DT-400W Weather Alert Pocket Radio, AM/FM Tuner, Yellow Portable

So I have had a problem. When I go to football games or when I am at work, i have poor reception. I have bought multiple radios, digital and analog, over the past 3-4 years searching for a product that would fit the bill, and nothing came up. I wanted something that was portable, Battery replaceable (not rechargeable internal) that had AM capability, digital tuner, and the ability to lock the device buttons to not be accidentally pressed. I found many items from 9-29 dollars that fit all but the button lock and tried all of them. While some were nice, some were crap as you would expect, the reception on all of them was just plain incapable of good enough reception for my needs. I figured since I exhausted the cheap market, id start looking more expensive. I went on Google and then eventually several different AI chats to ask for the best for my needs. Grok eventually came up with a list of 10 possible canditates. I went down each one...one by one, with prices from 40-200 and eventually settled on this one and its non weather band brother (same, black, no weather channel, slightly cheaper). I opted for this one because i could eventually use it as an emergency radio in the case of emergencies. After it arrived, i could clearly say the reception was way above the rest I tried. Finally i was able to take it to work and to the football games.....and its perfection. While true audiophiles would disagree with the term "perfection" for my needs, i couldnt have asked for a better product. The only way it could be better is if it was color matched to my school colors. (for football reasons). If i was overly critical i could say that the belt clip itself wasnt big enough, but lets face it, none of them are. for the price point, it wasn't "cheap" but it does hit that quality metric making the price worth it.

EDIT: With use my positive impressions have only strengthened. In particular the AM performance is impressive, and user interface is simple, logical, and easily operated by feel even in the dark. The controls feel solid. However, AM is dying for many reasons. Among them the rise of RF soup generated by nearly every gadget and computer (not to mention AM talk format poisoning the public discourse with highly partisan dishonesty). Unfortunately no radio can fix either of those. Fortunately, the FM works pretty well, too. :) I have owned and used a lot of radios, AM, FM, shortwave, and two-way, over the last 40 years. This one has some great qualities. From the point of view of AM tuner performance in a pocket-sized radio, this model has little or no serious competition. From just south of San Francisco, CA, in the middle of the night, I was able to tune 850 KOA Denver, 670 KBOI, 1160 KSL SLC (with a powerful local next door on 1170 Khz) 1000 KOMO Seattle, 600 KOGO San Diego, 640 KFI Los Angeles, no problems. 1040 WHO Des Moines very rough and weak indoors, a little better outdoors. Pretty much something on every frequency at night. 1530 KFBK Sacramento comes in even in the daytime. Of course, very careful rotation of the receiver (either flat or stood up) through 360 to get peak signal is a very important part of getting these weak signals, and they do fade in and out but the point is they're there and the receiver's good enough to pick them up, and separate them from their neighboring signals, which puts this in a class of "good to excellent". None of this would be particularly exceptional if we weren't talking about a small pocket-sized radio with digital tuning. The only competition I can think of is Sony's SRF-59, and both of those I've owned have detuned and stopped working adequately. Time will tell how this one holds up over time. FM stereo sound is excellent with good earbuds. Clean, crisp, impactful. The supplied earbuds were disappointing. I use NuForce NE-600s with excellent results. The "DBB" feature seems like a gimmick to me, grossly exaggerating bass. It sounds great with that feature turned "off". I would rate the FM sensitivity as "quite good" but not surprising. There are a few stations that won't switch to stereo unless I fiddle with the headphone cord orientation, that come in more easily in stereo with some of my best FM radios. However, to Sangean's credit, I think they set the threshold to switch to stereo pretty high so you almost don't need the supplied mono/stereo switching option. If it's in stereo, the signal's probably clean enough. I get three NOAA stations at my location, two with perfect reception quality. A built-in speaker in such a tiny pocket radio is unsurprisingly limited in both frequency range and volume output. However, I think of it as an extremely useful feature for listening to NOAA weather-casts, NPR, news (but I repeat myself), or sports. Or just to fall asleep to chatter. So I'm going to say overall I'm really glad this radio has a speaker and it works great for bedside listening. Feature-wise, I really like the way the BAND button works: One press selects AM by frequency (520 to 1710 Khz) with UP/DOWN buttons, the next FM by frequency (87.5 to 108.0 Mhz) with UP/DOWN buttons, and the last is a 19 preset "carousel" of your pre-set favorites, which have no restrictions on whether they're AM or FM, and can be set up in any order. I really like that feature. The "Memo" button can be pressed to activate the amber backlight for a few seconds, to see the time or frequency, which is handy. In fact, this radio may be one of the easiest to use in the dark of any I've had the pleasure of owning. The 90 minute sleep feature is fine with me. It's easily defeated by holding the POWER button down a couple seconds. Then the radio will stay on until the batteries run down. Overall I find it useful, but it may not be to everyone's taste to have to occasionally have it shut off during extended listening sessions. I'm going to give this radio a solid "A" grade. There are certainly better radios, but not too many that fit in your pocket or travel bag so easily. Next time I travel to the other coast this one is coming along to log some east coast AM stations I've never been able to hear. Half the fun is doing that with simple handheld equipment, while out on a walk. :)

