EtonElite Executive AM/FM/Aircraft Band/SSB/Shortwave Radio

It's a great little radio. It's very small and would be really easy to take anywhere, to a game farm for a little entertaimnet when screens aren't an appealing thought. On a picnic, on a road trip or some other kind of small adventure. It has a great tuner, it has great features which help make it much easier to use, for instance it can scan for channels which makes it easier to find air band frequencies which are in use rather than having to scan manually, arrive at a frequency which is in use but not in use at the moment that you scan so there's nothing to hear and no way for an uninitiated listener to know that they are on the right channel so to speak. It has every feature one could want from aradio and then some. It has a sleep mode so if you're listening and you fall asleep the radio will turn itself off after a pre-determined amount of time (The one sleeping in this case is you, not the radio). A radio like this, which has a reciever that can tune into almost any frequency used for radio by people is a little window on a world that exists but is otherwise invisible. One can listen to CB or Ham radio and there are still people who broadcast tiny radio stations which exist only for a few hours a week. Hearing the converrsations between airline pilots is interesting too. There are things that happen way up above our heads, interactions between people up there, that we would otherwise be unaware of, and they're interesting. It's a great toy and an interesting and fun thing to have.It has a squelch feature, so that even when the radion signal is weak or subject to inteference the little radio can make it more audible and clearer to hear. It is genuinely a wonderful device, if you want to hear what humans, even ones who are quite far away, are putting into the world using radio waves, this thing is definitely on your side. It's unquestionable a tool you want to use for that purpose. It does chuff when it's tuned but it makes up for that by having an autotune feature (seek).The flaw? It's not that it's not a high fidelity device and that the speaker isn't a powerful speaker, which is something that's possible today but wasn't possible when this device was originally designed (Also it's quite charming and a little nostalgic that the speaker isn't the same thing that one might get in a bass boosted sound bar). The flaw is to do with the way batteries are dealt with by the little radio. It can charge batteries but very slowly, putting a couple of L-Ion rechargables in it would seem to be a good idea. But it seems that the radio chews through them even if it's plugged into the wall outlet. I've had to take the batteries out and put them into a charger a few times when I unplugged it from the wall and found that the batteries were dead. It isn't all that light on batteries and will flatten a set in two days or so from fully charged (Better batteries might last a little longer, the ones I've chosen are eveready which while reputable, well better batteries do exist), but if the charge circuiit isn't isolated and the charger doesn't keep up with the rate of consumption then the batteried will slowly run down even if the device is plugged into grid power.If you do get one and do take it on n adventure which will see you away from home for more than a few hours I'd say take a few extra batteries along so that you don't take the radio out to let it play music in the backgrouond and find that the batteries are dead.

Let me first start off by saying, "I thought this radio was bigger". I have quite a few of these "book size" radios, and this is the winner out of all of them. It's not without it's quirks and definitely not perfect (what radio is?). This is going to be a somewhat long review, so grab a cup of Joe and relax.Size: It's as long as Bluray case, but slightly taller by another 1.5". For reference, It is smaller than a Tecsun 880, 660 and a 990X, which makes it a good travel companion. It has some weight to it (sorry, don't have a detailed scale yet), but I would guess its in the same ballpark as the Tecsun 880.Sound: Nothing spectacular here, but it gets the job done. For it's size, I'd say its right in the middle -5- (not bad, but not the best). When compared to the C. Crane Skywave, this blows it away! When compared to the Tecsun 990X, the Tecsun just pulls away a notch to -6- on my scale. The Tecsun 880 is still king, and has the best sound out of all my portables rating a solid -10- out of 10.Features: This thing is packed with them.700 memory stationsFM with RDS (Radio data system). Very nice feature.External antenna connection (3.5mm mono) 50-75 ohmShortwaveLongwaveAir bandSingle side band(SSB) tuningSelect-able bandwidths on each bandsleep timerWorld clockLine in/out (3.5mm)Performance: Oh boy, is little guy sensitive! Aircraft band just shines on this radio. It definitely is not a gimmick. It will outperform the Tecsun 660, CC skywave, and the xhdata 808 hands down.On shortwave, this again, just shines. It can hear stations, my other radios don't even know are there. As with the aircraft band, the noise floor is quite low on shortwave, and so, you can dig out those barely detectable signals with this little guy. For it's size, it packs quite a punch.Long-wave was not tested.On FM, not only is this very sensitive, but also very selective. I would rate this radio as "one of my best" on FM. The king so far is the Eton Elite Field BT, as it's dipole antenna is nearly twice the length. Eton pushes the envelope with these DSP chips, that's for sure.AM performance is quite good. I know it got 2.5 stars from Jay Allen, but I will give it a solid 3. It outperforms (or equals) my larger Tecsun radio like the 501X, and slowly walks away from my Tecsun 990X, 660 and 880. The reason for this is shear sensitivity and low noise floor. The Tecsuns have a bit of a higher noise floor in comparison, so some DX stations might be hidden in the mud (as they say).Quirks: I think this is a Eton thing, but you have to press some buttons more than once. The power button being one of them. My Eton Elite field does the same thing. It's a quirk of the radio, not a quality issue. If you understand this going in, it's something you will have to get use to.I wish this radio had(optional removable) Protective plastic film cover over it's front display.Full protective case (comes with protective glove, but does not fully protect the entire radio)Better instructionsLonger dipole antenna ( a must ).Stronger dipole antenna-to radio attachment (internally).Optional Wrist strap6 inch 3.5mm antenna dongleFinal thoughts: This is very good radio. It can be found from $110 up to $205. I paid $174. For what It can do, and the outstanding performance on all bands (except LW--which I could not test), I think it is worth it. I own quite a few radios (more than I should have), and this one is at the top, just under my Eton elite field BT. It has top tier performance, small and compact, and packed with features. This review is subject to being revised, but as of now, I'm happy with this little bugger.