Panasonic SJ-MR 100
Written: Jun 19 '01
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Pros: small, good battery life, lightweight, nice backlit remote, jog wheel
Cons: display on unit isn't backlit, no timestamp, editing features are clumsy
The Bottom Line: excellent model when introduced, but there are newer models with newer features. get it if its cheap, but if it still costs 300, get a new sony model instead
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| arch_8gl's Full Review: Panasonic SJ-MR100 Personal MiniDisc Player |
i paid about $300 a couple of years ago when it first came out and this was the smallest, lightest and best battery life portable recorder on the market (regardless of where you lived).
Since that time, there have been many more models released that have better battery life, are smaller and are even lighter... but i am happy with my purchase for the most part.
battery life:
included lithium ion battery:
10 hours playback
6 hours record
external AA battery:
14 hours playback
2.5 hours record
both batteries combined:
25 hours playback
12 hours record
takes about 3 hours to recharge the lithium ion completely.
dimensions are 84mm x 77mm x 18.9mm (L x W x H) and weighs in at 161 grams with internal battery.
the backlit remote is very good, it can control just about all of the MD functions including track mark (while recording), record pause and sound fields (extra bass, train mode, or normal)
my biggest gripe (compared to the much older sony mz-r3 that i own) is the editing features are much more complex then the older sony or just not available. if i am recording analog sources, the track's don't automatically mark themselves, and unless you are paying close attn to when the tracks should be marked with the remote, it is a PITA to edit this later on... i have found that it is much easier for me to just use the older sony to edit such things then using the panasonic. The panasonic does have what seems to be more sophisticated methods of doing the same thing the older sony does, such as a track split or track join feature, but the only problem is that there is no button you can just push, you have to enter edit mode first, and then scroll to find track you want to edit, then track split by + or - how many seconds... etc... as you can see the sony was much easier, pause at the point that i want to split/join and hit the trackmark button.
another gripe is that if you don't have a playlist of the mix you just made sitting in front of you and you want to try to edit the song titles while the md is playing, it edits the TOC (table of contents) after each entry. the sony used to wait til you stopped the MD before it would edit the TOC, this would allow a much faster titling process, because you didn't have to wait after every song title to continue.
one other really small gripe is that the unit doesn't have a line out, so if you want to use this unit in the car with a plugin tape adapter or something, the volume on the unit needs to be cranked... would be better if it had a true lineout.
The supplied case is rather cheap too, more inexpensive sony and sharp models at the time came with more plush cases (velvet or padded nylon) this one came with a very cheap drawstring sack made of 1 layer nylon. disappointing for such an expensive unit, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter, i have a case logic case that i use to carry it around in
short of these few gripes, i really do like this unit... but as i said earlier, it looks like sony finally got the hint and started making portable recording units with very good battery life, small size and excellent features, not to mention they now have MDLP, long play technology (you can record up to 320 minutes worth of music on a 80 minute md)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 300
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Epinions.com ID:
arch_8gl
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Location: CT, USA
Reviews written: 47
Trusted by: 3 members
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