Customer Ratings & Reviews

Nice unit. Very good price!!

I just recieved my boss unit today. Installed it. Didnt need the antenna adapter that Sonic recommended. But no big deal. The unit seems to work fine so far. They do great fast shipping and free installation accessories. Overall seems to be a nice unit for the best price out there. Will definitely buy more from Sonic. Thanks. Very satisfied.

Great, if you don't want to mess with a CD

Very nice product to date. Plays tons of music off a single thumb drive. The drive actually cost more than the player! Works well in a small car with limited room to mount a system.

Fits my MGB like a charm. Need one for the other car now!

okay for the price

It definitely performs pretty well but the radio turning on every time you turn your car on does get tiredsome. And the users manual doesn't show how to set the clock. Overall though I like how it let's you set many preset stations and it has an audio jack for mp3 players and such.

Not the radio for FM listeners...

Ordered this radio as a replacement for the factory tape deck on my 93 dodge W250 cummins. The factory unit burned out, and Sonic had this one for cheaper than the junkyard wanted for another tape deck. The free install kit sealed the deal.

At first I thought it was defective - half the LCD screen was not working when I hooked it up. Tried the reset button, nothing. Finally, I disconnected the harness in back and re-connected and the screen works great now.

The sound quality of this radio is awesome in my truck, plenty loud and clear.

The main reason I bought this was to listen to the local FM stations. Unfortunately, the FM tuner is horrible. It has great sensitivity, it will pick up even the weakest stations. But it has bad selectivity, so that it can not maintain that station without constantly jumping back and fourth to other stations farther out or just plain RF static. I live in the country, and there are only three stations in town, none of which I prefer. The other stations from nearby towns still come in fine and clear in other people's cars, but not in mine anymore.

The USB port failed to read my MP3's on a 8gb thumb drive, but it does work great to charge my phone. The AUX port also works as expected.

Finally, there is no provision to dim the lights on the stereo at night. Most units have a wire that takes power from the headlight switch, but not this one. It is bright, but I can live with it for the price.

Overall, I wish I had spent the extra 5 or 10 dollars for a better unit. The radio is better than a dead one, but when the truck finally goes to the junkyard, this will likely go with it!

Love This Receiver!

I bought this for my Toyota pickup and I am so glad I did! The SD reader holds a large chunk of my music collection and sounds amazing! It was a easy install and was well worth the money and more! I liked it so much I bought a second one for my daughter's car! Value + Quality sound make this a deal worth taking!

You get what you paid for!

You are probably considering this stereo due to it's price. I feel I got my $50s worth, but it is a VERY basic setup.
Cons:
1.can't play music with the USB plug. If you want to play music with your mp3, you need to use the auxiliary. Not a big deal, but it makes for unnecessary plugs.
2. The outer lining for the holder doesn't fit around the stereo (at least for my Pontiac vibe), so it isn't flush with the
dashboard.
3. You need to hold a button for it to show the tinge, and it only flashes for a few seconds before returning to the RADIO ori AUX screen...I have no idea why they decided to do that.
4. The forward/backward button don't work for anything plugged into the aux, or at least with iPhone 4s, Samsung galaxies, and HTC ones.

Pros:
It's 50 dollars. It would have been 30 dollars to get a wireless radio that plugs into the car lighter. The axillary works fine, and that's all I need it for, so I'm happy enough with it. However, it may be worth your time to spend the extra 20 dollars for something else, unless you are looking for something minimal, in which case this is great!

I also want to mention that I never tried the sd card insert.

Beautiful look and design

Easy to use, looks great, low price, the only thing which I like less: the default level volume is a bit too high: 17.
Connected to 2 BOSS amplifiers, CX800 and SE450, 4 6-1/2's (CH6530), 2 12" subwoofers (P126DVC). Everything is BOSS and works well. Don't regret.
Looks great in my 32 Ford Hot rod

Correction on clock setting

Just a minor correction on my previous review on how to set the clock:

Setting the clock:
================
-Press and hold the "MODE CLK" button for 2 seconds until the time is displayed.
-Press and hold the "MODE CLK" button for another 2 seconds until the hours start flashing, adjust with the volume knob.
-Tap the volume button in momentarily, the minutes will start flashing, adjust with the volume knob. You can tap the volume knob again to get back to the hours setting.
-Wait until the clock display disappears. The clock has now been set!

Boss 612UA

Good amp or plant as it is called here. I would buy another. Thank you.

It was what I expected

A typical limited feature budget player from China. It works, but for how long is the question. No problems so far.

Good for the price.

