Emerson RP6251 Portable Weather Clock Radio Review

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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Product Description:
Receive current weather forecasts with the help of the RP6251 portable weather radio by Emerson.This AM/FM radio allows you to hear NOAA weather reports for your area with the touch of a button.Fine tune the radio to your specification with the weather band control and slide-rule radio tuning dial.The 120V AC or 4 AA battery operation makes the RP6251 ideal for emergency use, or use the built-in AC power cord for everyday use.The 3-inch dynamic speaker has a wide-range projection so you can hear the radio loud and clear.

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Sangean RCR-22 AM/FM Atomic Clock Radio Review

I was looking for a high-quality alarm clock after about 12 years with an unimpressive Sony Dreammachine. This clock delivered on that front, and unlike most consumer electronics devices I've purchased in the past several years, it is clear that lots of thought was put into this device (and very little into the manual).

PROS:
There are tons of little nuances that the manual does not detail that I've discovered using the clock for a few weeks. For example the display can be dimmed with a dial on the bottom (which on my unit did not take effect until my alarm goes off the first time). The clock remains dimmed at your preset level, but goes to full brightness when the alarm goes off, making the clock easier to find. Combined with the pleasing blue light and the HWS (makes the alarm bell go from soft to loud) it's really nice to wake up to.

Another thoughtful touch is that alarm indicators only light within 24 hours of your alarm. Either alarm can be set to go off on particular days, with any combination of Su-Sa set for each alarm (i.e. alarm1 can be set for Monday, Thursday and Sunday, no weekday/weekend restrictions like some others). The alarm indicators however only light up when your alarm will ring the next morning. Very nice.

Other functions like the snooze, nap timers, etc. all work well. Like most alarms you need some time to figure out how it works, but after a few mornings most functions were intuitive.

The radio functions well, and pulls in way more stations than the Dreammachine. The speaker is fine, that is to say neither exceptionally good or exceptionally poor. If I want the ultimate music experience, I have an expensive stereo for that.

The clock is a true atomic time clock (not just a "preset" clock like many others). I don't know all the nuances of atomic cock synchronization, but the weather and location of the antenna seem to affect the two atomic clocks I have at home. Try moving the antenna towards the window if you have problems.

CONS
It is nicer than average plastic and construction, but still not going to win any design awards. I can't figure out why all alarm clock designs are frozen in 1992.

The manual was clearly written by a bunch of engineers. It is no nonsense, and explains how to set/use everything, but does not mention any of the usability features I noted above. For example if it's Monday and you set an alarm for thursday, You might wonder why the alarm indicators do not all light up. No mention at all in the manual. I thought the clock was broken since the dimmer did not function until the first time an alarm went off. Again, no mention in the manual of what turned out to be a very nice feature, and one I almost returned the clock for!

Another example is the unwieldly "Time Machine" antenna for the atomic clock. It is big and odd looking, but fits nicely to the back of the clock. Again, no mention in the manual save for a single line drawing.

When I initially plugged the clock in, all kinds of crytic numbers flashed on the display while it synced the time, again, no mention of what was happening or why in the manual. The manual does tell you how to DO everything, but does not explain WHY certain things work the way they do, or explain the various nice features someone clearly took time to think through.

Overal a great buy, especially for something you'll likely use every day for 5-15 years. I would like to see a better manual, autodimming of the display (it is BRIGHT when set to max), Sangean using a designer that is somewhat current, and perhaps a user manual rewrite, other than that, this clock works very well and will be on my nightstand for years to come.

I agonized over what to put on my nightstand (everything from Bose to Timex) and am very happy with my choice.

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Product Description:
Sangean's RCR-22 Clock Radio is the atomic clock radio you can set once and forget.It connects to the atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado to set the most accurate time available.Once the clock is set you can program the dual alarms to wake to your favorite AM or FM station.Take advantage of the Humane Waking System that begins with a low volume beep and gradually increases in intensity to slowly wake you instead of receiving a firm jolt that others provide.There is also a handy sleep timer that allows you to fall asleep listening to your favorite radio station from 15 minutes up to 2 hours.You can also connect your iPod or a CD player to the auxiliary input to enjoy your favorite soothing sounds CD or digital music collection to fall asleep.

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