Customer Reviews

Axion AXN6079 7-Inch Twin Monitor Portable DVD System

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

With a 14-hour car ride with my two kids (6 & 2 1/2) ahead of me, I needed a portable DVD player that would get us all through it with some semblance of sanity. I reviewed all of the products that were available and agonized over the fact that it seemed like a coin toss whether or not the unit a person bought would be defective or not. It didn't matter how much one spent, half of the reviews were, "this is junk!" and the other half were "this is great!" If spending more money was a guarantee that the portable DVD player was going to work, I'd have done so. But it didn't seem to matter. So, it was with great trepidation that I purchased this unit. I figured that I could eat the loss if it the coin toss came up "crap."

Everything worked great during the two pre-trip tryouts. Sharp picture, ample sound quality, no skipping on the player, the kids were happy. But two hours of use during the trip the picture on one of the units all but died. Maxing out the brightness didn't help. The sound came through fine so the kids were able to watch the same screen without having to jack up the volume. My son was even able to plug in his video game to it. Fortunately, the one remaining screen lasted the rest of the trip and the return trip as well. No problems with the player itself.

I bought the service/replacement plan just in case something went wrong. I have to recommend the same to any future buyers. Hopefully, I'll either get the unit repaired or replaced. I'll try to edit this with an update if/when that happens. Today is 5/6/08.

5 stars for when the unit worked. 1 star for the unit breaking so soon. Unless you need one of these right away (like me), try and wait for next year's models.

Update 7/7/08: If took some searching, but I discovered that the unit was still under warranty. I contacted the customer service department for the manufacturer, left a message, and was then contacted the next day. I explained the problem and was told to ship the busted monitor to the manufacturer. Three weeks later a new monitor was shipped to me. The replacement monitor is working fine.

We were very happy with this product. This two screen DVD player was easy to set up and use. We used it nearly continuously while driving for 4 days. We bought two sets of earphones and plugged those into each screen so the driver does not have to listen to the movie while driving. It also functions as a CD player by plugging headphones directly into the player. Just note that each screen has an input button (Screen 1, Screen 2) and if the wrong one is pushed the screen will not show an image. But simply press the correct input button and the image will play on the screen.

I have now had this product for over a year and feel qualified to write a detailed review.
First some pros/cons-
Pros-
1. Dual Monitors.
2. Stand alone player
3. Extremely low price, compared to dealer installed player.
4. Easily transferable to another car, or hotel room when on trips
5. Capability of playing a video game on one screen and movie on another.

Cons-
1. No back up battery, if the car turns off/on the movie turns off and starts from the beginning.
2. On mine, the remote worked fine but not all buttons on the player worked.

A little more detail-
Dual monitors are great if you have more then one kid. They do not have to crank their neck at all to see the screen; it is strapped to the head rest right in front of them. If you have young kids that sit reversed in their car seat you can have one screen facing them and one screen for the older child. The stand alone player is key, yes it causes an extra cable, but it is needed so you can control the DVD player. It is hard to work through the menu of DVDs if you have to reach behind your head and try to feel for the buttons. You can set the separate player right next to you and easily press the buttons with this model. This player is around $170 delivered. In my Honda Odyssey, it was $3000 for a built in DVD player. DVD players will most likely not last more then a few years, I could by about 18 portable players for the price of the built in one. Even if it broke after a year, it would still be well worth it. When we go on trips and stay in the hotel, I just disconnect it from the car, use the A/C adapter, and the kids watch their movies in the rooms if they have too.
My biggest gripe with it is that it does not have a battery in it. For example, say you are getting the kids ready in the car and you turn on the player because you will be awhile packing or need to change a last minute diaper on one of the kids. The player will run with out the engine of the car running, but when you get in the start the car (at least in my Odyssey) there is a split second when no power is sent to the player, that split second is enough to restart the player from the beginning. If your kid cares, you then need to try to find the point the movie left off at. Kind of a pain. Something happens if you are running errands and leave one parent in the car with the kids, if you turn the engine off, it continues to run but once you start the car back up, it resets.
We do not use it every time we are in the car, only if we are in the car for more then 30 minutes or so. We have had many hours of usage and it and would definitely by it again.

I recently purchased this DVD player, even after reading all of the negative reviews. We had a two screen DVD player previously, and it finally died. We tried the ones with the DVD player actually in one of the screens, but the sound was horrible. This DVD player, while it is light and somewhat flimsy, worked perfectly, and the sound was amazing! The picture was great, and it worked like a charm!

