Amazon Radio

Ok, right off the bat, I will say that I do not (yet) own this Sangean radio. I am in a quest to replace the “Optimus 12-797″ portable radio that I bought for some $60 or $70 not even two years ago from Radio Sh _ _. (sorry for the language but it seems they sell junk, discontinue it and try to charge you an arm and a leg to “repair” it.)

As a long-time, avid user of pocket radios since I was a kid listening to baseball games as I fell asleep at night, I have owned several portable am/fm radios over the last 30 years. Most of them were very cheap and worked for a couple, or a few years, before breaking down…usually just the volume adjuster would get all “staticky”…(ie it still “worked” but it was incredibly frustrating fighting with the volume knob all the time)…..but you would just go out and buy another one for a few bucks and all was well again.

Well, when one went out a couple of years ago, I decided to try to find a “higher quality” radio so that I could avoid the usual 2 years and out syndrome . I walked into a Radio Shack and, lo and behold, this Optimus was there. It had everything I wanted and liked and then some, but was rather expensive at $70…..it was very small and thin, built-in speaker, digital tuning, “sleep” function for bed-time listening, a clip for wearing on a belt or shirt, and it had a few features that I had never had before that I also liked…..digital clock, “lock” button, alarm, one-touch memory select, weather band, and a TV band. I had struck gold, until…

But this one died also….probably even sooner than most of the “cheapies” I’ve owned! Suddenly it started acting weird…..cutting out…and then soon therafter, nothing…..you can hear that it has “power” because there is a low (barely audible) hissing sound, but no stations come in and none of the features work….no readout, no clock, no volume control, nothing….just a very low buzzing sound.

So I emailed Radio Shack, explained my absolute enthusiasm for this radio (when it worked) and my sheer disappointment that a $70 radio died after just a year or two of use. They emailed back a few days later saying, “take it to your local Radio Shack and they’ll send it in for repair.” I thought “GREAT!!!!”. So I took it in with the email in hand…and was promptly told, “well, of course you’ll still have to pay for the repair, and quite frankly, it isn’t worth it. You’ll pay more for the repair than you did for the radio!”

I walked out the first time, but came back a few weeks later, paid my money and sent it in. Then it came back. They said that they “are unable to repair it. Radio Shack no longer makes this particular on/off switch. sorry, and good luck.” !!! what a joke. They will not stand behind a $70 transistor radio that breaks after 2 years…and there is no way to have it repaired…and now I am once again trying to find a radio that will work for more than a year.

I bought a “Jensen” digital tuning radio with built-in speaker from Meijer for about $20 a few days ago, and have already returned it. It was an absolute nightmare trying to navigate and program the thing. Everything took more than one button push, often three or four…..just ridiculous….and when the batteries went dead and you replaced them, you lost all of your presets….even if you do a “quick” battery switch. unreal.

so anyway, this is just a sad state of affairs. Seems you must pay upwards of $50 MINIMUM to get a radio with decent features…and then you’re likely to have it die on you within a year anyway.

terribly frustrated,

DB

Rating: 3 / 5

The sound quality is so poor that it is next to useless to me and I’m planning to buy a different radio.
Rating: 1 / 5

I live in an urban area and I like to listen to AM radio at night. I have listened to a lot of radios and they all have the same shortcoming, namely after sunset when station power is cut the signal fades in and out. When I got the DT200VX, the first thing I did was to tune to those stations I hadn’t been able to get at night. The reception was amazing! Stations I couldn’t get before now came in loud and clear with no fading. I live in Round Rock, TX (near Austin) and I picked up stations in Denver, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Tulsa, etc.

Then I tuned to my favorite local station on the low end of the band and I heard a loud almost Morse code like interference. When I turned the radio, it went away. I then went to a high frequency and the same thing occurred.

I don’t know if it was the radio or some local interference, but I couldn’t use it like that. It also had poor fit of the cover on one side and the headphone jack didn’t work unless you didn’t push the plug all the way in.

I was disappointed, but the AM reception was outstanding. I returned it and I bought the DT-180V, which doesn’t have a speaker and I don’t use one anyway.
Rating: 4 / 5