haier

ibiza Rhapsody H1A030BK 30 GB Wi-Fi/MP3 Player by Haier (Black)
$159.99
I bought this elegant looking player in part because it is a recommended player for those using the Rhapsody to Go music service. I returned the player because it would freeze up (requiring a soft reset) while trying to play a songlist of the WMA files loaded on through Rhapsody to Go. This problem proved a major inconvenience necessitating return of the player. What use is a player that won't play a list of tunes?

BG

Haier HLT71 7-Inch Handheld LCD TV
$129.99
I bought this so I could have a "portable" digital TV, one that would pick up the new digital signals that replaced the analog signals [thus making my Casio 2-inch TV unusable.] I plugged in this TV, using the provided antenna, and scanned for channels. First try, got zero channels. Second try, shifted the attenna, got three channels. Then, I tried to view any of the three channels. All channels "failed to received broadcast." I tried another antenna and got four channels, different from the first three and got the same failure message. Out of frustration, I did what I was trying to avoid and attached my DTV converter box as the AV input. That worked. Problem is the TV is now attached to another plugged-in device, defeating the whole purpose of the portability I was seeking. So: Portable it is NOT!!!!!

Luckily, I got this for a low price so I'm not as mad as if I had paid the higher price. I'll probably use a cable splitter and attach a cable wire to this as an additional TV.

Haier HLP23E Electronic 1-1/2-Cubic-Foot Touch Pulsator Top-Loading Portable Washing Machine
$259.99
I live in a one-bedroom unit in a massive apartment building with 6 laundry machines in the basement. I did not buy this unit from Amazon but rather from a Chinese electronics dealer in my area. Haier is very popular in China and the machine came highly recommended by the dealer.

The dealer delivered it to me, set it up and away we went. I have had this unit for about a month and here are my comments:

1) The unit is quieter than a traditional laundry machine.
2) I have had no problems with balancing the machine or with water intake. It fills quickly so long as there is high water pressure. The machine balances itself by stopping and starting until the clothes are balanced.
3) The high water level can accommodate a lot of clothes. I do about 3 loads a week: shirts/undies, pants, and towels.
4)It uses a lot less soap than traditional washers (about half I would say)
5)The regular wash runs for about 45 mins which I found excessive. The quickwash runs for about 22 minutes and I find that my clothes are perfectly clean. I only use the regular wash for very soiled items.
6) My unit came with casters so I had no problem. You may also buy casters at the hardware store... the casters are fairly standard.
7) Hooking it up to the sink did require a trip to the hardware store but it was easy to find the adapter as I brought the intake hose with me.

Haier HLT10 10-Inch Handheld TV, Black
$179.99
This is a great idea but unfortunately we cannot pick up any channels where we live and we are only 40 miles away from the big city. I kept it only because I can hook it to our cable in the lanai. The sound quality is not very good but for the occassional use, I can live with it.