VIZIO 8-Inch Tablet with WiFi - VTAB1008

I recently purchased a refurbished Vizio tablet for 140$. The tablet I recieved was in mint condition, I saw only one minute flaw which was a very tiny scratch more like a nick on the corner which took a very close scrutinized look, if it wasn't for doing that it would not even been noticable I was hesitant to buy this tablet because of repeated reviews that stated complaints and problem with the micro usb charger port, however in my extensive research of multiple android tablets I discovered that this issue was isolated to this brand, which brought me to the conclusion that its possibly user mishandling of the product, or that after repeated plugging and unplugging charger cause wear on the soldering that hold the port, in any event the upside of the price, and reputable brand gave me the confidence to take the risk and I'm glad I have The Vizio tab is the perfect size at 8 x 6 inches. The resolution is outstanding and the speed of operation, which I'm comparing to my laptop and android phone, is more than sufficient. It's not superfast but its no slouch either. Netflix which I use alot works great as well as You Tube. Most Android app work well. Battery life and charging speed: Quite a few reviews I read stated that the battery life was far from 10hrs as boasted by Vizio. I did a little experiment and charged my tab to 99%, for some reason it never gets to 100%. I was able to watch 5 45 minute episodes on netflix and listen to my music app about another hour and play online poker for about 30 minutes before I got down to around 10 % of the battery life. So thats about 5 hours of nonstop activity of battery life. Unlike may reviews I've read my tablet charge rather quickly. In about an hour and half it was up to 95% charge. The sound quality is great especially in landscape or wide mode. I use the Go Launcher App because the default just I read was not all that great. I've only had the tablet for 2 weeks now so as far as the charging port issue it may be too early to tell. However the mini usb does stick out signficantly when plugged in but the tablet I purchased the connection is very tight not loose at all. I think some of the charge port and charger issues may stem from the length of the cord, a mere 3ft, I bought an extension and a right angle adapter and thus far it been great. My co-worker has an i pad and this thing resolution is right there with it, connects to wifi very easy and internet speed is fast. I definitely reccomend the Vizio tab. For the price this is a knock out value and for such a low price you can purchase a warranty and if the dreaded charger issue arise your covered and even if you don't purchase an extended warranty the place I bought mine offered a free 90 warranty, can't beat that!!!

I bought this back in November 2011 based on some good reviews and an excellent price. It worked fine up until March 2012, when the USB connection for the charger started acting flaky and getting hot when charging. In reading the reviews, this is common problem and many buyers have the same issue. No big deal, it's got a year warranty, so get an RMA number and send it back, right? Wrong. According to Vizio, the Amazon seller (sold by "Scott's Stuff, Inc" and fulfilled by Amazon) isn't an authorized vendor so there won't be any warranty repairs. Well, that's unfortunate, and I won't be buying anything else without reading the fine print, but I guess it's my own fault. But what the heck, I like the thing, so I'll send it back and pay for the repair. Nope, they don't do that. Apparently once it's out of warranty, it's disposable. I'm experienced in electronics repair, and in my youth I was a certified mil-spec assembler, so I figured I'd crack the case open and fix it myself. Bad connector, how tough can it be? The answer: real tough. But I eventually got it. The problem was that the solder joints on the USB connector had cracked loose from flexing, so I re-soldered them and all was well for a month. So to make a long story short, I've had to do that repair once a month now since the first time. The design of this connector is bad. Real bad. Bad enough that I have to wonder why there are so many good reviews here. Maybe they changed to a different connector during a subsequent production run? I don't know. In my opinion, this thing is a piece of junk. Save your money and buy a better product.

The Vizio tablet VTAB1008 was on-sale for one-hundred and seventy nine dollars at Costco 30-OCT-2011. Sam's Club had it for nineteen dollars more than Costco, at that time. Unfortunately, I waited too long to decide and ended up purchasing this product on Amazon from DuoDuo Tech for two-hundred-thirty-two dollars (fifty more dollars). In September 2012, the charging port broke. That was the only known issue with the tablet. When I called Vizio (US-based, English-speaking) support, they immediately knew of the issue and confessed to it being a design issue and offered me a replacement tablet without hesitation. I gladly accepted but have come to regret that decision. The replacement "reconditioned" (aka Refurbished) RMA tablet arrived and would NOT fully connect to the exact same wireless router that the original tablet connected to for twelve straight months without issue. It would show as "Connected" ("Wi-fi - myWirelessSSID" with full bars) but every internet-based service (email, youtube, etc) reported an error "There's no network connection right now. Try again later." I immediately contacted Vizio support who, during the one hour call, attempted to disprove my standpoint that the replacement unit was not the issue. I humored them for a bit and then demanded that another replacement be sent. They reluctantly obliged. The now 2nd replacement RMA tablet arrives and exhibites the same behavior; it shows "connected" but is unable to consistently access anything on the internet. Additionally, the tablet has a setting to define if and when to drop the connection (Settings > Wireless & Networks > Wi-Fi Settings > Wi-Fi Disconnect Policy) which I have set to "Never". Despite that setting, while monitoring my router's Attached Devices info, the VTAB1008 drops the connection a few moments after the screen is locked; either manually or timed screen dim. The moment I touch the power button to undim the screen, the connection to the router is reestablished. Clearly, the tablet is malfunctioning since, as mentioned above, internet-accessing apps fail despite the tablet showing as "connected". I have a few other devices that connect to my Wi-Fi Router and am 100% certain it's functioning without issue. Moreover, I attempted to connect the replacement Vizio VTAB1008 tablet to my smartphone's hotspot, as well as family's wi-fi, a neighbor's wi-fi, and a public wi-fi - all resulting in the same exact behavior. My router's security is configured as WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES] and has the latest firmware installed. I am extremely frustrated and have contacted Visa "911" Enhancement Services who have opened a claim to fully reimburse me for the original purchase price of two-hundred-thirty-two US dollars. I would highly NOT recommend purchasing the Vizio VTAB1008 tablet, regardless of price. Between the inherent and known flaw with the charging port, as well as the seemingly commonplace issues with refurbs (or, as they call it, "Reconditioned").