Customer Reviews

Panasonic SLSW869V Shockwave Portable CD Player with Radio (Silver & Blue)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Often i was having trouble deciding which discman to get: The choices were the non-rugged versions of discman, with great features such as a remote control and AM/FM tuner, or the Shockwave model, which could withstand daily abuse (I am a student, so it gets bashed around quite frequently in my backpack). However, the shockwave models never offered a headphone remote or a useful radio tuner.

I am the owner of the previous Shockwave model (the fat 10 second anti-shock model). It has served me well, but left me wanting more.

This new model incorporates the best of both worlds: feature rich, rugged design, and relatively thin cross-section, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a great discman that is almost indestructable, as far as discmans go.

PROS:
-great XBS sound from Panasonic
-super rugged design
-thin, compared to previous plastic models
-AM/FM tuner
-headphone remote (for those wondering, this was never included on any previous shockwave models)
-great, solid design, all buttons and latches feel solid, and comes with embedded handgrip
-anti-shock 4.0 40 seconds, almost skip-free
-battery life rated for over 20 hours, uses AA batteries unlike some ultraslims, that use expensive AAA batteries
-rechargable battery capable
-comes with AC adapter to save batteries

CONS:
-for those who do not require a rugged model, go for a thinner, lighter discman. Will save money and pocket weight.

Excellent portable CD player/radio combination. CD player is very good. Resume feature returns to start of track being listened to if CD turned off. Plays MOST CD-R discs (will NOT play some 80 min. CD-Rs; Sony player has no problem). AM and FM tuners very good and quite sensitive. Remote is very good and allows use of any headphones (they plug into remote). Unit appears very rugged. Dropped to floor accidentally while playing CD; didn't miss a beat. Only competition appears to be Sony D-F415 which is not built as rugged, and is much larger. Sony also has resume feature but it returns to EXACT point in track which is a little nicer. Sony has no problems playing all CD-R discs. Panasonic AM tuner appears a bit better than Sony; FM tuners about equal. Sony comes with rechargeable battery pack. Sony has two bass settings (BASS and GROOVE); Panasonic has one. Recommendation: Panasonic SW869V, which is a bit more expensive than the Sony but worth it in terms of rugged construction and surprisingly small size. Panasonic AC adaptor is smaller, too; I use it with the Sony (amazingly, the plugs are the same size).

After a year of using the Sony sport discman almost every day, I decided to try this Panasonic. The AM/FM radio appealed to me; for some reason its tough to find players that have this great feature. It also features great shock protection; walking or even jogging with this shouldn't disrupt your music. I spend a lot of time walking, so instead of holding it I place it in my backpack; the headphone remote makes it much easier to control the player. Some have been faulting it for being heavy, but its a bit lighter than its Sony counterpart. Also unlike Sony, the volume is a dial rather than a button; I find this much simpler to control.

Now some of the downsides. You need to open up the case in order to switch to shuffle mode. What an odd design decision; what makes it even more odd is program play and repeat are available through buttons. Why not shuffle? I don't like the way the lid opens; it seems like it may loosen up or not form a tight seal over time. I guess only time will tell. The batteries are a bit of a pain to remove, since they are near the hinge of the player top and its tough to reach back there (but it can recharge batteries, so this may not be an issue).

With that said, this is a great player. It has pretty much every feature you'd want in a portable player. It is priced fairly high compared to other players; but when you use one almost every day, its worth it. Definately buy this over the Sony Sport.

I have spent so much money on cd players, mini disc, different brands, different model, actually my girlfriend think i should open a CD museum with the amount of players I have. Anyways, I have to say without a doubt Panasonic makes way better cd player than Sony, no comparision, in quality and price. I tried lots of sony cd players, without am/fm, always skips even the G protection, ones with the am/fm radio, i get like 2 radio station. I have tried all the brand, then I bought 2 panosonic cd player for myself and a friend, and I have never looked back their shockwave series are the best and even the non shockwave are pretty good, trust me on this one, the price maybe a little more than those cheaps one, but avoid the frustration and get this or another panasonic brand.

