Who here owns a portable DVD player?

[C.Ann]

DD and her DH have decided that Santa will be bringing my 7 yr. old granddaughter a portable DVD player for Christmas.. My son-in-law did a lot of research on-line today and is pretty sure he wants to go with the "Polaroid 8" Portable Widescreen DVD Player with Rotating LCD Screen.." He doesn't want to buy a $99 player - nor does he want to spend $250 - so this one lands right within the price budget he would like to spend..

I told him I would ask if anyone here already has this one. He read a lot of reviews and they were all good.. Can anyone confirm or deny?

Thanks!

 

[janette]

We have 2, one a cheap one we bought about 3 years ago still works fine but will not work on battery. Have a Polaroid that we bought after tday last year and it didn't last the year. The screen has gone bad, it will still play DVD's and can be plugged into a TV but no longer useful as a portable.

 

[lynetteSC]

we have the same one you mentioned ... we actually bought another name brand and it died within one week (can't think of it ... maybe Best Buy name brand ...). We went back to Best Buy and that one was on sale. we have had it since august and been pleased. we just took it on a LOOOONG flight for our ds. so far, so good!

 

[cardaway]

Can you get to Costco?

They sell a brand called Mintek and they have some very affordable packages (that include the player and lots of accesories) to choose from. The players are great, we've had no problems.

 

[C.Ann]

Can you get to Costco?

They sell a brand called Mintek and they have some very affordable packages (that include the player and lots of accesories) to choose from. The players are great, we've had no problems.

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There's none in our area that I know of.. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[cardaway]

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There's none in our area that I know of.. Thanks for the suggestion though!

As far as I know the brand (Mintek) is available at other stores. They just cost more and don't come with bundled accesories.

No matter what you end up buying make sure you get the accesories you need based on the intended use. For example, going to use it in the car, get the car power adapter. Not all players come with the same accessories.

 

[MICKEY88]

DD and her DH have decided that Santa will be bringing my 7 yr. old granddaughter a portable DVD player for Christmas.. My son-in-law did a lot of research on-line today and is pretty sure he wants to go with the "Polaroid 8" Portable Widescreen DVD Player with Rotating LCD Screen.." He doesn't want to buy a $99 player - nor does he want to spend $250 - so this one lands right within the price budget he would like to spend..

I told him I would ask if anyone here already has this one. He read a lot of reviews and they were all good.. Can anyone confirm or deny?

Thanks!

2 thoughts....

1 .....slightly off topic,, be careful of SIL's fragile male ego, if he researched it and came up with good reviews, coming here to check sounds as if you don't think hes capable of making a good decision...


2.

whatever they get I'd make sure it has an extended warranty that covers damage, because unless they have an incredibly responsible 7 year old, odds are it won't last, the very nature of portable dvd players, with a flip up screen, means they aren't the most rugged of electronic devices...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think that might be the one we have and we love it!

DD5 loves to use the remote control for it. The only thing I don't like is the stupid captions seem to automatically turn on and I need the remote to turn them off. Last trip we forgot the remote (OOPS!). My fault as I didn't take the case with me.

I cannot recall when we got it--but we've had it for several months. We did get the extended warranty as our last experience with portables had both breaking within the first month. They were an off brand and after the second snafu, we just got a refund.

We also purchased a backup battery for it. And keep in mind, if you use the plug in feature (either outlet or cig lighter in car)--you have to take the battery off. If the battery is plugged in, it uses the battery as primary source of power before taking power from an outlet.



ETA: Ours came with everything except the extra battery. I think the pricier players usually do--but I do agree about verifying this before purchase.

Also--the remote will not work if the screen is rotated and your DVD watchers are watching it backwards (so they can't use the remote on it in other words--remote still works--just needs direct line of site to the sensor which is on the front of the base).

 

[C.Ann]

2 thoughts....

1 .....slightly off topic,, be careful of SIL's fragile male ego, if he researched it and came up with good reviews, coming here to check sounds as if you don't think hes capable of making a good decision...


