Small Portable Radio's?

[StarHalo]

I went the other way and got the $35 Meloson M7; reports of its fidelity are not exaggerated - from a few feet away off-axis it literally sounds like a pleasant modest sized flatscreen TV. Bass drum through music stations that don't use compression (college stations) cause the radio to transmit a tiny tactile thump on whatever surface it's sitting on; handling the unit during musical interludes is akin to holding a cell phone on vibrate - the case is lightweight and mostly hollow, and it feels like the speaker is seriously testing its chassis (it's actually a speaker and passive radiator matched to the case, then further DSP-tuned.) All in a tiny 6" x 3.8" package.

It's not an emergency radio as it uses a Li-ion battery, but it turns out to be a Nokia cell phone battery that's $5 on Amazon; it's cheaper to replace the battery on this radio than to replace a quartet of NiMHs for a 4xAA radio. I haven't tested its longevity yet, but it's gone through ~8 hours without incident. One quirk, the backlight for the display is light-sensor activated, so it usually comes on as your hand approaches the radio - it's like the radio is greeting you every time you come near it, fun stuff..

If you've already got your power-outage radio bases covered and feel it's time for a "high CRI" radio, the Meloson is a serious bang-for-the-buck surprise.

Should also mention: There's a line-in jack, and I don't have an SD card to test the MP3 player. But they're nice features for a sub-$40 radio with both knob and direct keypad tuning..

 

[Flying Turtle]

You're tempting me again, StarHalo. Thanks for keeping up on these radios for us. Since you first mentioned the Meloson it's been on my "possibilities" list. Now it's moved up a few spaces.

Geoff

 

[Csp203]

Will the cc solar observer work with and charge Sanyo envelop batteries?

 

[Sway]

Will the cc solar observer work with and charge Sanyo envelop batteries?

It works just fine with Sanyo eneloops but it's not set up to charge AA cells just the 650mAh internal pack.

 

[StarHalo]

Gotta watch those prices: a seller on Amazon put up a handul of Sangean CL-100s for $23.80 + $6.89 shipping earlier today..

 

[Lebkuecher]

Gotta watch those prices: a seller on Amazon put up a handul of Sangean CL-100s for $23.80 + $6.89 shipping earlier today..

What an amazing deal but unfortunately they seem to already be sold out or whoever had them raised the price.

 

[StarHalo]

What an amazing deal but unfortunately they seem to already be sold out or whoever had them raised the price.

It was only available for a few hours at that price, "earlier today" was literal in that post; was a legendary deal though..

In other news, the tube table radio mentioned years ago in this post is now available on Amazon under the brand name Tesslor; the walnut case is not available, but the all-tube amplification and Magic Eye tuner are unchanged; $300.

 

[Lit Up]

A friend of mine asked me for the Amazon link for the Sony ICF F-10 so I looked it up this morning. I thought I'd mention that the already low price has fallen $1 since I bought mine ~6 wks ago. It's now at $12.99 with Free Super Saver Shipping.

I'm very pleased with mine. I've been running mine on Tenergy 10,000mAH NiMH cells and it likes them just fine. I'd guess I'm getting about a month before I have to recharge -- more an effect of the HSD cells than the radio's current draw.

Yeah I've been putting the mileage on mine, too. The analog and 2D set-up is great for a lights out radio. Plus D to AA adapters in a pinch. I recently picked up the Sangean WR-22 also; it's a great lil table top. Currently have it paired up by wire with a small 19 inch HDTV on a desk, and all my mobile goodies are paired with it on bluetooth. Why can't all TVs come with bluetooth as standard? I can't find any models locally that has the function.

Sidenote: I also picked up one of those portable bluetooth speakers. An HMDX Jam speaker. I was really impressed at the volume for the size of the thing (and the price of 40 bucks). It's no bigger than one of those real small glass table candles, but fills a small room pretty well with sound. Makes for a great kitchen counter, bathroom, night stand, or out by the grill speaker. The charge cable that came with it could stand to be longer, but it accepts any standard mini usb cable that an android phone takes as a charge cable, so no worries there. I have half a dozen or so of those cables running around.

 

[StarHalo]

I recently picked up the Sangean WR-22 also; it's a great lil table top.

Yeah, the WR-22 is definitely an instant classic, would be my first choice in the [reasonably-priced] tabletop category. I can't wait to get my first Bluetooth radio, as often as I connect my cell to my radio to listen to TuneIn/IHeartRadio..

