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Customer Reviews for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
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Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Model: NS-HD02
SKU: 9972092
UPC: 600603132605
Listen to your favorite HD radio stations while you're on the go with this portable player that features 20 station presets and a 2.4" color touch-screen display.
Average Customer Rating:
2.6
out of 5
(27 Reviews) 27
Rating Snapshot 27 reviews
5 stars
5
4 stars
5
3 stars
3
2 stars
2
1 star
12
33% of customers would recommend this product to a friend
(
9 out of
27)
Customer Reviews for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Review 1 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Definitely not worth the price.
Customer Rating
1.0
Value for Price
1.0
Sound Quality
1.0
Durability
2.0
Reception
2.0
What's great about it: Nothing at all
What's not so great: The radio
First of all, the user manual is poor. One of the main things that should be on the very first page is how to get to the menu. It does not appear on the screen on initial power up. After you finally find a comment in the middle of the manual that you have to rub the bottom of the screen (really????) to make the menu appear and you get the menu to appear, just try and program channels. You'll find it's virtually impossible to use. The user interface is not intuitive and the touch screen is not responsive. I can't believe this device ever made it through the testing phase and is in the market place. I seldom return things but this is one device that certainly is not worth keeping and I am returning as soon as possible.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Battery is poor! Cannot hold a charge!
Customer Rating
3.0
Sound Quality
3.0
Durability
1.0
Reception
4.0
Received this as a Christmas gift , love the small size and reception but cannot seem to keep the battery charged. Either got a faulty battery from the beginning or the battery is just of poor quality and durability. I will have to buy a new battery after only a month and hope that it works!
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 3 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Great portable HD radio for the money
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: StlHDRadiofan
from St. Louis
on 12/03/2011
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
4.0
Reception
5.0
What's great about it: Great sound. Inexpensive access to HD2/HD3 stations.
What's not so great: Touch screen may be difficult to use.
I purchased this HD radio to listen to some of the alternate FM HD2 and HD3 channels only available with an HD receiver (check hdradio.com for local listings). These channels have alternate programming from the regular FM channel.
I like the radio, and love being able to listen to the HD2/HD3 I've been missing channels as well as the regular FM stations in HD. I live in St. Louis and the reception is great as long as you have headphones or a cable connected to the headphone jack. I really purchased this radio to listen to KSHE HD2 ("free form classic rock") and this station is amazing and basically commercial free. HD radio is free, and does not require subscriptions.
There are menu features on the radio available by swiping across the bottom of the touch screen. This is briefly mentioned in the instructions and if you miss this, you can't access the menu or the presets. The touch screen is sometimes not responsive, or difficult to use. The sound quality is very good. I use the radio with headphones, or connect to my car stereo or home stereo through the headphone jack. Reception while driving was great. Based on other reviews about durability I purchased the 2 yr warranty for $12.
There are menu features on the radio available by swiping across the bottom of the touch screen. This is briefly mentioned in the instructions and if you miss this, you can't access the menu or the presets. The touch screen is sometimes not responsive, or difficult to use. The sound quality is very good. I use the radio with headphones, or connect to my car stereo or home stereo through the headphone jack. Reception while driving was great. Based on other reviews about durability I purchased the 2 yr warranty for $12.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+7points
7out of 7found this review helpful.
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Review 4 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Test it first
Customer Rating
3.0
Posted by: DavidNBC
on 10/12/2011
Value for Price
3.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Reception
4.0
What's great about it: good fm reception
What's not so great: Not all HD recieved
First, my ship to store took 3 months.
Second, I can only get one HD station at work. Can't recieve the HD station. The FM reception is better than my other radio.
Second, I can only get one HD station at work. Can't recieve the HD station. The FM reception is better than my other radio.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Other Best Buy Products I Recommend
Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
(27)+3points
5out of 7found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Difficult to use. Over priced. Mediocre audio
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: Shutterbug33285
from Western Missouri
on 08/04/2011
Value for Price
1.0
Sound Quality
2.0
Durability
3.0
Reception
4.0
What's great about it: Very portable if that is what you desire.
What's not so great: audio quality, difficult controls, no charger, short battery life.
Just purchased this unit from BB. Very disappointed.
Tiny screen for small fingered people only. Instructions mention icons that it took me a long time to find access to. Very poor instruction manual. Audio is truly barely acceptable. Poor audio is magnified by the absolutely lousy ear buds with tinny, shrill sound.
This little radio is fairly sensitive. I would using it mostly while connected to my big stereo system in the living room in order to receive the only classical music FM sub channel in the entire Kansas City, MO area. I was surprised by the very mediocre audio quality. No where near CD quality....or even the quality of my old stereo vinyl LP's.
