Home > Consumer Reviews > Grundig Eton Ego 4000 Plus Portable CD / MP3 Player with Built-In Removable Speakers

ok. here's my situation:

i live off the grid in alaska. off the road system, in a goofy little town by the sea. we have only one radio station that we pick up from sitka, some 200 miles away.

i though this little Gundig gadget would do the trick! play my CDs, listen to the radio -- all from my little houseboat and 4 AA batteries. right on! my new home entertainment center!

get the thing in the mail. YEAH! paddle over to the floathouse. unpack the box. shove in the batteries. turn on the radio.

nothing. nada. zippo. no radio station. just fuzzy static where the radio should be.

strange. everyone else's radio picks up Raven Radio. what's up with the Grundig? cheapo!

and yeah. cheap little plastic speakers like mickey mouse ears. little cheap plastic buttons. bizarre cable attachment thingies and just, well, odd. like it seemed like a good idea in some board meeting somewhere, but horribly, and cheaply, implemented.

so i rationalize this. radio doesn't work. OK. i'll play my CD's on the thing. might as well get something out of it -- besides i figured i could get used to the cheap little speakers that have no ability to sound bass. yeah! like a transister radio!

ok! 5 hours goes by. batteries die. WHAT? FIVE HOURS AND THE BATTERIES DIE? are you kiddin' me? this is a Grundig, man --billed as a travelor's paradice: radio / cd / clock / alarm gizmo! $$$$ bucks. Woo hoo -- but: FIVE HOURS CD PLAYING LIFE? most places i travel take more than 5 hours plane time alone -- should i pack a block of batteries with me, too? c'mon Grundig: you guys stink if you think you can charge $$$$ for this pile of cheap plastic poo!

this thing stinks. i'm sending it back.

dissastisfied in alaska.

ian

ps.

happy ending: returned the cheapo grundig. amazon gave me a full refund without any stress. good for them! i bought a durable sony cd player for about half the price of the grundig!

the sony baby works wonders: plays cds, picks up the radio station, the weather station (big deal here) and even a TV channel (dang -- i came to alaska to get AWAY from TV!).

and get this: 2 AA batteries last FOREVER (well, a really, REALLY long time).

i bought two little speakers for a nominal price, and WA LA! I made out like a happy consumer for not half the price the cheap plastic poo GRundig.

Grundig: if you are reading this, you should be ashamed of yourself.

This thing ain't worth the [money maount]+ asking price. You're better off getting a portable CD player with the same options (minus the clock) and some mini-speakers. The speakers have no bass and and are very tinny. The CD player worked for about a week and now it stutters almost all the time, usually less when you turn the anti-shock setting off. It's all eye-candy.

Right off the bat, let me say that this Grundig CD player isn't worth [money], let alone [money]. The reviewer that said he got 5 hours of listening on a set of batteries is lucky. With the first set, I got 1 hour, with the second set I got 14 minutes!! I'm not exaggerating -- I timed it.

Granted, you can skip the batteries and use the AC adapter, but even then, the sound quality is terrible. Cheap and tinny. The speakers are worthless. I am astonished that Grundig is charging so much money for this. Do yourself a favor and avoid.

Unfortunately, my husband bought this piece of junk well before I'd had a chance to read any reviews. I think it's all been said before, but this CD player is a complete rip-off, and an expensive rip-off at that! We were wondering why we only got a couple hours out of a set of batteries, but apparently it's not just us; the problem is inherent in this poor excuse for a CD player. And if you still think you might like to buy one, you can have mine. I'm going to buy something that works.

I received this as a gift and know the Grundig name typically as a quality product. The sound was so poor I decided there must be something wrong with the unit. I called the Grundig tech support and explained that I heard a very tinny sound with no bass at all. The tech without pause said "Thats typical with all of those units." He further continued to say "you'll get some bass response with the headphones but thats as good as it gets." I couldn't believe something with a $150 price tag was known to sound so bad. Do not waste your money on this product.