Conclusion and awards
So let’s see what the inMotion iM600 gives us overall. Well, for starters, it looks good. OK, so looks are a purely personal thing and you might like pink and fluffy things but I like it. It has an understated style to it. The build quality, apart from the viciously-sprung dock and rear stand, appears to be good with no gaps or misaligned parts. The inMotion iM600 has a nice weighty feel to it as well which whilst being a useless yard stick for how good something is, does at least take away that “oh, no, I’ve bought a piece of flimsy plastic crap” element.And it has to be said that the inMotion iM600 most definitely isn’t a piece of flimsy plastic with an iPod dock. Whilst at first glance it appears be to be lacking in features, there’s definitely enough here to keep most iPod-lovers happy. You can dock, charge and transfer tunes to your iPod all in one session and, when you tire of your playlist, you can switch to either the radio or an alternate audio source for entertainment.
The sound quality is pretty good too with only high volume bringing in distortion. Of course, this is also dependant on the quality of the source audio but even with 192kbps streams there is a fair bit of bass distortion at full volume. That said, the inMotion iM600 has enough oomph to fill even a large-ish room without sounding tinny. I can well see myself taking this one outside for the inevitable barbeque and not having to suffer sound equivalent to a baked-bean tin and a bit of string.
Click for larger imageAs to the portability of the unit, the name is really a bit of a misnomer. “inMotion” suggests movement but the reality is that other than a few occasions, you’ll most likely leave the inMotion iM600 in one place, either powered-up and connected to your PC as an iPod dock or as a second sound source somewhere else in the home, away from the PC to dock your iPod and listen to your music. The inMotion iM600’s weight and size mean you’re unlikely to pack this to take away with you.
Compared to other iPod speaker systems on the market with a similar feature set, the inMotion iM600, with a manufacturer's price of £119.99, comes in as one of the mid-priced units. The likes of Klipsch, JBL and Logitech - to name a few - all do something similar. So whether or not you buy one is very much a case of balancing out how much you want to spend and how much use you think you’ll get from it. For me, with my office far removed from my media ‘hub’ in the lounge, the inMotion iM600 is a worthy purchase as I can have music wherever I want in the house. And it sure beats the hell out of those cheaper solutions that, quite frankly, make a pig’s ear of anything you pump through them... though that’s as much as the Sugar Babes deserve, to be honest.
Oh, one more thing. The Altec Lansing website says the inMotion iM600 has composite video-out. Well, I’ve hunted all over mine and there’s no sign of any kind of connector for that...
Pros
Full iPod dock replacement
Stylish, understated design
Good quality sound
Built-in radio and auxiliary input
Remote controls iPod, too
Built-in battery for full portability
Cons
Distortion at high volume
Radio reception can be dodgy
Cheap-feeling sprung base
Good feature set and sound quality for the price. Worth a look.
HEXUS Awards
Altec Lansing inMotion IM600
