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Agree that sound and reception are good. I had hoped to use it while away from home to make the house seem occupied. However, it has two features that affect its utility for me and are odd. First, you can't use it on a daily timer because it requires the press of the on/off button whenever the power is cut and restored. Second, it requires 12 volts *AC* from its adapter. Had it been designed for 12V DC, it could have also been used in rec vehicles and camping -- without an inverter.Eton Sound 100 AM/FM Radio, Blue
If you can get it for $30, it's a good buy. Not a problem for me, but could be for you if you have a weak station in the same spot on the dial as the image of strong station.
The sound is remarkably full for a small table radio. I got two of these on special for $30 each.
However, the selectivity and image rejection is terrible. There is a bass reflex port in the back of the radio.
The FM radio is sensitive enough to pick up most stations without noise -- even those classical stations which always seem to be of marginal strength in most radios. I didn't try the AM.As a casual table radio, it does very well.
However, some of the higher prices I see are a bit beyond what the radio delivers.
The Eton 100 has wonderful sound quality, great FM tuning, and lots of nice features, including a remote and the ability to interact remotely with an ipod. With the clock across the room, perhaps 10ft away, the only thing visible was a blue glow making it useless as a clock. The problem is that this CLOCK/RADIO fails one task - the clock. The blue on blue display is completely illegible unless you are directly in front of it, and no more than 8 ft away. That coupled with the fact that the alarm would reset itself back to 8am after ever use, made this a poor choice for a clock. I ended up returning it but if someone was going to have it on a desk, a great choice.
And the worst part about it is that I bought it after I saw it advertised on the NPR website. THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE BIGGEST JOKE ON THE AMERICAN CONSUMER.
After about 6 months, it has stopped working. I wish I had read reviews of this product before I shelled out $150 for it.
So I unplug it for about 4 hours, then plug it back in and it works for about a day. The clock sometimes appears hours ahead or behind, the controls suddenly stop working, either by remote or on the unit, including the manual volume knob (which apparently isn't manual).
Sometimes I can't even turn the machine OFF. I feel like an idiot.
a place I used to trust implicitly.
I had to cover the unit with a heavy-fabric ball cap at night just to get the light down to a normal level. 5. I am not sure if this is an improvement. Given more time to get used to this I probably would have appreciated it.I still give this unit a 3 because its big sound really blew me away and it's alarm clock functions are easier than my previous Sony unit. Battery backup available, but not even needed for short outages.
Here is my list of reasons for returning this item and opting instead for the Sangean RCR-22 (which has not yet arrived but I am hopeful)1. Also, VERY annoying is the fact that when the radio is on the display shows the radio station in large digits and relegates the time digits to the top corner of the display. I stand corrected. I wish they would use an LED display, not LCD. FM reception not as great as I expected from some of these reviews. The other stuff I can live with.
The Eton Sound 100 feels like a 1st generation product. The bass level was way too high. I also had to turn it around so the back was facing me. I read some reviews about this issue but thought they were whiners. I had to stuff the back opening with tissue paper in order to dampen the bass a bit. Also a line-out for external speakers.6.
After many weeks of research I decided to buy the Eton Sound 100. Display hard to read when standing over or when not looking square into it. My bedroom is on the second story and the unit placed right under a window. Headphone jack for private listening5. My car radio gets better reception.
This is a minor issue since I would rarely set the volume up all the way.3. Cool styling2. Needs a better balance. Sometimes I'd turn it one notch and it would gain/reduce one or more levels. You cannot read the time unless you are at eye-level and at least 12 inches from the unit while the radio is on. Digital tuning (I love this) and automatically stops at next clear station when you are scanning. I was used to just setting the wake time and whatever was the last used station and volume level was your wake settings.
Line-in jack for mp3 player. Do not buy this unit if you are not willing to cover this unit at night in order to sleep.4. My top 5 favorite stations came in fine almost all the time so this may not be an issue for you. I would have gladly lived with all the cons above except for the issues I had with the display made me return it.
The case rattles at the highest volume levels. Especially when the blue model came available at a big discount. LCD display is way too bright and not adjustable. Perfect size for a nightstand4.
Very easy to set time/presets/alarm3. Again this is a minor flaw but for a moderately expensive radio you expect good fit and finish on the most basic elements.6. I barely needed the instructions manual and I was setup and ready to go in minutes. Then I would fully extend the antenna and that same station would sound worse (whats up with that). The volume knob is buggy. If you are into big sound with really big bass then this is your unit.2. Other things I liked.1. But soon the quirks (bugs) became obvious.
You basically program the radio station and volume you wish to wake to at the time of setting the alarm. Sometimes it would gain/reduce just one level as I would expect. There must be a built-in capacitor that holds all your presets and the time for at least 30 minutes or more. Alarm clock a bit strange from what I was used to. The first day of use was exciting because the sound quality this unit produced was far superior to any bedside radio I previously used. Scanning is really easy also, you just hold the up/down buttons in for an extra second.
Only 3 buttons on the top of the unit which makes it very easy to find the sleep and alarm-off buttons in the morning.7. I am hoping the long reputation of Sangean's radio quality is an improvement.7. Other times a station would sound better depending on where I was physically standing in the room.
Felt like behavior from a dime-store radio. I'm sure this would not be an issue if the bass wasn't so intense. This was very nice to find.So there is a lot to like about this unit.if you don't care about sleeping in the dark and don't mind the other annoyances above.
One time I used the remote to reduce the volume and it actually started to increase. Sometimes a station would sound decent with that antenna fully closed and tucked away. 8.
I look forward to improvements on future models because this unit really has a lot going for it as an entry model.
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