Customer Ratings & Reviews

Ok I bought this for the tape deck. My old 1982 Panasonic bit the dust Sunday so I went searching for a new tape player. The deck works great. Plays smooth. No drag. No warble. I have an audiophile grade deck in my house so I needed someting portable. Bluetooth works great. Currently listening to Album Rock WXYG The Goat. Line in works great. Hooked up my portable shortwave to it. Now for the negative. The AM/FM is horrible! It will not lock in an AM station. FM is a bit tricky but this really doesnt matter to me. I hardly listen to terrestrial radio. Only during storms and to DX. I have other radios for that. The old Panasonic still works great to DX. As does my CCRANE Radio+. In conclusion if you are looking for a portable tape player here ya go. And doubles as a Stereo Bluetooth receiver. Oh and you can record your tapes to a flashdrive if you want to. I may do that with some so I can have them in my car. But I own over 2200 cassettes. Would take a few forevers to do all of them lol.

It’s old school. I love the quality and build. Closest thing to the original. Couldn’t tell the difference w/o looking or knowing the name. Has Bluetooth and chargeable built in batteries.

Great gift for everyone, my daughter love it. Sound quality is excellent, nice looking and vintage product.

TLDR Review: Is this the best Bluetooth stereo out there? No, not by a long shot. Is this the most RAD Bluetooth stereo to rock out your 80's playlist while sportin' your Member's Only jacket and breakdancing (or in my case, probably breaking my hip or my neck)? Yes, yes it is. I love music and I collect music players of all sorts and I have really loved the advent of either retrofitting old devices with new tech or styling the devices like their older counterparts. I have originals like a 1919 standing Victrola that works beautifully and I have a bluetooth radio build into an old early '60s Zenith clock radio, among a lot of others. When I saw the ION Audio Boombox Deluxe I knew I had to add it to the collection since I had a boombox pretty close to this in the 80's. There were many evenings at the youth center practicing my non-existent breakdancing moves on cardboard in the common room. The music was awesome but my talent was about what you would expect from a nerdy 10 year old white kid with all the rhythm of Steve Martin from 'The Jerk'. (WOW, did I just feel old right then). While this is not the best bluetooth radio, it has the benefit of being a cool reproduction, getting EXTREMELY loud - almost booming if you will, and it can can play music from the radio, bluetooth, tape, micro-sd card, and USB sticks. The Boombox Deluxe pretty much has you covered. On top of that you can also record to tape from those other sources or to the SD-card or USB if you want! Here comes the mix-tape/SD-card combo pack! The battery life is pretty good. At first I was a bit disappointed that I did not get the rated 10 hours that ION claims but it turns out that I did not properly top off the charge when I got it. I did plug it in when I received it but the charging light did not come on. Looking in the users guide, it said that the light is off when fully charged so I assumed it was already at 100% and I unplugged it right away. I ended up getting 7 hours and 45 minutes out of it before it died. I went to plug it in to recharge it and the light still didn't come on. Couldn't find anything in the users guide about charging other than 'plug it in', so I went online and found that not only do you have to plug it in, you must also flip the switch on the back of the Boombox to activate AC use. This needs to be done if you are listening to it while plugged in AND also to get it to charge the built in battery! Would have been nice to know. The only thing it says about that power switch is on pg. 7 and that it is there to turn the device on or off. I'm still not sure what all that switch is for since the 'MODE' switch on the top turns it on regardless of which that way that On/Off switch is set. I think it must be more for directing current from the AC cord or if you want to power it from D-Cell batteries (which you can also do). My only other grumble about the Boombox Deluxe is the fact that the level meters (both the analog needles and the lights) don't really work unless you have it on radio or tape and have the volume up to ear-splitting levels. Would have been nice if they were a bit more sensitive to actually work at reasonable volume levels. For that and the whole power issue, I would knock of 1/2 a star if I could but since I can't, and I'm so geeked by the nostalgia factor, I'll give it the full 5-stars. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go grab my Members Only jacket (yes, I do, in fact have one - they are still made believe it or not) and a few my old tapes the I dug out of storage (REM 'Green' and Madonna 'Like a Prayer', which BTW STILL smells like pachouli) and go blast this thing to bug all the old people!

Still use it to this day and love the experience!!

First I love it’s retro look. Looks just like a Radio from the 80s but with the upgraded from 20th century like Bluetooth USB connection aux cord connection I enjoy the adjustable bass like when you want to jam out to old hip hop. It was a Father’s Day gift and he loved it. Huge music listener great for back yard fun. Worth the price.