I purchased this cd player several months ago with the thought that I "needed" one (ha!) that included an am/fm tuner, as well as a disc player. Since my main use for a portable for workouts at the gym, I looked for one that has reasonably good anti-skip performance and that is ruggedly constructed. And of course, great sound quality is still the most important feature of all.

In almost all ways, this unit has met my admittedly high expectations. It is very solidly built, is light on battery use, and includes such useful feature as a "hold" mechanism to prevent accidental button-pushing during play.... The anti-skip mechanism seems as good as any currently available, but don't let anyone fool you into thinking that ANY portable cd player is entirely skip-proof. Yes, if you run hard with this unit strapped to your waist it WILL skip. Moreover, if you engage in any kind of up-and-down repetitive exercise (for example, pullups) the unit will skip. Still, if a user limits the activity to easy jogging and takes at least some care to minimize rocking motions while exercising, the anti-skip performance of this machine is satisfactory.

Typical of recent Panasonic cd players, the sound quality of the SL-SW869V is quite good. Sadly, competitor Sony has decided to go with extremely low-powered amplifiers in their newest generation of cd players, figuring that light weight and long battery life are more important to users than is optimal sound quality. As yet, however, Panasonic has not made this mistake, striking a still-acceptable balance between size/battery conservation and audio performance considerations. Whether or not one likes the optional bass boost feature will depend upon one's tastes, of course.

The am/fm tuner is reasonably good, but potential buyers should know that since the headphone cord essentially acts as the antenna for this feature, the reception will vary in accordance to where the listener is located, the quality of the original signal, and the extension/position of the headphone cord. Getting static-free reception for some FM stations while exercising inside an urban gymnasium may sometimes be difficult.

Overall, the features and buttons are logically laid out, with but one noteworthy exception. The sliding switch that controls play mode (resume, normal, random) is located *underneath* the unit's lid, so you cannot access it without opening the lid. This can be a real headache under the following circumstance: suppose you play a cd using the "resume" mode, which allows the user to stop play and then subsequently have the music resume at the beginning of the track that was being played when the unit was stopped. If you keep the same cd in the machine, stop play for a while and then resume play, this is very useful. However, if you remove a cd stopped at say, track seven out of twelve and then replace it with another cd, the "resume" feature will still dumbly and dutifully begin the music at track seven for the newly inserted cd. Drat! You either need to remember to perform some back-and-forth button sliding *prior* to the insertion of the new cd to prevent this from happening, or you need to open the lid, remove the new cd, and reset the slide switch to begin play of the new cd from the beginning.

Of COURSE, the headphones that come with this unit are pretty bad. They ALWAYS are. Anyone interested in sound quality should invest is a good (or better) pair of portable headphones or earphones, making sure that the impedence of the model you choose is low enough to ensure adequate performance without the use of an add-on headphone amplifier. I have found that the best-sounding portable earphones are the expensive but awesome Etymotic ER-4P's, which give great, LOUD sound without an amp.

The SL-SW869V is not perfect, but overall, this is the best all-around portable cd player I have owned to date. And given its quality construction, I anticipate enjoying it for quite a while.

I owned an older version of it(the one with the VMSS) and it irritated me after a few months of use, because of the hard plastic headphones. They finally came up with the product I wanted : an added radio.

Pros : -It never skips(just like in the commercial), unless it takes a great shock(bashing it should do the thing, uh oh) -The radio is super -A good remote control -Solid body -Great sound

Cons : -It's heavier than other Cd players, but that's not important -I don't like wearing hard plastic headphones, it just hurts when I pull it -Rather expensive -I don't like changing the batteries, because you have to open it and remove the Cd to see the lid of the batterie compartment -The locks could be easily broken if an accident happens or use it as I do :( -Will eventually skip if you use it too many times(every day for a year and at least 4 hours of music, for my case) -The "hold" on it is totally useless for me, because I never pushed a button by accident(they are made of rubber).

