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Electronics : iHome IH8 Clock Radio for iPod - Black
Rating: 
- Great product for all purposes
I have just received my IH8 docking station and im glad to report that it is a great product. It was very easy to set up, I barely had to look at the instruction manual at all!
As I have a new version of the iPod Nano, there is no specfic holder for it, the Nano holder supplied is for the older, narrower version, however I found one of the others to be suitable. The sound quality is fantastic! For both music and the clarity of voices of people talking on the radio.
The dual alarm system is very useful so you can choose whether to wake up to the radio or your iPod, and there is also a buzzer for when it is not plugged into the mains. So it is always guarenteed to wake you up on time!
The screen display is very clear and has a nice bright blue background light, which can be dimmed or turned off so it is great for use in the bedroom as the light does not impact on the darkness of your room.
All the controls on the dock itself and the remote are very simple to use.
The only downside would be that you can't turn off the button lights on the top even when you have dimmed the backlight. Although these lights are very small and can't be seen whilst in bed. Its just a matter of power consumption. Unless you unplug it, but then you can't wake up to the radio or iPod.
Never the less it is a fantastic product and I would recommend it to anybody!
Rating: - Value for money Ipod player and radio-alarm
I bought this product as I wanted to listen to Pod-casts and play the radio in the kitchen. I'm satisfied with the product as the sound quality is more than adequate for my purposes and its very simple to use. The only thought process required on opening the box is which Ipod connector to use, and despite having an old original Ipod Mini, one of the connectors fitted perfectly. The different pieces of plastic click into place and are easily removed if you wanted to change Ipods at some stage. The instructions are very simple, you simply press the buttons on the top for radio or ipod. On feature I like is the 1 hour button on the back so you can change to summer time without adjusting the clock.
The unit itself is quite small and neat and once the I-pod is plugged in the top it will charge. You also have a small input cable (around 10 cm long) which allows you to connect any device which has the small form factor headphone connector - ie another Ipod or an MP3 player. I find that the sound and volume when connected via the standard Ipod connector is superior. There is also an Output connector using the same cable type and in theory you could use that to connect and therefore play your ipod on your stereo/sound system but I''ve never tried that as the device requires power so its not a portable unit.
There is a remote control but as the sound button is a simple dial turn I only use it to turn the unit off - and this turns off both the unit and Ipod. I've not tried the alarm as I don't need it but I guess having the batteries as a backup is a relief. The lights at night look rather bright so I am not sure I would enjoy those lighting up my bedroom.
So in summary the unit is well designed and does what it says on the box. The only downsides I found are that it does attract dust, its got bright lights which I can't turn off (not every energy efficient) and the volts convertor plug is quite a large object to hide.
Rating:
- excellent
This is a really great way to listen to your ipod. I use it mainly as an alarm clock but the sound quality is really good and so it could be used as a way of listening to the ipod in the home. I would highly recommend it. It's a good quality item; I've had it for over a year and it's still in perfect condition.
Rating: - Performs as advertised, but the remote is as useful as a chocolate teapot.
[Updated after 6 month's happy ownership]
I was pleasantly surprised by sound quality (having been disappointed with an IH5), and every feature works as as advertised. Don't be expecting ultimate fidelity sound or rock-solid engineering feel; this is a consumer product at a consumer price.
The interface with my (3rd Gen) Nano works well but seems to suffer some "lag" in responding to the iHome - either the control panel or the rarely-functional Remote Control (e.g. it can take a second or two to skip to next track). Having said that I'm not sure whether that's the iHome or the iPod; certainly my car's docking interface displays the same "lag" when skipping tracks forwards and back.
The "Fade out to sleep" function works but is a bit less...subtle in use than I'd expected: it feels like it plays at full volume until the last 10 seconds or so of the sleep period at which time it ramps down to zero. The effect is also spoilt a little at shut-off by the iPod lighting up to tell you it's charging or charged but we should blame Apple not iHome for that feature.
The Alarm functions are very good, with a well-timed fade in of the music source. One thing I hadn't appreciated is that there are, indeed, 2 separate alarms on the box but one uses the Buzzer / iPod as the source and the other uses the Radio: you can't have both alarms use either the Radio or the iPod. The presence of a battery backup for the clock and buzzer alarm provides some comfort for those of us who've known power outages.
The 3-level (4 with "off") display backlight works well, although there's a little too big a step between dimmest and the next-brightest option for my personal taste: dimmest is hard for my ageing eyes to read across the room and the next-brightest option lights up the room
The (FM/AM) radio works well, and has auto-scan and 12 memories (4 AM, 8 FM). Reception is as good as any radio in our house.
The disappointment is the remote control: it *occasionally* works but never reliably. Even after replacing the supplied battery with a known-good one, operation is iffy and only likely if you're stood in front of the iHome pointing straight at it and prepared to push REALLY HARD on the buttons. To be honest, since it doesn't even reliably activate the only controls I really wanted - "Snooze" and "Off" - I haven't used it in months. The upside of this is that I have to get out of bed to turn the alarm off, which turns out to be a feature I need to get me going in the morning anyway...
In short: if you're after a classic radio/alarm clock and you don't need a remote control, then this is a very good choice for you. If you're after a HiFi solution for your iPod, look elsewhere.
