Haier HLT71 7-Inch Handheld LCD TV
by Haier
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List Price: Our Price: $120.00 You Save: $9.99 (8%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $59.99 (click here) Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Haier HLT71 7-Inch Handheld LCD TV
Customer Review: Haier HTL71-7 inch digital TV
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this to replace my analog Sony Watchman that will be useless after the digital conversion in February. The owner's manual is pretty sketchy, but I figured out most of the functions within 5 minutes. It comes with a lithium battery pack similar to a cordless telephone, I wish it took replaceable AA batteries, but it seems to hold a charge OK for emergencies. I was surprised that the tiny remote included with it is pretty full function. The included rod antenna screws on the side to a coaxial connection. I wish it were on the back of the unit and out of the way a little more. Right now, I am guessing some of the local channels I am receiving are analog, because the picture is grainy; I have heard digital pictures will be all or nothing; clear or non-existant. Some of the other channels further away from me are bright and crystal clear. I know some of my local stations aren't broadcasting digital at full strength yet, so I will wait until February to pass judgement on the picture/tuner quality. I bought it as an emergency back-up, so I am cautiously optimistic it will function better next month in that capacity.
Amended review on 6/15. Well, it failed the test. I had autoscanned channels on the Haier last Friday during the 6/12 digital conversion, and picked up about 15 stations with the supplied rod antenna. However, it only worked in an upstairs bedroom near the window. Well, this weekend was the first test of the set. We had severe thunderstorms knock out the power for several hours yesterday, so I pulled out the Haier to watch. I couldn't pick up a single channel that I had previously scanned. So , I rescannned it 4 different times, in 4 different locations, indoors and outdoors. All I could pick up were 4 Christian stations broadcasting from Dayton. I live closer to Cincinnati, and picked up zip. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. My little analog Sony Watchman used to pickup 6 Cincy stations and 4 Dayton stations. Who calls the digital conversion progress besides the cable and satellite companies selling their services?
Customer Review: Some things other reviewers missed
Summary: 5 Stars
I read all the reviews, so I won't cover any of that.
The one strange thing is that you cannot turn the TV off by using the front buttons. You turn the TV on using a small switch on the side and once it is on, you can't turn it off using any of the front buttons. If you want to turn the screen off and put the TV into standby, you must use the remote. So if you want to keep the TV in your bathroom, you must have the remote handy to turn it off/on. You can still turn it off using the switch on the side, but that is kinda awkward.
The antenna can be stored in a clip on the top of the TV, but it would have been better to have just built it into the TV like the Axion does.
The battery looks like a plastic wrapped lithium polymer battery. There is a cover for the battery and it can be removed unlike the Axion.
One very cool feature is that it also appears to be able to tune in digital QAM channels on my limited basic Comcast cable. All of the sudden I can see many more HD channels than I could see before. Too bad this doesn't have a TV output so I could it like a converter box.
If you're thinking of mounting this TV on a wall, it doesn't have any mounting holes in the back so you can mount it like a picture. The stand makes it tilt quite a ways back making it difficult to view from far away. There is a tripod mount on the bottom.
If you are viewing text graphics - like on a weather channel, the text looks a bit fuzzy, but otherwise the picture is pretty good.
An annoyance is that the TV has either a wide or normal mode. If you put it into normal mode, it makes all channels (include HD ones) in a 4:3 format. This really squashes HD channels. If you put into wide format, it makes all channels 16:9, which makes non HD channels stretched. It would have been better to make it intelligent enough to display HD in wide and non-HD in 4:3, but no such luck. Most everything looks fine in wide mode though.
It's a terrific little TV and an amazing price - highly recommended.
Customer Review: Great little digital TV
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this for my wife, so she could use it in the kitchen, or while putting make-up on. We live on the fringe area of the Washington DC broadcast market, so I had no expectation that this would receive any channels using the built-in antenna, and I was right.
Plugging this set into our whole house amplified antenna system, however, pulled in all +30 digital broadcast stations. Certainly more channels than we have time to watch, but hey, it's FREE DIGITAL RECEPTION! But I digress...
First impressions on receiving this item is that it is packaged quite compactly in a nice, small cardboard box. Everything was in good order inside the box. The construction feel of this small set is excellent and has a sturdy, slightly rubberized exterior finish.
