Sangean PR-D7 AM/FM Digital Rechargeable Portable Radio
by Sangean
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List Price: Our Price: $53.89 You Save: $26.06 (33%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sangean PR-D7 AM/FM Digital Rechargeable Portable Radio
Customer Review: Very Satisfied and Happy
Summary: 5 Stars
Update August 2010.
I have had this radio over a year and still am very pleased with it. I reviewed all the Sangean PR-D7 product reviews and want to buy another one.
I have two edits to offer.
In my application, I drive a bus and want the radio to lie flat on it's back in front of me in a little home made box I made for it. What I wish is for the antenna to have a better designed pop out base swivel so I can gain maximum radius from the antenna while the radio lies flat on it's backside. If the base popped up and out, I can swing the antenna in a full radius.
My second opinion regards the sound quality.
Again, I drive a bus and it can get quite noisy in the background. I cannot hear the radio with the buzz of the background passenger noise. Seems the speaker lacks the ability to drive the sound a few feet where I am sitting in the bus driver's seat with the background noise.
But when it is quiet, I love the sound quality this radio emits. When my bus is empty or I am on my break, this radio does it all for me.
I dropped the radio, it broke and need to buy another one.
I want this one. The Sangean PR-D7.
Best portable radio I have ever owned in my 50+ years.
Can't adequately describe how much enjoyment I get from this radio.
Oh, one more thing.
I bought the Eneloop batteries and I get over 25 hours of listening time using the charger these batteries come with.
Use the battery charger and don't depend on the radio to charge them. You get a deeper charge from the Eneloop charger and longer play time.
Original Rewiew
I too was tired of buying $30 "name brand" radios only to toss them in the trash out of sheer disappointment with their performance.
So I scoured Amazon for portable radios and was happy to find this radio.
What struck me instantly was the hundreds of 4 and 5 star reviews for this radio.
I read them all.... well almost all of them.
Based on these hundreds of 5 star reviews, I decided to give this radio a chance and have been very happy with it.
I can use this radio without the antenna raised and pull in great reception.
This is a great radio. Sangean has perfected AM-FM radio reception.
I get over 30 hours of play time using Duracell batteries.
I have this radio playing at work all day long and I work 6 days a week.
I have proudly shown off this radio to fellow co-workers.
If you are looking for a dependable, quality radio that does a great job of pulling in and holding onto your favorite stations, this is the radio for you.
It is worth every dollar of the $60 I paid for this item.
I cannot say enough for this radio....
Customer Review: A good value and a pleasant surprise
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought a Sangean PR-D7 for my guest bathroom, based largely on Tom Welch's review on Amazon (thanks, Tom).
On AM, the PR-D7 is pretty sensitive, even though it is fairly small and has only a 4" long ferrite bar antenna (the PR-D5 has an 8" ferrite). It's less sensitive than my much larger CCRadio-SW on both ends of the AM band, but not by a huge amount. The CCRadio-SW is slightly less sensitive than a PR-D5.
I prefer the sound of the PR-D7 over that of the PR-D5 for talk or sports radio. It's less boomy and more clear, which improves intelligibility of voices. It has a full sound, with a slightly muffled treble. Having separate bass and treble controls would be a nice improvement.
The AM tuner is free from the hets and birdies that plague some of my other small radios, for example the Eton E10. None of my regular stations have these artifacts on the PR-D7. The IF filter seems to be a reasonable compromise between good selectivity and extended high frequency audio. It gets all of the AM stations that I want to hear clearly, with minimal noise. It seems quieter on AM than any of my other small radios. I'm sure the somewhat-rolled-off high end helps with the noise, but it seems like it has a good tuner design as well.
On FM it gets all of my usual stations well, except for the difficult 93.7 in Santa Barbara, which comes in pretty well on my CCRadio-SW (my best portable radio for FM). Note that the PR-D7 tunes FM in mono, not stereo. This is good for improved FM sensitivity, but you won't be able to hear stereo FM through headphones. My intended listening is through the speaker only, so having mono FM is a plus for me. Some radios tune FM in stereo only, with no way to switch to mono.
The built-in battery charger is a nice feature. According to the manual, it charges for seven hours. It will stop charging in less than seven hours if the batteries have reached full charge. Keep in mind that charging six batteries in series will not produce the best run time, because some of the batteries may not be fully charged. It's better to charge them individually in an external charger. A good compromise might be to use the internal charger most of the time, and use an external charger when it's necessary to fully charge each cell to get the maximum run time.
The PR-D7 has simple controls and seems well built. I was able to set the clock and the presets without even looking at the manual. I think it's a good value for the money. I'm pleasantly surprised by it.
Customer Review: A Fun, Quality and Reliable TRAVEL Radio 3.0
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently read analysis of the Sangean PR-D5 vs. the Sangean PR-D7 radios. The reviews missed the point: These two Sangean radios target different market niches and needs. The PR-D5 is essentially a table radio while the PR-D7 targets folks that need a radio for domestic travel. I'm sure the engineers at Sangean see it this way. Why not buy both radios?
