There are definitely two different tablets in these pics...

I got one of these almost a year ago from woot.. Some observations:

1. You can't root it currently, and may never be able to.. (Once upon a time before an update, you could)

2. MANY people have complained that the tablet will not charge. I also suffered this fate for a bit. (It will not turn on without a partial charge, so just plugging it in will do nothing.)
In my case, like many I've read online, the multi-wire plug that the battery pack uses to connect to the mainboard was not taped properly (the tape was hanging off the connector) so it came half undone, not allowing any charge.. had to pop the unit open to very carefully fix.. NOT a job for the typical purchaser to do..

3. The stock vizio android menus are fairly crappy. If you get one, download the GO Launcher from the play store for free.. It speeds the tablet up by getting rid of some background crap as well.

4. Landscape viewing can be a little hard on the eyes (think strain from 3D glasses..) due to the way the LCD film is polarized - easier on the eyes in portrait..

All in all, for the price it's a good little tablet for basic web browsing, netflix, etc.. The 3rd speaker that allows for stereo audio in either orientation is great..

bought one of these earlier this year. it updates to android 3.1 when you connect to the internet. at that point, the 3 buttons they show in the one picture are no longer functional and are replaced by on screen versions.

the tablet has an IR blaster and a remote control app that is pretty limited, but can probably turn your TV on and off, adjust the volume and change the channel. beyond that is pretty hit or miss.

the big knock on these when they were first released was the micro-USB charging port that became loose after some use. i've not had any trouble with mine in the 8 months I've had it.

it's reasonable fast, has full google play store, can play angry birds, etc. etc. the screen is pretty high rez at 1024 x 768 (same as original iPad and iPad mini). it's not the best for off center viewing though.

I bought one of these a year ago here for $160.

Absolutely worth it.

I bought it primarily for reading comic books and manga. I found 7 inch screens to be too small and 10 inch tablets to be too big, but this 8 inch screen is perfect.

The screen is very high quality, the tablet gets good battery life, and after the last software update they released its performance and interface were improved drastically. If you want a tablet I would easily call this a no brainer for the price.

Awesome post. Thanks for being an awesome human being. I want to see woot get some more polaroid tablets, mine had a dead pixel line on the screen, but for 50 bucks, its still pretty awesome, plus you can root it...

mikerosati wrote:I got one of these almost a year ago from woot.. Some observations:

1. You can't root it currently, and may never be able to.. (Once upon a time before an update, you could)

2. MANY people have complained that the tablet will not charge. I also suffered this fate for a bit. (It will not turn on without a partial charge, so just plugging it in will do nothing.)
In my case, like many I've read online, the multi-wire plug that the battery pack uses to connect to the mainboard was not taped properly (the tape was hanging off the connector) so it came half undone, not allowing any charge.. had to pop the unit open to very carefully fix.. NOT a job for the typical purchaser to do..

3. The stock vizio android menus are fairly crappy. If you get one, download the GO Launcher from the play store for free.. It speeds the tablet up by getting rid of some background crap as well.

4. Landscape viewing can be a little hard on the eyes (think strain from 3D glasses..) due to the way the LCD film is polarized - easier on the eyes in portrait..

All in all, for the price it's a good little tablet for basic web browsing, netflix, etc.. The 3rd speaker that allows for stereo audio in either orientation is great..

I bought two the very first time they were offered, for $159 each. At first I wished the battery life was better, but I leave them plugged in now because I use them propped up in their folio cases as remotes for my TV, stereo, and wifi music player (Logitech Squeezebox). Still cheaper than one of those awful Logitech Harmony remotes, easier to use and more versatile.

KcasMij wrote:Awesome post. Thanks for being an awesome human being. I want to see woot get some more polaroid tablets, mine had a dead pixel line on the screen, but for 50 bucks, its still pretty awesome, plus you can root it...

Do you have Big Lots in your area? I just saw one in their most recent flyer.

I've got one. Definitely worth this price. I use mine to stream internet radio through my home stereo. My XM radio rarely gets turned on anymore.

"MANY people have complained that the tablet will not charge. I also suffered this fate for a bit. (It will not turn on without a partial charge, so just plugging it in will do nothing."

-Yup, happened to me....save your money and buy a higher quality tablet. Although the IR blaster was a nice feature that I used a lot when it was working. Stopped charging after 4 months.

Bought two of these the first time around. Gave one away as a gift and they've been happy to my knowledge. I had one dead pixel in mine.

Very nice for the price; I kept one and used it for internet radio; playing videos and games, and as a remote. I've got an IPAD2 also, and its not bad comparatively at all. The only reason I use the IPAD2 over this more often is the built in 3G on the IPAD2.

