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| Review written by orbitcorbett from Tallahassee, Florida I really don't understand all the positive reviews on this unit. I've had one for a year now, and it's crap. It's very apparent to me that these folks simply don't know what they're doing. I recently got the firmware upgrade from Jensen, and even that process was not well thought-out, although it did fix some of this units factory bugs and irritating problems.
First, the DVD player in this unit won't play half the discs you put in it. Brand new, out of the package discs, as well as discs you've run through a disc polisher to remove scratches. It won't play discs that have been burned and finalized on my DVD recorder at home. You can have a disc that is perfect, and if it plays, you could have blocking and dropouts occur at any time.
The screen is too dim in bright sunlight, even though I built an ABS plastic screen hood for it, and at night, the dimmer doesn't work, so it's too bright.
If you use the bluetooth function and a call comes in, it switches to the bluetooth screen and kills the audio entirely, instead of just reducing the volume to a reasonable level. Then, when your call is over, it does not automatically switch back to your original source, you have to do that manually. Also, the bluetooth doesn't download your phonebook contacts from your cellphone, unless you have only certain phones.
The iPod functionality is good, but the button interface design should mirror the iPod, instead of the crummy design they use throughout this unit's menu screens.
Using the PIP function to monitor other sources is clunky at best. To switch from one source to another, you have to pull up a menu screen and make another selection. I don't know why they can't simply give you a rotary knob you can quickly spin to switch sources, it would be faster and more direct.
The remote is crap too. Lots of small, cryptic buttons that are like mystery-meat navigation. You can't remember what many of these buttons do until you push one, and often, you wish you hadn't, as you try to get the unit back where it was before.
By far, the WORST function of this unit is if you add the NAV101 GPS unit. This GPS is very poorly designed, and you will HATE trying to listen to music or a movie while this thing constantly cuts the audio out completely, rattling off it's robotic, often mis-pronounced directions to you. They really should lower the music volume and let the voice talk over it, but they kill it completely. The street names are too small and don't appear where you need them to be, and if you zoom out to get an overall view, there are no city or highway names visible at all, so unless you zoom to the right place, you don't know one road from another. And, in many areas, this thing tells you you cant get there from here, even though you clearly can by following the road signs. It can display the roads, but for some reason, it can't navigate them. Try traveling on the Florida Turnpike south of Orlando, and see if you can navigate to a nearby location like Yeehaw Junction...nope, it says you can't get there from here, even though the turnpike takes you directly there. This is truly the most aggravating GPS experience I've ever had.
Forget about decent customer service from Jensen, too. Their website is like their products, poorly designed and half-baked. Many times, you can e-mail their CS with a problem, and they tell you you need to call and take it up with one of their advisers. Do that, and you might likely be told there's no fix for your specific problem, and then you later find out that they've addressed the problem in a firmware update. They know this thing's got bugs, but they certainly won't tell you about them.
Last, let's talk about bypassing the brake wire for DVD playback while driving. I spent $2 on Ebay and got the directions to get into the technician menu and disable this ridiculous function. If you're like me, and travel with kids who like to either watch movies or fight and fuss with each other, you MUST be able to navigate DVD menus while driving. You simply cannot stop the car on a 70mph highway every time you need to interact with the DVD menus, it just does not work. You have to be responsible and pay attention to your driving, of course, but bypassing the brake wire by turning off the function is a must for practicality. That function is only there to keep Jensen's lawyers and risk managers happy. |