- Great product for all purposesI have just received my IH8 docking station and im glad to report that it is a great product. It was very easy to set up, I barely had to look at the instruction manual at all!
As I have a new version of the iPod Nano, there is no specfic holder for it, the Nano holder supplied is for the older, narrower version, however I found one of the others to be suitable. The sound quality is fantastic! For both music and the clarity of voices of people talking on the radio.
The dual alarm system is very useful so you can choose whether to wake up to the radio or your iPod, and there is also a buzzer for when it is not plugged into the mains. So it is always guarenteed to wake you up on time!
The screen display is very clear and has a nice bright blue background light, which can be dimmed or turned off so it is great for use in the bedroom as the light does not impact on the darkness of your room.
All the controls on the dock itself and the remote are very simple to use.
The only downside would be that you can't turn off the button lights on the top even when you have dimmed the backlight. Although these lights are very small and can't be seen whilst in bed. Its just a matter of power consumption. Unless you unplug it, but then you can't wake up to the radio or iPod.
Never the less it is a fantastic product and I would recommend it to anybody!
Rating:
- Value for money Ipod player and radio-alarm I bought this product as I wanted to listen to Pod-casts and play the radio in the kitchen. I'm satisfied with the product as the sound quality is more than adequate for my purposes and its very simple to use. The only thought process required on opening the box is which Ipod connector to use, and despite having an old original Ipod Mini, one of the connectors fitted perfectly. The different pieces of plastic click into place and are easily removed if you wanted to change Ipods at some stage. The instructions are very simple, you simply press the buttons on the top for radio or ipod. On feature I like is the 1 hour button on the back so you can change to summer time without adjusting the clock.
The unit itself is quite small and neat and once the I-pod is plugged in the top it will charge. You also have a small input cable (around 10 cm long) which allows you to connect any device which has the small form factor headphone connector - ie another Ipod or an MP3 player. I find that the sound and volume when connected via the standard Ipod connector is superior. There is also an Output connector using the same cable type and in theory you could use that to connect and therefore play your ipod on your stereo/sound system but I''ve never tried that as the device requires power so its not a portable unit.
There is a remote control but as the sound button is a simple dial turn I only use it to turn the unit off - and this turns off both the unit and Ipod. I've not tried the alarm as I don't need it but I guess having the batteries as a backup is a relief. The lights at night look rather bright so I am not sure I would enjoy those lighting up my bedroom.
So in summary the unit is well designed and does what it says on the box. The only downsides I found are that it does attract dust, its got bright lights which I can't turn off (not every energy efficient) and the volts convertor plug is quite a large object to hide.
Rating:
- excellentThis is a really great way to listen to your ipod. I use it mainly as an alarm clock but the sound quality is really good and so it could be used as a way of listening to the ipod in the home. I would highly recommend it. It's a good quality item; I've had it for over a year and it's still in perfect condition.
Rating:
- Performs as advertised, but the remote is as useful as a chocolate teapot.[Updated after 6 month's happy ownership]
I was pleasantly surprised by sound quality (having been disappointed with an IH5), and every feature works as as advertised. Don't be expecting ultimate fidelity sound or rock-solid engineering feel; this is a consumer product at a consumer price.
The interface with my (3rd Gen) Nano works well but seems to suffer some "lag" in responding to the iHome - either the control panel or the rarely-functional Remote Control (e.g. it can take a second or two to skip to next track). Having said that I'm not sure whether that's the iHome or the iPod; certainly my car's docking interface displays the same "lag" when skipping tracks forwards and back.
The "Fade out to sleep" function works but is a bit less...subtle in use than I'd expected: it feels like it plays at full volume until the last 10 seconds or so of the sleep period at which time it ramps down to zero. The effect is also spoilt a little at shut-off by the iPod lighting up to tell you it's charging or charged but we should blame Apple not iHome for that feature.
The Alarm functions are very good, with a well-timed fade in of the music source. One thing I hadn't appreciated is that there are, indeed, 2 separate alarms on the box but one uses the Buzzer / iPod as the source and the other uses the Radio: you can't have both alarms use either the Radio or the iPod. The presence of a battery backup for the clock and buzzer alarm provides some comfort for those of us who've known power outages.
The 3-level (4 with "off") display backlight works well, although there's a little too big a step between dimmest and the next-brightest option for my personal taste: dimmest is hard for my ageing eyes to read across the room and the next-brightest option lights up the room
The (FM/AM) radio works well, and has auto-scan and 12 memories (4 AM, 8 FM). Reception is as good as any radio in our house.
The disappointment is the remote control: it *occasionally* works but never reliably. Even after replacing the supplied battery with a known-good one, operation is iffy and only likely if you're stood in front of the iHome pointing straight at it and prepared to push REALLY HARD on the buttons. To be honest, since it doesn't even reliably activate the only controls I really wanted - "Snooze" and "Off" - I haven't used it in months. The upside of this is that I have to get out of bed to turn the alarm off, which turns out to be a feature I need to get me going in the morning anyway...
In short: if you're after a classic radio/alarm clock and you don't need a remote control, then this is a very good choice for you. If you're after a HiFi solution for your iPod, look elsewhere.