The battery life seems to be pretty good. It goes for two-three days or so on a charge using it about 2-4 hours a day.

I did have a charging issue; but mine was solved after switching the charging cable for a different mini usb.

Seriously considering buying a couple more for Christmas.

(What's the deal with only being able to buy one?)

mikerosati wrote:2. MANY people have complained that the tablet will not charge. I also suffered this fate for a bit. (It will not turn on without a partial charge, so just plugging it in will do nothing.)
In my case, like many I've read online, the multi-wire plug that the battery pack uses to connect to the mainboard was not taped properly (the tape was hanging off the connector) so it came half undone, not allowing any charge.. had to pop the unit open to very carefully fix.. NOT a job for the typical purchaser to do..

I also am having this problem, though from these comments it seems mine actually held out for quite a while. Until it stopped charging it was a nice little tablet. But do you have any suggestions for a fix? I took mine to Best Buy, and they said they couldn't do anything about it. I'm not really sure where else to go.

berrica0 wrote:I also am having this problem, though from these comments it seems mine actually held out for quite a while. Until it stopped charging it was a nice little tablet. But do you have any suggestions for a fix? I took mine to Best Buy, and they said they couldn't do anything about it. I'm not really sure where else to go.

Look in phonebook for cell phone repair. If you find one they can soider in the charger inside. Don't ler them over charge you. $30 is tops for this. Local small computer shops can also xo this. Best Buy and nig box stores rather sell you a new one. Please don't throught these away, they are bad for landdill and water systems. If you find your not going to fix it donate it to a charity. Or start your one. I am getting youths iver the fear of working inside computers updating older ones and we are going to try a sinor citizen small groups to use what we fix and learn how to send email and surf the net.

Won't let me order to an APO... meh.

Why are we limited to one??? Tablets, not question marks.

I had this tablet briefly; it arrived with a couple deep scratches in the front screen. I didn't take a chance with another given several comments on the poor quality of the refurb. I will say it's a great size, though perhaps a bit thick. The included case is nice as well. The update happens right away but does take away a bit more of the screen and makes the buttons on the case redundant. Hopefully these refurbs are better so I will give it another try at this lower price.

We are awash in "yesterday's tablets." I love my Galaxy 2 Tab for $179.95.

That's life in the fast lane, isn't it?

Just bought an Android 4.0 PC on a stick for $37 (needs HD monitor, keyboard and mouse added, off course.)

I bought one of these retail right after they were released. Paid about 3x this. I've never regretted it, even after they were so hideously late with the Android 3 upgrade (which is, by the way, a wonderful thing).

I have small hands, so I really like the 8" size (10" tablets just feel too big for me). It's convenient. It's portable. It does all the usual tablet sorts of things. Mine is, among other things, the perfect device for showing prospective website clients examples of some of my work -- I just have a photo gallery of screenshots. And yes, it does play Angry Birds.

If I could think of a reason to have two, I'd be buying one of these because the price is incredible (I've never had a problem with a refurb I bought from Woot).

I've had this tablet for 9 months now. Just bought another for my teen for his birthday. I'm very happy with it. FYI they have them at Costco for $149 (without the folio case). Costco extends to 2 years warranty on electronics, so it might just be worth the extra $30 to get a new one with the extended warranty if you can get to a Costco.

What a P O S

Why anyone would buy this is beyond me. I went through three in a month under warranty and gave up.

kneeman wrote:What a P O S

Why anyone would buy this is beyond me. I went through three in a month under warranty and gave up.

Actually, that's a compelling argument to buy a refurb over a new one. I've seen this over the years, a problematic design or production run results in a lot of refurbs where the issue is fixed and, in theory, better than a new in box unit.

Bottom line, for $119 this is one heck of a remote if nothing else. This is like the Sony Dash. At $200 is was silly but at $59? Best alarm clock in the world.


ash =o)

brayg wrote:I've had this tablet for 9 months now. Just bought another for my teen for his birthday. I'm very happy with it. FYI they have them at Costco for $149 (without the folio case). Costco extends to 2 years warranty on electronics, so it might just be worth the extra $30 to get a new one with the extended warranty if you can get to a Costco.

Nice thoughts, but...

1. If you want a deal on this unit get it at this price via woot, not Costco &...

2. Costco does *not* give you the 2-yr warranty - tablets are excluded. I know, just bought a Galaxy Tab2-7 for $169 from them - it says so right on the receipt.

