Grundig 100 Mini PE Portable Radio with AM/FM Stereo, Headphones

Rating:
Summary: don't move while listening
Review: This is a neat product idea, it has AM/FM and shortwave. Unfortunately it also had a major problem. If you move while listening to the radio you will lose reception. This is especially true on AM and Shortwave. I try to use this radio while mowing the lawn and walking the dog, and I have to keep my fingers on the tuner at all times, constantly adjusting it. I would recommend buying a different radio with a digital tuner (thats what I am shopping for now).

Rating:
Summary: Good for the price
Review: This is the only shirt pocket size shortwave radio worth buying. For this great price you get a pocket radio without any drift (meaning the station you listen to won't change to another station because of a loose or faulty dial), great stereo FM on headphones or ear buds (the buds that come with it are OK. Buy a better set and get ready for great sound), good AM reception, and Shortwave reception that is adequate for the big international broadcasts like BBC but poor for most everything else. The speaker is only good for talk radio. For music, this is a tinny and tiny speaker (about one inch wide). If you want a pocket radio that also gets BBC, Radio Canada, and Voice of America, this is the trick. Listen in on good earplugs and you will be happy with your purchase. It also has a good vinyl case. The radio looks sturdily built and will probably last for years.

Rating:
Summary: Grundig mini radio
Review: This radio is very small less than a size of a pack of cigarettes. This is my first Grundig radio I have purchased. Even if the performance was not great I thought it might be fun to own as a novelty item. The leather carry case is a nice touch as are the ear buds and shortwave manual. The speaker is so tiny about an inch or so. The speaker does not produce enough volume unless the radio is close to your ears, even then the fidelity is not very good at all. The best aspect of the radio is the FM reception while using the ear buds. The stereo effect makes for fun listening to music stations. The AM reception on my radio is poor. I live in the countryside and can only really hear one station clearly. My other radios pick up loads of AM stations at my location. It's very strange I took the battery cover off and placed my hands on the batteries and the volume goes up on the AM stations. The shortwave reception was better however and this radio is touted as mainly a shortwave radio. The reception on shortwave is passing but not as good as my Sangean SG 622. Compared to the Sangean SG 622 the volume is lower and there is more signal fade on the weaker stations. One review in here stated the reception was close to a Sangean SG 622 which is not true at all. The Sangean SG 622 has superior reception compared to this radio, however the Sangean SG 622 is also about 3 times the size of this radio! This radio is a fun novelty item because of it's mini size but do not expect much from it performance wise.

Rating:
Summary: Traveler and SW Listener
Review: We took this radio to Spain, and it was not only great-sounding with headphones and through the speaker, but it picked up lots of SW stations, including the BBC World Service both day and night, crystal clear even through the speaker. For so little money, how could one go wrong? When you're in a place where English language broadcasts are hard to find, this radio gets them for you. Plus the FM has great stereo separation, and the AM (especially in Europe where the AM sound is often of high quality) is nearly as good sounding as the FM. Even the shortwave sounds very good and clear (better sound than as my Sony ICF7600 if not quite as sensitive). Another advantage is that the analog dial will get the European / Asian / African AM stations correctly that an American digital radio won't get usually, because of the 9KHz spacing in the Eastern Hemisphere vs. 10kHz in the Western Hemisphere. The same problem is avoided with FM where in the Western Hemisphere all FM stations are odd decimals (97.1 MHz, 103.9 MHz, etc), while in the Eastern Hemisphere, FM Stations are both odd and even (97.0 MHz, 103.8 MHz). This was the most useful thing, other than my camera and ATM card, that I brought to Europe.