Radio Reviews

I had to return my SoundWorks radio the day after Christmas for what was (hopefully) a problem with quality control and not the radio in general. There seemed to be a flaw in the speaker and I got serious distortion whenever certain notes were played. From all the other glowing reviews I've read, I must conclude a bad one slipped past, but at this price I feel no bad ones should get past. However . . .

I left this on my night stand for one night and discovered an issue that would be a major annoyance to me if I had kept the radio. The display automatically dims when the room goes dark, but if you have the alarm set, a very bright blue LED shines directly toward your face. Set both alarms and it gets very bright, indeed. Furthermore, the display light sensor is located between both LEDs, so they cause the display to brighten. If you like a dark bedroom, this may give you pause. (As an aside, I've had --and returned-- many clocks which lit up my bedroom like Times Square. Red LEDs don't do this, but they seem passe. All I can figure is engineers must sleep with the lights on.)

Otherwise, I found the controls and features to be excellent, and I especially like the rotating volume control. Overall, it seems like a good product, but the issues I've mentioned keep me from giving it more than three stars.

I've been itching for years to get the "famous" Bose Wave Radio. I waited and waited for the price to drop. It *never* has. So much for the prices of Tabletop radios being like computers! At any rate, rather than finding a discount Bose, I've found a radio more inexpensive than the Bose...and BETTER SOUNDING! The Cambridge Soundworks Model 730 BLOWS me away. It has incredibly rich sound, and the bass is literally AMAZING. Rather than using Acoustic Tubing wrapped around the inside of the case, Cambridge Soundworks has actually mounted a *Real* subwoofer inside of this radio. And it really does pack an extra punch! In addition, this radio has Radio Data System (RDS), a feature extremely (and unfortunately) RARE in the United States. People in Europe know and love RDS on their radios, why oh WHY more US Manufacturers don't support it is beyond me. It's a GREAT feature and would make you think you are using XM Radio with the Song Titles displayed for you...for free!

Cambridge Soundworks got it right, blowing away Bose and Tivoli. Seriously, save yourself $100 and get this radio. You'll enjoy the extra features and most certainly think your ears are deceiving you!

Very good radio for its price - the sound quality is as good as you can get from the radio of this size, the speaker configuration actually has a dedicated subwoofer (unlike the Bose Wave radio). The radio tuner sensitivity is also good - didn't have any problems tuning to all my favorite radio stations.
About the price: some reviewer below was wondering how come Cambridge SoundWorks can sell such wonderful radio for much less price than Bose Wave radio... That is simple: Bose is the only company that makes approximately 70% profit from each of their sold products, including Bose Wave radio. Cambridge SoundWorks, unlike Bose, makes a fair amount of profit (lower than 40% of the price of each sold product). This is why there's such a big difference in price (but not in quality... the quality of SoundWorks is actually better).

This is the best for the money. I successfully used these at Disney World. The DCS codes cut off the first word, so you have to "learn" to use it, but it did come in handy for crowded airwaves (no other radio's I know of have them). The CTCSS codes are a little better and are compatible with other FRS radio's. My daughter left one outside all night through a thunderstorm. It was soaked. After emptying the water, drying it out all night and replacing the batteries it worked just fine! (and she didn't have to spend her allowance on a new one). Makes me feel good about using them for skiing this winter. There is only one call tone and it's a little annoying. There is no vibrate alert. One set of batteries lasted the week at Disney. If your not using them everyday, I see no need for the charger. In all, great for the money.

I got 3 of these Midland 75-515's for family bike trips, but I've found that they're useful for much more: trips to the mall, skiing, all kinds of situations. I had previously bought and returned some other FRS radios, because I found that they lacked some necessary features (like call tones). What I like about these particular radios is that they have a large number of subcodes (38 CTSS codes and ~83 digital squelch tones) that screen out other peoples obnoxious comments (go to an amusement park and you will NOT be able to use FRS radios unless you can screen out moronic profane comments). The channel lock feature is a must also. Despite all the features, it's pretty simple to use (my nine year old has no problems with it). They're also really small, which helps when you have to carry one on a bike all day. The range is somewhere over 1.5 miles outside on the road, with only trees blocking your way. From car to car, it's probably about 3/4 miles based on my limited tests. So, the obstructions in between senders affects the reception, but overall, I was pleased with the range and clarity of the sound. In my opinion, I got a lot of features for the money, and the radios are very useful

Review of the Midland 75-515 FRS Transceiver

This unit has a nice "Walkie Talkie" look to it. I have been disturbed by the unusual designs of many radios. I am glad Midland decided to keep with the more traditional look.