Edit: and that looks like a darned nice folio - especially compared to the plastic bag like POS 'sleeve' Costco includes with the G2-7! But it will find service as a peanut bag...

mikerosati wrote:I got one of these almost a year ago from woot.. Some observations:

1. You can't root it currently, and may never be able to.. (Once upon a time before an update, you could)

2. MANY people have complained that the tablet will not charge. I also suffered this fate for a bit. (It will not turn on without a partial charge, so just plugging it in will do nothing.)
In my case, like many I've read online, the multi-wire plug that the battery pack uses to connect to the mainboard was not taped properly (the tape was hanging off the connector) so it came half undone, not allowing any charge.. had to pop the unit open to very carefully fix.. NOT a job for the typical purchaser to do..

3. The stock vizio android menus are fairly crappy. If you get one, download the GO Launcher from the play store for free.. It speeds the tablet up by getting rid of some background crap as well.

4. Landscape viewing can be a little hard on the eyes (think strain from 3D glasses..) due to the way the LCD film is polarized - easier on the eyes in portrait..

All in all, for the price it's a good little tablet for basic web browsing, netflix, etc.. The 3rd speaker that allows for stereo audio in either orientation is great..

Good write up and to the point. Enough that I won't be getting one of these to serve as a reader for my kid in college. I think I'd rather spend the extra 180 and get the 10 inch Galaxy Tab that everyone seems to be selling for 299 this week. I have one of those and it rocks. Bite me Apple.

I had this tablet for a while, bought it last Christmas and sold it after 8 months or so.

Pros: is it's cheap and a very nice size. Probably the best size you can find.

Cons:
-Buggy as hell.
-Every update makes it worse.
-Zero customer support and Zero aftermarket Nerd support to hack it into being better.
-For the basics like browsing the internet, email, ebooks, and movies it could be good depending on how buggy the browser is. I ended up having to use Dolphin or Firefox to try to get it to work right.
-SLOW. It's SLOW SLOW SLOW. I finally sold it because all my co-workers were pulling things up on their tablets 5 times faster than I could so it was pretty much worthless. The discussion would be onto the next item by the time I got to it.

In summary: If speed is not an issue and you are doing the basics. Go for it. If you want long term support and a fast tablet, pony up the extra cash for a Nexus 7.

mikerosati wrote:I got one of these almost a year ago from woot.. Some observations:

1. You can't root it currently, and may never be able to.. (Once upon a time before an update, you could)

2. MANY people have complained that the tablet will not charge. I also suffered this fate for a bit. (It will not turn on without a partial charge, so just plugging it in will do nothing.)
In my case, like many I've read online, the multi-wire plug that the battery pack uses to connect to the mainboard was not taped properly (the tape was hanging off the connector) so it came half undone, not allowing any charge.. had to pop the unit open to very carefully fix.. NOT a job for the typical purchaser to do..

3. The stock vizio android menus are fairly crappy. If you get one, download the GO Launcher from the play store for free.. It speeds the tablet up by getting rid of some background crap as well.

4. Landscape viewing can be a little hard on the eyes (think strain from 3D glasses..) due to the way the LCD film is polarized - easier on the eyes in portrait..

All in all, for the price it's a good little tablet for basic web browsing, netflix, etc.. The 3rd speaker that allows for stereo audio in either orientation is great..

Easier and better to buy an HP Touchpad and root it with ICS.

I grabbed one of these in the spring when it was about $160. Price drop is definitely nice if you're thinking about getting it!

It's definitely a cheap tablet - it can run pretty slowly at times, and while it does have good battery life, there's issues with the charger on mine, as others have mentioned, so it sometimes takes 12+ hours to fully charge. I do, however, love the size. I don't like how 7" tablets are so narrow, but the 10" ones are too big.

I don't regret getting it, but if I ever buy a new tablet, I'd definitely spend more to get something better.

freychris424 wrote:"MANY people have complained that the tablet will not charge. I also suffered this fate for a bit. (It will not turn on without a partial charge, so just plugging it in will do nothing."

-Yup, happened to me....save your money and buy a higher quality tablet. Although the IR blaster was a nice feature that I used a lot when it was working. Stopped charging after 4 months.

same here i bought 3 NONE WILL CHARGE i will never buy vizio again

Does this or any other tablets have GPS? I just want to use one of these in my Jeep for navigation.

I've bought 3 of these elocity A7+ http://www.buy.com/prod/elocity-a7-plus-7-android-tablet/227236326.html?listingId=258457294 (when they were on sale for $80 and included case. This deal is for $100 refurb, but I still consider this a better tablet than what is being offered today. This runs a tegra 2 processor, 1024 x 600 resolution 7" tablet. Unfortunately it is stuck on froyo, but you can install google market on it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1431967. I found that I would rather have a higher performing tablet on an older OS vs a lower performing single core on ICS.