This is one of the better portable radios that I have owned. I took it out of the box as soon as I received it and continue to use it even now as I type this. I am very pleased with a lot of things that this radio has to offer. First of all, I am pleased with the sound quality when listening with a pair of earphones. When I have it set to stereo with the "deep bass boost" setting also turned on, the sound is even better than other radios and mp3 players I own. The built-in speaker itself may be small but still produces a good sound nonetheless. I am still able to hear the speaker from all the away across a room. The unit also gets very good battery life, I'm still on a full gauge right now ever since using it for the first time. It gets an estimated 40+ hours with 2 AA batteries which is long enough to not make battery life an issue. I also like the built-in LED light which I find very useful when using at night or in dark rooms. I was able to learn how to set preset stations without really referring to the manual so it is not very difficult to set presets. This unit falls just short of 5 stars because its flaw is in a very important criteria of portable radios. I constantly switch between AM, FM and Weather bands and both AM bands and Weather bands get excellent reception. I live in Northern California but at night, this player can pull in AM stations located all over the West Coast. I've heard a couple stations in Southern California and the farthest was one in Seattle, Washington. I was very amazed. The same is said for the Weather band. After just reorienting the player a little bit, I was able to get a clear signal. The alert feature for the weather band activates only when there is a real alert so most of the time, it stays inactive. However, in terms of the FM band, I am a little disappointed with the reception to be honest which is why I took off one star. Let me explain. In general, the player is able to pull in all the major FM stations in my area with a good signal. However, the FM tuner does not do a very good job of filtering stations from nearby frequencies when I'm tuned into a specific frequency. This is especially true with low power stations. Example given, there is a low powered station in my area on 103.5 and a high powered one on 103.3. As I listen to 103.5 and move around, the signal is frequently being cut off, almost completely at times, from the high powered station on 103.3, even on the mono setting. I was disappointed by this observation as it seemed there was almost no filtering of nearby frequencies at all. The best FM tuner I believe would restrict that 103.3 signal to ONLY the 103.3 frequency but this FM tuner clearly does not do that. My iriver T-10 MP3 player does a better job with filtering FM stations on nearby frequencies from my experience. Overall, I am still happy with this purchase and recommend this for everyone who is looking for a portable radio.

