Customer Reviews

Archos FM Tuner and Remote Control for all Gmini Series 100 and 200 (500533)

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have a Gmini 400 (Which is a great product by itself) I decided to purchase this as a little add on and...
it is great! easy controls once you get used to it. I enjoy being able to leave my player in my pocket and still scroll through all of my music files.
The radio is a little sensitive since your headphone cord is the antena but still a cool add on (you can record off the radio with a simple click)
I love this product and recomend Archos products!

This item is not compatible with the GMini XS200, Archos' site mentions this in their product listing but Amazon seems to have missed it.

I bought this remote control for my Gmini 220. It was loaded with features. You can have all the controls on the unit plus FM radio with recording function. You can even turn the unit off with the remote. Sweet, isn't it. However the built quality was poor. When I touch the volume control lightly, the sound will go on and off (loose circuit?). The worse of all there was a constant Hmmming sound when the unit was turned on (more noticeable between songs). Seems there was some kind of an interference going on. Can't stand it so I have to return it. Not sure if my remote was defective or most of the products are the same?

I got one of these when I got my Gmini 220. It has various problems:
- Instability and lockups: The connector easily slips out from the Gmini, which causes a loud sound in the headphones and sometimes causes the remote to lock up. Even if the connector doesn't slip out, the remote is unstable and it locks up in various ways, sometimes every few minutes and sometimes once per hour. This requires unplugging it and plugging it back in. Sometimes it doesn't lock up but the display goes unreadably dim. Sometimes the red record light comes on for no reason.
- Noise: The backlight causes a loud buzzing sound in the headphones, and text scrolling causes a softer sound. Hard drive spinups on the Gmini also cause noise (this doesn't happen without the remote). A partial workaround is to turn down the volume on headphones and turn up the volume on the Gmini.
- The FM reception is quite poor. Even when trying to listen to local radio stations I often have to carefully arrange the cable to get a decent signal.

You can start FM recording from the remote. This is great for saving a part of a song I like so I can identify it online later. The quality isn't so good that I'd want to keep the recordings however.

You can also use the remote for voice recording. There is a microphone right on the remote. This avoids the LCD noise that you'd get from the Gmini 220 microphone, but of course you can hear how you're handling the remote. I would hold it by the cable right by the remote to avoid adding such noise.

I mostly used the remote in winter. The Gmini 220 would be in my breast pocket under layers of clothing, and I'd only need to access it to turn it on (because the remote can't) and to briefly unplug the remote if it locks up. I suppose I saved some wear and tear on the Gmini, but had I known how unreliable and unstable the remote was I wouldn't have bought it.

The remote is good if you're not planning any major stuff. What happens to me is that, like the other reviewers, there is a bit of static and an annoying sound that comes along with it. The connection is not always that great but it is long and can, in conjunction with the headphones, work really well if you want to record from the radio. On mine, it freezes after a while and the unit has to be turned off and then on again. Which can be a pain. But the mic feature works brilliantly so can't complain in that area.

Good add on, radio could have been built into Gmini as standard feature though. When i recieved my radio, it was also faulty, loose connection, static in right earphone, and loud clicking noise when cable was moved. Archos would not exchange it as I bought it off amazon's website (waiting to see if amazon will exchange it)!

Had read reviews of Archos's bad build quality, but bought it any way, No problems with Gmini 400 so far (after 2 weeks!), but radio was broken when i took it out of the box and Archos refused to exchange it!
Buyer beware!!

About the remote control I can't complain... it looks great, the bad thing it that i couldn't use it! because it isn't compatible with my Archos Gmini XS 200 MP3 player!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe it! Amazon said that it IS COMPATIBLE, BUT DON'T TRUST THEM!