If you are looking for an inexpensive radio, this will get the job done. I would recommend this to someone looking to save a few bucks. Not as nice as a more high end radio, but not bad. I would like to see a more simple way to display the time and for the volume levels to be a little more spread out (i.e. 1 is low and 10 is loud, goes to 20+). Overall, this is a quality piece of equipment.

Truck Radio

I bought and installed this in my electric Ford Ranger, replacing the CD/RADIO that came with the truck. The radio works great. I installed a 2 gig SD CARD with 600 songs on it and now I never have to swap out CD's. This worked so well I going to buy another one for my Duffy Electric Boat.

Great little stereo!

I needed a small unit to replace an AM radio in an old truck, this worked great. Looks really cool (at least by comparison!); the picture on the box is misleading, it actually looks more like the unit picture on this website (more blue-ish than teal/white)...which I like!

Sound is good, it defaults to volume at 20 when you start up though. It's a bit loud when the truck is idle, but ok when you get going.

It has a clock, but is not displayed all the time (my only complaint). To show the clock, press and hold the "Mode CLK" button for about 2 seconds (tapping it will change the input which will cut off the radio).

Also, there aren't instructions on how to set the clock in the manual. Normally not a problem, but this guy is tricky and not really intuitive.

Setting the clock:
================
-Press and hold the "MODE CLK" button for 2 seconds until the time is displayed.
-Press and hold the "MODE CLK" button for another 2 seconds until the hours start flashing, adjust with the volume knob.
-Press and hold the "MODE CLK" button for another 2 seconds until the minutes start flashing, adjust with the volume knob.
-Wait until the clock display disappears. The clock has now been set!

Note: I think it takes a 2 sec hold to get to the minutes set from the hours, but a single tap might work...

good price and fast shipping.

It has been good sound and ease to operating for the low price. I also like the fast shiiping.

Good low cost unit

THE GOOD: SD card (no more CD's), low cost unit, sound is just as good as the stock one. song titles and album scroll across display during playback and it continues playing the song from the SD card where you left off.
THE BAD: clock is not displayed until the button is pressed for 2 seconds, setting clock to the current time is not that complicated but on my unit it only keeps time when the ignition is on (all wiring is connected correctly as the radio presets and settings all stay as set)
So for this price, I can just get a small stick-on clock and deal with it.

Good value

Very pleased with this unit. Good sound, plenty of power and plays my SD cards with no problems. The only thing that could be improved is to make the lights on the unit dim-able. They are too bright at night.

Great product

This radio was fairly easy to install and has great features for the price.

The mounting kit was a little off but I was able to get it to line up and stay. The radio itself is great, having a shuffle and repeat option when reading in from a USB stick.

I like it

This radio meets my needs and is simple to operate. Just want bass, treble, and volum control that is easy and intuitive. Display is bright and clear. I listen to my music using an app on my phone and the aux input was a must and works great. Wish it came in red. Great price.

Good media player for the price

I use this media player with a USB drive as the source. It works well for the price. The sound quality is decent, and the unit is fairly easy to use.

Compared to higher quality head units, you'll see many differences. I haven't been able to change directories when searching for songs on USB. That may be because I didn't read the instructions. There are no crossover frequency adjustments, and the radio receiver doesn't work as well as nicer radios - all acceptable things in this price range.

This media player looks very good, and is very simple. Everything works well - USB, aux in, radio. It's easy to use and reliable, but don't have sky-high performance expectations. This is, afterall, a cheap radio.

Great product

Great product works good for a sound system, I got 2 12's hooked up to it with some kicker speakers and it screams.. This head unit is all you need

great product

Good sound and budget friendly , perfect if you plan on replaceing your stock stereo

radio boss612ua

works good, fit good, wiring adapter fit good. very pleased with it. if i ever need another one i'll order it from you. it came quick .

Got what I paid for.

Install was easy. Easy for me as I'm not gifted.

Lasted less than a year.

The unit was good, but less than a year it's dead. I assume from the price it's not made to last, while it was working it was fine. Flicked a few times in a week then went dead, wiring is good 12v and fuses are good so unit is toast.

Good price

Works good if you not needing a CD player less bulky, good purchase.

By Suyee-ka on May 18, 2017 Verified purchase

Good Basic Car Radio

I have a solar-powered 12-volt electrical system in my house, so I have a car radio built into a cabinet. My 25-year-old radio was on the fritz, so I bought this basic Boss radio to replace it. It was the cheapest radio I could find, and it fit the opening. So far, it's been a solid, reliable radio with good sound and good reception. If this one serves for 25 years, it will likely outlive me.

Good value!

Easy to install. Instructions clear. Radio works well , sound quality good, reception good.

