Customer Reviews

Coby CX-266 AM/FM Stereo Table Radio with USB Port and SD Card Slot for MP3 Playback

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not the best sounding, or easiest to use but it does a lot for a little and does it well enough. Better than a clock radio and I don't have to go looking for my IPod. I gave one to each of the kids for their rooms and I no longer have to burn a CD of the week of the mix they want to listen to. Just toss the bedtime songs or favorite of the day onto a USB Flash or SD card (whatever they happen to bring me) and 10 seconds later its playing. No real bass and doesn't get loud, but, for an AM/FM MP3 Table radio it holds its own against others costing 2-3 times as much. A friend owns a Computer Store that sells Apple and IPods and he has three shelves of IPod speakers and radios... After he heard this he has started carrying it as well and it is selling 3-1 over the rest combined due to its low price and relative value. Just don't buy it expecting a "Stereo". It is a great table radio though.

My Coby CX-266 works well on MP3 files read from either a SD/MMC card or a Flash Drive. It seems that so long as the MP3 file is around 3MB the Coby can handle it. However, if the file gets much larger that 3MB, the Coby won't play it.

Of course I called the Coby helpline. Neither of the two people seemed to know what a Coby CX-266 was. They were absolutely no help. They couldn't even refer me to a more technical person. Next I tried email. As you might expect, I have received no response from two emails.

Here's my recommendation: If your Coby works well out of the box - you're fortunate. If you need Coby support for your product - you're sunk. I suggest that you wait for some other manufacturer to start selling a MP3 compatible radio

The Coby 266 is a great item. It plays AM and FM as well as having an SD and USB reader. Think of it as a room sized ipod with high fidelity. I use it to listen to saved podcasts.

I have had the Coby-CX-266 for several months now and love it. It's not only a great product but the price is very, very, reasonable. It's so much easier and quicker to just drag your favorite songs onto a USB thumb drive or a SD card than it is to burn a CD. When you get tired of the songs just delete them and add new ones, can't do that with a CD. Also the sound is good, the volume is plenty loud for the average person, and the cabinet has a very nice appearence. Lot's more great features make this a great buy at Amazon's low price. I highly recommend the Coby-CX-266 and cannot believe some of the other major electronic companies have not came out with a similar product. Thanks alot Coby!!

The Coby CX-266 has just the features I want, and excellent sound for its size and price. If only it worked. The initial obvious problem was an erratic display. I opened the back, and found a surprisingly hand-labor-intensive assembly. Numerous small circuit boards, interconnected with ribbon cable. Fragile connectors between the cables and the boards. Found an unseated pin on the cable connecting the display. Coaxed the pin back into place, and reinstalled the back. Display worked. Felt smug. Twenty minutes later, unit shut itself off and couldn't be turned back on. Read manual (which is much better than usual for a product of its kind) assuming I had inadvertently activated "Sleep" mode. No such luck. Next morning, unit worked (all modes--all features) for the better part of an hour. Then quit again. Considered exchanging (Amazon would even pay return shipping) but learned no more were available. Decided to keep it, because it sounds great when it works. Called Coby USA factory support to see if I could beg, borrow, buy, or steal a schematic. They did not have one, and assured me one could not be obtained. Short story: my unit (and possibly one you buy) has a temperature problem. It works fine as long as it is kept toasty-warm. Best operating mode is with its radiant-heat-hungry black back facing the fireplace. Moral: Check the return policy of your vendor. I'd give mine five stars except for the temperature problem. Mine's been playing while I write--but the room has cooled and it just quit. I'm going to go light the gas log.

Ernie Greenwald

(Retired electronic engineer)

This unit has everything I was looking for: alarm clock, sleep mode, USB/SD reader, MP3 player. The sound is better than expected at this price and type of device. I purchased this item approx. one year ago.

HOWEVER, the unit keeps locking up at random times for no apparent reason. I purchased this for my kid's room and use it to play music all night. I did not have any problems with it at the beginning. After a few weeks of use, it started locking up but I could re-boot it and get back to business - annoying but could work around it. In later weeks, the frequency of the lock ups increased. I dealt with it as normal: shut off the main switch on the back of the unit, wait 20 - 30 seconds, then turn it back on and keep using it.

Now, the unit locks up but turning it off and then on does not bring the unit back to life. I have to leave it off for some time, sometimes minutes, sometimes many hours before the unit is operational again.

I looked in Coby's website for a firmware update but none is available. It's really unfortunate that this unit is not more dependable in operation because there was no similar product available back then. It has now become a frustrating experience to have to work around its lock-ups so often (in a daily basis).

Needless to say, I cannot recommend this product...

We purchased the CX-266 in order to play select mood-music in our law office. The convenience of being able to transfer music to the SD chip - we use a 2gb - and play through the Coby good++ speakers in the hall, enhances the atmosphere of the office. For the cost, it is far the best value I have found. I will buy another soon for my residence.

-John C.

Charleston, SC

I like this product, but I could see where some people would not.

The good: It sounds great in my opinion. It plays radio and MP3. The MP3 can be from USB stick or SD Card. It seems amazingly hard to find a desktop MP3 clock/radio a reasonable price if you don't want to have to plug in an iPod to some strange dock.

The bad: It's ugly. Looking at the picture I didn't think it would be ugly, but it is. Mostly because of the size. If it looked like this at half the size it would be "sleek" or "elegant", but at this size it is just "clunky." The places for the SD card or USB Stick are on the front. This means that they can easily be broken off if you were to bang on it trying to "snooze". In my case, I bought this for my 2 year old to go to sleep with at night and he could easily pull the SD card out and drop it down a heat duct. Last, most functions are only available through the remote which is always a headache.

This table radio is great for listening to music saved on USB or SD card. Radio reception is poor where I live, so it's difficult to rate FM portion of this tabletop. I did notice that it doesn't lock on the strongest signal like my Milwaukee job site radio, but for the money, I'm happy with Coby Table Radio.

I wanted an alarm clock radio that would play SD cards, particularly mp3 talk programs, interviews and lectures downloaded from the net to listen to in bed while I drift-off to sleep. The COBY CX-266 will play the SD cards as well as the radio. But, my wife doesn't like to listen to what I like and there is no ear-phone plug. So, what this needs is an ear-phone plug.