I really do love this twin monitor portable dvd system. I researched the heck out of what was available and was a little nervous about getting this one based on earlier reviews, but none of the dual monitor dvd systems seemed to have good reviews at this price range. I have sense used it on very long trips (13 hour drives, etc). Out of the box, it is very light, but turned out to be very durable, (I have two toddlers who kicked the screens and banged on the dvd player.) Both screens worked great. Don't let other reviews sway you too much. It sounds like a lot of people simply did not realize that there are individual screen buttons that allow for one or both of the screens to be on at one time, and these need to be repushed whenever the dvd plyer is turned off. The convenience of having the dvd player seperate from the monitors was better than I realized it would be and the remote works great. I also did not have the problem that I read others had with many systems when the dvd player is turned off, as this one could be turned back on to the last part of the dvd watched, and pause, rewind and fast forward are all options as well, just like you would have at home. I loved it. The sound was loud and clear and you can use ear phones if need be. There is also not the mess of several different cords running all over the place or, as with our old single monitor, a swinging, strappy mess between the seats. The monitors fit neatly and easily on the back of the headrests. Also, once at the hotel, we disconnected the dvd player, and used another cord to watch movies with it on the tv in our room - saved a bundle on hotel movie rentals. Very easy to use, durable and works great!

I bought this for my kids for Christmas, thought it would be great for them each to have their own screen and for me to have the controls in the front (passenger) seat. On our first trip with the players, within 5 miles of our house, the bracket holding the strap on one of the screens broke. Thankfully I was able to rig it together with a band-aid. After the trip, I put away the players (my kids only watch movies on long trips) and took them out a week later for a 2 hr trip. One of the players had sound only, no picture. Completely and utterly broke. Thankfully I bought it through Amazon and returned it because it was defective.

The screens and player are so cheap, I would never buy again. I'm now on the hunt for a new dual-screen set, or even better, two tablet-style dvd players.

DON'T BUY - it is total junk.

Compact, well made, good picture, great sound, easy to use, simple controls and set up. What more could you ask for at this price. I have a Toshiba that I paid more than twice as much for and the quality is the same!

I like this unit because it comes with a nice bag and its picture quality is crystal clear. My kids love it as well. They keep watching it for a long time but i don't allow them. I am afraid they will be watching too long and lose some sleep. Finally this unit is 95/100.

I was really reluctant to purchase this DVD player set after reading the reviews, seems the opinions were split down the middle. Since I really need something to keep my kids (4 and 1) occupied for the long drive cross-country soon; I decided to go ahead with my purchase.

Delivery was kind of a nightmare; when it finally got here, I thought it looked nice and really liked the bag it came in. Everything has a nice little compartment and it would be easy to carry from place to place.

Installing them into the vehicle took less than 5 mins. The cords are a little bit of a hassel but I found a way to bundle the cords with something kind of like the velcro strap that comes on the cord to a laptop, works really well. I tucked the buddled cords into the seat pockets of the seats in front of them so the kids won't be tempted to play with them.

I really like that the player itsself comes separate from the monitors so it can be placed up front with me, instead of having to reach back to change DVDs. The only thing I wish was different is the monitors, I'd prefer if they both came on when the player itsself was turned on. For those who only want to utilize one at different times, you do have the option to do so though with the way it is.

The pictures and quality looks good so far...I'm seeing a lot of reviews saying they are messing up after a couple of weeks so I'll be back with an update if and when that happens.

~fingers crossed~

After reading all the reviews bashing portable DVD units and not finding any that consistently got good marks, I didn't have high hopes. But this one seemed to get the best reviews in the write-ups and we decided to give it a whirl. We used it on a 2,500 mile, 16 day trip and it performed prefectly. It was nice to have the remote control and the carrying case was fabulous, so we could stow the unit during the trip.

The one thought I have for all DVD manufacturers is that it would be helpful to have on the actual unit that plays the DVD or on the remote a small screen that shows what you are looking at. This was bought for a 1 and 3 year old to watch and they aren't going to be manning the remote, so it was a bit of a challenge to curl around to the back seat to get some of the shows going that didn't 'auto play'. The logisitcs of essentially providing a 3rd screen are difficult enough that I still think it deserves 5 stars. I like the tilt screen and being able to adjust the brightness too.
Extremely easy to set up--we did it on the fly w/o instructions.