2.

whatever they get I'd make sure it has an extended warranty that covers damage, because unless they have an incredibly responsible 7 year old, odds are it won't last, the very nature of portable dvd players, with a flip up screen, means they aren't the most rugged of electronic devices...

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#1 - LOL ... It was his idea that I ask here to see if anyone already had one..

#2 - I don't know if he'll go for the extended warranty or not, but the 7 yr. old has been using her mom's laptop since she was 3, so I think she'll be pretty careful with it..

 

[MICKEY88]

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#1 - LOL ... It was his idea that I ask here to see if anyone already had one..

#2 - I don't know if he'll go for the extended warranty or not, but the 7 yr. old has been using her mom's laptop since she was 3, so I think she'll be pretty careful with it..

I think laptops are a little more sturdy, but if you think the 7 year old will treat it well, you certainly know her better than i do...LOL

 

[staci]

My brother has a Polaroid portable dvd player. He got it last december for around 200 at best buy. Idk the model #.

It has been to Europe and back twice with him and he has never had a problem. he studied abroad for 4 months and used it as his primary television during those 4 lonely months. He took a big cd case of american tv shows on dvd and really used it all the time. When at home, he has it connected to his television and uses it as his primary dvd player.

We took it to dw this fall and it was great for us.

He had definitely gotten his money out of it.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Can you get to Costco?

They sell a brand called Mintek and they have some very affordable packages (that include the player and lots of accesories) to choose from. The players are great, we've had no problems.

This is the one that we have. It works great. We have had it over two years and I just recently dropped it on the floor and the only thing that happened is the latch to keep is closed broke.

I would buy another Mintek in a heartbeat. BIL had a Cyberhome and it didn't last a month.

 

[scoutsmom99]

I have a mintek (8" wide screen) one that I got at Kohls last year on sale for 169.99. It has two head phone jacks, came with car adapter, ermote, cables to hook up to tv and some other stuff I can't remember. I use it all the time and it works great.

I know Kohls has another mintek one this year and I have seen other mintek ones at most department stores around here.

 

[cardaway]

Assuming this is the model you posted about...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_3/103-7138859-3809448?_encoding=UTF8

It got some bad ratings. Might not mean much but my first thought after seeing it was called out in at least one of the reviews.

The moving screen may look cool but it's just another thing to break and it puts a lot of strain on the video flex cable. Those are easy to short out and puting stress on it like that just increases the chances of shorting. Unless that's a key feature you're looking for it may be best to look for another model that doesn't ask you to pay for a moving screen.

 

[wdwmom2]

I bought one at Circuit City. The brand is Initial. I just checked their website and I don't believe they carry them anymore. Mine works just fine. No problems. Even with 2 teenagers occasionally using it!!!

Check out reviews from www.eopinions.com .

 

[DMRick]

Ours is a panasonic and it got great reviews..but that one was pricey..more for a grown up for the price I paid. Several of our family members have the mintec special from BJ's. They are all pleased with them, and no one has mentioned any problems. Grands have various brands as well.

 

[golfgal]

We have 2 of them. One is just a regular one (Magnavox) and the other has two screens (can't remember the brand--both came from Walmart). We use the second one all the time now because we can hook DS's XBox into it for our really long trips and with the XBox if he wants to watch a different movie then the twins he can (or just play his game). We use the portables as regular DVD players when we don't have them in the car.

 

[nowellsl]

Best advice I've gotten as far as portable DVD players go was from a salesman at Sears. Buy the cheapest brand you can find (with the features you want) and buy the extended warranty.The expensive ones have just as many problems as the cheap ones.

 

[C.Ann]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies.. Sounds like 6 of one, half-dozen of the other.. LOL.. I'll just pass the info on to my son-in-law and let him decide.. He mentioned that "Mintex" (or however it's spelled), but he had never heard of the brand before so he was leery of it..

 

[nowellsl]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies.. Sounds like 6 of one, half-dozen of the other.. LOL.. I'll just pass the info on to my son-in-law and let him decide.. He mentioned that "Mintex" (or however it's spelled), but he had never heard of the brand before so he was leery of it..

Actually Mintek makes a lot of portable DVD players that are labeled with other brand names. They probably make more than any other company.