Upon powering up the radio, it indicated its awakening with a prominent tone. The LCD display is large and easily viewed. The only trouble I had was viewing the upper part of the display, where the CTCSS and DCS mode indicators are. Other than that, the display is VERY well laid out and easy to read.

Volume levels are pretty darn loud for such a small speaker. Receive audio qualiy is pretty good. It is easily understood.

Range checks: This unit was detectable 1.5 miles away with my wife inside our house and myself in the car. Effective communications were possible with one mile distance between us. In a mobile environment, I consider this range to be VERY good for an FRS radio.

Also, we were in communication with myself inside the grocery store about .25 miles from the house... Perfect communications was a result while shopping. These units can communicate well between buildings.

Power output is 500 mW ERP, verified by FCC test data. This applies to use of fully charged alkaline batteries. We used the nicad rechargeables for our tests.

The battery life as listed, is pretty good. I have yet to have had my rechargeable go dead, and I've used the radios a bit. although I do admit some charging time.

Intermod and other interference: We experienced no intermod. In our area, though, this is not unusual. We are out of the range of many dirty pager transmitters and such. My computer did interfere with this radio to a small degree... again not surprising. Personal computers commonly interfere with UHF receivers.

Features and evaluations of such:

DCS: Digital Coded Squelch comes to FRS!! This system is the latest in selective squelch systems. It is reported to be more efficient than CTCSS. We used it in our tests and it performed perfectly, even at maximum range.

CTCSS: In case you want to communicated with units without DCS, CTCSS is there for you to use. As expected, the CTCSS system worked perfectly.

Our "home channel" had additional traffic when we were conducting our tests. Our communications was not interrupted by the other signal.

SCAN: This radio can scan for active channels, and clear channels. I would have like to seen a way to lock out unneeded channels; but you can set a CTCSS tone, or DCS code, which will allow the scan function to skip over that channel, unless that code has traffic. With that in mind, the radio scans whatever characteristic you have programmed with that channel. This is useful if you want to scan your group's channels and thay have CTCSS or DCS set.

BABY MONITOR FUNCTION: This function will sit and listen for any noise in its range, sound the call tone and transmit for a period of time, then go to receive mode, and back and forth. It does work as indicated, but we have no use for it (until we get a young 'un). However, it could be useful in many other ways, such as listening for the doorbell, or the microwave beep to go off. Use your imagination...

END OF TRANSMISSION TONE: AKA Roger Beep. It is there, if you wish, and can be turned off if you do not wish.

BATTERY SAVE FUNCTION: during recive, except for scanning, sort of puts the radio to sleep until it receives a signal. Good for unnecessary drain on batteries... Problem though... It takes about a half second or so for it to wake up, so it is likely you will miss the first word or so of your communications. The delay is a bit short for my tastes. Too bad you can't turn it off.

5 MEMORY CHANNELS: This allows you to set up a channel and keep its characteristics set. While this radio holds any Tones or Codes you may set for a channel permanently, the memory function allows you to store the same channel as a memory location. You could have channel 1 as your primary channel, with a differtnt DCS or CTCSS tone set. Too bad this radio doesn't allow memory channel scan.

VOX: This unit allows voice activiation right out of the box. with or without a spaeker mike, you can talk hands free. Good to mount a radio on the sunvisor :) With a selectable sensitivity and selectable delay setting, the VOX on this unit is the best I have seen so far. If you use VOX, this radio can't be beat IMHO.

BATTERY STRENGTH METER: This is a 4 segment LCD that will give you your battery charge state.

TRANSMIT/RECEIVE INDICATOR: Will display the appropriate icon. It will indicate when a channel is receiving a signal, so you can see actibity on another CTCSS or DCS code.

ACCESSORY JACKS: These units have TWO sets of jacks! You will be able to plug almost anything into this radio.

CHARGING CONTACTS: The radio can be charged with a desk charger OR an AC adaptor type charger.... Versatile!

FINAL COMMENTS:

This radio is a clear Winner!

It has a nice look and feel, good sound quality, and range. Plenty of good functions. I have in the past, heard of problems with this series, however, I have discovered NO flaws whatsoever in the operation of these units. The multiple accessory/charging jacks are unique to the industry and allow for greater flexibility. Kudos to Midland for a job well done.