I bought one of these little guys refurbished from NewEgg about a year ago and I honestly can't recommend it for quite a few reasons.

1. The stock Vizio launcher is truly awful. This can be remedied with another launcher from the Play Store though. I rather enjoy ADWLauncher, but it's all preference.

2. The bezel on this thing is massive to accommodate touch sensitive buttons in portrait or landscape view. These were disabled as of the Honeycomb update, which is a shame because you lose valuable screen real estate on the new honeycomb bar.

3. WiFi is spotty at best. If you can manage to get yours to connect long enough and update to Honeycomb, you might be able to connect long enough to watch some Netflix or Hulu with one of the preloaded apps.

4. If you're looking for a tablet with a front facing camera, look elsewhere. Yes this tablet has one, but the quality just isn't very good. And of course, there's no rear camera either. Which is fine, do you really want to be one of those people taking photos of their kids on stage with a freaking tablet?

Now that's not to say everything about this tablet is awful. There isn't much bloatware to speak of on this tablet. Almost every app they give you is useful. The camera app takes fun photo booth style photos, the remote control app lets you turn your tablet into a multimedia control genius and is well designed, and the screen itself is fairly accurate and responsive, and of course it does run Android, which is an exceptionally powerful system. You can use a MicroSD card to pre-load the tablet with all sorts of media (you can't use the included USB cable to transfer it from your computer though), and it feels great in your hands. A little bulky, but it's comfortable to hold for a while.

I bought this for my Dad last Xmas since he had wi-fi for his laptop. He loved it. Inexpensive & surfs the net. Plus programs for remote control use...bonus! Also great for a kid or relative...but need wi-fi. This is no superior A+ model but this will surf just fine. Great for couch or bedside/kitchen.

I got one and it died within three months from the common "will not charge" problem. It sits at the battery icon for days without charging.

While it worked, I was disappointed in its lousy, non-IPS screen that had different viewing angles for each eye (no, really!). It does have a fancy software interface that is well-designed. There is a front-facing camera but it's very low resolution.

The refurbishment process hid a cluster of scratches whose "repair" rubbed right off.

If you want a cheap and good tablet, do not get this. Get a refurbished or discounted Kindle Fire (non-HD) for a few dollars more and have much faster performance and a great screen. Better yet, find a Nook Tablet. There are other, more generic Android tablets out there that have HDMI, SD card slot, and cameras.

Oh, and I did try to fix the charging port. It still didn't work. This is a bad unit.

Got it for a four year old. All she does is Netflix, Hulu and sometimes Youtube (with filters ON). Hope it works out for her. She won't be allowed to charge it so maybe with the info posted here about the charging issues, if I'm really really careful with the port & plug...maybe a good "training" tablet? Although she is proficient with the iPad, she's an iPad hog.

In my experience, Woot! has ALWAYS been EXCELLENT taking things back that where defective, it's happened, but only rarely.

I purchased mine about a year ago on woot for 159.00.
Started having problems charging after about a month. I figured the connection was loose on the board. I contacted Vizio and they were quick to send out a replacement tablet. I think I had it in a few days. Customer service was easy to deal with also seemed to be based in the US.
I haven't had a problem with this one.
Right now is is almost exclusively used by my 8 year old son. It's taken bumps and a couple falls with no problems. He plays Angry Birds and other games with no problems. Netflix and other vidoes play well.
I am thinking about getting another one.

I have this tablet, its a friggin joke. spend the extra 80 bucks and get a nexus 7 instead. worst decision i made technology wise was buying this tablet.

I'll add my voice to the chorus of those not thrilled with this tablet. I picked it up last year and, to describe it in a single word, it's sluggish. I use it mainly to surf Reddit before bed and to pull up my recipes in the kitchen, but I can't help feeling that I might do more with it if it weren't so slow. Looking back on the purchase I wish I'd spent a little more on something more useful.

I have owned two of these over the past year and a half. Not a good tablet for the money, very slow, lags a lot and is not very upgradeable beyond the stock OS. There are many better, rootable options at a fraction of the cost available.

I got one this Spring and really like it. It does everything I need it to do. It's not a high-performance tablet by any means but it is great for games, movies, and reading. It's taken a few falls from the kids fighting over it and dropping it and it still runs great. The folio that comes with it is pretty nice as well.

The original one I got didn't seem like a real refurb. It had "stuff" like someone had spilled their coffee or something all over it, several dead pixels, and after a few days, I had to bend the charging cord at the connector for it to charge (loose port). Vizio warranty support is bar-none the best I've dealt with in ages! They are US-based so you actual talk with someone you can understand. I sent that one in and got one that looked brand new in return. Maybe the original one got into the wrong box somehow?