Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Review is now edited below. Sound bar has died. I am not an audiophile and for many years now had another Vizio soundbar purchased in 2013. I finally retired that (still working!) to see what a newer generation sound bar was like. I was really happy to use the HDMI inputs on the sound bar and try out Dolby Atmos that my XBox keeps telling me about. Installation like my last one is a snap. I don't even have to refer to the manual. Everything just makes sense and the way that Vizio aligns the box holding the cabling is intuitive and nicely labelled. I was so blown away at how small everything is now. My older Vizio soundbar blocked a small viewing section from the bottom of my television because of its height. Now I have an air-gap between the bottom of the TV and the top of the new soundbar. The satellite speakers are so small and as my daughter called them, "cute". The subwoofer is a shoebox compared to the last one as well. Compared to the older Vizio soundbar the sound is, well..., startling. It is very clear and very in our faces as we sit 8 feet away. I honestly was really picking up on sounds I don't believe I was hearing before while playing our XBox. If I was to describe it plainly, again not an audiophile, it's like the previous soundbar was muffled, as if a blanket was over it. With the blanket removed, this sound came through so clear. My cons for this new bar: the manual speaks nothing to why there is an internet connection (wired) on the back of the unit or how to use it. I know it has Smartcast by language on the box, but my point is that manual speaks absolutely nothing about it. It's almost like Vizio forgot to include a chapter. I also own a Vizio television with Smartcast, so I tried using my Android app to connect to the soundbar out of curiosity. It detects it, but for some reason, the syncing between phone app and soundbar continually failed. I have no need for the app and this soundbar, so I will stop picking at that scab. I was sad to find out the HDMI ARC connection on the soundbar is not 4k/UHD. Everything just seems to be anymore, so I assumed this would work with my 4K Vizio television. It does connect and does display 1080P, but using my FireTV last night to start a UHD show (love Grand Tour!) I suddenly was faced with an error-factoid across the screen that said my connection was not UHD rated. So I dropped my popcorn and I backed out the HDMI, reconnected direct to the television and ran an optical cable to the soundbar. Grand Tour was back in all its 4K goodness. This also means I can't comment on Dolby Atmos which also requires the HDMI connection. All in all, I still give it 4.5 stars that round up to 5 stars. It's so small, so "cute", and the sound is loads better than my previous Vizio soundbar. We love it. I just wish I could connect for 4K via the HDMI. That was an "awhhh" moment for me last night. Edit: 6/5/19. Purchased on April 24th, now June 5th, it has died. Waking up this morning we learned our soundbar up and died between being turned off last night and this morning. No power at all. I contacted Amazon and we walked through many steps. Eventually Amazon decided to refund my money because there are no replacements to be had. The soundbar is currently out of stock for an undetermined amount of time. I now have to send all these pieces back to Amazon with the label they provided. I have reduced my original review to 1-star for the product, but Amazon continues to get 5-stars for their helpfulness. I do see a rash of pretty recent reviews of people suffering our fate with this soundbar. Beware. Beware.