No charger included....even at this high price. You are directed to plug it into a USB port on your computer to charge it. Battery runs down rather rapidly. Lithium-ion battery should last longer than only a couple of hours.
At this price a charger should be included....but it is not.
Only real positive is its compact size.....which from the touch screen vantage point is a disadvantage.
My decision is not final as of yet.....but I think this baby is going back to Best Buy for a refund.
Tiny screen for small fingered people only. Instructions mention icons that it took me a long time to find access to. Very poor instruction manual. Audio is truly barely acceptable. Poor audio is magnified by the absolutely lousy ear buds with tinny, shrill sound.
This little radio is fairly sensitive. I would using it mostly while connected to my big stereo system in the living room in order to receive the only classical music FM sub channel in the entire Kansas City, MO area. I was surprised by the very mediocre audio quality. No where near CD quality....or even the quality of my old stereo vinyl LP's.
No charger included....even at this high price. You are directed to plug it into a USB port on your computer to charge it. Battery runs down rather rapidly. Lithium-ion battery should last longer than only a couple of hours.
At this price a charger should be included....but it is not.
Only real positive is its compact size.....which from the touch screen vantage point is a disadvantage.
My decision is not final as of yet.....but I think this baby is going back to Best Buy for a refund.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+15points
18out of 21found this review helpful.
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Review 6 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
The Best Portable Radio EVER!!!
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: MrFartz
on 07/27/2011
I love this HD Radio. It definetly has the best reception EVER! I love how you get extra FM channels. I totally encourage you to buy this radio. It's totally worth your MONEY!!!!!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
-9points
6out of 21found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Waste of money
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: vnowo
on 06/03/2011
Poor interface, poor reception, expensive, not enough Stations (and I live in Washington D.C.), the earphones do not fit, why did you release this poor product? I am using a Internet radio application on my iPhone, it's a lot better than this radio, and the app is free.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+11points
14out of 17found this review helpful.
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Review 8 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Sucks
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: Guyorange
from Pittsburgh, PA
on 05/25/2011
What's great about it: Nothing
What's not so great: Everything
Just bought it. Quality ok...
The screen locks up after five seconds if you do not touch something on it.
Also, I can not figure out how to get the screen to show the artist title. I'm in the midst of having disucssions with my third Insignia rep. Wish me luck....
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+8points
13out of 18found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Terrific little radio
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: takeaload
from New York, NY
on 05/23/2011
Value for Price
5.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
4.0
Reception
4.0
What's great about it: Sounds great.
What's not so great: touch screen
This radio is made for walking, jogging, and hanging around... works really good and sounds really good for those uses. It does not work that well in your car (get a car radio with HD Radio) and does not gt great reception in big buildings (neither does regular radio). The touch screen could better (more sensitive to the touch), but still works well enough.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+7points
9out of 11found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Nice HD portable
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: HK9000
from St. Louis
on 05/08/2011
What's great about it: Price, performance, only one currently out there.
What's not so great: Menus, touch screen.
Decent portable HD radio for the sale price of $59. I am sitting with my laptop on my lap, producing all sorts of noise & hash across the FM band, 40 miles or so from most of the stations in St. Louis, and this little radio is picking up all of the available HD stations without dropping back to analog. Seems like pretty good performance to me. Haven't tried moving around with it, but I plan on using it mostly sitting still, and so far it seems great for that. Touch sensitive screen isn't as precise as my Palm, but good enough. Took awhile to figure out how to get all the buttons visible (swipe across the bottom of the screen, left & right, just like the Palm - should have known that!). Really makes listening to FM at the computer a much better experience, without all the interference from the laptop I used to get with analog FM. I would suspect that the poor performance people are reporting with aftermarket headphones may be due to coiled vs. straight cords, since the cord is the antenna, & a coiled antenna is not going to work very well.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-104points
17out of 138found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
This is a joke radio - funny!
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: RAULUCLA
from Los Angeles, CA
on 03/07/2011
Value for Price
1.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
1.0
Reception
1.0
What's great about it: nothing
What's not so great: everything
'Portable' is a bad description for this product. The only way you can get any sound is if you are static - if you move the signal drops off. As soon as the 90 day warranty expired, this thing broke and I'm not able to use the off button it stays on utill the battery runs out. Don't buy this fertilizer.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+10points
15out of 20found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Terrible Reception
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: djcrazy
from Twin Cities MN
on 02/27/2011
Value for Price
2.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
3.0
Reception
1.0
What's great about it: good for jogging or walking outdoors.
What's not so great: Reception. No really appealing new programming content on HD.
