So this Christmas, my wife got me an ION Retro Glow boombox from Sam's Club ($79.99). Impulse buy I suppose. When I opened the gift, there were several things that crossed my mind at that moment.
1: I can't believe my wife got me a Boombox!
- She's always telling me I can't have any more 
2: I already have an ION Boombox Deluxe. Now, I have two of the same radio except that this one is translucent and has multi-colored LEDs
3: How am I going to feel about this Retro Glow Boombox? There are things I didn't like about my Deluxe model.
So, I opened the new box and pulled it out. Feature wise, aside from the LED lights, it was exactly like my ION Boombox Deluxe. At that point, aside from the cosmetic outward appearance, I figured the functionality and user experience would be exactly the same as my Deluxe model. And this is where things get interesting.
The ION Deluxe:
There were quirks with my ION Deluxe model that I never cared for. For one, when FF / Rewind end was reached, the belt inside would squeal like a pig. The cassette deck door didn't open smoothly. The tuner knob for the radio has a plastic on plastic scraping and very cheap feeling. The bass boost feature distorts the sound. At low volumes, the volume pot would play the left speaker only until turned up to a level that was louder than I wanted for being in my office while working. Finally, the VU needles and LEDs that represent output volume, barely move or flash unless you are wide open.
So, I'm thinking about all of this while I'm looking at this thing. My wife is looking at my facial expressions, and I am assuming she see's the mix of all of what I have previously described to you above, on my face. So she says: Do you like it? So I go to the positives on it. I like the new look and the LEDs. That's cool.
So, at this point I start playing around with it and I start noticing stuff. The cassette deck door opens way smoother than my Deluxe. I pop in a tape. press Rewind and let the tape reach the end. No squealing! Flip it over and do the same with FF. Quiet as a mouse with no screeching of a belt inside. So, being old school, I press play. Tape is playing fast. No surprise. Delt with that on my Deluxe. Sure enough, the tape speed adjustment hole is still behind the decal on the back. A trip to the bench and a few minutes later, speed is dialed in. Next, I flipped the bass boost. No distorted sound! Only a tiny extra bass, but what do you expect from these small speakers. It sounds better than my vintage Quasar GX-3612 so that's cool. Next, I try out the radio. It picks up 104.9 which some of my old school blasters cannot do very well. Impressive! Also, at that very moment, I noticed something was different with the tuner. It is still the digital chip style tuner with an analog appearance however, they used a thick dampening type of grease on the tuner dial that gives it a very smooth feel. No more plastic on plastic feel! Now, I'm starting to look at this thing more. Could they have addressed other things? I turn up the volume slowly from no sound to a low volume for my office. Right and Left speakers both start at the same volume level. Yay! There isn't a balance knob on these and my Deluxe annoyed the crud out of me with this flaw. How about the meters? Do I have to run it wide open to get any activity? Nope! I no longer have to absolutely distort the internal amp at wide open to get the meters to jump around! That was a biggie for me. I still find myself going 1/2 to 3/4 volume to fully enjoy them, but they actually jump and flash at a decent level. Its nice that they increased the sensitivity from the Deluxe model, even if it's only by a small amount.
I found that all of this made all of the difference on how I felt about the radio. Yes, it's still cheap, but now I will actually use it. I told my wife everything that I found that they improved on from the Deluxe and how I actually enjoy it more than I originally thought. My other ION Deluxe is back in it's stock box and I will likely sell it and use the Retro Glow version.
My whole reason for this post is because this isn't the first time I have noticed a manufacture improving on a product over time without mentioning it to the consumer. I thought this new ION was going to share the same issues as my previous model. In some ways it does, but in many ways, it's better. I would've never got another one just because it had LED lights, but knowing now that it is improved means a lot. The mini M90 was the same way. They ran a sale on the final release and so I decided to go for it. When I got it, I discovered they added AM and the Bluetooth hiss was gone. The volume was smooth.
I wonder how many times I may have missed out on a better revision because I was unaware of any improvements? I'm now glad my wife got this radio. It has opened my eyes to the fact that sometimes they improve things without telling you
Maybe they listened to Techmoan when he gave a crummy review. Again, it's still a budget radio, but addressing these issues has made it an enjoyable boombox for me now. I've been playing heck out of it.
Also, this retro glow boombox can be seen on retro recipes channel on YouTube. I enjoy his channel as it is about 80's nostalgia, but I digress. I just thought he had modified his Deluxe model. I had no clue they were selling a disco model with lights.
