Mach Speed Trio Touch Screen 8GB MP3 and MP4 Video Player (Black)

by Mach Speed

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 6.7 x 1.9 inches ; 10.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0029Z3JDE
• Item model number: TRIO-TCH843
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,324 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Whether you're traveling or relaxing, this model lets you enjoy all your digital entertainment in the palm of your hand and provides a substantial 4.3" LCD screen for comfortable viewing. At less than 1/2" thick, it doesn't take up much space but it does hold up to 2000 MP3 songs. And you can add even more capacity with optional microSD memory cards. The built-in rechargeable battery provides up to eight hours of continuous playback.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Buy!!!, September 5, 2009

By 

L. Lara (DFW, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mach Speed Trio Touch Screen 8GB MP3 and MP4 Video Player (Black) (Electronics)

My teenage stepson wanted a new mp3 player and saved up his own money for it. He wanted my opinion on three that he had narrowed down to. The Trio was one of them. After reading the only previously posted review he was a bit leery, but after I read the review it was clear to me that the reviewer's disappointment came from the wrong expectations and it was worth trying. A simple 5 minute research on this product proved that it was all we wanted, and nothing the previous reviewer wanted. We ordered one and are very glad that we did!. The 4.3 " screen is nice and big, and crystal clear. Keep in mind this is a MEDIA PLAYER, and that is what you get. If you are looking for a stop watch, or a scientific calculator, or even a PDA to load additional software on, then buy one of those items. Which brings me to my next point, the reason the Ebook feature doesn't read PDF files is because PDF's are Adobe proprietary formats and require Adobe reader. The two headphone jack was appealing to my stepson as he and his little sister could watch a movie together on an upcoming flight, and this is exactly what they did. We loaded all his MP3's on to the Trio as well as 5 movies and they all played flawlessly. In short, someone's lack of research doesn't mean the product is faulty. I've ordered a Trio for myself to replace my Ipod Nano, and will be ordering at least 2 more for gifts. At this price this is a great buy!!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Surprisingly Excellent Portable Media Player, a great value for under $70, July 15, 2010

By 

Pavel Popa - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mach Speed Trio Touch Screen 8GB MP3 and MP4 Video Player (Black) (Electronics)

(Note: I am using firmware version 1.1 at the time of this review).

I have been through many portable media players in the past (including an Archos 3, Onda VX787, and a Philips SA6145), although none have impressed me as much as this Mach Speed Trio. I purchased this player brand new and was unsure of what to expect; I had seen a video review and read many reviews here, but there was no solid review about this player. That is, until, now. This player, model number TCH-843D, came in the mail yesterday and I opened it immediately. It comes inside a hard, plastic case, one that is common for most electronic devices. Inside was a box containing the player itself and the multitude of accessories. We'll start here.

Inside the box is the player, protected with two plastic overlay sheets, and many accessories, including the manual, earbuds, USB cable, charger, stylus, and a stand. The manual is a small 3 x 4 inch booklet that contains pretty much everything you need to know. A charger (adapter) is also included that uses the included USB cord to connect to the wall. When plugged in, the adapter lights green, but when charging, it lights red. The stylus is a small, silver tool that works very well, and is surprisingly the exact same one that was included with my Onda. The stand is great; it's a small little plastic thing that clamps onto the middle of the player and has a small little kickstand to let the player stand when watching a movie on a table. The stand also has a little opening to place the stylus so that you won't lose it. Nice touch!

Now, onto the player itself. This Trio from Mach Speed looked surprisingly small, because the screen is nice and large (4.3") and makes the player look tiny. However, the player is surprisingly heavy, likely due to the steel back that gives the player a better feel in your hand. All sides are free of openings except the right side, which houses the power switch, MicroSD slot, USB slot, and two headphone slots, so two sets of earphones can be connected. Nice touch! On the back of the player, we are greeted with the word "Trio" and a serial number on the bottom. On the bottom, right-hand side of the player's back, there is an external speaker which sounds surprisingly good. On a side note, this player internal drive has 8GB of storage space, so you might want to grab that MicroSD card out of your pocket and use it here. This is a touch screen player, and the touch screen, shockingly, is amazingly responsive and surpasses my old Onda and definitely excels my old Archos 3.

When turning the player on, we see a welcome screen and are immediately taken to the main menu. Here, we see the time and battery on the top right-hand side. The main menu itself consists of ten buttons with an icon for each one: Music, Movies, Desktop, Calculator, Photo, eBook, Record, Other Function, Explorer, and Settings. Although most are pretty self explanatory, I'll explain each one anyway.