Once plugged into the antenna cable, it was very easy to navigate through the menu system to have the set auto-scan for stations. This was accomplished in under 5 minutes, and we were soon enjoying very clear and bright reception on all channels. (Remember: with over-the-air digital broadcast, you'll either get reception, or you won't, unlike the older analog broadcast where a weak signal results in poor picture, with digital - if you can get a signal - the results will be crystal clear.
Controls work best using the remote as the buttons on the front of the set require two hands: one hand to push the button and the other hand to hold the set. These buttons require a noticable amount of pressure.
The sound is rather tinny, due to the overall small size of the set and the required tiny speakers to fit inside. Don't expect a rich full sound from this set. It is, after all, a portable. The sound is adequate for what it is, however, there may be times when you find general room noise will drown out these tiny speakers.
Overall, this is a very good set but don't expect it to compete with your family room television. It does a great job as a small portable and we're very pleased with it. We would recommend this product!
Customer Review: Nice Size But Too Many Flaws
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this unit for my mother for Mother's Day. When it arrived, I was very pleased at the small size as it fit perfectly as a replacement for an old 5" CRT based portable TV and it has QAM reception that works with my cable. However, I immediately discovered several problems that were quite annoying. My mother was first to notice that the audio had a habit of dropping out and the lip sync was a problem. I found that the sensitivity on cable channels above 100 was poor and that QAM reception on cable channel 107 was terrible with the channels constantly dropping out. My 42" Vizio VO42LF LCD TV has no problem at all on the very same cable (unplugged the Vizio from the cable and plugged in the Haier to make sure it wasn't a cable problem). The manual provides very little help and is written in Chinglish. The Haier web site does not list the HLT71 product so online support is impossible. Finally, the remote control buttons did not work as expected or as the manual seemed to indicate; the Electronic Program Guide indicates using the left and right arrow buttons to scroll but they instead change the volume. There is no way to scroll through the EPG so you can all see details for the current programming. You are supposed to be able to enter a channel number and press the "Enter" key to enter it (if I read the manual correctly - see above). However, doing this brings up the "Auto Scan" function of setup. To change channels, you have to enter the channel number and wait for it to timeout and switch.
The form factor is wonderful and if the unit was more sensitive, had better documentation and online support, and the remote worked correctly, it would be a great unit. Hopefully Haier will get its act together and fix the flaws because this device has potential. Maybe an HLT71A or HLT72 is in the offing. I did note that there is a mini-USB port on the bottom of the unit, possibly for firmware upgrades. Unfortunately, with no online support for the HLT71, such a feature is probably useless.
Customer Review: Take care of the battery
Summary: 5 Stars
While I don't have this model I do have applicable experience on portable TV's. First, if you like your TV and expect to keep it a long time go ahead and buy another battery ($31 at Amazon). Why, you ask. Haier is not a big name brand and really doesn't have a great reputation for service. As such I would not depend on them to have batteries available 2 years from now at any price. There might be some third party batteries available but so far my experience with them is 100% negative - if the do work they don't last. Lastly, if you want your original battery to last unplug it. I know that is a lithium/ion battery and that it should tolerate a constant trickle charge. Go tell that to the millions of laptop owners who work at a desk always hooked up to 110v and then they take their laptop away from the office and get only 30 minutes of power even with power saving measures turned up to the max. People who constantly in and out of the office get pretty good performance from li-ion batteries. Those that leave their devices (including TV's) plugged in for months and think that they should have 100% of expected performance available will likely be disappointed. Why does this happen? I expect that the more intelligent chargers which charge, test, and cycle the batteries are beyond the budget of these devices although I don't let HP off the hook for this reason. I know this suggestion conflicts with the reason many buy such a TV especially those looking for emergency service. It comes with a car adapter that will run and charge at the same time. You weren't going to get but a couple of hours of service anyway so you were likely going to exercise this option as it is.
Perhaps when Sony and Panasonic enter this market we will have answers for both issues. My second gen Panasonic DVD player (circa 1998) had batteries which didn't deteriorate unexpectedly and were still available in 2008 although at a price almost as much as a new Panasonic DVD player.