TrekStor Vibez user reviews (12GB)

Pros ogg support, multiple playlists, Linux support

Cons dumb pregnant belly design

Summary I won't recite the specs. You can get that from many places. (But don't believe the manufacturer's claimed battery life.)

I got the Vibez to replace a Cowon G3, which can't see all the files it can store, which was a real deal breaker. The Vibez at least does all the key things it's supposed to do.

It's nice. It's satisfactory. It supports ogg and Linux, which are key for me. But sometimes I think the physical and software interfaces were designed by children. It has the following flaws. (I'll save the worst for last.)

One feature crashes the player so frequently that I don't use it anymore: saving play lists. It can take minutes fighting with the sloppy thumb wheel to save a playlist, mostly entering the name (can't we just *select* a current name and overwrite it???). After that effort, the player frequently freezes and can only be resuscitated by opening it up and inserting a paperclip in the hole to reset it. Gross! Trekstor told me to upgrade the firmware, but it didn't fix the problem. Good thing the Vibez also supports m3u multiple playlists that you create on your own.

Because I had to open up the Vibez so often to resuscitate it after freezing, I now have lint and dust under the glass face.

The face is scratched after placing the Vibez in a pocket with coins one too many times. To me, that's an easily scratched face.

The thumbwheel is placed to low. Hasn't anyone notices that our thumbs point upward? My thumb ends up covering the screen and has to stoop way over to operate the thumbwheel.

I've mentioned the thumbwheel was sloppy. Sometimes it fails to registers the clicks while you are turning it.

The animated menu is dumb dumb dumb! It just slows down an already irksome interface. I wish I could turn animation off.

Screen brightness settings should be finer. The minimum brightness setting (other than off) is blinding in the dark. (The Cowon G3 also had this problem.)

The volume should also have finer adjustments. The lowest non-mute volume was too loud for me to listen to at bedtime.

The equalizer selection is a pain in the neck. Can't we just have the on-board computer select the equalizer based on the genre of the song?

Okay, the most flawed feature on the Vibez has got to be the thumbwheel design. The thumbwheel idea is great, but if Trekstor was going to design implement it like this, I wish they'd just go with the joystick design most other players have. Why?

It's way to sensitive to the press. Forget about putting this thing in your Vibez. The slightest bump or rub from your clothe will forward, reverse, pause the song or change volume.

Pressing the center of the wheel selects a menu item. Great! Unfortunately, the center is a tiny spot. If don't you hit it right on, you could easily have hit the up, down, left, or right arrows instead. I think the center spot is about 5 percent of the thumbwheel area. My camera's spot metering area is not that small!

But the worst of the worst flaw is the bulging pregnant design of the thumbwheel. It sticks out there screaming "Hey, hit me by accident, please!!" The thumbwheel really needs to be concave--NOT convex! This is an eminently unpocketable design. Why did they do it? Because it's "sexy"??? Come on, folks! I was a nerd when it was nothing but lonely to be a nerd, I even I don't think it's sexy. It's a machine! It's not sexy! Get a life!

Pros Sleek design, included Sennheiser headphones included

Cons FM radio chip not included, $30 extra & you need to install it.That requires prying off the back, Back never stayed on after installation. Customer support non-existent.

Summary Tried mightily to get response from Trekstor support including finding CEOs name and social website he's listed on (XING) wrote him email (in German) describing the 7 Trekstor items I had that were defective. Both Vibez broke within the month warranty had expired. How weird is that? I figured that since I was dealing with "superb German engineering" this occurrence would be a strike against their honor, code of professionalism...whatever. Hah. I beleive Trekstor is staffed by former Stasi agents who are still interested in bringing down the US.

I had long been in the "anything but iPod" camp and these exemplars of "superb German engineering" prompted me to purchase 2 of the only 3 new, as soon as released, digital audio players. The other was an iRiver Clix Gen 2 which I still consider one of the best designed DAPs ever made, refurbished no name DAPs manufactured in 3rd world sweatshops are working great after 5+ years, Vibex didn't last 14 months. Bought docking station, that came w/ European styled plug and no adapter, bought remote, never worked. I have bought 2 iBeats by Trekstor and neither lasted 6 months.After spending hours of time emailing, calling, mailing Trekstor support, they have finally offered to replace the two Vibez that took a dump. I'm not sure if I can believe it & now I'm on the hook for $20 more in postage but if they do actually come through, I would change my rating.

I never see support mentioned in any of the reviews (they're new products & support isn't an issue) but I would love to see a review of the support for various electronic manufacturers. Sandisk used to be the best-far and away-but I guess they realized that there was no sex appeal in spending $ on support. From personal experience I can tell you in which circle of Dante's inferno many of the companies belong. Cowon, iRiver, iAudio, Meizu, Archos; 12 (worst); Creative, Sandisk, 11; Sony, 10; Samsung, Philips (9); Apple 8. Feel free to edit.

Pros Sleek, BIG memory, affordable

Cons Lousy Controls, Cheap feeling, Died on Me

Summary Like other reviewers I was drawn in by the device's promise of an affordable, micro hard drive based player, that featured a color screen, big capacity and a sleek design. What I got was a cheap feeling, cheap operating, soon to be paper weight that turned into a customer satisfaction head ache. I gave the device a review of 4 only becasue I am assuming that some other people's players will work for more than 3 months, but in reality,this thing could have worked till kingdom come and the clunky controls, awful screen resolution and overall budget tactile feel wouldnt have let me rate it over a 5. I'd pass on this and get a creative....anything if like me you dont want an itunes based device.

Pros Small, Compact, and Lots of Storage

Cons Loading Pictures takes a while.