- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 57 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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15 out of 15 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"just as good as AV500, with pluses and minuses"
Pros: Software conversion kept video good; great speaker sound; able to download pics from my camera
Cons: How do you stop a song/video?;
Summary:Updated
Where's the stop button? You can pause your vid/music, then swap to another, otherwise it keeps playing...oh well...
Sound on the COWON is much much louder and DEFINITELY BETTER than the AV500, whose lt/rt stereo speakers are right next to one another, while the COWON separates them. At it's loudest, the AV500 speakers were only about 1/2 to 2/3 as loud or as good as the COWON.
Concerning video, I kept staring at them right next to each other, and both looked great using the same video. At times I felt the video looked better than the AV500, and at times I thought the AV500 looked better. I kept on looking back and forth then realized that whites looked whiter, greens looked greener, and there was maybe slightly more detail on the AV500....Hence I say the COWON screen is 95% as good...but really... only if you keep staring at them over and over like I did will you notice the slight difference...
Problem with the AV500 was the video conversion utility to make it viewable on the Archos AV500 "pixelated" the video too much, while the COWON conversion kept video in good quality.
Archos had a nice slomo feature, boots and starts playing files a few secs faster, a bit smaller and lighter, but not much....and was a bit more intuitive to use...
COWON has an FM tuner
COWON can zoom pics, but screen blacks for a fraction of a sec as it redraws, and you only have 2 preset zoom levels...Archos has more zoom levels, and can zoom closer...COWON also blacks for a fraction of a sec when you pan lt/rt/up/dn the zoomed pic...Archos panning is cleaner...and on the Archos you can set a time for how long to display a pic during the slide show...and you can rotate pics for viewing...
Pics looked superb on both, but after careful careful careful observation, I noticed there was more "hair" detail on my friends' pics on the AV500 vs the COWON. Like for example, for the same pic on both, on the AV500, for a person in the background, I saw a bright speck/pixel that indicated an earring, while on the the COWON, it was more of a fuzzy speck/pixel. Really, it was super negligable...
Although the Archos says you could connect a camera to it to download pics, it did not work for mine...my camera worked with the COWON...
Originally could not view my 4 megapixel pics on it, but after downloading the new firmware, it did!
Every now and then on the Archos, I'd hear the hard drive "click" as it did its thing...Updated
personal gut-feeling opinion...scores out of 100=PERFECT;I CAN'T ASK FOR ANY MORE!
file compatibility archos=65 cowon=75
sound archos=70 cowon=90
video archos=96 cowon=92
pictures archos=96 cowon=92
intuitive use archos=90 cowon=80
software archos=70 cowon=90
controls archos=85 cowon=80
size/weight/case archos=80 cowon=77
applicable to MY personal uses archos=75 cowon=88
I have not tried recording video...maybe I should and post a review.
Wish they both supported more formats, but from what I hear, some people feel COWON is the more likely to support more formats...
Case for AV500, well, strap covered power light indicator, but at least it protected the corners...BUT...if you press hard on the case, you just might turn it on accidentally...
Battery is non-removable on Cowon, but EVEN IF battery degrades over time, I HOPE it doesn't degrade to less than 6 hours after 3 years...which would still be longer than the AV500.
In the main menu, to make a selection on the COWON, sometimes you have to press straight down on its "thumbstick", ala the XBOX thumbstick...sometimes I ended up going down to the next menu instead...I can deal with it...
In the end, I'm looking to convert MY VIDEO to be shown on the player, and COWON does that best!
- 5 replies to this review
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i have been looking at the archos av500, 404, creative Zen vision W and the Cowon A2, and you seem to be a pretty knowlegdeable gentleman and i was wondering out of the four i mentioned you still believe the A2 is the best?
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guess ur review covers most of the basic info required to decide between the two.. just wanted to share a piece of information, archos 500 has an optional battery which is seperately sold.. the good thing is that this new battery that they have come out with gives thrice the battery life of audio/video playback of the archos..
though i still think cowon makes the best players, but if they changed two factors in the a2.. as far as i can say it would not be far from a perfect player..
1. increase the hard drive to 100 gb and more if possible
2. make the battery removable and also have a battery life like the iaudio X5L (longer playback). -
hold the back button to stop a video. I actually noticed this when I meant to scroll through some videos but I realized I actually stopped the video. I actually find it annoying, because I keep accidentally stopping videos when I'm trying to hold the device. Make sure you upgrade to the 1.51 firmware.
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I like your review... You seem to be even handed for the most part. I do believe that you are stretching your battery life issue however. Can you live with 3 hours after 3 years when you could have just changed batteries for longer life with Archos. I have numerous electronic devices and I am on my 3rd battery after 3 years on my PDA. My older laptop's battery which is a little over 4 years old lasts about a minute...I have to keep it plugged in. Also, the reviews of the battery life of the AV500 have consistently been longer than the listed battery life which means Archos was conservative in their estimates (a good thing). I haven't seen reviews of the actual battery life of the Cowon.
In any case, replaceable batteries ARE a must . For the price you paid you are eventually going to see hacks for adding a new battery or you will have to use the 8 pack double AA battery pack etc. Or send it back to the manufacturer for another battery. I don't know if longer term MACK warranties cover the battery. You have only 1 year with the Cowon warranty.
But I notice that they sell a lot of refurbished products so maybe the A2 Cowons which are returned will be refurbished for a reasonable price when you battery life runs out. Keep in mind that it is not a matter of "if" the battery life will run out...it is a matter of "when". If you want to sell it later on ebay (to get the latest offering)...well, it is either the AV500 with a brand new battery or a A2 Cowon with a used battery. The reviews are minimizing the battery issue...how can you give a 10 with this glaring issue outstanding or a 9 or an 8 for that matter. If the A2 Cowon had replaceable batteries I would have given it a look...but non-replaceable battery ---DEAL BREAKER...
Further, I know that Archos makes mini hard drives (I have one) which work with the AV500 and I am reasonably confident of the AV500 hard drive. I don't want to lose my data. I don't know how reliable the Cowon hard drive is.
The other issue for me is the mini cam which I have arriving next week for the AV500. This makes the AV500 a leap ahead...
Thanks for your review.
Dave -
can you record video on both of them and write a detailed review on the pros and cons of both. I cant decided which one I want (Cowon A2 or Archos AV500) and I think this might just be the deciding factor.
Thanks,
Corey
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