I really Like the DT-400W Radio, I also have the C Crane Pocket, The C Crane Pocket is a superior radio in several ways and worth the little extra money. I also have the Sangean DT-200 also which is the same radio as the DT-400 it just has the Weather Alert and NOAA weather, and its Yellow. Other than that they are the Same radio. Quality of product is Good, Sound Quality from speaker Is Good. FM stereo sound quality Is Good from Good quality Earbuds. The earbuds that come with the radio are Not ones I Like to use, I like the press In ear type earbuds. AM reception is Good for a Pocket radio of its size, With No external AM antenna it does pretty well. When I want to Pull in More AM stations I use My Tecsun AN-200 adjustable Loop AM Antenna they are awesome for really bringing In those weak AM stations, On a weak station it goes from: I can barely hear/understand it to, Wow what a great Improvement and very clear sound and even music on AM is nice to listen to with the external AM Loop antenna. This is a small radio that is easy to program, This is a Emergency Radio, the speaker sound is descent, it designed to NOT use a lot of battery power but conserve it, so Earbugs Good ones are a better choice for higher quality sound. As for FM reception Earbuds act as the FM antenna, It also comes with a separate plug in antenna, either one works as a antenna when playing sound through the speaker. Deep Bass Button works well through the earbuds. For better FM reception while playing through the speaker, I have a Sangean ANT-60 reel SW FM antenna that works well for bring in weak stations. Things I like about this Radio: I like the size of this radio, and the color. Sound quality, it Locks in stations very well, The Battery Life is very good, In a emergency situation It is nice to have a radio that can play for 80 hours straight before battery replacement is needed. I like the Plug in Wire FM antenna, The metal Telescoping antennas can get bent or broken fairly easily as they are fragile, But a wire is flexible. You can plug in a Longer wire FM Antenna to improve FM reception Into the headphone jack. I bought a few extra Headphone jack plugs and attached a 75foot wire to this little radio to get further stations it works well. Things I would have Liked to have had is a button press to see the time while the radio is on, you have to turn the radio off to see the clock Not a big deal. for such a Great radio, Maybe a countdown on the 90minute timer, that's the only thing. It really is a great radio

The Sangean DT-400W is one of the best pocket radios currently available on the market—if not the very best. It stands out not only for its outstanding build quality and incredibly compact size, but also for its exceptional FM reception, which is remarkable for such a small radio. The only thing I would improve is the included earbuds. They are fairly basic and don't allow the radio to reach its full audio potential. Pair it with a good set of headphones, and the sound quality is noticeably better. Other than that, this radio is simply outstanding and highly recommended.

This cute, mustard-colored little radio is perfect! So far, it has met all my expectations. At first, I wondered why the speaker is not right in the center, but I think I understand now. You can't securely stand the radio in the vertical position (it will tip over very easily), but, as long as you're not listening with heavy headphones which pull the radio off the table, you can stand it on either side with or without the noodle antenna. On the left side, the speaker will be a little higher, and on the right side a little lower. So you can choose depending on your listening level. The controls are well placed and easy to use. With the clear instructions initially right in front of me, I had no trouble at all installing the batteries, setting the time, entering stations into memory and then recalling them with the My Favorite button. Just remember that you'll see an "M" in the display for any station you enter into memory and a "My" when you listen after pushing the My Favorite button and choosing a pre-set station with the tuning button. To leave My Favorites, just push the Band button until you are back with either the AM or FM band and no longer see "My" in the display. Whenever I pick up the radio, I always check two things: Is it set to Stereo, Mono, or Speaker? Is the Bass Boost switch on or off? Then, I adjust according to my listening plans. Once, when I forgot to check, I kept wondering why I wasn't hearing anything, then saw I had left the radio set for FM instead of Speaker. After reviewing several pocket radios, I chose this one because my past experience with Sangean radios has been positive and because audio sound is a priority for me. This little radio does not disappoint. The audio is smooth and mellow, making for very pleasant listening. The noodle antenna works well for FM stations through the speaker. Some might find its long dangle a bit awkward when traveling, but it can be wrapped around the radio or your hand. It is fine for news and talk. However, any kind of music will naturally sound much better with headphones or ear buds with the stereo and Bass Boost options. There is a 24/7 classical music station where I live, and I listen with much enjoyment through my Audio-Technica ATH-M30 headphones or my high end Sennheiser headphones. All in all, this cute radio is a delight. It sounds good, pulls in far-away stations with ease, and is simple to use. I am so glad I bought it!

