Radio Reviews

This radio wakes you up at a loud sound regardless of how you set it. If you have it set at a low volume level, it'll wake you and the entire neighborhood at your wake-up time. I just bought it but I'm throwing it out.

Besides not being able to control the volume -- if you wear glasses or have "aging" eyes -- it is very difficult to read the caller ID box -- it is too small

Minimum volume for the radio on the phone is too loud. If you set the alarm radio to wake you, it will wake the entire street block. No way to lower volume. Too bad for an otherwise good product.

Like many Sharper Image products, this one is over-hyped, stylish, but under-achieving. It's cute, especially if you are into the New Beetle fashion. (I am.) The CD tray is hidden in the bumper, and there are a total of five speakers: four in the wheels and one on the underside. The controls are under the hood. The head and tail lights turn on when you power up the player.

But, alas, the sound is terrible. It's worse than my 10-year-old Sony radio alarm clock! Whether you throw pop, rock, jazz, classical, or anything at it, the boombox delivers mono-like sound. Words can't describe my initial horror at the poor sound quality when I played my first CD in this... It's that bad!

The controls are also very limited. Get this: there's no way to set your favorite FM stations (there's no AM)! Each time you want to switch a station, you have to use the "scan" feature, which is quite bad at picking up good stations. So the FM part is pretty useless. Well, the entire boombox is useless because the sound is just bottom terrible!

In the end, this makes a nice piece of furniture, and when hooked up to a set of headphones you get decent, but not great, sound, but that defeats the purpose of having a boombox. It also has a line-out jack, which I did not test before returning it to the store. Oh, and there's no handle, so you can't take it outdoors with you.

I owned the alarm clock version, and as alarm clocks rarely have good sound quality, I was not too displeased with the product. It came with a remoted control with a snooze button, which was just decadent. However, when the CD played there was always a soft, high-pitched whistling sound which was just unbearable. This may have been an individual product defect.

More troublesome is the idea of buying this to actually listen to music or the radio. Since the music comes out of the speakers on the side, it is difficult to find a good position for this little Bug, so that you can hear the sound well. Furthermore, the speakers simply are of terrible quality.

I give the product 2 stars rather than 1 because let's face it--it is ADORABLE, and if you need a radio around your desk or someplace where it will mostly be for show, then go for this product! The controls are intuitive to use--very user friendly. Just don't buy this product for real listening--especially to music, where sound quality matters. This Beetle does not live up to Volkswagon's quality, nor, for that matter, Sharper Image's reputation.

I just bought the beetle bug stereo because i am a HUGE lover of beetle bugs. The stereo is very adorable, and, despite some people's opinion, the sound quality is very good. Yes, it is a little hard to position because of the stereo's speakers, and the fact that you can never tell what radio station you're on are a little bothersome. But if you are someone looking for a stereo for decoration and just to listen to your fav songs on, go with this one. If you are the type who buys stereos for parties and stuff, don't use this!! it was made for just a couple people to listen to while they hang out, not to blast the bass at a party.

then the CD player stopped working after about 6 months. Funny thing is, another Timex CD alarm clock we purchased stopped working a few weeks later. We won't be buying Timex again.

on low volume you will hear a hum, somewhat complicated to find different features..........its going back sorry

this little machine is great. i've only had it for a few weeks, but it has surely made a big difference in how i start my day. i can program exact songs to wake up to...drifting from sleep into the waking world has never been more gentle. my girlfriend and i were tired of waking up to depressing news on NPR (not that the news should be avoided, but hearing it first thing upon waking can put a damper on the day). i think everyone should have a cd playing clock radio, if not this brand, then pick one of your choosing. i got this one for a good price and see absolutely nothing wrong with it. actually, let me rephrase that: the large green display is a tad bright (or brighter than the one i had grown accustomed to) and there is no dimmer switch as is available on other cd clock radios i looked at. it's really not a big deal at all, and after a night or two you probably won't even notice it. overall, i think it's a great buy...and the sound is pretty decent for such small machine.

