Talk me out of buying a Pioneer A05

[flitcher]

I want the A06, but being able to save a little money sounds good. To me the specs look the same for both burners, so whats new? Just better writing capabilities? Any reason why I SHOULD get the A06 apart from the fact that its newer?

[Faustus]

How much cheaper is it? Here is a 106 drive only (no software for like 195 with shipping):

Well Priced 106

Also Meritline has it for $199 without shipping.

If thats to much then go for the 105, its a great drive. Plus it would be nice to be able to take what ever media is onsale that week reguardless of format as long as they are decent brands of course.

[flitcher]

I'm actually going for the black drive since that is what my case and other drives are. The cheapest I could find for that was $207-$209, that was at newegg and its OEM.

[dengar]

The specs are NOT same. The A06 also burns +R/RW discs, the A05 does not.

[orbital517]

The specs are NOT same. The A06 also burns +R/RW discs, the A05 does not.

Yea, the A06 is a multi-format (+R/+RW and -R/-RW) while the A05 is only -R/-RW. It's great when you have a multi-format drive because you can buy whatever media is on sale. Take for instance the Best Buy sale about 3 weeks ago for 4X +R media only and the -R media was not on sale. Or this week, they have a sale on -R media only, but no +R media is on sale. Other stores do the same thing, so in the long run, you'll probably save more money getting the A06 due to media sales.

[flitcher]

Hmmm.. OK. That does tilt me towards the A06 then. Any predicted forcast of a price drop for it though?

[handyguy]

That seems a lot, how much for shipping & tax. I see a lot of people with Pioneers starting to fall apart on another forum after a few months.

You can get an Optorite 4x dvd+/- for $160 free shipping no tax, from fatwallet.com deal forum...

[Luddite]

my a05 broke after 5 weeks
spent 5 weeks being annoyed at having to use expensive media
glad it broke
got a refund
will not buy anything pioneer again

[orbital517]

my external pioneer a05/105 also started to have problems after only about 4 months. I had to pay for shipping to ship it back to pioneer, and they just shipped it back as of Friday so I should be getting it back some time this week. I hope it works. I have a TDK 440 also, but that seems to be working flawlessly.

[capnvideo]

Last week after reading many good reviews and posts about the Pioneer A06/106 I bought the 106 off ebay for $193.00, I thought what a great burner and deal I got. Now this week, after reading the problems some people are having, I'm thinking I made a big mistake. I would like to feel I made the right choice, so I would like to hear from more people who have nothing but praise for A06/106 or other Pioneer burners they have or had.

[Bilal]

[Bob W]

The AO5 is a good drive and I have one myself. Today I would recommend for price and performance the NEC ND-1300A dual format DVD burner which goes for a mere $153 here.
http://avlogic.com/product.cgi?code=18030059

[jeex]

even though i only burn to -R, spending an extra $50 to include +R burn capabilities seems like a good idea..

plus if your standalone's are not picky about -R or +R then you could always take advantage of blank DVD media sales..

all in all, spend the extra $50 and get a multi-format writer..

unless you're a cheapskate

[HideOut]

I h ave 2 '05's and an 04. An 06 sounds nice but "whatever format thats on sale" dont matter. RARELY is +R disks cheaper. SO long as your set top players play -R fine then use it. Its cheaper. If ya can afford it the + capability is nice but a pricey option. Oh yes, did I mention I have a Sony multiformat at work too? Its nice but $$$

Hideout

[dun4cheap]

I would have to agree with hideout, I have been getting my media for 50-$39.99 2x riteks at my local pc club, the dvd+r's on average have been twice that..However, I am sure we will eventually see them even out, so with my versatile sony dru500a I will move to the cheaper one. By the way I have seen the retail sony 510 for as cheap as $237 new. I purchased mine October 2002 from dell for $248 out the door, so I am way pleased.


GL

[AarontheRipper]

Dual format drives are overrated. I started a poll a couple of weeks ago to find out how many dual format owners actually used both formats. Over half said they used only one format (with most of those being -R). Unless you know that you'll need, I repeat, need to burn both formats, why spend the extra money? Oh, and don't anyone try to convince me that -R is going to disappear. It won't until a blu-ray format takes over in a few years. The 105 is a great drive.[/b]

[Laddydaddy]

Check out the price of the Pioneer 106 here; http://avlogic.com/product.cgi?code=18030076. With postage it runs about $194 total.

[Vejita-sama]

I got my A05 (Cendyne) for $170 after rebates. I f&cking love it When all is said and done the only real difference between the A05 and A06 is the multi-format. But that's actually a very nice thing to have. The costs are about the same for both (haven't checked for black only thou).

So I would get the A06 unless the you can find the A05 for $50 or more less. What's $20 in the greater scheme of things...

[MeTaLgEaRsOoTy]

i got my pioneer 105's a few months ago,and i see they are on sale here in the uk now for about £85.so in effect you could buy 2 of them for the same as 1 A06.
by the way,ive had 4 A06's in the past 2 weeks,1 wouldnt work at all,2 worked but only recognised as a reader,and the other one seemed to work but wouldnt burn to any +R dvd at all.
so IMO,**** the A06 until they get it working,and just get the 105.
by the time they get it sorted,i feel that the 8speeds will be on the horizon.
and the prices will start to plummet.

[pixel]

Last week after reading many good reviews and posts about the Pioneer A06/106 I bought the 106 off ebay for $193.00, I thought what a great burner and deal I got. Now this week, after reading the problems some people are having, I'm thinking I made a big mistake. I would like to feel I made the right choice, so I would like to hear from more people who have nothing but praise for A06/106 or other Pioneer burners they have or had.

I have an A05 and have never had any problems with it, it has never even once not burned a disk properly (DVD-R/W or CDR/W).

I have had it for over 8 months now and burned well over 100 DVD-R's with it (not counting how many times I have written DVD-R/W's) and it has been flawless.

The only problems I have ever had are media problems (poor quality discs, get about one in every spindle of DVD-R's I buy).

[flitcher]

I found a black A06 for $185 + tax so I'm gonna give it a few more days and then decide which I will buy. Thanks for your input!

[energy80s]

In the UK the 106 is now selling for £128. I bought my 105 two months ago for £140! To be honest you may as well get the 106 as the price has dropped dramatically in the last few weeks. I believe that plans are afoot to get an 8 speed burner out for November, so support for the 105 is likely to be non-existant by next year!