Let me tell you something. This radio is great. I live in New York City and I get great music even in my elevator only fm in my elevator

I have been looking around for some pocket radios to keep in the house in case of an emergency. I found some by other companies but were too expensive. The Panasonic is great! The reception is very clear on both am/fm. I didn't even need to put up the antenna. I bought 3 of these little babies, one for myself, one for my husband, and one for our 'Emergency Go Bag'.

I like the sound quality of this radio. The only problem is, that after a while, it has a tendency to break, especially the antenna. It has been discontinued, so you should get as many as you can. This quality of sound in a small radio is rare.

I first bought this radio in February 2000. When I lost it (although it was eventually found - it mysteriously disappeared overnight in a house and was found during spring cleaning in 2002) I bought another in June 2001. When I lost that one (for real - it evidentally fell out of my pocket in the street) I discovered that it was no available longer in the store where I bought it (Klearvuiew Appliances) from but Internet research turned up other places. I bought a few over time from PC Richards.

One radio - the first - had the antenna broken and it eventually came off. Another, used by someone in a car with a nonfunctioning car radio, wound up with the antenna stuck in a slightly open position (no real problem - it can still even fit in a sweater pocket)

A third radio seems to now have bad reception, especially for WABC. Something went wrong with the tuning connection. This is the sortt of thing thatbsometimes happens to table radios if they suffer knocks - some wire is not perfectly connected

When it works, it is extremely good. The biggest problem is simply that, like virtually all radio models, good or bad, the manufacturer discontinues them aftter a relatively short period of time. I think that is some kind of strategy. Most models do not produce good clear sound at low volumes. This one does.

I remember when I bought my first Walkman. It cost about 80 bucks and didn't even have a radio or auto-reverse. This portable stereo has it all and at a very reasonable price. It sounds good too and the microprocessor equalizer control helps you fine-tune the unit for your personal sound preference. The only complaint I have is that the headphones are not very comfortable. I would recommend buying a more comfortable pair of headphones to go with this player.

I bought this to listen to tapes on the subway. I was suprised at the high quality of sound from the radio and tape playback. There is minimal background noise. It is also very light weight, making it easy to carry around. The two things I didn't like are the earphones which are large and clumsy, it works better with earplugs, and the volume switch which is low set and sometimes difficult to turn to adjust the volume. Overall I am very satisfied with this product.

This unit can't be beat..great sound & great price. I use it for listening to music, talk radio and books-on-tape and it beats the $60.00 Sony I had on all counts.

I believe this receiver to be the best one for the price. I have had two of these and will probably either buy another or get a replacement antenna for the one I currently own. The only drawback is that this receiver does not remember modes--such as sideband selection. I also collect some sw receivers but like the 7600G the best in this price radio.

I purchased this reciever thru Amazon about two years ago. I take it when ever I travel. It gets great reception at the beach and thru the caribbean and Canada. I like all its features. I also use it as a clock radio when I travel for work.

I works well on alkaline and nicad batteries. I tried an off brand power supply, not so good. But between recharing the nicads, I use alkaline batteries, if I need too. This seem to work well.

I highly recommend it to anyone who travels, and likes to have a great radio at hand for news, and music.

I collect portable shortwave radios and have ones from the 60's through those of today. The 7600G is one of the best I've ever used. It has it's drawbacks as do all radios, but the performance is top notch and the sync detection is a treat at this price level. The clock doesn't show when the radio is on and it only has 10 memories per band, but I see those as minor points. You will be happy with this radio for all your AM, FM and SW listining.

After much research, I was convinced that I wanted to buy the Phillips AZ-2000 until I realized it had an analog tuner whereas the JVC had a digital one for a lesser price. I was pleased when I received my set to find that it was very fashionable, with it's cool blue look (better than the picture illustrates). The remote has all the feautures I could desire. My only disappointment is that it doesn't control the volume. The cool thing about the remote is that you don't need a direct line of sight to control the unit, you can point it just about anywhere and it'll still work. The JVC also has the added convenience of a sleep timer and it sounds better than most radios in it's class.

I was looking for a portable CD/tape player for a gift and at this price, I could afford to be generous. I was concerned about the white/blue/black casing, but when I opened the box, I thought the unit was quite attractive and much better looking than in the picture. I have a JVC boombox and expected this portable would have slow, smooth opening CD and tape doors and not the "pop" opening quality of other portables; I was not disappointed. There isn't much you can do on a portable without an equalizer, but the multiple sound settings (beat/pop/clear/flat) did improve the sound quality. The sound was adequate for a bedroom. The delivery was also excellent: I ordered this JVC boombox on Friday and it was delivered by Tuesday a.m. I would recommend this unit.

