is built heavier, the door for the DVD's closes much better and stays shut well, and the LCD screen top doesn't \\"flop around\\" so much.  Perhaps they've fixed some issues with this unit since last year, but I don't feel very confident that we're going to have a positive experience here given the response of the kid at Best Buy.  For right now, I'm satisfied that this unit is at least WAY BETTER than the version of this model # that we received in December. IT IS THE SAME EXACT MODEL NUMBER JUST MUCH THICKER BODY AND BETTER BUILD QUALITY.<br />One thing is for sure though...  Those people who said the picture quality stinks DID NOT READ THE MANUAL!!!  The unit ships set at LOW video quality.  You have to go through set up by making about three button pushes on the remote to correct this.  DUH!  And I'm a woman who isn't even that techy!<br />DID I MENTION THAT THE NEW REPLACEMENT UNIT THAT IS THICKER AND BUILT HEAVIER SEEMS LOUDER?  Which was a major complaint last year with this unit...  <br />Overall, though, my parents bought a cheapie Apex unit for $134 from Wal-Mart that has less picture quality and lower volume speakers but it takes a beating and keeps on going.  It was a dark gray color- almost black- and was almost exactly the size of a portable CD player.<br />Choose your battles in price vs. quality if you are wanting something for the kids in the mini-van.  Your best bet may be a REALLY CHEAP unit from Wal-Mart with some headphones and a headphone splitter for the kids.  When you're in a dark minivan, the screen brightness isn't a huge deal.  Our Polaroid is WAY bright unless you go in and change the settings.  The cheapie Apex that my parents have works just fine.  Plus it's fallen out of the case in the car and has been bumped around and keeps going strong.  Would I have the same performance from this little Polaroid (which is supposedly made by Panasonic by the way)?  I think not.  <br />For my child to watch in the cars, I'd rather have the inexpensive one with less screen brightness but more durability.  I don't like worrying about my daughter knocking over our unit in the van.  For myself though, I like the screen brightness and other features of the Polaroid or another similar unit.  I just hope that this replacement unit is more durable.  I think we probably would've been satisfied with the Wal-Mart one if we had just listened to OUR parents.  :-)