Be cautious about purchasing Polaroid Electronics

[frannn]

At least 5 years ago, I bought DH a Polaroid digital camera. We didn't have many complaints, so I trusted the brand. Fast forward to this past Black Friday at Circuit City. I bought a Polaroid dvd player (not portable) and Polaroid 5.1 mp digital camera that were inexpensive after rebate. The camera was a gift for DD12. It had some digital zoom, but no optical. I didn't expect bells and whistles on either item, but what we pulled out of the packages felt so light I wondered if there was anything inside. The camera stopped working after less than a week, and the dvd player's drawer jammed the first time DH hit the "open" button. We didn't even get the chance to finish setting it up before it broke. Luckily, Circuit City gave me a full refund for both items. They were going to charge a restocking fee, but this was waived because 1) they had no identical replacement item, and 2) they were broken. This really put a bad taste in my mouth, since I had never had any problems like this with electronics in the past. On top of these issues, the Kawasaki portable dvd player I had purchased on clearance at Target for DD16 was DOA on Xmas day. Is this the new trend in electronics, or is it just certain brands we need to stay away from?

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I bought what is probably the same Polaroid DVD player at Circuit City too and I haven't had any problems with it. Sounds like you just got a lemon.

I also have a Kawasaki portable DVD player that I purchased at Target's Black Friday sale in 2004. It still works perfectly fine, although it needs to be recharged frequently. We can usually view 1½ movies before it dies.

Sometimes, I just think that it's the luck of the draw. Both DVD players were not expensive. I think the Polaroid was around $25 after rebate. For that price, I think that the manufacturers assume that you will just throw it away if it stops working.

Frannn, I hope you were able to replace your DD's electronics with something that works. It stinks to get a gift on Christmas morning only to discover that it's DOA.

 

[Katerbug]

We have a Polaroid portable DVD player we bought last year in March from Sears. The second time my DD used it it just quit playing and would not work no matter what we did. Fortunately we had bought Sears extended warranty so they just gave us a new one because they could not get it to play either. I don't know what would have happened for sure if we didn't have the warranty. I don't think we even had it for a month yet so I probably could have just returned it to Sears.

 

[frannn]

I did replace the portable dvd player for a better one that was only about 20 more than the clearanced one at Target. Got it from my local supermarket, believe it or not! I'm not replacing the other dvd player just yet. I wish I could find a decent camera for 100 or less (even 3.2 mp with optical zoom).

 

[mickman1962]

The name "Polaroid" was bought by a Chinese company, it has nothing to do with the Polaroid you remember.

 

[mickeyfan2]

It is the old saying, you get what you pay for.

 

[deltachi8]

We have th Kawasaki from Target, 2+ years an going strong.

My "free" APEX DVD Player (with $25 purchase at Viking office) is over a year old and works fine.

SOmetimes, its just the luck of the draw.

 

[Wendaeh]

I bought the same camera -- mine was also defective. When you wanted to erase a picture, and clicked "yes" it wouldn't erase - you had to click "no" to get it to erase??? And it took terrible pictures.

I ended up getting my daughter a Kodak photoshare for a bit more -- works great, and VERY easy to use.