Beat 275 Product review

I tested the beat 275 for a month back at the start of the summer, now its time to share my findings. Upon receiving the stereo I was rather impressed, for the low price tag of £45 it was fully packaged and very good looking, Not like one the Chinese import units that tend to come in a plain white box with the units product code on. The box promised a lot and it certainly didn’t let me down.

The unit says it is capable of playing almost any media file, a bold statement but one that is very true. The unit can handle quite an impressive list of formats; CD, SD-Cards, MP3, Aux in and USB in. Some of these formats are not supported by units twice the price. I found the USB connection to be the most useful as it allowed me to connect my iPod to the unit. It does not have full control from the unit itself and you have to select songs from the iPod however considering the price of the unit this is something that can easily be overlooked.

The appearance of the stereo is quite impressive, it has the look of a far more expensive unit. The controls are very easy to use with the menus being intuitive. My grandad who is in his late 60’s is technically classed as a technophobe however he managed to pick up the basic control and function within a couple of minutes. All this is helped by the clear colour dot matrix screen.

Where most cheap stereo’s fall down is the quality of the sound they produce. This is one of the Beat 275’s strongest areas. For the £45 price tag you are getting a very strong unit, I ran it alongside a Cerwin Vega 15” sub and the clarity of the audio was highly impressive. It was easily on par with units in the £120-150 price range. The unit also features the now standard equalizer allowing you to fine tweak the sound to the type of music you like listening to.

It is very hard to find a fault with a unit costing less than £50 especially when it is crammed full of features like the Beat 275. I suppose the only downfall of the unit is the fact that Beat is still a new brand. Given the choice between this and a Sony most people will go with the best known brand, perhaps this is where the product will struggle.

In Summary, if you want a good solid bargain stereo then the Beat 275 is perfect for you. If you want a stereo that is crammed with features and plays a multitude of formats, the Beat 275 is for you. Put simply the Beat 275 is the stereo for everyone. If I had to pick one of the stereos I have tested in the past 6months to keep, this would be the one.

Cap Rating: 5/5