::My New Best Friend::
Pros:
Best player, great for sports, and best battery life and durability out there.
Cons:
You should buy headphones for listening inside; TV and weather band don't completely work.
The Bottom Line:
Buy this one! It's the best deal for the best price and it's a perfect sports CD player. Just buy better headphones for at-home listening and voila!
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
First of all, I should mention that the Epinions picture is incorrect. The D-FS601 actually looks like http://www.irti.net/ entertain_products.html/dfs601.jpg/.
This CD player is the best I've ever bought, and it's my new best friend.
The sound quality is very good. It's definitely good enough for a sports CD player, and will improve dramatically with usage of the good bass boosters and the purchase of stereo headphones (try Koss brand) if you want to lie in bed and listen to music or something.
The battery life is absolutely remarkable. It's excellent with the high skip protection on, beyond excellent with it on low, and simply amazing with it off. I've had this for weeks and it hasn't even gone down to 75% battery life.
It's also a perfect sports player because it's the most durable thing I've ever used. Although I wouldn't purposely drop it, I have dropped it, gone running with it, even gone on bike rides and in-line skating with it and it doesn't skip a beat, even on low protection when running. The G-Protection is a dream.
It's also water resistant--I've taken it in the rain before. Just obviously don't dunk it in anything or place it precariously over the water, especially while you're using it! And watch that the rubber port-covers stay on.
The headphones aren't the best as they kind of slip off occasionally, but they work fine under a helmet. They're also safe because you can still hear traffic and other sounds as they don't cover your ears. (Note: when you're out, as usual, don't turn the volume all the way up. Be careful finding the right volume to use. My cousin got run over crossing the train tracks with headphones on.)
The AM/FM radio works pretty well, although it could be somewhat improved; it's very functional in more urban areas. I live in the city and I can only get 1 TV station and 1 weather station on it, so those features have proved almost useless. However, if you want FM/AM radio on your sports player, this is the one to get. Otherwise, you can downgrade to the comparable D-SJ301.
The controls definitely take adjusting to, but in the end they're much better than the usual strap-it-on and other types of sports CD players. You wrap your right hand through the strap and use your thumb on the joystick and your other fingers on the other buttons. Once in awhile I have to look down, and the joystick sensitivity is a bit erratic, but otherwise the controls are very good. I imagine they'd take just a bit more getting used to for a left-handed person, but it's still not that bad. (Note: when using it on a bike ride or even in-line skating, it's a good idea to put it in your bag instead--you need your hands free.)
