Thoughts, awards, links & HEXUS.right2reply
Pros
* Lightweight and
portable
* Easy to use and set up
* Can be used with other music players, not just iPods - but iPods fit more snugly inside
* Sound quality is good and there's plenty of volume
* Decent battery life
* Reasonable looking if not ultra-smart
* The clear plastic window still lets people see you're an iPod user!
* Easy to use and set up
* Can be used with other music players, not just iPods - but iPods fit more snugly inside
* Sound quality is good and there's plenty of volume
* Decent battery life
* Reasonable looking if not ultra-smart
* The clear plastic window still lets people see you're an iPod user!
Cons
* Doesn't quite
meet the claims made for it but quality and volume are considerably
better than you'd expect
* No external power-in option to save battery life when using it at home
* No external power-in option to save battery life when using it at home
Big claims are made for the iMainGo. Three years of R&D are said to have produced "a tuned and ported speaker design, working with an extremely efficient digital amp and high-output stereo speakers".
As a result, the iMainGo, it's reckoned, "produces a quality and volume you would expect from speakers ten times the size".
Well, in our view, that's a considerable overstatement but we also have no doubt that the system punches well above its weight in terms of sound quality and quantity.
We were impressed and you are unlikely to be disappointed - unless you take the hype too literally.
If we were anywhere in the world and became tired of using headphones or wanted to share music with didgeridoo-hating friends, we'd be more than happy to use an iMainGo - and to listen to it for prolonged periods. Thoroughly recommended.
HEXUS.certification
The iMainGo go did
everything we asked of it, so clearly deserves HEXUS Labs'
certification.
Portable Sound Laboratories iMainGo
HEXUS Awards
Indeed, iMainGo probably performs well enough to gain an Editor's Choice award. However, this is the first portable sound system for iPods and portable players we've looked at, so couldn't justify such an award having had nothing to compare it to.
Portable Sound Laboratories iMainGo
Keep and eye on the HEXUS.lifestyle front page for up-coming reviews of a whole lot more iPod accessories. But don't forget to share your thoughts, questions and comments about iMainGo in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.community.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleHEXUS.lifestyle - news :: iMainGo not-so-very-small combi iPod case and speakers
External.links
iMainGo - home pageAM Micro UK - home page
Day Trips to Europe - home page
HEXUS Where2Buy
Windows users can buy their iMainGos from AllPCStuff.co.uk, where the price is currently £57.50 inc VAT and delivery of £6.99 brings the total to £64.49.Mac lovers who wouldn't be seen dead on a PC site can, instead, opt to buy from Macheaven.co.uk, where the price is currently £57.50 inc VAT and delivery of £6.99 brings the total to £64.49.
What? Price fixing?
No, just one company with two separately-branded sites to cater to our differing prejudices!
HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS.net, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If Portable Sound Laboratories' representatives choose to do so, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
No, just one company with two separately-branded sites to cater to our
differing
prejudices!
Update - August 24, 2007
AM Micro has just advised us that the suggested price of the iMainGo has been cut from £59.95 way down to £39.95 and that the product is now available in pink.
About John Hill
John Hill created the UK’s first website dedicated to day trips to Europe, perversely-named DayTripsToEurope.co.uk. This, in one of his more modest moods, he described as "Utterly brilliant and completely without equal".John is also a technology journalist and comedy writer and has been for over 20 years. He's earned a decent living as a journo but sadly hasn't yet made it big on the comedy scene (nor, in some people's opinions, is he ever likely to do so!).