This thing sounds great .for the price and size ,I was almost deterred from getting it because it looked plain but it honestly doesn't look bad at all .looks even better after sticker bombing it .great buy

The Ion Boombox Deluxe does a great job at bringing old technology and integrating it with modern day tech. For those of you that grew up in the 80s and 90s this is a sure fire way to bring you back those long summer days with friends by the pool or beach. Lets dive in to this little piece of nostalgia and see what you can expect to receive from this set up. First off out of the box your going to receive the main boombox, power cord and instructions. First off i want to say this unit looks just like a old school boombox with a built in cassette player that i grew up listening to. It seems that Ion really wanted to focus on making this unit a real life replica of what we all grew up with. Let me explain what i mean by this. It has a functioning AM/FM digital receiver that works with a side mount turn dial knob. The cassette player isn't just for looks but actually plays cassettes and lets you record on to them. Here's the really cool part about the cassette player being able to record. You can record directly off the radio station or you can record on to a cassette off of your own custom playlist rather it be through bluetooth or the side mounted usb or micro SD ports. It has working left and right VU level gauges along with a functioning scale. The top of the stereo features three turn style knobs for volume, bass and treble. On the other side you have three throw switches for am/fm, mono/stereo/bass boost, and tape/aux/radio/usb. They even went as far as to throw in a functioning battery tray which allows for 6 D batteries. Yes this unit is rechargeable and runs off a built in rechargeable battery but what i found funny and kinda of nostalgic was the fact that in the instruction booklet they even say that if you want to feel more like the past they provided a battery tray so that you can install batteries which will power it just like when you were a kid. Gotta love the attention to detail! This unit will connect to your phone through bluetooth so that during bbq's or parties you can play all your favorite jams off of Spotify or Google Play Music. Now lets chat for a moment about sound quality. If sound quality is a big deal to you then i advise you stay away from this unit. Sound quality coming off of this boombox isn't horrible but isn't the best by any means. My first reaction when listening to music off of my Spotify playlist was " WOW this sounds just like the boombox i owned when i was i kid." Now don't get me wrong its not exactly that bad. The sound quality is clear and not all distorted like it was in the past its just that the quality sounds very plain. The bass boost function does little to no help in getting that extra bass out there. In fact when i switched the bass boost on, all it seemed to do was make the music louder. Obviously the drivers aren't the top of the line but that's ok. I would hope one would not buy this thinking they are going to get orchestra like quality but rather would buy this for its functionality and looks. This unit definitely grabs attention and so far everywhere i have taken it, it has definitely gotten good reaction from others. I've had some people wanting to buy it off of me just for the simple fact that it looks perfectly like the ones we group up with. This boombox even allows for you to answer calls and talk through the radio via the built in mic. Overall guys this unit did a very good job at replicating something we all group with. Sound quality isn't superb so then why the 5 stars? Here's the reason why. Anytime i buy a replica of something from the past i expect it to be exactly like the item i remember owning with a touch of modern day technology. Everything on this unit functions and nothing is placed there just for aesthetics but rather brings it all together to make it feel like a genuine 80's boombox. Even though the sound quality isn't great that's ok because the sound quality was never good off of a boombox to begin with however its still way better sound quality than an actual original style boombox. The simple fact that you have an actual functioning cassette player and AM/FM tuner was a big plus. With the addition of a battery tray which holds 6 D batteries just like back in the days was a nice touch that made me laugh but in a good way. Over all this is a good unit and a good buy. If your looking for something to impress your friends with or a good piece to add to your blast from the past collection then i feel you will be greatly pleased. However if your sole concern is sound quality then stay away from this unit. Me however, i found this unit to fit me perfectly. If i want superb sound quality then i'll grab my Bose however when it comes to having friends over and BBQ, this is my go to unit.

Great quality sound great playing my old cassette with & its great you could connect it to your phone must have for cassette player...

Man what an awesome piece of audio equipment! Love the old school bass and treble knobs. Love the tweeters in the corners. Love the old school rotary dials for the AM/FM radio. And it actually sounds pretty darned good for $69 (Deal of the Day). Love it!

At the discounted price, I couldn't help to buy this for a prop. This boom box however exceeded my expectations!

Very good quality radio & yes the tape player will play your old tapes but will do about anything the new radios will with a retro look!!

This Bluetooth radio with cassette sounds as good as it looks. The rechargeable battery last hours and it’s just the right weight to place on your shoulders like it was 1988. I have played multiple cassettes in this radio and all of them sound great!

Great sound. Love it. Plays tapes that remind me of the old days.