The Music icon takes you the option list, on whether to sort by All Music, or by Artist, Album, Genre or Favorites. Music playback is good, supporting MP3, WMA, FLAC and APE. Music is listed alphabetically, and when a song is selected, we are taken to the music playback screen. Unfortunately, this player does not support album art. The Movie icon takes you to the list of video files you have on your player. File types supported are AVI, RM, RMVB, FLV, DAT, and WMV. However, MP4 is not supported; you have been warned! Folders are supported on this player, so if you have many TV shows, you can organize them each in a specific folder. But like I said before, this player has only 8GB of storage space, so be prepared to expand. Video quality is amazing and I am very much impressed.

The Desktop icon allows you to choose from 8 different backgrounds all of which are pretty cool. However, I noticed that this player is somewhat dark, even with brightness at its highest level. However, tilting the player upside will improve the brightness level.
The Calculator icon is a simple calculator. The Photo icon takes you to your photos, which supports JPEG, BMP, and GIF photos. However, photos take at least 5 seconds to load, which is quite a while. Perhaps a firmware update can fix this. The eBook icon allows you to read TXT files, and they look pretty nice. The Record icon allows you to record either low or high bit rate WAV files. The Other Function icon takes you to a list of either the Stopwatch or World Time features. The stopwatch sucks and stops a full second to stop after you press the stop button. The World Time feature is pretty cool though. The Explorer icon allows you to view the entire hierarchy of files on your player so you can choose whatever you want to view. And lastly, the Settings icon takes you to a variety of personalization options, including a wide variety of languages.

So, here are my top Pro's and Con's:

Pros:
Great build quality.
Good amount of clever accessories not found in other players.
Amazing video quality.
Dual headphone jacks.
MicroSD expansion slot.
Many settings available.
A lot of cool features to this player.
Amazingly responsive touch screen.
External speaker.
Great value for under $70.

Cons:
NO radio, surprisingly; not even FM.
Dim, not-too-bright screen.
Doesn't play MP4 files.
The software is kind of cheap, unfortunately, with the Menus somewhat substandard. This is especially true for the Settings menus.
Battery life is only average.
Included earphones aren't too great.

Overall, 4.8 stars, rounded up to 5. This is an amazing player that I wish had bought a lot sooner. I would recommend this player to anyone, and for only $70, it's an amazing value. I hope to keep this player for many years to come.

P.S. I noticed many negative reviews on this player based on things that aren't even about this player's functionality (ex. the screen arrived damaged, the player wouldn't turn on when I received it, etc). Well, I have some news: get a player that actually works and then post a review. I think a "DUH" is in order here. But seriously, please ignore these reviews. This player is great and completely exceeded all of my expectations.

UPDATE July 18, 2010:
I have realized a slight error during video playback that has occurred on many of the videos I have on this player. For all of the videos I have with an image size of 640 x 480 pixels, the image resizes incorrectly. There is a feature on this player that allows you to stretch your video to fill the entire screen, or maintain it at its original aspect ratio. However, instead of keeping at its original size like the videos are supposed to be, it cuts of the top and bottom of the footage. The footage cut off reappears when the footage is stretched to fill the screen, but not when at its original aspect ration of 4 x 3. This hardly hinders my regard for the player, but is slightly annoying nevertheless.

Furthermore, I have discovered that the reason why the screen is so dark is because this player doesn't take glare from light very well at all. When in a dark room, my Trio is as bright and colorful as should be, but whenever in the light, even at the smallest amount, the screen darkens and the colors become more and more dull.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A lower end player, September 14, 2009

By 

M. Zambuto "slautterback" (IL.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mach Speed Trio Touch Screen 8GB MP3 and MP4 Video Player (Black) (Electronics)

Those who think this is a great player may not have a really good one to compare it
to.
I own a PSP 4.3" screen and a Creative Zen Vision Wide 4.3".
With the very same video file loaded and played back side by side, it is obvious
the Mach Speed Trio is not in the same class in performance.
In the compairison the lcd screen is much darker even with the brightness setting
at its highest.
The video playback is choppy/jittery, it looks like skipping.
I agree with the other review the software is like one of those chinese Ipod
knockoffs, cheesy/generic.
Yes its lower priced then some of the other high end ones, but Iv'e seen better
video on some less expensive ones.
To me its a $90 mp3 player because I don't want to strain my eyes watching videos
on this.
The cartoons preloaded dont look as bad as movie video because there's no shadows
and dark places in cartoons, just bright colors.
Shop and compare in person some players in a store before buying this.
Oh, and the manual specs say there is an FM tuner.
Not one that I can find.