Axis AX-1100

Functional and low priced – Its glaring problem is its menu system and lack of firmware updates from the manufacturer (they state it is not firmware upgradeable). The menu is navigated by the rotary dial by turning it, and selection made by pressing it. The menu has inconsistent behaviour with folder selection an anticlockwise function and song selection a clockwise function. The unit cannot handle folders with too many characters or subfolders (an error message of "UPDATE?" displays on my unit). In these instances folder selection is haphazard and sluggish with the menu sometimes spontaneously reverting to volume control. There is no sorting selection options for folders or files. Id3 tag information seems to be ignored.

The sound quality of the Axis-1100 is good. The unit looks fine. It takes SD memory and USB memory sticks. If you put all your mp3 files in the root folder and don't want to navigate them using folders then this will be a fine unit to have. If, like me, you want to sort your mp3s into folders and subfolders, some of which may contain names with foreign characters or long file names, then you should carefully consider your choice and perhaps steer to another unit. Low price, good sound quality Badly designed menu navigation, no firmware updates