Product Review: Redbox Instant by Verizon
Katie 
The latest product I’ve gotten to try from being a bzzagent is Redbox Instant from Verizon. Redbox Instant is kind of like 3 products in one. For $8 a month, you get an unlimited streaming subscription, 4 redbox kiosk codes and you also get the option of renting or buying movies from the site on your computer (for an added fee).
I’ve only used 2 of the 3 because I didn’t want to pay $5.99 for a movie rental. (The one movie I was interested in, I actually ended up getting at the red box kiosk with one of my free codes!)
As far as using the codes at the kiosk – they are loaded on to your credit card. You pick your movie just like you would any other time you are using the kiosk. But when it is time to check out you click the button at the bottom that says “Use Credits” and swipe your card. It lets you know that the credit went through and the first night is free. The only negative to this is that it can’t be used for BluRay. It would be nice if you could get the amount off of a regular DVD and just pay to upgrade to BluRay as an option because I’d much rather have rented a BluRay instead of a standard DVD. This was super easy and my favorite of the 3 features offered.
Streaming we were able to set up on our TV through our Samsung DVD Player. I believe at the moment that is the only brand that is allowing streaming as the Panasonic that I have in my bedroom doesn’t have it as an option. You can also stream through your computer or on select smartphones or tablets. (They are in the process of adding more devices though, so hopefully more will become available in the near future.)
The selection for movies to stream seem to be really old and I couldn’t find any TV shows (which is what I use some other streaming sites for) and I had a really hard time picking any movies to “bookmark” to watch later. Going back to my bookmarks later I realized that I had only bookmarked ONE subscription streaming titles, the others were either for rent or at the kiosk. That movie was from when I was a kid – Little Monsters with Howie Mandel and Fred Savage.
I think that the site needs to work a bit on its inventory and its site navigation because Ive talked to a few others and they have had similar complaints. I can’t say that I will be joining once my free trial runs out, though I would consider giving them another try in a year or so just to see if anything has changed.
I received a free 1 month trial via bzzagent in order to check out the site and write this review. I was not otherwise compensated. All opinions are my own.
