Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this Chinese made radio quickly, without any research because I needed a radio to take to a construction job I was heading to. This radio is about the size of a book and fairly light weight even with batteries. Overall, I think this radio is overpriced by about $5.
What I like (pros):
The tuner and volume controls are analog wheels on the side of the unit. I prefer analog tuning and volume control because I feel that I have more control over it and can get exactly what I want. The volume control is good and does not dramatically change the volume with subtle wheel rotation.
The tuner scale if fairly accurate on FM and on the lower 1/2 of the AM band. The upper 1/2 of the AM band is not too accurate (showing 1080 AM as somewhere around 1600 AM). The literature doesn't specify the frequency range for this radio; however, I was able to receive the local Smooth Jazz station at 87.7 FM and there were broadcasts that I could receive even below that frequency. The FM appears to stretch up to 108 MHz which is an average range for FM. AM seems to go from about 530 (or below) to 1710 or so; an average range for AM too.
It has a digital clock with a date (month/day) function. Pushing the Mode button on top displays the date for 1 second. There is also a yellow button to turn on the backlight for the clock. The light is a soft indigo blue lasting approximately 8 seconds.
The other thing that I REALLY like about this radio is that the power cord is permanently attached to the radio (no wall wart adapter) and can be folded and stowed in the batter compartment. This 6 volt radio can also work on 4 AA size batteries. I don't know how long the batteries last as I have always used this radio with AC power.
What I DON'T like (cons):
First off, weather is a very important part of life here in Alaska. The NOAA weather service has stations broadcasting here that can be heard from nearly anywhere in the state (in my area on 162.550 MHz). This radio which boasts instant weather reception (with a button press) does not pick up ANY weather broadcasts on ANY of NOAA's frequencies. Once the weather button is depressed, you can fine tune the weather receiver between 162.400 - 162.550 MHz. Even using the weather tuning dial (located on the back of the radio), I was unable to hear ANY weather transmissions--only static. The telescopic antenna was fully extended and I moved the antenna and the radio to different positions to try to receive a NOAA broadcast but I only received static. For comparison, I have a handheld, programmable scanner in the same room as this radio and it can receive the NOAA station without any trouble. The BIG selling point for the radio beyond simply being a portable AM/FM radio is that it should receive weather. It does not. Perhaps, I have a faulty unit. For this price (and quality) it's not worth my time to bother returning it or trouble shooting it. Considering the weather feature is a major selling point for this radio, the quality control department should have discovered this problem before it left the factory. Either Emerson quality control is poor or this product is poor. Either way, the weather function on these radios is not dependable.
With the unit turned OFF, if you depress the weather button, the weather function turns on at FULL VOLUME and you cannot turn it down. If the unit is ON, then you can adjust the volume of the weather function to your liking.
Speaking of volume, this has about a 2-1/2 inch speaker and it distorts above 2/3 volume. So you can't get very loud with this radio without distortion. My Eton FR-250 was much louder.
Overall reception is mediocre. I detected static and/or distortion on many of the stations on both AM and FM. All but the most powerful stations had some level of static. Also, this isn't a great AM (or FM) receiver as it only received the closest and most powerful stations in the area. There is minimal tuner drift requiring some slight re-tuning occasionally. For the most part, it holds the stations you tune in. My Eton FR-250 received AM stations from roughly 200 miles away. This radio only received AM stations within about a 12 mile radius.
There is an earphone jack on the side of the unit. This is an EARphone jack and not a HEADphone jack. The audio only comes out of the left ear piece. This is the 21st century! Aren't we beyond this yet? Why are electronics manufacturers still making radios with left channel only mono? It shouldn't be that difficult or expensive to send mono to both channels. This very outdated feature is an annoying disappointment.
This radio is light weight and the switches are dials on the front that you have to grab and twist. I have this radio sitting on a counter top and I always have to operate it with two hands because it's so light and has a poor center of gravity (more of the weight is at the top of the radio). Also, the power and band dials are rather wide (not narrow enough to easily "pinch" with the finger and thumb) so when I grab a dial to turn it (power or band) the radio slides away from me so I'm forced to hold the radio with one hand while I operate a switch with the other. With a radio this shape and design, it may have been smarter to put the controls on the TOP of the unit rather than the front.
If this radio was lost or stolen, I would not buy another one. For the price range, I think there may be better options available--in hindsight, I would have rather bought the Sony ICF38 Portable AM/FM Radio (Black); however, I realize that radios are expensive to begin with and an increase in quality often brings an increase in price. Even with all the mp3 and computerized technology available today, the cost of radios is continuing to rise every few months. Overall, I would not really recommend this radio for most applications. DO NOT buy this radio if you need weather service broadcasts--that feature simply does not function.
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Emerson RP6251 Portable Weather Clock Radio
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