Panasonic RQ-SW88V/SW08V
Written: Nov 20 '01 (Updated Nov 29 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Size, Takes 1 battery, battery life, looks great, durability
Cons: Metal gets scratched, Switching from normal tuning mode to city makes reception worse, ear buds
The Bottom Line: If you want a good looking tape player and hate buying batteries, this is for you!
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| edgeman's Full Review: Panasonic RQ-SW88V Personal Cassette Player |
First off I would like to make it clear that this review is not on the Panasonic RQ-SW88V. It is on the RQ-SW08V. Why? Because the SW08V was not listed as a topic for review and this was the closest thing to it. They're the same units with the same features, just the 88 has over the ear headphones (which suck) and a cheap remote(that looks like it sucks). The 08 has ear buds (which suck) and no remote. Since there was no picture of the product at the time I wrote the review and I'm not sure how to add it, so just go to http://www.panasonic.ca and follow the appropriate links.
Just imagine ear buds instead of those headphones and no remote.
Now, on to the review. I chose this portable cassette player because my sony walkman that I got in about 1996 just wasn't par anymore and the RCA one I got (like most RCA products) broke. Before I bought the Panasonic, I purchased the Sony WMFX491. I ended up returning the sony because the reverse side of it looks horribly cheap and no where near as good as its front, and because it wasn't very easy to operate, especially when it was in my pocket, like it usually was. It sounded great though.
Previous to this I had played with my friend's panasonic's player. It was pretty good and it looked amazing, but I always thought it was too expensive. I still bought though because it was the only other semi-reasonably priced one I liked at the time.
As soon as I got home I tried it out and was disappointed. It sounded horrible! Without the XBS there wasn't enough bass, and with the S-XBS (Super Extra Bass System) there was too much. I eventually came to the conclusion that the ear buds it came with could be the problem (and I hoped they were). I plugged in my regular headphones and it sounded much better. So yes, the ear buds do suck. But it still sounded like there was too much/not enough bass. I left the s-XBS on though and have gotten used to it. That's all you need to do. It may sound like too much bass when you first hear it (but that can depend on the head phones) but it'll sound normal after listening to it for a few minutes.
The battery life is definitely a high point for this device. You can get up to 28 hours from 1 AA battery. I assume that you'd have to be using the radio the whole time without the S-XBS turned on, but that's still good. I don't know of many cd or tape players that can get that kinda' life off of 2 batteries for about the same price. The battery indicator is also a feature I like. Instead of only having 3 bars like on most sony's, this has 5, so the reading is a bit more accurate.
There is an annoying drawback that will confuse anyone who uses this player. The Main and Sub buttons. While they aren't button's, they're just options on a sliding bar that also includes the hold button. In order to go to your preset radio stations, you must first switch from Main to Sub, then press the 1,2,3,4,or 5 button. But if you forget to go to Sub first and you happen to press 1, the tape will come on. If you press 2 without pressing sub, you will shut the unit off. There are other times when that Sub could frustrate you, but it's never anything too severe.
Another cool feature about this is the 3-Track TPS. This helps the tape player operate like a CD player. Instead of fast forwarding or rewinding and hoping you'll stop the tape at the right place, this feature allows you to skip songs. It looks for pauses in between tracks and stops when it finds one. You can set it to skip 1-3 tracks. The only problem with this is that it doesn't always work. If the songs you're listening were recorded too closely together (like most songs on the Enema of the State CD by Blink 182, see my review on it) it will keep on going and not stop. It usually works though.
Now I'll mention some features that I haven't already mentioned:
-Full-logic auto-reverse playback plays both sides of the tape automatically
-Digital synthesizer tuner
-20-station memory: 10-FM/10-AM
-Selected AM frequency step (9kHz/10kHz) for worldwide tuning
-Built-in hook for strap, etc. (No strap included)
-Multi-information wide LCD display visually indicates operating conditions
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
edgeman
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Location: Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 9 members
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