Product link: http://www.ihomeaudio.com/products.asp?product_id=10186

Period of use: 1 month

Does the product do what you wanted it to do?

The IH85 plays music from my I-pod, so from that stance it works, but it is failing in many other departments

Does the product do what the manufacturer says it will do?

No, the remote has failed and the power button no longer works 100% of the time.

Has the product held up?

Not really sure

Would you recommend this product?

yes, but with hesitation and all that is stated here.

Additional thoughts:

So this time of year when I am trying to get in big base miles and ride for long periods of time, I want some musical company that does not require either a musical entourage of theme music or wearing ear buds in my ears to occlude my hearing. The IH does this. It provides quality sounding music, at a reasonably cheap price. It however does not do all that it should. I have to acknowledge that this is a niche product with a limited audience of users, and it pretty well has nothing to compete against of a like design.

The remote control is designed to mount to your handlebar and allow adjustment of volume,shuffling of songs, and stopping/starting of music. When you first cut the unit on (by taking the batteries out and then putting them back in and hitting play on the ipod, then closing the unit.) the remote will work, but then after a few minutes, it is as if the IH85 no longer recognizes the remote. At first I thought this might be owing to having my PowerTap Disc on the bike transmitting, but when tried in the living room with out the IH85 on the bike, I got the same result.

Turning the unit off now involves removing batteries to shut it down, turning it on is the process above. Again the power switch on the unit itself works initially after putting batteries in, but then it quits as for the remote.

The mount--this took a bit for me to realize was a problem. If I was just using this unit on the road, I think it would be fine, but when off road, it is very heavy. This has resulted in it pulling the rivmounts for my water bottle cages out of the frame twice now in rough terrain. I may ride rougher than most, but this is still a concern as when it happens, the mount tends to flop back and forth. This mount has a wide metal piece that is intended to provide stability against the bolt mounts, but when it comes loose, it will cut into the frame and produce damage. It could lead to cuts in the fibers on a carbon frame I think. On my Alloy Top Fuel that is has been on the most, it has only produced some scrapes on the paint and bolts so far.

Overall the unit has been OK, set it up with a play list you like, and just let it go for the day of riding. Don't expect to change the song, don't change the volume, and it seems to do OK. Perhaps the most entertaining aspect so far has been that when it rains, the upturned speaker will collect water and produce acoustic changes roughly akin to gargling and singing at the same time. Green Day under water was an experience..... Try singing "I wanna be the minority" with listerine in your mouth and you get the picture.