I've had mine for a handful of months now. It is a great pocket radio. I work outside and keep it on all day. I basically listen to AM stations, but my few experiences with FM were fine. FM may sound a little better than AM. Keep in mind that it is a very small radio with a tiny speaker. The laws of physics say that a single, tiny speaker cannot reproduce the full audible spectrum or play real loudly w/o distorting (regardless of B---'s marketing hype). This speaker is mostly for voice, and plays loudly enough to overcome nearly all background noise (I'm including trains and big trucks here). I've never tried the earbuds. It goes weeks between battery changes. The battery indicator's been down to one bar for a week, but it hasn't died yet. It automatically turns off after 90 minutes. I'd rather it didn't but, on the other hand, it a quick, easy way to keep track of time. The weather bands are very handy. Working outdoors, it's nice to be able to check on those clouds that're rolling in. I've dropped it a couple of times. It's been rain splattered a few times. Cleaning chemicals have gotten on it. No problems yet. The only bummer is that I'm so completely satisfied with it that it won't be available when I DO need a replacement ;). joe 29 May 2010 addition... I got caught in a thunder storm last week, and forgot the radio was in my shirt pocket. It got soaked and quit working. I opened the battery door, removed the batteries, blew the radio out with compressed air, and hung it in front of a 6" fan, in my work truck. 2-3 hours later it worked as good as new. I left it in front of a desk fan overnight. Great radio. June 2011... I got caught in a sudden thunderstorm again. Radio was in my shirt pocket, and quit working. I repeated the above battery, canned air, and fan routine. The radio was working again a couple of hours later, and works fine now. Again. 08 Nov 2011... Guess what... Sudden rain, soaked radio, dead radio, battery removal, canned air, truck fan, working radio. Again. Wish I could add stars. 14 May 2012... I broke it. Not the radio's fault, it worked flawlessly 'til I slammed it in a utility cabinet door today. Of course, when the door wouldn't latch I slammed it harder, rather than look first. I'm ordering another right now. 12 May 2015... The second one is doing fine. 07 May 2016 Well, the second one broke. I don't know what happened but the speaker just plays quiet static now. This time I replaced it with C. Crane's CC pocket am/fm/wb radio. It came yesterday and, so far, I can say its controls are a little more user friendly. and the fm works without adding an antenna wire.

So why do people buy this radio? Bright yellow color? Size? Regular stations performance quality? Open memory? or the NOAA weather channels? For me it was first the availablity of NOAA, then the size, then the quality of am/fm functionality. Well the design on the NOAA FEATURE seems to at best be impaired. And at worst it is something likely to fail when you MOST need it... I.E. "STORM TIME USA". Maybe some option exists that I am missing on making this function ADEQUATELY. If so, my rating changes to a 5 star....but I doubt it is other than a design issue. I have had this complex, highly engineered hi tech company product for about 20 minutes and set it up and tried it. Picture this ...I live in the suburbs in the middle of a 6 million population metro area . No intervening buildings or mountains etc. in the way....flat and only cluttered by single family homes and a broad open sky. Why can I not get any NOAA reception in my house? ..ok in my backyard if I stand a certain direction and hold the radio just right.... away from house...I can get an average quality signal on one of the channels.. PS my portable ham radio gets two channels and some old radio shack weather radio picks up 2 channels inside the house. BUT IF I HANG THE PLASTIC WIRE ANTENNA...all bundled in a loop with a twistie tie....stuck in the top , in the antenna / ear plug hole, then reception works for NOAA in my home. Another options seems to be keep your earphones plugged in all the time and let it be your antenna of sorts. At least the twistee tie earphones don't cover the volume or on off switch...but are still in the way and can get lost or broken. NO REAL HURRAY here... having to step outside during lighting or heavy rain if my little detachable wire bundle/or earphone gets misplaced or broken....is NOT a functional solution of any value I guess the absence of NOAA in Japan or Korea or where ever makes it hard to come up with a decent solution.... BUT GEE HOUR ABOUT an extendable permanently attached steel antenna????????? Ground breaking design I guess for Sangean??? Then I could use the ear jack only when I want to for what it is for...and have easy acces to the antenna covered up volume and on off controls........ AND not worry either about losing the plastic antenna wire bundle... or if stepping outside to hear NOAA (in true wireless fashion) catching another signal...i.e. some aerial to ground voltage. I wish I had my first am / fm transitor portable radio today.... granted NO NOAA ....but it had an extenable metal antenna; useful when needed and out of the way otherwise. I could send it to SANGEAN. THAT was ground breaking engineering design as recently as 1959 (when I got it)for zenth or bulova or whatever it was ...not much of a breakthru today, 50+ YEARS LATER. DO YOU GUYS MARKET OR CONSUMER TEST YOUR PRODUCTS? Maybe other customers don't care. Maybe this unit is unique or plagued by operator error? ( yeah look at the "manual".. hard to see any directions being missed) I guess for Sangean, NOAA must mean...NOT OPERABLE ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION. While AMAZON IS GOOD ON RETURNS, I HATE TO WASTE THEIR TIME OR MINE.

