Sony SRF-M37W Walkman Digital Tuning Weather/FM/AM Stereo Radio (Black)

Dropped my first one that I had for many years, while walking along the surf on the beach. Didn't know I had dropped it when putting it back into my fanny pack. After about a quarter mile later, I realized it had not gone into Mt bag but had been dropped in the surf, I walked back to try & find it but it was nowhere to be found. Probably got washed out into the ocean. Don't know if it would have worked after falling into water anyway. But I ordered a new one online, was so glad to see they still sold them. I had bought my first one in the store. Then found the exact same radio online but was about double the cost of the original one I had. But I had the first one about 15 years. And it was so good, it still played like brand new. So after I got the 2nd one, it is exactly the same one I had lost. I used my old headphones with it because the one that came with the one I ordered had earphone covers that had dry rotted in the package. The foam material just crumbled into pieces. But the headphones were ok, just didn't have good ear covers. Can't find just the foam ear covers so the headphones can't be used since they hurt your ears without the covers. So I just used my old headphones with the radio & it works just fine. The radio is very good quality as my first one was playing like new when I lost it after 15 years. So I hope this new one lasts just as long. I would definitely recommend buying the Sony Walkman. It is small & easy to carry & store. It plays very well with exceptional reception if area stations. It has the weatherband station as well for up -to -date weather news. I was not excited about paying $250 for the new one but since it is such a good radio, I am sure I will get my money's worth out of it. Was disappointed about the headphones being stored so long that the speakers ear covers were dry rotted, but so glad I had the good headphones from my old radio to use. It has very high volume & good quality headphones cord. And the headphones are adjustable for head size. Came well packaged in original plastic container & was a never used radio - new. Except that it is a very outdated electronic device & had been stored for many years I am sure & that is why the headphones ear covers were old & dried up. But shipment & delivery time were excellent & I am well pleased to have the original Sony Walkman again.

I won't list the pros - the pros are everything they say that it does - it does those things. MOST everything is GREAT about this little unit - so buy it and you WILL enjoy it... The FM reception isn't the best in the world, but it gets powerful stations that are well known in my area. I wish there was a "scan to next station" button. There isn't, but you can 'hold' the station select button and it will move through the stations quickly...just won't stop at the next strong one. No big deal. WHEN YOU SET THE CLOCK -- be sure to LET GO of the CLOCK button after the minute it takes to hear the beep. THEN you set the time... I kept holding down the clock button and trying to set the time / my mistake... so push the clock button and then after the beep, LET GO and set the time. BUY better headphones for it. I recommend Titanium headphones by KOSS. They aren't that expensive and they are the BEST ever. The unit is very LIGHT in weight. Be careful not to drop it. (this is a good thing) The clip is small and for a BIG FAT guy this wouldn't do...over 6', over 200lbs, but I'm just a little slip of a thing so it's sufficient for me. No biggie though, I just hold it in my hand while I run (what I use it for). The weather station is picked up but it's very faint - but in dangerous weather - BEFORE the tornado comes, you'll be able to hear it and glad you have it / if your internet and tv go out. Battery life is unknown. It's true the clock stays on ... I don't think that sucks the battery a lot - does it? Who cares, it's just one measly AAA battery and that's just great. Wish it was YELLOW like the sony sport so I could find it easily - but I'm glad it's SMALL, smaller than a pack of cigarettes and about that weight. Overall I'm really happy with it and I think you will be too. It does exactly what it says and I have no doubt that is why it is so popular.

