KA390 Portable AM/FM Shortwave NOAA Weather Radio with LED Flashlight, Color Black

The negative reviews on this radio puzzle me. It's a cheap portable radio. It's designed for low cost, portability and excellent battery life - and it scores 10/10 on all three. Sound quality is really very good for a monaural radio - more than satisfactory for me - and even though it has analog tuning, I find it easy to surf the bands looking for stations. In fact, I bought an extra one for a blind friend of mine precisely because the radio is so simple to use with few controls and no mysteries. If I had a criticism, it would be that the radio's way of snapping into signal reception on the AM and shortwave bands is a bit abrupt, making it difficult to receive weak stations. This would not be my first choice for a shortwave radio. For strong AM and FM station reception (and even medium-strength stations), I think it's excellent, and having weather radio frequency reception on a low-end analog radio such as this is an excellent bonus. Don't buy it as your primary radio, but use it in power failures, for camping, for travel, and anywhere that you don't want to risk your expensive radio and yet want flexibile capability. I would buy another again in a heartbeat if mine disappeared.

I bought this with a 12-pack of D batteries. I started using it around the start of May, the first set of batteries (the first 3 batteries I used) lasted until the end of October. Six months of use with one set of batteries! I use the radio about 4-5 days a week, for about 2-3 hours per day. Sometimes I use it only ~1h per day. Sometimes I leave it on all day on the weekends. It has been a good little radio.

I like

This is the PERFECT radio for your emergency kit. Simple, easy to use (my wife doesn't like my digital tuning radios, as they often get stuck with a lock feature on or some other feature that impedes tuning.) Yet, this is DSP-based, and it locks right on to signals. The flashlight is just an added convenient bonus. With something this simple, there's so little to go wrong - and when the power is out or you're stuck in the blizzards we get here in the higher elevations (7500ft +) in Colorado, you want something that just works. This radio just works, and I anticipate it will for the next 20 years. At the price, it can't be beat. Perfect for the job. It's not high-fidelity, but that's not the idea. A basic, good radio - with reception LIGHT YEARS better than the cheap chinese cracker jack toy types. As a 20-year plus Extra level HAM operator, this is hands down one of the best receiving AM/FM tuners I've had for the price. If you want something equivalent in a more high-end radio, prepare to spend $150 for a C. Crane or Sangean. $20 bucks for this AND it has weather band? Come on. Get several, and always be prepared.

Solid FM performance and build quality is good.