Customer Reviews

8" Polaroid DPA-08055S Widescreen Portable DVD Player w/Additional LCD Screen & 15-in-1 Game Pad (Black)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This is a horrible unit. From the beginning it did not work as you expect modern electronics to work. It had a hard time reading disks. I did not use it much but on a long trip it inexplicably stopped after 15 to 20 minutes. It stopped working altogether when it became obvious it was overheating. It seems another reviewer had just about the same problem. Only a 90 day warranty and they wanted more money to get an exchange after the 90 days was up. Buyer beware!

I had a problem with the other Polaroid product that I bought (a digital camera. The LCD went out on that)

Don't buy Polaroid!!!

We purchased this unit primarily so that our children can periodically watch DVDs in their room and in the car, but also to be able to take it out in the yard or on the deck. So far the unit seems to play DVDs nicely in the house on AC power, and the second screen works great too. The screen is viewable from different angles, so you don't have to be sitting right in front of it to see a nice picture like with some DVD players. The front-flip feature makes it easy to load and unload DVDs while it is strapped to the back of a seat. Unfortunately, our unit came without the strap slots built in to back of the main unit. These are the slots you slide the straps through to mount the DVD player to the back of a seat, so we're unable to 'test drive' the player to see how it works in the car yet. We're still trying to deal with Polaroid customer support on the issue. They have told us that we will have to send it back for an exchange. I will probably end up saving myself the time and shipping by going to the hardware store and buying 4 small metal rods to insert where they are missing. On the brighter side, the the unit will play movies with the lid flipped open or shut because the screen is on the outside of the lid instead of the inside. So you can put it on your lap and view the screen at an angle or lay it flat to watch it while looking downward. This is also convenient if you have limited shelf space because the entire player can sit vertically while closed so it only takes up about 3" of depth and 10" of width. You could also mount it to a wall or other vertical spot with velcro. On the downside, Polaroid has made a huge marketing mistake by not including or even making available a battery source even though there is a battery port on the bottom of the main unit. We've contacted Polaroid customer service and they say that the battery is 'not available YET' because the model is so new. Who makes a portable DVD player and doesn't manufacture the battery for it? Polaroid, I guess..... This DVD player will require a constant AC or DC connection through a cord -- that makes it less 'portable'. If we had known that when we bought the unit we might have purchased a different brand/model that had battery power available. Alas, we will not be able to sit very far from a wall socket or an auto cigarette lighter unless we can locate a universal battery that will plug into the power jack. And then we'll be lugging around the external power source. Another negative is that the feature for switching the screen ratio doesn't work very well. According to the user manual there are supposed to be two ways to switch the ratio, through the setup menu, and by pressing the 'function' button for 1-2 seconds while a movie is playing, but we're only able to get the screen mode to switch by going into the setup menu, not with the function button. It takes more time to navigate through the setup menus which can be inconvenient during a movie. Since we got this on sale and didn't pay too much for it, it scores a 3 out of 5. If we get the mounting issues taken care of it would be a 4, and if Polaroid would manufacture a battery for it we wouldn't even care about the screen ratio issue and we'd give it a 5 out of 5!

I received this item for Mother's day and it did not work - we exchanged it thinking making it was just a fluke - but the 2nd one didn't work either. It kept getting stuck on "Reading" but it never actually read the disc. Not worth it - try something different.

This product was purchased as a gift for my kids to be used on a roadtrip. It worked great - both screens - and made the night driving go so much faster! However, when we got to our destination, it was pointed out to me that it doesn't work unless it is plugged into the car or wall outlet. No problem - I thought, I'll just buy the battery when we get back home. No such battery pack exists. No wonder this unit is on sale! If you can use this item without a battery, then it worked great for us, just don't expect to take it on a flight!

The main player continues to go strong after almost one year, but we've only used it about once a month. As for the additional screen, it hasn't worked for quite some time. It gave up the ghost some time back, and has been the source of contention between our kids because none of them wants to sit on the side that doesn't have a screen (I guess I could just move the driver's seat to the middle). Also, you have to be careful when mounting the main screen to the back of the headrest. If you mount it too tight, it just keeps displaying "READING". If you loosen it to the point that it pretty much slips down the back of the headrest, it will start playing videos again. There's a little tip for those of you having the "READING" problem.

I will never buy a Polaroid product again. I bought this dual screen portable DVD player so that my 2 children could watch movies in the car. I had it for a month and just like others have said it would be working fine and then it would cut off and restart. I called customer service because it was under warrenty and they told me to try several different things which I did and it still would not work. So I sent it back for an exchange. I finally received the new one 3 months later after I called several times and was told it was on back order. Now I wish I had just asked for my money back because the second one stopped working...same problem as the first just over 30 days after I got it so now it is out of warrenty and they won't give me my money back and I would have to pay [..] if I want another piece of crap from them. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. I gave it one star because I had to give it something or the computer would not process the review.

We got this for Christmas for a big trip to Florida - from the moment we turned this on, it failed us. The 2nd unit barely works - it shows only black and white, the sound is horrible, the head sets are very uncomfortable even for a child's head, and the DVD player itself is garbage - it seldomly plays DVDs and makes a clicking sound when running. When not using the headsets, the sound is very low. Do not buy this!!

For those who have bought this - let me save you some time finding the right number at Polaroid to complain: 866-289-5168. When I called them they said they haven't gotten many complaints - that's because their customer service is so bad it took me 4 phone numbers to get the right person!! Polaroid - you suck!!

I bought the polaroid DPA-08055S dvd player for my kids two weeks back. It worked great the first weekend. However, two days back the main player would not work at all. It shows up as a blank screen and does not play anything. I could smell something burning. I would advise folks to buy extended warranty on this product if there is one.

We bought this last Christmas, it was on sale, to take a trip the end of march. It worked fine the whole trip. Got home put it away. Took the kids to Disney for summer break in July and could never get it to work, just said reading disc. 200 dollars down the drain unless we want to find someone to fix ..then it will be a 300 dvd player. This is our 3rd portable and I don't think anyone makes a great one, if anyone knows of one please let everyone know.
Also, to the reviewer who said "shame, shame, shame" on the reviewers that gave such horrible negative reviews since she used the product for one short (4hr I think) trip & it worked fine........The shame shouldn't fall on us negative reviewers....it should fall on Polaroid. Ours worked great right after we bought it to go on a 20 hour (round trip) road trip. It stopped working after that one trip, never to read a disc again and we didn't let the kids play with it or leave it in the vehicle with no use for months on end. I mean right after that initial trip, it wouldn't read ANY discs. We purchased the warranty but even the manufacturer couldn't fix it, they simply said....there's nothing we could do to fix it and sent us a gift card to the store where we purchased it (I would have expected a check as I didn't find any others at this store that I wanted to purchase). So Shame, Shame, Shame on Polaroid not the TONS of reviewers that got only one use (if that) out of this product!

We bought this for a 3 day road trip. By the time we got to our destination, the sound and picture on one of the dvds were distorted. I took it back to Target and got another one of the same dvd players - thinking it was a fluke! Boy was I wrong. Within in a month (and we didn't use it very often), the sound on one of the dvd players was completely out..... within another month, the picture on that same player was going fuzzy and without color. Now, movies keep cutting out within minutes of putting them in. This is NOT worth it! Don't buy it!