I bought this boombox for my office, which is a cubicle and only partially closed in. The sound is SO CLEAR, that I can get a GREAT sound quality at a low volume, and it doesn't disturb anyone else in the office. The jazz, the classical, the hip-hop and the gospel music all sound fantastic!! I am very pleased with this product, I am going to purchase another one just like it for my home. And the price is even more fantastic!!

All in all this is a great player. The worst thing about it is the headphones. I guess I have small ears because they don't even fit inside. My husband said he wore them for one hour and they hurt his ears so bad he threw them out. We had to run out and purchase a better headset. Also...the FM tuner is a separate entity that attaches by a cord to the player. Don't be fooled by the size because now you have to have 2 things clipped to your belt. That was a big disappointment. It never said that anywhere!

This mp3 player has it all.....for a low price. But it has a few flaws.
1)The max. volume is too low. (This is helped with buying a better pair of headphones.)
2)The door for the expansion card opens all the time. If I clip the player to my shorts to workout, the door opens five or six times. 3)There is no auto-turn off after all the mp3 files play. So If I fall asleep while using it.....I wake up to find the batteries dead. 4)The buttons are in strange places.
5)The batteries die all the time, so buy a recharger.
Nothing else wrong with it yet. But overall I love to use it all the time. It can hold 20 songs and with the 32mb expansion card I get another 10. For the money it is the best buy I have seen.

Buy this one! After months of procrastination, I ended up with this player for one reason. It was on sale at a local electronics store. After months of use, I am appreciating the features, ease of use and reliability of this player. Sound quality is excellent, the included software is complete; with out hiccups, it can hold over thirty tracks on the 64 Megs of flash memory. What else do you want or need? The USB data transfer is fast and clean, and you have sound modes that actually work without the need for complicated (and time consuming) equalizer settings.

These radios are great. I had purchased other radios and I heard alot of people talking on them and cursing.I returned them and ordered these online. The only one minor thing was the Disney character sounds that come on each time you want to speak is a little annoying.It's not a big deal because I rather here that then other people talking on them . So far I haven't heard anyone talking on them, I guess the special feature that these radios have, they are codes you could select to eliminate hearing others on the radios. But most of all these phones were a great buy for the quality.

I ordered these to use on away games for our cheerleaders. They work great for tracking who is going where. My five year old daughter, and four year old neice use them as toys. I personally like them because they are cute. I recommend them to anyone with kids, or just loves to feel like one!

Personally I find these annoying, BUT they aren't for me! My girls love them, and play with them all the time. I guess I consider them the best judges... Be warned, you as a parent may not enjoy these, but if you have multiple children of appropriate ages these are highly recommended!

These radios are great. I had purchased other radios and I heard alot of people talking on them and cursing.I returned them and ordered these online. The only one minor thing was the Disney character sounds that come on each time you want to speak is a little annoying.It's not a big deal because I rather here that then other people talking on them . So far I haven't heard anyone talking on them, I guess the special feature that these radios have, they are codes you could select to eliminate hearing others on the radios. But most of all these phones were a great buy for the quality.

I ordered these to use on away games for our cheerleaders. They work great for tracking who is going where. My five year old daughter, and four year old neice use them as toys. I personally like them because they are cute. I recommend them to anyone with kids, or just loves to feel like one!

Personally I find these annoying, BUT they aren't for me! My girls love them, and play with them all the time. I guess I consider them the best judges... Be warned, you as a parent may not enjoy these, but if you have multiple children of appropriate ages these are highly recommended!

These radios are great. I had purchased other radios and I heard alot of people talking on them and cursing.I returned them and ordered these online. The only one minor thing was the Disney character sounds that come on each time you want to speak is a little annoying.It's not a big deal because I rather here that then other people talking on them . So far I haven't heard anyone talking on them, I guess the special feature that these radios have, they are codes you could select to eliminate hearing others on the radios. But most of all these phones were a great buy for the quality.

I ordered these to use on away games for our cheerleaders. They work great for tracking who is going where. My five year old daughter, and four year old neice use them as toys. I personally like them because they are cute. I recommend them to anyone with kids, or just loves to feel like one!

Personally I find these annoying, BUT they aren't for me! My girls love them, and play with them all the time. I guess I consider them the best judges... Be warned, you as a parent may not enjoy these, but if you have multiple children of appropriate ages these are highly recommended!