Very hard to keep the HD stations on indoors. Have it plugged into a stereo at the moment and with the cord I am using I have it spliced at one end with extra wire coming off of it to use as an antenna. Works OK now. The extra stations we get here in the twin cities area on HD are not even worth it. Same old garbage as as their host stations. The ONLY way HD radio is really going to take off is if we actually get some more diversity in programming. If they used the extra HD channels to compete with what one can get on the internet, then this would take off. Overall, no, I cannot really recommend this product, especially if you don't live in a major metropolitan area that is bigger than Minneapolis - St. Paul. Unfortunately the same "Big Radio" that ruined the regular FM dial are playing the same game with HD. Sad really. I guess this thing is ok if you just want to be outdoors walking or jogging with it and get along with the same run of the mill content of terrestrial radio.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+8points
12out of 16found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Read product description - does exactly what it sa
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: gravis
from Fort Worth, TX
on 02/10/2011
Value for Price
3.0
Sound Quality
4.0
Durability
5.0
Reception
3.0
What's great about it: Easy to use interface, Good size
What's not so great: Uses headphones as Antenna, weak reception, no AM, slow to lock in on HD stations
I bought this thing used off of Amazon for $25, and it is about what it's worth. The product description is pretty accurate - let me emphasize something it says - "IT USES THE HEADPHONES AS AN ANTENNA!" I have tried other high-quality headphones on it, and it works okay (not as good as the headphones that come with it - weak reception), but don't think you are going to be able to plug a 3.5 inch audio cable into it and then into your home stereo or car radio and expect to get reception - you won't. Let me say that again, you WILL NOT get HD radio reception if you are not using the headphones! You WILL NOT get HD radio reception if you try to plug it into your car! There are perfectly good HD radios for cars for cheaper than this on Amazon that will work in your car.
Many people complain about the touch screen. Works fine for me. It is kind of funky gettting to the menu. You have to do a 3-finger press at the bottom of the screen to get to different menus. Once I read that in the book, it works fine.
You will need to adjust the Backlight. I recommend 30 seconds. Mine came set to always on, and it drained the battery.
I have a home Insignia HD radio, and this reacts in similar ways. The reception leaves something to be desired (in fact, my home reciever I hooked up to my outside antenna to get a decent reception). It works fine outside, but I work inside of a government building, and am lucky if I can get clean analogue reception. On some strong HD stations I get a signal. Also, behavior is a bit strange - it locks onto the analogue station first, then looks for an HD signal, then kicks in. Only after it locks into the HD1 station can you then tune to the HD2 or HD3 station. This station lock can take from 3-15 seconds a station, which can be annoying if you simply want to tune into an HD2 station.
Also, this radio is FM only. No AM analogue or digital. No Radio Disney, News Radio or Sports radio for me.
All in all, this radio does exactly what it says it will, and nothing more. Don't try to use it as something that its not advertised to do - it will not work.
Also, the radio is worth about $25-$35. I would not spend much more than that. Not for a portable, unless you work out at the gym a lot or jog a lot, or want a portable radio to listen to in the office, and then, you want to make sure that you have a clear view of the transmission towers, and not have several walls between you and the outside.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+28points
28out of 28found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Neat little radio
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Radiofan88
from Illinois
on 01/31/2011
Value for Price
4.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
4.0
Reception
5.0
What's great about it: Sound quality, Live Pause, pictures on the radio (soon)
What's not so great: The touch screen is hard to control until you get the hang of it. Be sure and set the screen timeout to 1 minute or mor
I'm really enjoying this radio. It displays text information from the stations about the song. The sound quality is good, especially from my local HD Radio station. It seems to be very sensitive and picks up all the local stations very well. I especially like the Live Pause feature, which lets me pause the playback of the radio program and pick up where I left off later. I am intrigued by the ability of the radio to display pictures sent by the station, but none of the stations here are doing that yet. I like seeing pictures and information from the cable music channels on my TV screen, and it will be nice to have that on a radio too. I'm really looking forward to seeing that feature as the stations add it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-1point
7out of 15found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Don't bother
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: crawkert
from lafayette hill, pa
on 01/29/2011
Value for Price
1.0
Sound Quality
3.0
Reception
3.0
What's great about it: Nothing
What's not so great: Everything
I had originally set out to get the cheaper model, and didn't realize this one existed when I went to the store. I usually check ratings on products before buying, but decided to get this one because of the ability to get the HD2 and HD3 channels. The tuner seemed to work fine when the stations were strong enough, but the touch screen functions were a nightmare! There obviously was little oversight with the person who designed this. Once you get a station tuned in, and want to save it to a pre-set button, you've got about a 1 in 20 chance of accomplishing it. You need to swipe your finger across the bottom of the screen where the current function buttons are, to go to the next screen and what usually happens is one of the function buttons that you're swiping across gets selected, and you end up tuning up to the next station instead of going to the next menu. The instuctions don't give any special method to do it, and as I said, I could only get it to work about 1 out of 20 tries. I returned it and was going to get the 49.99 model with real buttons on it, but they were sold out of it. Now I see why. If you do get this one and the swipe function works for you, one of the first things you will want to do is increase the length of time before the backlight goes out and the screen locks. It's default is only about 5 seconds.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+6points
9out of 12found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Excellent value for the money.
