Archos 705 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (80 GB)

I love the Archos 705 except I can't hear it. Also the fact that you have to pay extra for functionality that should come standard on a video player. I got the unit to play videos for my passengers while traveling in my car. There's an aux in on my car stereo, but when I connect the cable from the headphone out jack on the Archos to the aux in on my stereo, the sound is very very low. Both the car stereo and the Archos are turned up to max but you can barely hear the sound of the videos. Of course everything plays fine on my home equipment, there's nothing wrong with the files. --update-- I got the docking station for the Archos and it has audio outputs on it. I can power it in my car using an inverter to get 110 volt AC from the cigarette lighter socket. When I connect a cable from the audio out on the docking station to the car stereo, the volume is great! No problems at all. The volume issue is well known throughout the web if you google Archos and volume. Pretty sad to cripple such an otherwise decent device.

I bought this as my job requires me to be out on oil field locations for no less than 8 hours at time with with no more to do than stay a wake with the occational knap. I work all hours of the day so I miss my shows. I got this because the convient size with a decent screen and the dvr docking station. The speakers are loud enough to not require head phones. I would recommend this to a somebody with a kid so they can watch educational programming instead of pixar movies. Just record sesame street to the dvr and get a wallet so you can hang the archos form the back of your head rest.
The only real complaint that I have is that they advertise all the things it does but you have to spend 20-40 bucks to get each option. Internet browser, dvr docking station, and random plug ins.

I have had the Archos 705 for 6 months now and I love the compatibility with my different media files - easy to load with movies and music. Remember that you have to buy add-on software packages on the Archos side after you buy the player to use the browser and all media formats...

Battery is good - though I have issues with the touchscreen. Sometimes painful to strike the right keys and buttons and this has gotten worse over the past weeks.

I bought the Archos 705 80 gig months ago, and still haven't been able to use it. First, it didn't work out of the box. Because I didn't open the box for a while (I thought I was going to give it away as a gift and then decided to keep it), I couldn't return it to Amazon, so had to do an RMA and return to Archos. That took a while. Then, I paid for the web browser plug in and the video plug in, and when I tried to download them, the system tells me the serial number for my Archos is not recognized, so it won't let me install the plugins. So I can't use my Archos for the purpose I bought it.

I spent over 2 hours on hold today waiting to talk to Archos technical support to deal with this latest plug in issue. But Archos "support" is notoriously bad and you are put on hold forever. I'm told this download issue is a common one. I am so angry and so sorry I ever bought this product. Had I known how terrible technical support is and read all the bad reviews out there on the web, I never would have purchased this product. I tried calling Customer Services and got what was supposed to be a Customer Service number from the web site, but when you call that number, you get a recording telling youo it is the store and you should use the website to purchase items as they would charge you an exttra $10 to buy over the phone, then they hang up on you. So there is no customer services department to call for complaints. So this product might be OK if you have no issues, but if you ever need to speak with tech support, beware. I say, it's not worth the risk, no matter how good the product looks online.

I was very excited when the product arrived in the mail. I was looking for a reasonably priced media player so that I could watch my favorite shows on the go or on my couch. One of the main reasons for buying this player is that it was compatible with Amazon's Unbox video.

Unfortunately I was disappointed with the product. Here are the reasons:

1. Very low volume. Most of the time I have to use earphones.
2. Low quality video. The resolution is bad and picture is grainy.
3. The unit heats up a lot. It is uncomfortable to hold because of this.
4. After about 3 hours of use I now have at least 1 dead pixel on the screen.

I give it 3 stars because it serves its purpose, and was reasonably priced. I will probably pass it along to my younger brother and try the new unit.