The Sangean PR-D7 has a clean crisp sound with very low noise floor on AM and FM bands, a great improvement over Sangean radios of similar size such as the ATS-505 or the ATS-909. BTW, I've tuned in all the major stations in the greater Phoenix area without a problem including the hard to catch 89.5, a classical station.
I have been very surprised at the overall performance of the PR-D7 radio and listen to this radio on a daily basis. The Sangean PR-D7 ($59) does 90 percent of what the Trivoli Songbook does at 25 percent of the Songbook's $200 price tag.
Still, the PR-D7 could use a multi-voltage AC adapter and a lock switch to be a complete global travel radio (like the Sangean ATS-606). Also, when traveling, cloth pouch would be a really nice touch. And while I'm making my wish list, the PR-D7 in a red or yellow case would be neat and easy to spot in a hotel room so you don't leave it behind.
One of the things I like about this radio are the controls, easy to learn and use, plus you can see the frequency and time on the display.
Update September 2008: I just recently purchased Sanyo's Eneloop AA rechargeable batteries for my PR-D7 giving me greater flexibility when enjoying this wonderful portable radio. I highly recommend Sanyo's Eneloop batteries.
Last week, from my greater Phoenix location, I picked KNX 1070 Los Angeles about 10PM in the evening.
Update October 2009: After owning this radio for 2 years, my little PR-D7 fell off a second story balcony and is now in pieces, so I ordered a second PR-D7 this morning. I suffer from cancer and kidney disease, so I've been in and out of the hospital several times this year, each time, my little Sangean PR-D7 went with me.
One of the neatest features of this PR-D7 is the no hassle recharging of the AA batteries, the radio automatically does this for you!!!
BTW, I ordered this radio from Amazon on a Friday morning and received the radio the next Tuesday morning. How's that for service!!!
Update January 2011: I have since purchased a Sangean PR-D9W radio which is now my go 2 radio.
Customer Review: Good sound, easy to use portable radio
Summary: 4 Stars
My previous portable radio has a problem with the earphone plug so I was in the market for a replacement. There are not a lot of manufacturers of portable radios but after research I decided on the Sangean PR-D7 model.
I purchased a second PR-D7 since I liked my first one so much.
This radio was fairly easy to set up for the time and station presets but I needed to follow the manual closely. I like the various automatic shut off options which run between 60 minutes and 15 minutes as I often listen to the radio at bedtime. The sound of the radio is good with a bias toward bass rather than treble. It would be nice to be able to adjust the sound using a tone button to vary the bass vs. treble sound.
The controls are convenient to use, even in the dark. Please note that radio panel lights up every time the radio is turned on. This is generally helpful but may be an issue in dark room with a sleeping spouse.
The radio seems to be well built and durable yet light enough to carry from room to room or outside the house. The reception is better than my previous portable radio but not super strong. The digital tuning is sensitive. The battery cover has a nice feature so that it slides and flips up rather than detaches. Unfortunately I broke one of the small plastic hinges so my cover does detach. Sangean support would have replaced the radio as there is no separate fix for the cover but I didn't want to go through the hassle for this problem.
The rechargeable battery feature is really nice. I kept getting error messages after a recharge which was perplexing. However, the problem was a couple of bad batteries and not the unit.
Overall, this is a good choice for a lightweight portable radio and a good value. I still prefer my son's excellent Sony 410V portable radio but that model has been discontinued.
Customer Review: Excellent Reception, Lots of Sound, Only lacks low-end bass
Summary: 5 Stars
My previous radio was a CCRadio from Sangean/C.Crane Corp. With that radio, at first the display got cancer, and then it just shut down last month, after about 10 years of daily service. I was not happy because it cost a friggin fortune and while the radio lasted 10 years, the display lasted only 4 years. For six years I was tuning the radio in the dark! Kitchen Water Vapor had killed that LCD.
This radio seems fantastic! VERY thin and light, only 1/3rd the size of the CC Crane, only 1.5" thick, 8" wide, 4.5" high, it's so small and light that honestly it should come with a wrist-strap or mounts for a carry-strap.
So far the reception is GREAT! I bought it to pull in our weak KPBS station in San Diego, and was shocked to hear the station when i first turned it on, without diddling with the tuning or the antenna or anything! I put it next to the dead CCRane and frankly, I wish i'd junked that thing years ago !! Reception is FAR better than the Eton FR300, probably 5-10 dB more sensitivity.
The radio can be reprogrammed to jump in 50 Khz steps so you can get the same fine-tuning available on a CCRane radio with this unit !!
The only negative is the small 2.5" speaker. It's the best-performing 2.5" speaker I've seen, but I think the case has space for a 3" or 3.5" speaker to put out more bass. I'd pay $10 more for a better speaker. But, the radio gets plenty loud without distorting on the 2.5" speaker.
Anyone buying at less than $80 gets a bargain and I recommend this radio highly. After 2 years of service, the only downside is the complicated alarm system !! If you set the alarm, it will take you 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it off !! I recommend writing instructions for the alarm buttons and pasting them on the back of the radio.