MP3 Players Review

Archos 705 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (160 GB)

Customer Reviews

I don't even know how this company is still in business

If you want to pay a ton of money for a product that will break within the first couple of weeks of ownership, then archos products are where it's at. If you like spending hours of time on the phone talking to incompetent representatives who say one thing, and don't follow through, then once again archos products are for you. If you are like most people, and don't want to waste your money, stay away from this company.

Great Product (Almost)

I purchased an Archos 705 (160GB) about two months ago and am just now getting around to leaving a review. Thus far, it has been a great product...NEARLY perfect. The good: Plenty of space...I have my Archos filled up with all the music, movies, photos, and games that I need. The Archos plays nearly every file type. You are only really limited by the resolution. The Archos is built very well. Feels sturdy in hand and can take some abuse. My Archos has fell off my bed onto a wood floor a couple times and hasn't missed a beat. The Archos is beyond easy to use. It has a very slick dashboard and allows you to easily access your media. Things that need to be improved: 1) This first one is HUGE in my book....Why they didn't include an external volume control is beyond me. There is an external control on the included head phones, but I like to use my noise canceling headphones so am stuck with using the clunky on-screen volume control. This BY FAR is my biggest complaint with the unit. 2) Overall volume output leaves a lot to be desired. Volume is great when using head phones, but when plugged into external speakers it lacks. It does get loud enough for a small room, but I use Bose Companion 3 Series 2 speakers to provide music in our airplane hanger and while other, smaller MP3 players (combined with the speaker volume control fill the hanger; the Archos does not. 3) The Archos does occasionally "lock-up" and needs to be restarted. I should also say that it didn't start happening until I loaded it up with flash games. It doesn't happen a lot, I would say probably once a week or so. Overall this is a great product that I would buy again. I spend a lot of time in very remote places and the Archos allows me to relax to my own music and movies at night. I haven't got to test out the WiFi yet. I have purchased two extra Archos 704 batteries and they work for the 705 unit. If this unit had external volume control it would get 5 stars, but as is I am giving it 4.

I REALLY wanted this to be a great unit

I went ahead and bought this unit even though I read the reviews that said the sound was not very good. I thought the reviewers were just being picky. This unit is EVERTHING (and more) that you could want in a PVP but the sound is so faint on uploaded media that even with my Bose headphone I could barely hear the dialog in the movie. Looking back over the reviews I am wondering if this is a hit and miss thing because all of the real positive reviews say nothing about this low volume problem. This unit is so far beyond the competition why did they cheap out on the sound ?? This is the best unit out there bar none but the low sound level is a KILLER for this unit. Even after calls to the tech support (which were VERY helpful and friendly) they said it was just a "small problem" that they didn't anticipate would turn off the consumers so bad. Sorry, I paid over $550 for this with accessories and I liked EVERYTHING about this unit but COULDN'T hear it !! My trusty DVD player is too loud for me at ¼ scale - I couldn't hear this at full volume. What a shame ! I am very glad I bought this thru Amazon because the return was hassle free and fast but I would like to have been able to keep the unit and enjoyed it. I hope Archos fixes this and gets a unit out with better sound - they will sell a billion of them. If not, I'm afraid all they will have is a billion of them returned in a pile on their floor. To quote Maxwell Smart - "They missed it by THAT much !"

Play my media, baby!

The first one I ordered died within 3 days of receiving it... not good I contacted the vendor and it took a week for them to reply with an RMA website.... VERY not good I contacted Amazon 5 minutes after I mail Archos and I had an email from customer service within an hour stating that a new unit was on the way (shipped on Amazon's dime) and gave me instructions to package and return the bad unit. Amazon customer service RULZ! Back to the unit... It's HUGE, it's awesome, does exactly what I wanted it to.. but has all the flaws that other reviewers stated: -volume control is wonky and doesn't get that loud (it was hard to hear on a plane, but at the hotel was perfect) -why do I have to buy the webbrowser and divx plug-ins to make the thing fully functional? -battery life was good so far (bought extra battery just in case though) -picture was crisp and clean, very easy to view (although not "high-def" but what do you want from something you're holding in your hand?) Unit is great, Amazon is better! Thanks!

I like it.

Capable product but it needs too many expesive add-ons.Surfing the internet can alsobe challenging.

Keyword : archos