I'm the kind who listens to music everyday, so this little thing is great! I strongly recommend for people who will use a Cd player occasionnally to buy the I-can't-believe-how-cheap-this-Cd-player-is-at-30-bucks-!, unless you walk or shake it, it's better to buy any 40 second anti-skip ones(10 seconds is not enough!).

Last of all, the other Cd players at lower cost aren't tough enough for my needs. This one lasts a year and the other ones barely make it for four months! So just go to your nearest retailer store and see for yourself!

I've had this model for almost a year, and I don't have much negative things to say about this CD player. This is actually the SECOND Panasonic CD player I own, the first one was an older model purchased around seven years ago and still runs great, I'm expecting this one too will provide me many more years of faithful service. If you're the athletic type and worry about skipping, worry not. This model is equipped with a 40 seconds memory, I've used it while jogging, working out and tumbling down a hill(don't ask) and it never skipped a beat on me. If you listen to radio, you will fall in love with its built-in digital AM/FM tuner. Not too many portable CD players have a radio tuner built in? It also has a full-feature remote control (wire-based). Sound-wise, I have no complaints. All my favorite CDs sound crisp and powerful. Its Bass Boast system works very well. What else? The battery life is amazing. It runs for around twenty CDs on a pair of Everyday rechargeables. As good as it sounds, it's not perfect. The following is a few minor design faults I've experienced. The in-ear headphone came with the unit was literally a pain in the neck (well, in the ears). It was so uncomfortable I had to replace them with a same style Sony headphone. The switch between Random and Sequenced play is located UNDERNEATH THE LID! You have to actually open up the lid, and remove the CD to select between Random/Sequence. I know it's suppose to be a Sports model and all, but I'd still want to be random WHENEVER I want to. Don't know which crackhead enginneer came up with this brilliant design. Aside from the aforementioned problems, this model is perfect.

I got this CD player for christmas and it is exactly what I could want! The radio is excellent quality and you can program many shortcut buttons for your fav. radio stations. The anti-skip is top of the line, it's not quite as good as the Sony G-protection but you won't notice the difference unless you beat the heck out of the player.( The only time realisticly that it would skip with the anti-shock on is if you fell down 50 stories of stairs. Putting the batteries in really isn't a problem and they're quite easy to get out. I recommend buying some rechargable batteries to save you some money and it comes with an adapter which is nice if your close to and outlet and your going to be there a while so it'll save your batteries.

The head phones are nice they hurt my ears for about a day but your ears get used to it and then it's fine.

I recommend this player over the sony sport or groove it is just more rugged and will last you much longer.

I bought this player and was satisfied with the cd portion. Jogging produced no skips, this impressed me. The radio was not so great, with this device I could not get stations I got on my recently deceased walkman. This was disappointing, because there are so few players with radios at all. This was not worth the extra money.

The other point worth mentioning is that the headphones that came with it were designed by a torture expert and had horrible sound. Don't give up on this cd player until you try it with decent headphones.

When I was looking for a CD player, I really wanted one that includes a built in AM/FM tuner. I looked around and this was the only one I could find at the time. It sounded great with good features and a built in AM/FM tuner. And I had the [money] to spend, so I bought it. This is a great product. I am very happy with the CD qualiy, and the only time I could make it skip was when I tryed to. And even then it was hard. The radio was very good with the ability to preset 30 CHANNELS. Thats a whole lot. The only thing I was later mad about was that three weeks later my friend bought a CD player with an AM/FM tuner for ... less. So lets go over this once more.

Pros- Great sound Quality AM/FM Tuner w/30 preset channels 40 second anti-skip memory X-SBS

Cons- Pricey Shuffle button under lid

Overall, this is a great product with awesome options, great skip prtection and a good AM/FM Tuner. The ony real bad thing is its price. But these kinds of CD players are not easy to come by.