Blaupunkt Colorado CM168 160W High-Power FM/AM/Cassette Reciever

Price Paid:  $250.00 from eBay

Year / Model Reviewed:
2001 Blaupunkt

Strengths:
Looks pretty at night (blue lites)

Weaknesses:
Utterly miserable failure in terms of reliability.

Summary:
Pathetic. What a giant dissappointment. Bought an entire Blaupunkt system (680 watt amp, 10-disc CD changer & Colorado head unit) to ensure great tuneage - both in my boat and car. Christ, after thirty minutes, the system shuts down. On a regular basis. Figure the head unit is overheating (the face is hot to the touch) and giving in to physical reality. The 200 watt JVC head unit I bought to supplement the boat audio system never overheats - perhaps because JVC installed properly sized heat sinks. Go figure, German-technology from Japan.

Similar Products Used:
Bought and installed two Colorado head units - both overheat within 30 minutes.

Strengths:
reliable, cheap, good cassette sound, very well-laid-out face

Weaknesses:
tape set at a much lower volume than radio, so you turn the volume up to hear the tape--then the radio BLASTS you when you rewind/fastforward

Summary:
I think it's one of the best head units out there for people who aren't sold on needing cd's in their car. Plus, it's got a stereo jack to plug in your cd/mp3 player, or even better, your notebook computer with 4 gigs of mp3's on it. Wired, baby!

Similar Products Used:
None