Sonic Blue Rio S35S Sport MP3 Player (Refurbished) for $137

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/Sea...M975-4010&Tab=7

Looks pretty good, but I've never ordered from TD.

Any feedback on recertified stuff from tigerdirect?
Is it easy to get refunds for bad products? etc

Tigerdirect has been pretty solid to me, don't you worry about them.

Hmmmnnnn.... tempted.

Not bad. Free ship, one tax but it's a refurb. That kinda puts me off with this product a bit since it's supposed to be their "sporty" player and if it needed to be refurbed - is it because it couldn't take the beating of a workout/jog/hike etc or whether it was just a small defect that was repaired no prob and now it's offered as a refurb?

looks interesting...It's got a FM Tuner as well!
If you order one, please tell us the condition of the unit received.

I purchased a refurb (not from Tiger Direct) for my sis's b-day present. She's used it for her jogging and workouts and so far, it hasn't missed a beat. My only complaint about it is the FM reception is pretty lousy...

Ray

The reviews at cnet.com are mixed on this unit. I've been keeping my eye on this for some time now.

Check out the user reviews for this s35s

at cnet.com ...

In a nutshell:

~ Most people liked it. Others who had problems hated it obviously.

~ radio reception sucks

~ headphones are terrible (not much of surprise really - use your own)

~ battery life is so-so (one AAA so what do you expect? Use NiMh)

~ headphone jack and usb out are uncovered and unprotected which some have reported to be major flaws from sweat etc ...

~ belt clip is fragile (well, that's no surprise either for a player in this price range. Gotta cut corners somewhere)

~ Rio support is terrible and minimal driver support.

~ cannot transfer music from player to computer (to be expected from a copyright point of view)

~ must use Rio software to transfer data.

~ is not usb 2.0 compat with xp as of yet.


Now, this is obviously a list of negatives for the most part. There are many positives but I think that it's appropriate to see the -'s and then check the +'s and consider that it's a refurb at TigerDirect.ca and then make your own decision.

I noticed that TD also has the s50 refurb as well.

I am looking into getting back into lifting so i'm going to consider this player myself.

So, 137 plus free shipping and gst is ~ 146.59.

Oh, BTW, this is a discontinued product if that makes any diff.

www.rioaudio.com

Is it only one tax for everyone?
This is extremely tempting, since I recently returned the creative muvo. And for another ~40, this seems like a nice deal.
But since its refurbished, im just abit hesitant.
It only comes with a one month warranty.
I'm not really gonna use it for exercising, just regular use.

Anyone know if it has "repeat, random,"?

GST only for non-Ontario residents I believe.

I also just found out that there is a firmware upgrade that will allow you to add up to a 512mb SD card to make a total of 640mb. That's pretty nice. Still lots of QC issues though it would seem. If you get a good one then you are doing well ... if you get a lemon - well, you're in trouble.

Here's an "enthusiasts" site:

RioVolution

Well, having the day off and sitting in front of the comp with some time on my hands has allowed me to do research on this player.

I've come to the conclusion that if you are interested in this player at TigerDirect.ca (good price as it is) it may be wise to purchase the extended warranty if you are confident in TD's warranty service or definitely use a credit card that automatically extends the warranty by a year etc.

From all the reviews i've read it's either heaven if you get a good one - or absolute hell if you don't and [insert Deity here] help you if you have to contact customer service for help.


SonicBlue did go Chapter 11 (Bankrupcy) not that long ago and they probably have been bought out by another company and giving it another go with their new lineup of products.

I mean, only their sales number were 1-800 ... all the tech support/cust service numbers were all long distance ... jeez, that's bad. Don't know about their current status though.

You can check out their new models their reviews at that CNET.com site or at Amazon.com among other places.

good deal but only 1 month warranty

I've ordered a couple times from TD no problems at all.

Hm.. I thought about purchasing the warranty, then I saw on ecost.com that its $107 US
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=492241

After all the shipping, conversion rates, taxes, etc etc
It comes up to $187 Finaly price. Which is a pretty good price.

The iriver 180T comes up to $182 for me.
Not sure if i wanted to shell out this much cash.
ahhhh

I would just like to warn anyone buying a Rio product;

Diamond Rio has the worst suport I have ever encountered. They took forever to respond to E-mail, and I could find no way to get anyone on the phone.

Also, they do not update their products for very long. My 128meg Rio 500 is ONLY compatible with Win98SE or older. The drivers and software are not compatible with NT based OS.


Just a heads up,
RideGuy

Just want to bring this deal back from the dead...was just doing a search and saw that the link now shows $60.99! If mint sees this, perhaps he could edit the title to reflect the new price.

I've always liked the backlit displays of the Rio players. This one has SD card expandability, FM Tuner, and portablility with an arm band, so definitly worth another round in the hot deals forum.

I've got the 64 meg version of this one. Overall its been good with the fm tuner and sd slot.
But... headphones suck, FM reception is poor, with belt clip too easy to accidently hit the buttons on it while you work out.