And thanks for the mini-speaker review, I was just looking at those this weekend; they're very popular apparently because they actually are pretty good. Would be a great choice for a smaller radio that doesn't sound so great or isn't loud enough.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

I just ran across the crowdfunded EARL. It looks kind of interesting.

http://www.meetearl.com/

Below is a link to an early review:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/d2fmu94

 

[StarHalo]

I just ran across the crowdfunded EARL. It looks kind of interesting.

I dig the keep-it-simple e-ink display, but shortwave and longwave reception?

 

[StarHalo]

Meloson M7 update: Thanks to a Radio Shack coupon, I got a hold of a MicroSD card (8Gb for $5). The Meloson's MP3 capabilities have been referred to as "Clinton-era" by another review, which I knew going into it was correct, so my expectations weren't huge. It's a simple player that simply delivers, connected to a very nice speaker. Music is at least as gorgeous as you hear it when heard through radio stations, but my prime interest is podcasts; I can put the card in my PC and just drag-and-drop any podcasts I'd like to queue up, then pop the card into the radio and it's ready to go - anytime the radio is slow, I've got a playlist of hand-picked programming to listen to. One fun bit: you can "tune around" through the files on the SD card using the tune knob. One not so fun bit is that there's no provision to rewind/fast-forward through a track, you can pause and resume, but no scanning through a file. Overall, it's an awesome added bit of functionality, it makes the Meloson quite the kitchen counter or patio table nonstop-entertainment center..

 

[StarHalo]

August 31st - Coast to Coast AM will no longer be on XM radio.

 

[StarHalo]

Anyone ever see one of these? The GE SuperRadio #3-5268; has the full tuner circuit of the SuperRadio I and II (same TRF design, ceramic filter, IF stages, six gang open air caps, antennas) but includes tape player, three-way speakers, full EQ, VU meters, etc.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Wow! Never heard of that one. Details?

 

[EZO]

Never heard of these either. I'm a longtime fan of the SuperRadios and have owned several. There is a discount store in my area that used to sell factory refurbished ones from Thomson Electronics dirt cheap. They were as new except that they came in a brown corrugated box and they made great gifts, especially for friends who enjoyed DXing distant baseball games at night from here in Vermont. Another nice thing about the GE SuperRadio is that they will run like forever on a set of fresh D cells. People like to use them for job radios for that reason plus the good sound with deep base and of course, the amazing reception. One of the true bargains in analogue radio.

 

[StarHalo]

Wow! Never heard of that one. Details?

It exists, and one recently sold on eBay for $60. Here comes that feeling again when you miss something legendary on eBay..

Apparently GE had a whole SuperRadio series that featured the same tuner with an array of features; some examples:

SuperStereo 3-6000B:

SuperRadio & Tape #3-5280:

 

[Lebkuecher]

I bought a Gogrove OR3 Portable Bluetooth Wireless Speaker to use with my Tecsun PL-398BT shortwave radio and so far I am very impressed. There are several options out there when it comes to rechargeable Bluetooth speakers but after reading several reviews I settled on the OR3. I really like the Tecsun PL-398BT shortwave radio but I have to say the small speakers are not the best so sound quality suffers somewhat as it will with a lot of small radios. When I am at home I use the Tecsun PL-398BT to connect my phone which has about 500 MP3s on it to a pair of Bose Companion 2.0 speakers VIA Bluetooth and the sound is incredible but the Bose Companion 2.0 speakers require AC power so portability is not really an option. The Gogrove OR3 is very flexible, it can connect directly to my phone VIA Bluetooth or to my Tecsun PL-398BT VIA the auxiliary jack but the best feature the Gogrove OR3 has is an incredible 16 hour runtime on a single charge. The sound is amazing and can easily fill a room. If you are looking for something portable to enhance your small radios sound or a rechargeable speaker to listen to your phones MP3s on the go then this is one option you may want to consider. For only $39.99 from Amazon it is hard to go wrong.

 

[StarHalo]

I bought a Gogrove OR3 Portable Bluetooth Wireless Speaker

There are so many of those Bluetooth speakers now, I think over the next few months, that'll become a bigger segment than portable audio/boomboxes. I like the size of the speaker on that one, very promising..

 

[StarHalo]

A CCrane CCRadio2 update is incoming; the CCRadio2E "Enhanced" will feature boosted FM performance and upgraded audio for better voice and music playback.