Haier HLT71 7-Inch Handheld LCD TV Review

I received this little TV for Christmas and have not spent much time with it yet, so these are my first impressions. I work with ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and CERT (Community emergency Response Team) and so I do a lot of "preparing" to respond to emergencies and/or being able to survive comfortably during one. So when I learned about this little portable TV that could receive the new digital signals, I thought it would be a good replacement for my old portable model that would no longer be able to receive TV signals.

So, to date, here are my first impressions: First, the price, at just over $100, was reasonable. It is a color TV with battery, AC charger and DC mobile plug (cigarette lighter style). It also has a cable connection for either cable TV or a remote antenna. It came with a warning that the antenna must never be rotated in reverse direction so I screwed it on very carefully but discovered that it loosens quite easily anyway. It can be hand-tightened again but comes loose again. This is clearly a disappointing feature. However, I plan to experiment with bigger antennas anyway so this is not unresolveable. It has automatic tuning that seeks and finds TV stations. So I was able to receive about 4 local stations rather quickly. The signal varied and the pictures were far from perfect but I could get the information I need when I needed it. Our rollover to digital is next month and I am looking forward to that to see if there is any significant improvement in the signals in general. The other thing I discovered is that the small battery does not hold a charge for very long and maybe it is not intended to do so. I need to research that some more before saying if this is a negative or just the way it was intended, to work off either AC or DC external batteries. The size is perfect for portability. I wish it had come with at least a soft case but it is easy to find them at any store. In fact, I found a brand new IBM mini laptop case that fit my mini EEE PC perfectly. I'm looking for another one for this little guy.

73's (best wishes in HAM)
KE7JSS

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