1: I can't believe my wife got me a Boombox!
- She's always telling me I can't have any more 2: I already have an ION Boombox Deluxe. Now, I have two of the same radio except that this one is translucent and has multi-colored LEDs
3: How am I going to feel about this Retro Glow Boombox? There are things I didn't like about my Deluxe model.
So, I opened the new box and pulled it out. Feature wise, aside from the LED lights, it was exactly like my ION Boombox Deluxe. At that point, aside from the cosmetic outward appearance, I figured the functionality and user experience would be exactly the same as my Deluxe model. And this is where things get interesting.
The ION Deluxe:
There were quirks with my ION Deluxe model that I never cared for. For one, when FF / Rewind end was reached, the belt inside would squeal like a pig. The cassette deck door didn't open smoothly. The tuner knob for the radio has a plastic on plastic scraping and very cheap feeling. The bass boost feature distorts the sound. At low volumes, the volume pot would play the left speaker only until turned up to a level that was louder than I wanted for being in my office while working. Finally, the VU needles and LEDs that represent output volume, barely move or flash unless you are wide open.
So, I'm thinking about all of this while I'm looking at this thing. My wife is looking at my facial expressions, and I am assuming she see's the mix of all of what I have previously described to you above, on my face. So she says: Do you like it? So I go to the positives on it. I like the new look and the LEDs. That's cool.
So, at this point I start playing around with it and I start noticing stuff. The cassette deck door opens way smoother than my Deluxe. I pop in a tape. press Rewind and let the tape reach the end. No squealing! Flip it over and do the same with FF. Quiet as a mouse with no screeching of a belt inside. So, being old school, I press play. Tape is playing fast. No surprise. Delt with that on my Deluxe. Sure enough, the tape speed adjustment hole is still behind the decal on the back. A trip to the bench and a few minutes later, speed is dialed in. Next, I flipped the bass boost. No distorted sound! Only a tiny extra bass, but what do you expect from these small speakers. It sounds better than my vintage Quasar GX-3612 so that's cool. Next, I try out the radio. It picks up 104.9 which some of my old school blasters cannot do very well. Impressive! Also, at that very moment, I noticed something was different with the tuner. It is still the digital chip style tuner with an analog appearance however, they used a thick dampening type of grease on the tuner dial that gives it a very smooth feel. No more plastic on plastic feel! Now, I'm starting to look at this thing more. Could they have addressed other things? I turn up the volume slowly from no sound to a low volume for my office. Right and Left speakers both start at the same volume level. Yay! There isn't a balance knob on these and my Deluxe annoyed the crud out of me with this flaw. How about the meters? Do I have to run it wide open to get any activity? Nope! I no longer have to absolutely distort the internal amp at wide open to get the meters to jump around! That was a biggie for me. I still find myself going 1/2 to 3/4 volume to fully enjoy them, but they actually jump and flash at a decent level. Its nice that they increased the sensitivity from the Deluxe model, even if it's only by a small amount.
I found that all of this made all of the difference on how I felt about the radio. Yes, it's still cheap, but now I will actually use it. I told my wife everything that I found that they improved on from the Deluxe and how I actually enjoy it more than I originally thought. My other ION Deluxe is back in it's stock box and I will likely sell it and use the Retro Glow version.
My whole reason for this post is because this isn't the first time I have noticed a manufacture improving on a product over time without mentioning it to the consumer. I thought this new ION was going to share the same issues as my previous model. In some ways it does, but in many ways, it's better. I would've never got another one just because it had LED lights, but knowing now that it is improved means a lot. The mini M90 was the same way. They ran a sale on the final release and so I decided to go for it. When I got it, I discovered they added AM and the Bluetooth hiss was gone. The volume was smooth.
I wonder how many times I may have missed out on a better revision because I was unaware of any improvements? I'm now glad my wife got this radio. It has opened my eyes to the fact that sometimes they improve things without telling you
Maybe they listened to Techmoan when he gave a crummy review. Again, it's still a budget radio, but addressing these issues has made it an enjoyable boombox for me now. I've been playing heck out of it.Also, this retro glow boombox can be seen on retro recipes channel on YouTube. I enjoy his channel as it is about 80's nostalgia, but I digress. I just thought he had modified his Deluxe model. I had no clue they were selling a disco model with lights.
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I dialed in the cassette speed perfectly and I have almost gone through all of my tapes. I have run the battery down at least 5 times since Christmas. I actually do enjoy it. It is specials because it is the only box in my collection that my wife got me. It's a keeper 