Interesting that Best Buy started carrying these - I was just recently thinking about my old one that I had as a teenager in the late 80's ! What it has that my old boom-box did: 1) Speakers (duh!) 2) Cassette player/recorder 3) AM/FM radio 4) The uncanny ability to slurp down D batteries like there is no tomorrow! 5) The ability to record from microphone/AM/FM What it has that my old boom-box didn't! 1) BLUETOOTH! 2) SD Card reader 3) USB reader 4) Built-in battery (laptop style!) 5) The ability to record on cassette from any of the above sources in addition to AM/FM/Microphone I spent last evening feeling like a kid again with my first boombox listening to everything I could on the radio and via bluetooth, then this morning I dug out some old cassette tapes I had stashed away. After all these years of listening to CD and music straight off the web/computer, I never realized how much quality I was missing out on by listening on cassette. The cassette had so much hiss and lack of fidelity I thought there was a problem! Thinking the problem was the boombox, I dusted off an old player I had in the closet and it sounded the same, so, no excuse to not listen to those old tapes you have laying around :-) I haven't had an opportunity to test how long the built-in battery lasts, but I don't have plans to use it on battery much. I'm just giddy at how thick the nostalgia is flowing with this unit in the room - definitely worth it for anyone who wants to bring back those old memories. I'm going to keep it in my office at work as a conversation piece (plus to use while at my desk!)

I traveled overseas with this and everyone I met on the plane loved it.

The ION Boombox Deluxe totally took me back to the 80’s with its retro styling and cassette player. For those of us who remember cassettes and actually still have some in storage, this is the perfect way-back machine. Along with the AM/FM radio and the pull-up extendable antenna, I was totally relapsing back to 30 years ago. But that is not where the uniqueness of this device ends. It hi-tech aspect of this player is that it also supports Bluetooth, SD Memory Card, and USB Storage for playing and recording. That’s right, you can record those old cassettes onto USB. On the Hi-Tech side of this unit, the Bluetooth paring is very easy and the playback quality of the speakers is fair. This is not a high fidelity device, but it does a decent job. While I was fairly excited about the integration of newer technologies with 30+ year old cassette and radio tech, I was very disappointed in the overall feel and quality of this device. If ION had put a little more effort into making this unit a little more rugged, I would have easily spent a little more money for it. As it is, I’m just very unsure how long this unit will last if it is carried around and used a lot. Also, if you’re going to mix today’s technologies with cassette player/recorder, why not go the extra step and integrate a CD player too? While there is an AUX input, I think it would have been really cool to have a CD player as well. Overall, while I appreciate the effort toward the integration of cassette with today’s technology, I’m very disappointed in the feel and quality of the entire unit. Which is why I’m going to give this three stars. Pros • Cassette, AM, FM, SD, USB, Bluetooth, AUX support • Rechargeable & Batteries (if desired) • Stereo recording from left/right mics Cons • Reverse & FF does not release the button when at the end of cassette. • Poor quality plastic manufacturing, buttons, knobs. • Misspelled “Cassete” on front of device.

Needed another boombox in the house!!! So pretty kool to hav!!!

This the best boombox ever, and I love it!!!!!!!!!

I bought this boombox on a deal of the day for half price and it was worth every penny. I like the style. I was looking for a cassette player to play my old cassettes and it works great for that. I also like having the radio. So it gives everything I had on my old boombox from the 80s. But what sold me in this one was the rechargeable built in battery and ability to connect to other devices using Bluetooth or audio jack so I can use my MP3 player or phone with it. I also wanted to use an sd card with my favorite songs. I definitely like this player a lot. From some of the reviews I was a bit concerned about the sound quality but It sounds good to me. I think it has good sound and it was better than I thought it would be from the reviews I read. It sounds good. It is not up to the high quality sound systems or theater sound systems but unless you need that it sounds great and sounds as good or better than any boombox I had before. It plays my music just fine. Today we had a family get together and I was requested to bring it outside to provide the music. I Bluetooth connected it to my phone and played pandora through it. People were impressed and a few guests took turns connecting their phones to it to play their music through it and we had a number of people singing along. It proved to be a big hit with everyone and I was told by a few they were wanting to buy one also. Pros: Rechargeable battery lasts long. Sound is good Bluetooth works great Cassette player/recorder Radio Has Micro sd card reader To play mp3s or record to Can take D batteries but will probably not need with the Built in rechargeable Battery Has all sorts of recording options such as recording to the micro sd card From the radio which worked when I tried it Nice retro look Works great Cons: - On mine the sound needles do not move. Not sure if mine is broken or if they just don’t work normally. This is not a major problem for me since they don’t affect my music but it would be cool to watch the needles bounce to the music. - I love that the player has a mini sd card reader. However, there is no random song play option. It also does not have playlists so I basically have to always start at the same song and forward or reverse through until I find the song I want. If I need those options the workaround is to connect my phone or MP3 player to the unit and just play from them. Overall I love this boombox and would recommend it.