I've been using C Crane radios, Sangean, Grundig and other high end radios around the house for decades. When I decided I needed a 'Walkman' type radio for working on the grounds, I first looked at the premium brands. I found several of the reviewers there also rating this much more affordable little radio quite highly. I decided to give this little thing a try, considering the very reasonable price. Obviously, with five stars, I'm very pleased. I live in the Austin, Texas and listen almost exclusively to talk radio. There are two AM stations here, and two AM stations in San Antonio (60 miles away?) that I usually switch back & forth. All four sound just great from this tiny radio. I also preset Austin FM stations, and they also sound great. Moving around, working in the yard, doesn't really show much degradation of the signal. Battery life is better than expected. After several weeks, I'm still on the original single AAA battery. The HOLD (lock) switch is very useful, locking all of the push buttons, but not the volume dial. That prevents activity from inadvertently 'pushing' buttons, but allows for easy volume adjustment when needed. The digital display is small, but adequate, even in sunlight. If you are considering the tiny premium radios at twice or three times the price of this one, reconsider, as I did. As my opening sentence indicates, I'm willing to spend the money for premium quality radios. I'm an engineer, and I'm picky about my "stuff". I have nothing but praise for this little Sony, and wouldn't trade it for any of the much more expensive brands. As for the earphones, I'm also very finicky about the ear-buds I use while working. I don't recommend them for any outdoor use, because of the safety concern. The supplied earphones are comfortable, and still allow sufficient ambient outdoor sounds to get by to warn of approaching neighbors or dangers. Most ear-buds don't, and are dangerous to wear outside. This thing is perfect for its purpose, and also makes for an inexpensive emergency AM/FM/Weather radio to keep in the office drawer, glove box and night table, next to the flashlights. A two pack of AAA batteries will keep it going for a long time. Oh, wait... one complaint is with the size of the removable belt clip. It allows for a 1-1/4" wide, but thin, belt. I found it a bit of a hassle to use, and a bit small for the work/gardening belts I wear. It was so much easier to just put the radio into a pants pocket, and I suppose that gives it a tiny bit more protection from 'things that happen' when working in the yard. I also bought the Velcro/elastic arm band for use with this radio, but found it unnecessary. The little radio fits easily in a pants pocket, and the earphone cord (also the antenna) is seemingly a perfect length to allow full motion, but not get in the way... especially if routed behind the shoulder. Five stars, even with the one belt clip minor annoyance. You may wear smaller belts.

Overall a very nice product. I bought this ostensibly as an upgrade to the radio I was using, the Sony SRF 59: Sony SRF-59 FM/AM Radio Walkman with Sony MDR Headphones I think the AM reception *might* be marginally better than the SRF-59. The FM reception is not. I would rate the two nearly identical in FM reception, with maybe a slight edge to the SRF-59 under some conditions. The digital controls are a nice feature, and I like that it uses a AAA cell instead of a AA cell. Battery life seems quite good, and the clock seems to keep great time. Unfortunately the buttons are just a little too easy to push, so it is not uncommon to accidentally change the channel or turn the unit on or off. Fortunately they provided a "lock" feature to lock out the keys, but it is a bit of a pain to have to "unlock" it to change the channel or turn it on or off. I have to keep the keys locked when the radio is in my briefcase, to prevent it from being turned on and wearing the battery down (thus losing all of my presets and clock time!) It seems like it would have been SO much easier if they had just made it so you have to HOLD the power button to turn the unit on or off. As it is, you merely have to bump the button to do this. This would seem to be a very easy firmware fix. The other thing I don't like is the location of the headphone jack, on the side. If you have a right-angle plug on your headphones, you'll be OK, but if you don't, it could be an issue, and here's why. When using it in AM mode, you want to have the unit horizontal for best performance from the ferrite rod antenna. The unit is already almost too wide for shirt-pocket use, having a straight earphone plug pushes it over the edge. I ended up buying a 1/8" right-angle adapter to address this issue. I am glad they stuck with a rotary volume control, on top of the unit! Yes, this is a nice unit, and I can recommend it, performance-wise, but if you want a nice, simple, cheap, and rugged AM/FM portable in a perfect form factor for a shirt pocket, go for the $15 SRF-59. Add a set of Sony MDR-EX71 earbuds and you are golden!

The unit is one of the last quality offerings the original lineage of Sony developed units. They are discontinued hence the high price. A lot of very uniformed people posting non verified purchase reviews, head in the sand, don't understand it. UNIT IS DISCONTINUED and people line up to get these, new or used. "Find them cheaper" some say. Not the SONY brand, cheaper Chinese knockoffs, sure you can find them. I bought it 9 years ago, heavy use and it works. I have replaced the headphones which double as the antenna. Original ones are flimsy and inconsistent quality at best. Want one of these? Have to pay a heavy price for it, again, DISCONTINUED! You are receiving last batch items. Make sure to test it immediately and put it through heavy paces, if it breaks down, return it. Last thing? The unit is NOT "AM Stereo" as it is listed. It is AM MONO and FM Stereo. Otherwise, top notch quality.

