from Maryland

I've only had the radio for approximately 2 weeks, but so far I'm lovin' it! My reception and sound are great. The size is perfect. Love the armband. Nice product for the price, and a good choice to test out an hd radio.

I use it the longest on the weekends. Usually only charge it once a week. Good battery life. I only wish I could use something other than my computer to charge it.

What's great about it: Perfect size. Great reception. Affordable.

What's not so great: Wish I could use something other than my computer to charge it.

I would recommend this to a friend!

Sound Quality

Durability

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Customer Rating

Not quite what I expected

on November 9, 2010

Posted by: EMack

from Baton Rouge, LA

Even though a small portable, I expected better reception. Outside is fine but poorer than I expected inside. Also, must be much closer to the station's transmitter than I expected.

What's great about it: Compact. Easy to use.

What's not so great: No ability to boost antenna reception.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Sound Quality

Durability

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Customer Rating

perfect for me!

on January 29, 2011

Posted by: girlwalker

from Granbury, TX

I am a daily walker & this is just the perfect radio for me. I was not looking for anything fancy, just wanted a radio that would pick up my favorite station. The size is very good, fits in a pocket easily or can be carried in my hand easily, very lightweight. The sound quality is excellent! I like the fact that it is rechargeable. I highly recommend it!

What's great about it: Good quality

What's not so great: None so far!

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Customer Rating

Good value

on August 31, 2011

Posted by: gonefishing400

from St. louis

radio works well - good features - battery runs down when not in use.

What's great about it: great signal

What's not so great: battery

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Customer Rating

Great FM radio but inadequate HD radio

on November 18, 2009

Posted by: trunksy

from Los Angeles, CA

I give it very low marks for usability. It barely does what it says it does.

It does tune HD radio but the reception is pretty bad indoors (at the gym). I could barely get a radio signal on the second floor and a fat chance of getting any reception on the first floor at my gym.

One of the differences with HD Radio compared to analog is that it requires a second or two to buffer before it actually locks into the station and you hear any sound. Thus, it's not easy to search stations, especially when you're trying to check out secondary stations. That wouldn't be so bad if it had good reception which it doesn't. To add insult to injury, the worst problem with this product is that it doesn't save secondary programmed stations after you power off the unit. If you select a preset after you've programmed it, it will send you directly to the HD2 or HD3 station you've just programmed like it's supposed to but once you power off the device, everything defaults back to the HD1 station of that frequency. Even if you try to power off the device leaving it on the HD2 channel, when you power it back on, it will search for the station and throw you back onto the HD1 station. What's the point of programming if you have to reprogram and/or retune it every time you turn the product on? Bad design!

Speaking of using it in the gym, the arm band doesn't have any spandex in it at all and it's shaped like those blood pressure testers. If you actually have muscles, don't plan on having any blood circulating in your arm if you plan to do any type of exercising that raises your heart rate, let alone actually flexing your arm. The wide polyester arm band is completely constricting unlike most MP3 player arm bands which usually cover a lot less of your arm and will move (stretch) with your arm.

One suggestion or alternative might be to turn it into a necklace but the device is still a bit too bulky for that compared to popular flash MP3 players and it doesn't have a hole to be tied to a necklace anyway.

When you do get reception, it does show the artist and song title if the radio station transmits it but you don't get any features like iPod tagging even though you have to plug it into a computer to charge anyway.

The conclusion based on my usage is that this device might be great for grandma who is looking to replace her old portable FM radio anyway, may occasionally browse onto an HD station AND barely knows enough about USB to charge with it instead of a regular outlet. For someone who's got an active lifestyle and is actually looking to add HD radio on the go when you don't have the time to constantly update the music in your MP3 player, this device is not ready for you yet. For me, this is going in my pile of useless gadgets that I've purchased and tried to use maybe once or twice.

I haven't tried Slacker yet but the reviews look a lot better as long as it doesn't break on you.

What's great about it: The only currently available personal HD radio product besides Zune HD (expensive).

What's not so great: Programming does not save secondary channels after a power off.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Sound Quality

Durability

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Customer Rating

Bad product or over-hyped technology

on July 29, 2010

Posted by: Tekgeek

from Chicago, IL

We've all heard the commercials about how great HD radio is and that the sound quality is on par with cd. After keeping my eyes open for an affordable radio I saw this one on sale and the reviews were mostly positive. I did not try this with the in-box headphones but instead a much nicer set. At first I got about 3 HD stations in and the analog reception was just ok. I decided to try hooking it up to my receiver and I did get a couple more stations in but the reception was still poor (i made sure the cable was fully extended to get the best reception) and the HD stations did not sound any different than the analog ones. One station was broadcasting 3 different streams, which I received at first, but minutes later the 2 extra ones were gone. Not sure if the radio flaked out or if the station stopped streaming them. Overall i was very disappointed in the radio, and maybe it was just this particular radio but I was not impressed with the quality of HD.

What's great about it: Portable, and the cheapest unit I've seen on the market.

What's not so great: Poor reception and the HD quality on the channels that did work did not sound any different than the analog stations.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

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Customer Rating

Best HD Radio I have owned

on September 8, 2012

Posted by: RMore

from Highland, NY

I have owned a couple of radios in the past, and they have not worked like this. I attend school and this works great in and out of school. The only thing i would recommend is that you let the battery run to zero to charge it because i haven't and it shortened the Battery Life. Great Radio all in all. I would buy it again.

What's great about it: Great Sound Quality, Great Reception

What's not so great: Battery

I would recommend this to a friend!

Sound Quality

Durability

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Customer Rating

Horrible Digital Sensitivity

on July 31, 2009

Posted by: Will408

from Santa Clara, CA

After I spent an hour with this radio, I am convinced the 2 or 3 reviewers that gave it 1 or 2 stars are the smart people that actually understand the technology. The rest of them claiming the radio rocks have no idea what they are talking about or raving about.

HD Radio's transmission rides on top of analog FM signal as sideband noise unlike DTV which is transmitted on a different channel/frequency. As such, if you can't receive digital well, it falls back on the received analog signal seamlessly (using a synchronization technique). You think it might be on HD Radio but it's very likely on analog FM. HD-1 is a simulcast of the analog FM programming that is traditionally associated with the station.

The digital receiption of this radio is horrible compared to other more expensive desktop units. It has a hard time recoverying the digital transmission consistently. The firmware is also not well written. When the RF signal level recovers, it doesn't try to go into digital mode... At least it doesn't do that quick enough... Sometimes the HD Radio symbol is showing solidly (indicate it has a digital lock) but you can actually hear the analog inteference (indicate the radio has already fell back on analog FM).

The only way to truly test the digital receiption is to find a HD Radio station and go to the secondary channels, i.e., HD-2, HD-3, etc. Because these secondary channels are not simulcasted, there is no fall back to analog. You can easily tell the receiption cuts in and out as it blanks out... So bad that you can't really listen to the program.

Also, the auto seek function has such a high SNR expectation, if won't find you many stations. Instead, you should go to HD Radio website and find your local stations, so you can manually tune to them, so the radio gets enough time to recover the digital signal and switch to digital.

What's great about it: Good Price

What's not so great: Poor Digital Receiption

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Sound Quality

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