There are three things wrong with this item. First is the brightness of the display that other reviewers have noted. The other is that it is not at all easy to set. It involves a complex series of holding buttons down, etc. Very counter-intuitive, I thought.

The biggest problem, however, is that the alarm on mine will not stay on. To turn on the alarm, the instructions say to hold the alarm button, and the LCD read-out will stay the same. Well I did that, but after five minutes, the alarm was no longer showing on the LCD. The sound, etc., is good, and maybe I bought a lemon, but still it's no good if it won't do the one thing I need it to do.

This is a good CD clock radio from Panasonic. Just good. As I am a pessimist, we'll start with the bad. The comment that another reviewer made about the unit being bright was very true. Even with the dimmer on, the display lights up the whole room. This is not a product for light sensitive people such as myself. I found it necessary to put a piece of black construction paper over the display. Of course, then you wont be able to read the time, but your light problem is taken care of. I know this all sounds trivial, but it spoils a rather good product. Also, when the alarm is on, a red light lights up on the top of the clock. Also annoying. Another negative is that this does not have a gradual wake up feature. If you want your songs to fade in and wake you up without jolting you out of bed in the morning, you might want to consider another radio. I made a special CD where I edited wake up songs with a WAV editor to fade in. But not everyone is as clever as me :) Also, some websites say that this model has a headphones jack, but it does not. Now some positives; the player does what it's supposed to do. You can wake up to whatever track on a CD you want and the sound quality is very good, especially when you take into account that you are listening to a clock radio. I wanted to wake up to my favorite music in the morning, and I can do that now, so I am pleased with this product. I just wish some of the little annoyances were taken care of.

Purchased this Panasonic recently to replace a old GE. I am a fan of Panasonic so I thought I would give their clock radio a try. As far as clock radios go the digital tuner and stereo sound was impressive for the price. The built in eq was a nice option that doesn't quite help. The sound is full with decent range though the low end is lacking. Buttons are small and you need to be above the radio to see what's going on. The unit is tall and takes up a larger footprint than most in its price range. Most of this I can live with but the dimmer was unbearable. Even at low (2 Settings) you can make shadow puppets on the walls. If you can live with the dimmer then I would recommend this one for the price, options, and sound. Most every clock radio I looked at had several flaws. It comes down to finding out which ones you can live with. I ended up returning it and purchasing a cheaper Sony with poor audio but a good dimmer. You would think after generations of radios there would be reasonably priced one with a decent dimmer, sufficient memory backup time, quality stereo audio, with a user friendly layout. One day maybe.

I love to sing in the shower, so my grandparents decided that this would make a good Hanukkah gift for me. Unfortunately, I can only use it once or twice before I have to change the batteries. When you first put in batteries, both the CD player and radio work great. But then, after a shower or two, the radio will play about 30 seconds of a song before decaying into an annoyingly loud "boom boom boom" noise. The CD player will either skip or not start at all. The only remedy I've found to this problem is changing the batteries, which are still practically at full power. Now, I must say that I "abuse" this device...I use it daily, leave it in the shower, and probably expose it to numerous cleaning chemicals, but from reading the other reviews I have determined that my problems might not stem only from this behavior. Bottom line: Don't get it if you plan to use it more than a few times,

I just got one of these on sale. The clock died 1 day after it was placed in the shower. The radio itself works fine. Next time I am going to try and get a digital tuner.

I got is as a gift and it works and sounds great!

I love to sing in the shower, so my grandparents decided that this would make a good Hanukkah gift for me. Unfortunately, I can only use it once or twice before I have to change the batteries. When you first put in batteries, both the CD player and radio work great. But then, after a shower or two, the radio will play about 30 seconds of a song before decaying into an annoyingly loud "boom boom boom" noise. The CD player will either skip or not start at all. The only remedy I've found to this problem is changing the batteries, which are still practically at full power. Now, I must say that I "abuse" this device...I use it daily, leave it in the shower, and probably expose it to numerous cleaning chemicals, but from reading the other reviews I have determined that my problems might not stem only from this behavior. Bottom line: Don't get it if you plan to use it more than a few times,

I just got one of these on sale. The clock died 1 day after it was placed in the shower. The radio itself works fine. Next time I am going to try and get a digital tuner.

