My husband and I are looking for a portable DVD play for long car rides. We go back home to visit family at least once a month if not more and it is a 3 hour drive one way. We thought that getting a DVD player would make the ride a little easier for our little one and ourselves. My question is can anyone recommend a good one? My sister bought one and just hates it, she said it is hard to opperate and you can't hear it very well. So I'm looking for advice on brands and models that others have liked. We were hoping that we wouldn't have to spend a huge amount on this maybe under $150 if possible I know I have seen them for under $100. Thanks for the help
What I would say is get one either with headphones or where you can add headphones, as listening to thier film can be annoying ... esp if you would like to list to the radio/cd etc
My husband bought us a DVD player from Walmart - I think it was durabrand. It was about $150 and has two screens. It has held up well (it gets kicked by DD a lot!) and is loud enough. I have tried the two screen disney clamshell set and it doesn't get loud enough to hear over the engine of the car. I lovethe two screen feature - and the screens have straps to attach to the seat built right in, it came with a case for storage, and they have easils on them for easy viewing in a hotel room. Definetely a great value.
I got dual RCA dvd players and love them. We've had them for about a little over a year and no problems. Since then they've made 1 trip to Phoenix and 5 trips to Missouri (about 11 hours). I bought a cord to plug into the stereo in the car and have been very happy with it, although the volume is just fine without it. I think I paid around 150 on amazon for it.
We have had the Insignia (Best Buy) brand. And also a Dynex. I think they were both around $100. I prefer the Dynex over Insignia (which is now broken, after quite a bit of use) They are both easy to use. We have kids head phones to go with ours so we dont have to listen to it. Our Insignia seemed to have a short with the screen somehow. We take good care of our products, so not sure why it would have broke. You can look up consumer reviews on line too. Just google the product you are looking for.
Hi J.,
I have two portable dvd players and I wish I would have know what to get before I bought the first one. The first one I purchased was a Sony - the kind that the screen flips up. It is a very nice dvd player -(great in hotels)but we were getting ready to take a road trip to California - and with the car seat my son has - he would have been kicking the dvd alot. So I invested in the Audiovox Kids 6.2" dvd player. It is great because the sides have a rubber kind of things - so it's kid tough for the kicking and dropping. LOL! But we really love it - the dvd goes behind the screen - it pops open from the top and all the buttons are on the top, so it is slim and easily fits around the back of the seat. I purchased ours at Target on sale for $75 but I see now that it's only avalible on-line for $99.99 (reg price) We have had ours for over a year with no problems, we have been to California and back twice, and for a while my son could not be in the car without it on.
Good Luck -- on a note my friend has a dual screen dvd player and her son broke on of the screens - and that is the side that the dvd goes in - so they have to keep it in their car on the floor so that they can still watch movies. I think that when my youngest is ready we will buy him the same one - the kids Audivox. Hope this helps!:)
I would recommend a flat DVD Player. I have traveled with my son a minimum of once a month on 2 hour car trips one way. Now our trips home are 8 hours. With him being 4 years old, he is used to the rides. The DVD player has helped. Radio Shack was the place that had these players. The price was sitting around $150 I believe. These players will have the disc drive on the side or the top. I do not recommend the ones that fold. If they get knocked down they don't work. And the seat attachements do not work very well as the top of the player starts to fold down from the bumps and vibrations of the road then your trying to adjust it while driving (never a good idea). I wish I could be more helpful with the names but I just can't recall that particular one. I hope this helps a little.
I purchased the Audiovox Portable DVD player at Target for my son a year ago and absolutely love it. It isn't the flip up type so I don't have to worry about the hinge or about how much space it takes up if hooked to the seat - it sits flush with the back of the headrest. My son also likes holding it in his lap to watch movies. It is user friendly and VERY portable. Since my son was so young, I did purchase the additional warranty for $19. Haven't had to use the warranty at all .... very impressed with the DVD player.
Good Luck!
We take car rides often for hours and hours and I bought a Phillips, it's white and I think I paid $99 for it at Wal-mart and I bought a case that I can hang from the back of my head rest for about $20. They are wonderful, especially when you are driving from Saint Louis to San Antonio! Hope this helps. Happy shopping:-)
My husband and I were just talking about how much we like our portable DVD player and how well it's held up. We bought a Polaroid PDV-088PT about three years ago. My husband knows a lot of people who have had DVD players break or seem to have to replace them every year. We're careful with ours, but not THAT careful. Our 2-yr-old loves to "operate" it when we're not looking, and nothing's happened so far.
The screen has adjustable bright and color controls, which are nice for adjusting the screen in bright (or dark) car rides. The screen also swivels 180 degrees, allowing flexibility depending on where we're viewing it. Sound has been an issue. In an airplane we've found that earphones work best, and there are two earphone jacks for multiple users. You can hear it in the car, but we find plugging the player into our van's sound system works best. We bought a tape with a cord coming out of it -- the cord plugs into the audio jack on the player, the tape goes in the van's tape deck, and then the sound comes through the whole car. We also use our portable player as our only home DVD player. We just plug jacks from the portable player into our VCR or TV. It was definitely under $100 and has been money well spent.
We're still looking for the perfect case that allows us to view the DVD player in the van. I might end up putting velcro on our current case so it can stick to the ceiling, allowing everyone to see it.
Good luck!
We have the zenith dvp615 portable 7' wide screen. My kids love it and we've never had any problems. We bought it at best buy for 89.00!!
Good luck!!
We got the ones from Target that are by Disney. We got them for our 3 hour trips up north. Thus far they have done really well and they weren't too expensive and have the two screens. They also fold together for storage. I also bought the three year warranty since this was our second one, but luckily have not had to use it yet (we have had it for 8 months). My biggest suggestion is to get ones that strap onto the head rest of the seats. This one has the DVD player in the screen, so it is all in one. Any one that can be put down or on the floor of the car may get stepped on.
Good luck.
My husband bought us one while on vacation, from the local Wal-Mart. It's a Durabrand, and I gave him grief for "going cheap." (It was pretty inexpensive, but I can't remember the exact cost.) However, I have been eating crow ever since. It has proven to be an awesome value--no problems with visual or sound quality, and the best thing is it comes with 2 screens. You can use the car charger, or plug in the AC. We've been surprisingly happy with it, and have now had it for 3 years.