Good radio once you get it hooked up

I replaced the original factory radio in my 2001 Chevy Astro van with the Boss 612, because the old radio was no longer receiving FM (curiously it could still receive AM - perhaps they have separate receivers or something). I'm don't have a lot of knowledge about autos, so it was a bit of an adventure. First, the Chevy wire harness that plugs into the old radio won't plug into the Boss 612. You can try getting an adapter harness, but be sure to look at the picture of the adapter and the radio plug very carefully to make sure they match. Assuming you don't have an adapter, here are the steps to replace the radio on a 2001 Chevy Astro:

1. Use a screwdriver to pry out the plastic dash cover around the radio. It goes all the way around the steering wheel area too. There are a few youtube videos about doing this so I would recommend those. Once you see what you need to do, it only takes a few minutes.

2. There are some tabs you press to release the radio from the metal box it slides into. The youtube video should also show that.

3. Disconnect the white plastic harness from the back of the radio. There is a tab you press to detach it.

4. At this point I would get a wiring diagram to see which color each speaker wire is, and the colors of the wires used to power the radio. You good listing can be found here: http://www.modifiedlife.com/2001-chevrolet-astro-car-radio-wiring-schematic/

5. If you don't have a harness adapter, you need to cut off the existing white plastic harness connector and strip about 1/2" off each wire that will be used. I just used a scissors for this, and a small wire cutter with notches that can strip off the plastic around wires without cutting off the metal. Leave unused wires alone and just seal them off with electrical tape.

6. Connect the wires from the Astro to the wires that come with the Boss 612. This is the tricky part, because they will be different colors. Look at your wiring diagram and the diagram that comes with the Boss and match them up. Specifically, I had trouble with the two power wires, the battery and ignition. I believe my Astro has a Yellow ignition wire, that had to be connected to the Red wire on the Boss. The Astro has an Orange battery wire, that had to be connected to the Yellow wire on the Boss. And of course one of the speaker wires was about the same color yellow, so I had to use a voltmeter with the ignition on to figure out which wire was getting 12 volts. The ground wire for both ends was, fortunately, Black. To connect the wires, I just twisted the metal ends together and secured with a wire nut used for small electronics. They have nicer butt connectors and auto wire nuts, if you want to make extra sure they stay wired.

7. Put on the ignition and turn on the radio. It should light up and turn on, and you should be able to do your station presets.

8. Turn off the ignition. The radio should stay on. If it turns off, you probably have the battery and ignition wires reversed. Another sign that you have the wires reversed is if the radio suddenly turns off while you're driving - that may be because instead of the Ignition wire you hooked the Boss ignition wire up to an illumination wire (purple and white striped or gray) or some other wires that do run 12 volts but only sometimes. If you have your battery and ignition wires right, it should not lose your presets and the Boss should turn on at the same station it had when you turned it off.

9. If the radio does not turn on, use a voltmeter and test the Yellow wire and the Orange wire coming from the Astro while the ignition is on. Both should have 12 volts. If one does not have twelve volts, it may be a blown fuse, possibly caused by your hooking them up the wrong way initially (yeah that happened to me). The fuses for the radio are recessed below the steering wheel. They are pretty standard 10 amp fuses and you can buy replacements at any auto store. You can tell that a fuse is blown if the little metal horseshoe in the red plastic is broken at any spot.

10. Great, now your radio is working and you can use an audio jack to play your iPod or MP3 player now too!

Exactly what I needed

I own a 1993 Mazda B2200, which I have restored. I wanted a basic radio, with AUX for my music players. This was easy to install and sounds great, given where it's played. I would recommend it for anyone needing a basic radio and AUX capability. I have just installed it, so I cannot speak to its durability.

By Nalton Jannise on March 21, 2016 Verified purchase

Excellent Product

Took less than 30 minutes to install, perfect fit and sounds great. I would recommend this unit. My one and only complaint, my favorite FM station that’s about 40 miles away fades in and out, but all the local stations come in great.

By Anonymous on July 26, 2018 Verified purchase

Radio

nice radio-bought as replacement for factory radio in my 1997 Accord-works great.

radio

it works very well. I screwed up and didn't get the cd player but no matter

By michael on December 15, 2016 Verified purchase

Good value

I bought this as a replacement radio for my work vehicle. No frills, easy to install, works great.

radio

Radio works fine, came with everything necessary to install.
Mechanic wanted $240 to replace radio that was pouring smoke into truck cab. Was able to swap for install, so saved over $200!

Good value!

Easy to install. Instructions clear. Radio works well , sound quality good, reception good.

Cheap and mostly still works...