I got is as a gift and it works and sounds great!

Do NOT spend your money on this product.
No display for frequency means you never know what channel you're on.
Then, when you eventually find the channel you want by pure luck, it randomly switches off it for no reason. Then you get to find it again, which usually takes another ten minutes.
This product SUCKS and i can't believe they sell it at the apple store.

This product doen't even deserve 1 star, but thats the only option I've got. Save your money! I bought this so that I could have a radio option for my iPod. It is useless. The reception is poor, the design is lousy and the volume control is subpar. The radio does not have a preset option and doesn't show what radio station is selected. The volume control only has two settings - low and high. Even more frustrating is that the volume level will drop as soon as it is plugged into a device (such as an iPod). If you're thinking of purchasing this for your iPod, or for any other reasons, save your money.

I like to carry it with me all the time. I use it with my CD player and MP3 player. It's convenient, and easy to use especially when I workout. Great gift idea for holiday.

Compared to other models (especially by Sony) this one is quite the clunker! It's very big and hangs down low. It seems very low tech. Once you get a quick look at it, you can tell that design is not a factor at all. Spenda little more and get something cool and sleek that you'll use for years to come.

The MC-3800 that I got had a weak front end (Receiver)and poor sound quality at lower volume levels. The equipment is designed well and functionality is great but fails to produce the sound quality of receivers that are a fraction of the cost. The CD player works great but there again, the lower volume sound levels sound distorted or deminished.

I don't know what these other reviewers are talking about, I have had great luck with this and all of the Memorex products that I have purchased. This item hangs down and is designed to do so, it is a under cabinet mount radio, they all hang down, some more than others....

I bought and returned these radios. They had little range in my comparison tests w/ Motorolas and Audiovox 1535 (which I settled on). Although compact, good voice quality, and decent features, I did not get acceptable range.

if this walkie talkie is so good and the price is just to low to show then why there is no description of the walkie talkie...i mean does it go 5 miles....? can i hook up ear phones to it for free hand ablities ? do it have privacy channels ? how many channels does it have ?
why none of that stuff is shown....?
Are they trying to sell the walkie talkie ?

The GMRS midland radio is great and the radiohas nice features and good rangebut this radio has bad bad battery life. I bought this radio and still have it but i had to go out and buy new rechargable batteries. i found that this radio workes the best in the feild with regular AA batteries. i have used other radios because i own a radio repair and rental company i use these radios in the shop. they are great.

Like most Sony low end products, you get what you pay for. The price for the item is fair. But, don't expect much. Analog tuning and just "ok" sound.

I have upgraded to the ICF CD2000, lists for around $189.00 It is portable and has great sound. This is the second model in the series. Stay away from the older portable model. I was told by sales people that there were lots of returns. Sorry do not have that model number.

I bought this model almost two years ago and keep it on my nightstand. It has developed a humming noise that varies in volume. It is loud enough to wake me up at night from time to time. Annoying enough that I need to replace it.

#1 disappointment: This unit does NOT have a digital synthesized AM/FM Tuner; it uses an old fashioned tuning wheel. Sony tries to compensate by using AFC on FM, but with all of the stations here (near LA), it probably would drift into another station with changes in temperature during the night. AM is very susceptible to AM interference and not very sensitive.

The power backup only holds for one minute; does NOT have a battery backup.

Audio power is only 1.2 watts per channel (3in. speakers), but sounds adequate. (Spec is 10% distortion)

Choice of CD music track for wakeup and dual alarms are nice features.

I will upgrade to a better unit.