Build quality question

[HiredGun]

is the imp 400 made of real metal? how about the imp 550? what are they both made of and how's the durability for each one? also, is the imp 400 significantly bigger than the 550?

[FlameGrilled]

I dont know about the later stuff, but the 250 was built out of some quirky kinda plastic called 'Staren' which was supposted to be scratch resistant.

That said, the old beastie aint got a scratch on it despite the occassional catching of the surface by the carry case zip when extracting the unit from the case. So i guess 'Staren' is scratch resistant.

Hmm, but would it stand up to a grinding wheel.. or sandpaper..??

FG

[HiredGun]

can somebody with this knowledge please reply soon..im planning to go to JandR this weekend for my purchase.

[jtwn]

imp-550 is metal. Sometimes when you look at it it doesnt look like it because of the stupid paint theyve put on it, but it is.

[SRGilbert]

Originally Posted by FlameGrilled

I dont know about the later stuff, but the 250 was built out of some quirky kinda plastic called 'Staren' which was supposted to be scratch resistant.

That said, the old beastie aint got a scratch on it despite the occassional catching of the surface by the carry case zip when extracting the unit from the case. So i guess 'Staren' is scratch resistant.

Hmm, but would it stand up to a grinding wheel.. or sandpaper..??

FG

Hey Flamegrilled, nice to see someone else with the 250! Funny thing I remember is when Sonic Blue/Rio announced that their version of the 250 would be black with grey plastic buttons, their rational was that the silver paint would wear off. Well, I used mine nearly every single day for over 2 years and it's still in mint condition.

[FlameGrilled]

Well, SR .. old friend (yes, we have cross paths before) - it's always good to find other old-timers with old-timer kit :P

It's off to a new home shortly, once the new owner decides to cough up the necessary beer vouchers as my tastes have changed after it's very long service life.

My orignal example was an SP250, to which i added a pair of iMP's to the collection. The two iMP's got used f/t as playback mass-storage sources for an outside-broadcast portable mixer/player combo.. and that same kit also used to get plugged into the o/p chain at work when i did do on-air sessions at the radio station - no dodgy MD decks thank you .....

The long an short of it is simple - for domestic purposes, of which they are intended, they do indeed go the distance - and the 250 still holds the iRiver record for being totally bombproof under obsurd condtions and reads damn near any disc that is readable.

My commericially used items (which got replaced by two more iMp-250's) eventually died from what CD-recorder users come to know as spindle failures (i.e. the bearings were shot from the sheer load they ensured day-in and day-out). However, they later got put into my mini-studio at home (in the garage actually) and were lost recently to thieves who broke in an trashed the lot - including my pro kit.

The published 'Kat Test' of the anti-shock 'ShockFree' system results are still valid to this day, and i await the outcome of a similarly kooky crash tester who's expected to test a 550 to the same deadly set of circumstances. But i somehow doubt there are two such kooky crash testers in the iRiver world (as this one has retired from such acts of kookiness) :P

FG

[HiredGun]

did the lid of your imp ever get loose or slide when closed?

[FlameGrilled]

Nah, the 250 never misbehaved like that - even when it got dropped :P

FG

[Lsportline43]

I have an iRiver iMP-550 and the build quality is really good. Feels like it will last forever. All metal. Also the weight of the player amazes me everytime I pick it up. 145grams without batteries!!! Really nice.

[terrymx]

the imps are metal on top but hard plastic in the bottom. i think the imp400 is extremely durable, better than the imp350. the imp550 i dont know but it is made of magnesium. i never had problem with iriver built quality, just have problem with the remote controller screen getting scratches. so what i did when i got the imp400 is put clear tape over the lcd.

[FlameGrilled]

When is light, really light..??

When you take out the power source.. and the deck becomes light enough to literally be used as a frisbee. The 250 passes that test (i tested it out with a dead one).

FG