Home > Consumer Reviews > Polaroid PDM-0725 7-Inch Swivel Portable DVD Player

We bought this as a gift for our son, to keep him occupied on long car trips, and while traveling. It is compact and light enough to tote around without breaking your shoulder, and comes with accessories for playing in the car, an AC cable, and also has a rechargeable battery for wireless viewing anywhere. It even comes with a remote (but not a pretty one)

For adults this is a great little gadget - it never gets into a snit over bumpy roads or potholes, and with your headphones on, it can give you hours of viewing when you’d rather be alone. The screen even swivels around for the best possible picture in cramped situations.

For kids however, there are some things you should note:

1. The silver finish gets scratched and dirty quickly

2. The power is controlled by a slider button which doesn’t feel as sturdy as it should – ditto the button to open the section where the DVD goes

3. The button to open the player is right in front where little hands can accidentally press it while in use.

4. On the right hand side, there’s a button to choose the DVD format. This often slides to the other side when taking it out of the case, and fools you into thinking that the player isn’t working.

5. Our video display stopped working on Day 2, until we reset it by unplugging the player without turning it off and then plugging it in again.

6. The control buttons on the player itself are not very user friendly, and I still have no idea what some of them do, but I haven’t needed to use them so far anyway.

7. You can’t play old or scratched discs, as these will damage the player. (I don’t know about you, but most of my kid’s DVDs are scratched and battered)


Picture quality and sound are good, as is portability. Overall, this is a very convenient DVD player for traveling or commuting, but one that requires care and attention to work properly.




Amanda Richards, March 1, 2006

[...] This is a great DVD player, we have a 4x4 and the DVD player hasn't skipped over a bump yet. Plus the [optional] games are nice on road trips when the kids are sleeping dad can play while mom drives or vise versa. I also like the fact that it swivels and mounts flat unlike a lot of pricer DVD players that have to be mounted open like a laptop. Good value!

I wanted a DVD player that wasn't too expensive, but had good qualaties for my price range. I did lots of research onine, and in different stores, and I am extremely glad I decided to buy this one. The 7" screen is not small, but it's also not huge. The size is not too small or me, but for someone who is a little hard-of-seeing, I may suggest a slightly larger screen, but this really is quite an ideal size. I always take it with me on road trips, where I'm stuck in the backseat with my younger sister, and it's very nice to have because of the size of the screen, the fact that the screen swivels, the anti-shock protection, the picture quality, sound quality and the ease of use. Although most people might think "Why would you need a remote for something that is going to be a foot away from your face?" I say, it's a very handy accesory to the DVD player. It's simple to use, and you can do all the basics, as well as zoom in, use slow motion etc. The swivel screen can turn a full 180 degrees, and you can put it into a locked position if you want to just have it on a surface directly in front of you. The only thing about it that has bothered me is that it scratches so easily, but this is to be expected with any electronic such as this. I bought a carrying case for it, which is very useful because it cuts down on scratching, and makes it so I can take it anywhere. Also, although it does have great sound quality, I prefer to use headphones with it because that way it's more secluded, and gives the sound quality closer to that of a movie theatre. This really is very well made, and I would reccomend it to anyone who wants an easy-to-use, high-quality, but not high-price portable DVD player.

I used this portable DVD player on a recent trip to Dallas. Our plane ride was a bit bumpy and it never skipped. Battery life was GREAT!! Great purchase.. perfect delivery timing!! Looking forward to using it for a long time to come!!
DS

I purchased the Polaroid 725 portable DVD player two months ago when my wife was planning a cross-country trip by air with our 2 year old daughter. I researched all portable DVD players on the market using C-Net and found that this one had the best reviews and was very affordable compared to other players on the market.
The reviews were right on the money. This player has been an awesome addition to our electronic collection of gadgets and gizmos. It's easy to use, has excellent sound and video display and is extremely versatile.
The 725 comes with an abundance of great accessories such as a carrying case with straps that can fasten around a car seat, a car power adapter, two sets of headphones, and a rechargeable lithium battery that powers the unit for about 3 hours. It also comes with a standard 110V power brick.
The picture quality isn't as sharp as I expected, but still very adequate if you are using it primarily to entertain your kids; my daughter didn't have any complaints.
The only accessory that we had to purchase separately was an airline power adapter for use while flying. The adapter was $10.00 at batterygeeks.com.
All in all, its been a worthwhile investment and has done its job well at keeping my demanding daughter entertained while traveling.