After seeing lots of cheesy, poorly designed low-end products from Sony over the last 20 years, I was completely taken by surprise by this quality of this thing. It is an extremely well designed pocket radio, both from the radio frequency (RF) engineering side and the ergonomic and construction side. This thing is bigger than some other pocket radios but probably about the smallest you want to make a radio that is still easy to operate. In my testing, the FM reception with this small, portable Sony beat out some very high-end audiophile tuners that use outside FM antennas along with an FM antenna preamp! It's THAT good at reception! Likewise, the AM reception is very, very good. Sony did an amazing job with the chips they designed for this radio. As far as sound quality, it sounds balanced to me. Not overly bright and easy to listen to for hours. The included headphones, while not the highest quality, are perfectly suitable for radio use and have a light clamping force for a high comfort level. My only complaint with this pocket radio would be that Sony needs to add a small push button to temporarily back-light the display. Yeah, you can listen to music and talk programs by using an MP3 player but radio still has its charms. If you're looking for an extremely well engineered portable radio that sounds great and doesn't cost a lot of money, this is it. Great job, Sony! By the way, if you check out a lot of the 1-star reviewers, you'll see most of them have only reviewed ONE Amazon product.... this one. I suspect some of Sony competitors are "seeding" negative reviews of this thing to pull down the ratings. Don't trust short reviews from people who have only reviewed one item at Amazon. It's a cheap marketing ploy used by competitors who can't compete in the marketplace without resorting to sleazy tactics.

I am writing this as a retro review due to my fondness of the SRF-M37W. I acquired my 1st back approx. 2005 and may still have had it, had I not finally beat it into submission a couple years ago (2014) when I immediately replaced it. I decided to write a review as I am ordering another just as a back-up device. DURABILITY: As noted above, this unit has proved reliably durable for my use over time. I've worked in the utilities industry since 2005 and anything on my person is going to be bumped and abused by way of climbing in/out of manholes, up/down buildings/hills/mountains, crawling under/through walls/fences, slips and falls, etc etc. This was mostly in extreme desert heat, but plenty of rain and snow as well for upwards of 16 hours a day. FORM FACTOR: I originally wore it clipped to my belts (snaked under shirt) but began to keep in front pants pocket (also snaked under shirt) after a couple years to minimize above noted abuse. If kept in pocket, I would liken it's size to being a little smaller than a hard-pack of cigarettes. If kept on belt, it does stay rather secure. EASE OF USE: Easily, my most favored aspect of this unit is the size and spacing of the buttons. I've never really used this for music, but instead for listening to talk radio as I work, both on AM and FM and as such will frequently jump around to different shows. As stated before, I prefer keeping it in my front pocket and can still easily change bands or stations through the fabric of pants even when wearing gloves. The volume wheel and power button are also very easy to adjust through pants pocket with gloves as well. RECEPTION: Its reception works as well as one would expect for its size; it will suffer indoors if structure is caged in a lot of steel (e.g. commercial buildings) or concrete/rebar (e.g. manholes, tunnels) but is otherwise just fine in a setting such as a house or office. The reception is also fine in the cab of a vehicle so long as the engine is off and any laptops in cab are powered off or in sleep. OTHER NOTES: I've never had any complaints on battery usage, which runs on a single AAA. As noted before, when not listening to my IPOD, I have this on for anywhere from 10-16 hours a day and (if you include accidentally leaving it on overnight between use) I still seem to only need to change the battery every 3+ weeks. I've tried a couple other models/brands in noted time, but ultimately prefer and will continue to use this. Hope this review is helpful.

I'm replacing an older walkman which had a tape cassette feature. This newer version of the walkman, sans tape playing feature, is smaller and handier to carry with you. The AM and FM bands work very nicely but the weather band has yet to pick up any weather frequency. This is not a detriment because I don't consider that is a very useful feature anyway. The battery life is shorter than the old version but that is to be expected because this takes one AAA battery and the old version required two AA batteries, hence, longer life. The durability of the one battery is adequate though. I assume you are buying this for the AM and FM bands, and in that case, this is a very good device. I've had this for a couple of months so far and things look good. Time will tell if it is durable. The earphones which come with the radio have good sound but poor tension to adequately remain firmly on your head.