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Primitivo
from Nashville, TN
on 01/28/2011
Value for Price
4.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
5.0
Reception
4.0
What's great about it: New digital programs only available on HD Radio stations.
What's not so great: Sliding the icons on the bottom is hard.
My grandmother gave me this for Christmas.
I love the new HD2 and HD3 channels only available on HD Radio stations.
I love the new HD2 and HD3 channels only available on HD Radio stations.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-3points
4out of 11found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
It loves standby mode
Customer Rating
2.0
Posted by: OverallRating
from Example: New York, NY
on 01/25/2011
Value for Price
2.0
Sound Quality
2.0
Durability
2.0
Reception
3.0
What's great about it: It was easy to be returned to the store.
What's not so great: everything else.
It was made cheaply, should be price more like $25. This price only because of the screen, otherwise it is a 5 & dime store item. Every Time I tried to do something w/ it, it would go into sleep mode quickly.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+8points
10out of 12found this review helpful.
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Review 18 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Poor reception defeats the purpose
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: AnonymousHoward
from San Francisco Bay Area
on 01/14/2011
Value for Price
1.0
Sound Quality
3.0
Durability
2.0
Reception
1.0
What's great about it: The touch screen UI
What's not so great: Reception
I'm greatly disappointed with this unit. I bought this unit to get digital HD reception in my automobile. My car's FM receiver has a great amplifier and speakers, and an auxiliary input, but the analog reception here in the bay area is WAY too noisy. I got this unit thinking that the digital reception would be noise free even in the weakest signal environments. But the reality is that this unit only gets HD Stereo reception under the strongest signal conditions. Under all other conditions, it gets only MONO Analog FM signal, which is WORSE than what my car radio gets. As I drive down the road, the sound from this unit switches back and forth from Analog Mono FM to Stereo HD. It's very noticeable and it drives me mad.
The Touch screen UI is OK, except that every time the screen goes blank (to save the battery) it's a lot of bother to wake it up again. You have to wake it up to turn it off.
I've had the unit lock up on me twice while trying to turn it off. Seems like it wasn't debugged before being released.
Ultimately, the only reason to buy a unit like this is for its reception, and since that's poor, then I cannot recommend this unit.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+5points
8out of 11found this review helpful.
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Review 19 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Nice HD Radio
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: ShadowCaster
from Austin, TX
on 01/03/2011
Value for Price
4.0
Sound Quality
5.0
Durability
3.0
Reception
3.0
What's great about it: Lots of information on the display about the song playing, great sound quality
What's not so great: Touch screen a little hard to use, spotty reception within a car, no ability to play MP3s
I want to second the 4 star review. This is a nice HD radio, but there are some drawbacks. First, the touch screen interface is a little hard to use. It was not obvious to me at first that I needed to swipe across the bottom to move the menu. Second, there are some reception issues within my car. The head phones act as the antenna and plugged into my car's audio system, the antenna is essentially contained within the car's metal frame, not outside it. FM HD signals are much weaker than their analog counter parts because the error correction built into the HD signal allows the weaker signal to be effective the same distance as the full power one. However, this does mean that metal buildings and concrete overpasses can easily block the signal. Finally, it is also true that the quick dimming and lock feature are rather annoying, especially when you are trying to learn how to use the device. However, the dim time can be configured.
In summary, I think that if this radio is used while exercising, using the included arm band, it will be excellent. The jury is still out for me about how useful it will be within my car.
Now, if only it could also be an MP3 player!
I would recommend this to a friend!
-1point
5out of 11found this review helpful.
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Review 20 for Insignia™ HD Radio Portable Player with 2.4" Touch-Screen Display
Don't do it!
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: cptjapan
on 12/25/2010
Value for Price
1.0
Sound Quality
1.0
Reception
1.0
What's great about it: I didn't have to pay for it
What's not so great: Reception, Interface
I have never written a review on a product before, but this radio is so sorry that I feel that I have to. I received this as a gift, and I have yet to get ANY consistent reception. Indoors, outdoors, clear, or cloudy. The reception is ALWAYS fading in and out, thus rendering the HD aspect of this radio useless. I have a generic little radio that I paid three dollars for ten years ago that gets far better reception. The interface is awkward, unresponsive, and generally frustrating. I wouldn't pay five dollars for this radio.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+7points
11out of 15found this review helpful.
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