Customer Reviews

Philips SA61 8 GB Flash Video MP3 Player with FM Radio and 3.5-Inch Color Screen (Black)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Great device and easy to use. Mine came charged with a tutorial loaded in the video file. The guy on the video walks you through all the functions of this player. It comes with a program to convert videos, a program to link your device with music through Rhapsody. The sound is great and the videos look great, and of course, you can't beat the price!

Bought this player nearly a year ago, and it has been worth every penny.

On the upside, the fit, finish, feel, and build quality are outstanding. It is very easy to use and has all the features you need in an mp3/video player.

Ignore the dummy reviewer who says "sound quality is not good." I am in the audio/video/media field and use this player every day. As a flash player, it simply plays what you put into it. If the sound quality is bad, check the bitrate in the rip settings of your windows media player(or whatever media software you use) and raise it, or try some different headphones. I run mine with high bitrate files and nice earbuds, or line directly into a stereo or PA system, and the sound quality is amazing.

This player also integrates seamlessly with Napster, which was a big plus for me. Using Napster to go, I can transfer unlimited files and playlists without paying per track.

It also comes with a nice fitting, slim leather case.

On the downside, the supplied Phillips earbuds, while looking nice, were uncomfortable for my ears and wouldn't stay in, even while being completely still. My pair of Coby buds that came with a $20 player are actually preferred to the Phillips buds. No big deal for me, really. I didn't buy it for the headphones.

Also, when viewing pictures the response seems to be a little slow. But since I primarily use mine for playing mp3s, this is not an issue. There is no lag time with mp3s.

All in all, for around $100, in my opinion, you can't go wrong with this player. It also looks really cool and gets attention whenever I pull it out. Enjoy!

I wanna say thanks to Daniel Z. Richardson from fort worth texas. His review was really helpful and was partly why i bought the Phillips Phillips SA61. The music sounds very clear through the built in speakers, just as it would through headphones. It's sleek, easy to use, and has a nice big screen =]

However the other part i bought it was because i thought it had an SD slot (my fault should have read the description and details thoroughly) because it said this player was most "Frequently Bought Together" with a SabDisk 2GB SD Memory Card, thank god i decided to wait and see if the player actually had a sd slot.

8GB just isn't enough space to put music AND videos on it. Phillips DOES have a 16GB player but the buttons are weird and they shrunk the screen down to 2 inches, what the heck? Anyways, hopefully they'll make a 16GB or higher version of this model.

SCREW ipod, this WAAAY better! =]

These Philips GoGears are great little gizmos for storing MP3s, pictures & videos. We have 2 of them, a 2GB bought a couple of years ago & an 8GB bought last year.
The 8GB recently had a glitch but even though the warranty had expired, Philips sent a free replacement.

It stores copious images & songs, and the only negative I have found is the speaker quality - they produce a very tinny sound. That said, we use them mostly with headphones anyway, and have a small set of mini speakers should we need them. The built in speakers are adequate enough for sharing home videos with friends, but don't rely on them to get great sound quality with your music - stick to the headphones for that.

The screen size is great, far better than similarly priced or even more expensive competitors.

Thinking about buying a 3rd player for my mother, just for the photo viewer alone. I actually like it better than many of the dedicated digital photo viewers that are on the market.

I've had this item for a bit over a month and have had very few major problems.

The few I found were:

a) I would've preferred to load playlists on it by just copying folders from my PC. With this, I have to make the playlists using MS Media Player 11 and syncing them to this mp3 player. It's fairly easy to do; but, it takes a while even with a USB 2.0 port.

b) Also, having to download special programs to view images and videos is kind of a pain. I use MS Movie Maker for other things and could not use it until uninstalling the Phillips program.

c) Lastly, this player is fairly large. I put it in my shirt pocket at work and it barely fits ... but, it does fit.

In summary, since I will most often use this player to play my existing playlists and rarely make major changes to them, this is a very good player.

I got this for a birthday present. I love the screen size, 3 1/2 inches, and the picture is very clear! Still too small to watch subtitles on movies, though. I got the 37 model so I could use it more easily with Windows Media Player.

Software installation was very easy, and I LOVE the fact that I can keep it in my purse, and whip it out to keep both kids happy while waiting at the doctor - built in speakers mean that you can watch movies without a headset!!

HOWEVER. Two days into it, the screen went blank. When I called support, well, the call was routed to India, LOL, and I got hung up on four times before everything was set up. That initial support call actually took about five hours. They said they'd send me a replacement, in 3-4 WEEKS. Well, ok, I can be patient. Three weeks later, they call me to tell me they don't have it, and can only offer one with a smaller screen, no speakers built in, AND, not the "37" model. After two weeks going back and forth, they tell me they will NEVER have a "37" model to replace this with - they only replace with 17s.

SO, they're going to refund my money. If I hadn't had to wait three weeks to find out they couldn't replace it, I could have asked AMAZON for a return and replacement - but the 30 days were up by then.

On the bright side, I liked this player so much, I'm going to try a second time with another identical player.

This is an awesome Player! Certainly must be the "poor man's" audio video player for those of us not willing to pay high-buck player prices! And I find myself looking here in Amazon more and more! Unbeatable Price and an Incredible Display! Great value for it's price-point! Jerry in MN

I purchased this MP3 player for my 14 year old son for Christmas and he absolutely loves it. One of the features that sold me on it was the built in speakers. He's at the age where he loves to share his music and talk about songs with his friends. This player gives him a lot of fun in that way as well as listening on his own. It's made very sturdy, I've always liked the way Philips has manufactured its products. A lot of play for the buck.

I bought this in Mar 2009 from Amazon... I prefered this model because of its features like BIG screen and built-in speakers.
But, it turned out bad as it has lots of defects with playlists, with connecting to computer... I got it replaced from Philips. But, they sent me different model SA6086/37 without these prefered features. When I called them and asked them for my prefered model as the replacement or my money back... they were very rude and they say, they can't do anything.
Later on, I bought SONY Video/MP3 Walkman (NWZ-E438F) with 8GB and I am nJoying my music again. So, don't buy this model from Philips. buy any other...

Thanks,
Sunil

I really love my GoGear! It is handy -- not so small as to get (easily) lost -- holds a ton of music, books and videos -- easy to load. We have been through several MP3 players and only this one has the ease of use that I needed to make the whole procedure convenient. I'm really enjoying it and for the price I can't see anything else in the marketplace that will beat it. Also it is very sleek, the menus are easy and well organized. Just FYI this model doesn't support Audible books yet. I recommend it!