Radio muy comoda para llevar, la playa, el campo, el baño, la rerraza... Muy buena calidad; sonido bueno, sensibilidad buena... Bonita para mi; cuestion de gustos... El unico inconveniente es su precio, muy cara...

As Sourav said in the review, he is correct. It's not cheap chinese product. The reception is excellent and sound quality is awesome. I checked with FM, AM as well both works absolutely fantastic. WX is not useful in India. It's very small in size and compact. I recommend this product for those who like to listen radio, don't buy any other brand. Just go for it !!! Before buying, I searched a lot in google and in youtube which one to buy. Finally I found this is the perfect pocket size radio and no tension of antenna one of the major plus point of this radio. Initially, i felt it's expensive but once i had it in my hand. I felt it's long lasting quality in it. Lock button, LCD display (Good quality and durable), Speaker, Clock, Removable Belt Clip (very sturdy), 19 Random Presets, 90 minutes auto shutoff, Digital AM/FM tunner really helps to lock perfect radio stations. The biggest advantage i feel is it's not having an telescopic antenna which usually comes with all other radios. A headphone jack works as an antenna, is awesome!!! Now, I will tell you the dimensions of this Sangean-DT400W Radio: 2.5 inches width, 4.25 inches in height and thickness 1 inch. Including battery the weight is around 155 grams. Programming is dam easy in it. Once we set it as My favorites, no need to tune it again and again. So far I have used panasonic, sony and philips radio's but the quality of sound and reception in SANGEAN DT-400W is not comparable to any other brands. A very high build quality is fantastic in my opinion.

Recommend this one. AM reception is excellent as is the FM. I mainly listen with headphones and the sound quality is very good. Weather channel is handy and does work. The in built speaker is handy. Of course this is a tiny speaker. Running talk radio on AM it’s certainly usable. With FM station that have better sound quality the speaker works but your not getting the full quality of the audio from the station. But again perfectly serviceable Like the yellow colour you certainly can’t miss place it. Battery life is amazing and nice it’s just AA cells easy to get anywhere. Having a clock permanently showing when not listing to the radio is brilliant. Highly recommended radio. Little pricey but worth it.

This is a worthless piece of junk in Australia . You can only program AM stations in units of 10. So eg you cant program 612 only 610. Hence reception is poor

Es un radio muy práctico y está hecho de materiales de buena calidad. Es de llamar la atención la buena recepción que tiene y el buen sonido que sale de su bocina, no se distorsiona y tiene muy buen alcance. Lo recomiendo ampliamente!!