This has been a great little radio. For the price paid you can't beat it. I love the front USB and SD/MMC slot which you can select between on the go. I purchased this unit in July of 2015 and has been a great unit until it started to get cooler here this year. It's now November 2016 and my volume knob doesn't work correctly. You can turn it up and sometimes it will go up, sometimes it will go down, other times it will just look at you funny and not move at all... This unit does not have a remote, so there is no other way to adjust the volume, but once the heat warms up the car a little, it works as it should.
Also, it has a clock but you have to select the function, it does not stay on all the time, so if you want to see the time, you have to push the setting on the radio. Kind of annoying but not a deal breaker...

By Jay on November 12, 2016 Verified purchase

Budget priced Boss 612UA

I received this product 4 days after ordering along with all the mounting and wiring components. Installing was straight forward with no problem at all. I had to read the instruction booklet 2nd time on setting the clock but everything worked perfectly. The sound is awesome for this $34 radio + free S&H. I had thought about buying a factory replacement for $225, so glad I didn't. Thanks ,Dave in TN

Great little unit

perfect for my needs / great value for the money and easy to install

amazing product for the selling price!

i was amazed how simple it was to install in my car, just click in and hit play. the sound quality is great as well. to be honest i was expecting it to sound like shit but i was surprised by the audio quality. the only thing i can see wrong with this product is that it does not have a clock to display. so all in all if you are considering buying the Boss 612A i say do it.

By francisco on February 22, 2016 Verified purchase

Outstanding deal

For the money this product is a great buy. The only thing I didn't like was my I-pod would not work through the USB port. I still can use it but by patch cord. Other then that it serves it's purpose

Excellent radio

Installed in my 1984 s10. Controlling my 4 channel amp for better sound out of the 4 interior speakers. Excellent radio value!

By michael on May 9, 2020 Verified purchase

fit like a glove and everything I needed

Found thins site and the radio included all the attachments to replace the OEM radio. No need to go find the right adapters and plugs as the kit included everything needed. The only thing I did different used a bit of my electronics gear to solder and heat shrink the connections instead of the stakeon connectors but either would work and fits like a charm.
Great value and good product. An enhancement that I would like would be to have the clock / time display all the time instead of the radio, but I think that is just me. Highly recommended if you need to swap out you radio!

Good buy easy to use

Unit is easy to install easy operate and a great price.

Great...!

My daughter likes this very much but I wish light is red. Not blue but that's ok. It works everything as radio and AUX. thank you..!

Inexpensive, functional and a good fit: 2005 Elantra

No issues after a few weeks of use. Works as promised and looks good.

Radio

I love the way the radio plays. It is easy to turn the volume on the radio down even if you are driving. It was way worth the cost of what I paid. With this radio, I am able to listen to music, drive to work, and charge my cell phone.

Good value for the money.

This was a low end AM/FM radio.......it was simple to install.......preforms as good as the OEM. Sonic did a great job in helping me select the radio and even a better job with packing and shipping. The DUMB UPS person delivered the package to the wrong house. The box sat out all night in a heavy rain storm but the radio was unharmed because of the expert internal packing/wrapping. Great Job!!!!!

Good Basic Radio

I bought this to put in our work truck after the stock radio died. It seems to be perfect for what I was looking for. The wiring harness that comes with it is very nice and made installation much easier. The installation kit that came with it wasn't needed in my case and the instructions where not very easy to understand. I would recommend this radio.

By Timothy on January 22, 2016 Verified purchase

Great product but listing fell short

The radio has so many cool features that I am impressed. However it will not install in my 2001 Elantra dash without an optional side mount adapter kit to align with the storage shelf, an OEM connector to mate with the car's cable, and crimp connectors. I trust that this minor problem will corrected.

amazing

this was really easy to install and an amazing system for the price

WOW

This Car Stereo is way more than what I expected especially for $35.
The Pros: Dirt cheap price, USB compatible, mp3 compatible, good sound.
The cons: none

By Mr Wendal on May 19, 2016 Verified purchase

This surprised the hell out of me...

I purchased this unit by mistake as I thought it was a CD player. I installed it and I'm blown away by the SQ. There's no clock on it though.

By T on August 1, 2016 Verified purchase

Extremely good investment!

I have a 2005 Saturn Vue, what I like to call my mom van, and this stereo definitely spiced it up. It has this feature called "loud" and it makes my car sound like it has subwoofers. It's glorious. I used to have a really shitty cord for my iPod that plugged into the cigarette lighter and it would intercept the radio waves and play it over that. Obviously kinda sketchy and not the best sound, so this was a HUGE upgrade. It came with all the little compartments I needed and the best purchase I have made in a long time. The only thing that bugs me is I have to hit a button to see the time instead of seeing it constantly, but kind of the least of my worries with something this great.