5 stars

I usually do a LOT of research on stuff like this before I buy it. The majority of the reviews for the VR3 deck were great. The deck I got was the same price but looked a bit different so it's probably just a different model. The only drawback seems that if in aux mode, the remote will not operate anything, but in any other mode you can use the remote and switch back and fourth between all modes. I have mine hooked into a 300 watt dual amp powering a sub, and some pioneer door speakers, and it sounds awesome. So this is basically cheaper than most brands, and does 3 times as much. Has a remote, reads cds just fine, plays your mp3 device via aux input, and plays SD card and usb drive. All that for under 100%, works great and looks darn nice too. If you need a good deck and are on a budget..GET this deck.

3 stars

I was very happy with this unit until I plugged in my new 16GB usb stick and it wont play it. It still plays with my 1GB usb stick, so I guess that will have to do. I wish they would of stated this restriction in the manual.

5 stars

I formatted an 18.6GB laptop hard drive and loaded it with 7GB of music. Installed it in a ACC11128 - iMicro 2.5" USB 2.0-IDE External Drive Enclosure purchased from surpluscomputersdotcom (the usb cable has a y cable which one is a power leg and one is a connection leg). Attached one leg to the head unit and one leg to a Philips USB cigarette lighter adapter [...] and whalla...loads and loads of music. One thing to note is the connection sequence, connect the usb hard drive to the head unit until it recognizes the hdd and then connect power to the usb hdd. At that point the head unit will read the hdd (about 30 seconds)and the music will be accessible.

The only con is the song cutoff which is about two seconds at the beginning of the song.

2 stars

[...]
Anyway, I agree with other's reviews about, no bass, uninformative display, still decent bang for the buck, HOWEVER: THIS STEREO WILL NOT PLAY A "BURNED" CD !! (It will actually play one maybe 2 out of 10 times) In fact, on those times that it doesn't, it LOCKS UP the stereo completely so that NO functions are available including eject or even turning it OFF ! The only recourse left is to take off the front panel, get out a paper clip & hit the little RESET button. Then you can eject the CD & you also get to reprogram all of your stations, settings and the time back into it. What fun. And by the way - my unit is not just defective (as I thought)... I got another one from the manufacturer and it does exactly the same. Oh, yeah... two last gripes - that the stereo doesn't display the time all of the time, you have to have the stereo on to see that. And that the display is SO DIM that you can't read it during the daytime.

4 stars

The price and features were exactly what I was looking for. The volume control is on the right hand side, perfect for my right hand drive car (I live in Jamaica). Target doesn't indicate it but it's a VR3 VRCD500SDU. It plays well but I share some concerns with other owners.

The player chops the first fraction of a second off some MP3s when they are manually selected. Most times the unit plays the beginning if it is allowed to run into the next song. I heard this is related to the processing speed of the player but I have no proof. I reformatted my 2Gb drive to FAT32 format in an effort to resolve this, but to no avail. I contacted customer support and they said it's because I moved some of the files in bulk instead of one at a time to the thumb drive. I just put three more files on one at a time and it still chops, so the technicians need to solve this issue. And it is impractical to ask owners to sit around putting files on the thumb drive one at a time. 2Gb means hundreds of songs!

Another issue is that APEV2 tags affect it. People using MP3Gain to "normalise" the MP3s like I did, need to remove those tags or there will be problems for the player to read the ID3 tags. Also what happens is that the player will not read the ID3 tags of some files at all. Even if you have them properly filled out. Still a mystery at this time.

Many people say that the player does not remember where the CD was when you restart the car, but mine does. In fact, it will remember where it was even if you removed the CD! Very sweet. The USB/MP3 on the other hand will not. It also takes a very long time (sometimes 35 seconds) to read a CD or a thumbdrive. Annoying.

I installed the player to the dimmer control but the dimming function only works when the player is off and the clock is on constant display. This negates the point in having dimmer control if you can't dim it while it's playing. It also works opposite to the dimmer control, going dim when the control is on bright, and vice versa. This is not a polarity issue because there is only one dimmer wire.

Another issue is that the instruction manual is a bit erroneous when it comes to the MP3/WMA search modes. The manual says press the F/PS button once for the Track Search feature. True, but only the first of two digits, at which point to select the second digit you must press the select button to move to the second digit. Pressing the select button a final time starts the song. Press the F/PS button a second time and it doesn't take you to the File Search menu as the manual says, but it takes you to the first of a three-digit Track Search feature. Once again press the select button to move down to the second, and then to the third digits. Pressing the select button a final time starts the song. Pressing the F/PS button a third time finally takes you to File Search and a fourth time takes you to Folder Search. Direct file selecting is a new feature that only the absolute latest version has. Lucky me.

I appreciate the fact that VR3, an upcoming brand, takes a lot of time to analyse these reviews and constantly upgrade their products. In another 6 months this post will be irrelevant, as many if not all of these issues will be dealt with. Hopefully, at least.

That said, the sound from it is very pleasant. It has just the right amount of bass and treble to keep my bobbing my head. Would I recommend it? At this time, yes, but not if the little details bug you. You'll enjoy the sound for the price you paid, but you may find things to complain about.

4 stars

I've had mine for more than two years now. Judging by the fellow from Jamaica's review, the software may have been updated a bit since I got it.

So thoughts:

It plays most CD's well, including R/RW's that I've burned myself. When you're burning, remember to close the session.

USB/SD. God I love this, the reason I bought this puppy for starters. There are, however, quirks. Another reviewer was told by tech support that it doesn't like when you copy in bulk. Well, yes and no. What it doesn't like, really, is fragmented files. If you are scrupulous about defragging your media before bringing it to this deck, it will be fine. Note too that files appear to the deck in the order they were placed on the media, great if you want to arrange songs to play in a particular order, but something to be mindful of. File System Management is extremely rudimentary, but it does traverse folders well enough - I store albums in folders. And here's an inscrutable thing - if I put an SD card or USB card in, it may ignore it - but if I turn it off and on, it will play it. It's inscrutable and may be fixed in current software.

I've always found the sound satisfactory.

Power Antenna Control is not distinct from external amp control. Thus, the line is energized whenever the unit is on, even if the radio is not in use. Would prefer not to have electric antenna up when listening to non-radio things.

All in all, a sweet unit; these are all niggles.

1 stars

They are currently trying to sell the UCD220 at the stores NOT the advertised UCD400!!!!
After call a local store and checking the stock and even asking them to make sure that it was the correct 400 model, my wife was sold the 220 that lacks the USB and SD card reader.... Shame on you target!!!

5 stars

CONS: the display only shows part of the file name or directory name, so don't expect a great display of you MP3 ID3 Tags. Remote control works, of course, but its doesn't have lightening fast response. Also, High Capacity flash memory may not be supported. Also, usb hard drives (IPOD included) may not be supported if they have too many songs, the memory of the stereo cache may be limited. SD cards are the best option because a USB flash drive sticking out of the stereo faceplate could damage the stereo is accidentally bumped (the SD card is flush with the stereo).

PROS: everything advertised, paid ~[Price]out the door.

ALSO:
Will support Zune and other MP3 devices BECAUSE it does not use the IPOD software but rather recognizes the IPOD as a hard drive and scans it for supported media. ie- you wont be able to use the IPOD to select your song, you have to use the stereo buttons--my ipod's interface said "connected" the whole time while playing music through the stereo. This is both a PRO and a CON, since IPOD-only support would suck.

5 stars

I purchased this player and I am very happy with it! The sound is great and it has great features for the price. I would recommend this to anyone!