Top positive review
7 people found this helpful
Don't Count AM/FM Radio Out Just Yet
By Audiophile Headcase on Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2015
Anyone who thinks AM/FM radio is dead needs to read the article over at Slate from Dec 14, 2014 entitled "Don't Count AM/FM Radio Out Just Yet". Broadcast radio is still extremely profitable and big here in America and isn't about to disappear anytime soon. Besides, everyone should have a good, portable, low battery usage AM/FM radio at home in preparation for natural disasters. Given the large number of Taiwanese and Chinese brand portables on the market, why stick with the Sony brand even though it is also made in China like all the other brands? Because Sony has developed some excellent AM/FM chip technology for radio reception and these Sony proprietary chips are used in almost all of Sony's portable radios. The ICF-S10MK2 is one of these Sony radios. Reception of AM and FM is surprising good for such a lightweight, inexpensive radio. Unlike some of the recent "Fully Digital" radios that are based on the Silicon Laboratories chip, I find that the Sony radios handle Automatic Grain Control (AGC) functions much better on the AM band. You won't be treated to the irritating digital "pumping" AGC effect on weak AM stations like you find on many of the radios based on the Silicon Laboratories chip sold by Sangean, Kaito and Tecsun. The Silicon Laboratories chips are getting better in this regard but still have problems in the area of effective AGC functions. The speaker on this little gem is also a big plus. It puts out decent sound for its small size. Tuning is analog, which is a bummer, but the advantage of this over a digital display tuner is that you get much better battery life. The size and weight is a little too high to consider this a shirt pocket radio. Quality of construction is OK, considering the low price of $10 - $12 US dollars. I've seen much worse in this price range from some of the "no-name" Chinese producers. Along with the ICF-S10MK2, I also own Sony's SRF-59 AM/FM Walkman (ultra-small, analog dial) and the much pricier but much sturdier SFR-M37 AM/FM Walkman (small, digital dial, sporty model with presets). The SRF-59 is very small with amazing battery life and it can easily fit it a shirt pocket. However, it requires you to use headphones. The SFR-M37 adds the weather band along with AM/FM and also has no speaker. It runs on a single AAA battery and has acceptable battery life. All three of these Sony portable AM/FM radios are good buys. On the high end, I own a much larger Tecsun PL-880 that has AM/FM plus shortwave that I absolutely love! It has great sound from the enclosed speaker and does an excellent job at shortwave reception. However, in that class of portable radio you are looking at something that is about the size of a paperback book and that is much heavier. The price (~ $160 ) is also much higher than what you'll pay for these small Sony AM/FM portables. If you know some people that don't have any AM/FM radios in their household, consider buying a couple of these small Sony ICF-S10MK2 AM/FM radios and handing them out as and inexpensive but useful gift. When natural disaster strikes (and eventually it will) they'll appreciate having one of these little gems to turn on after the power goes out and their internet goes dead. Most broadcast stations have emergency generators and can continue to broadcast on the airwaves even after the power goes out.
Top critical review
This radio is MONO and seems to be from the 1980's
By Matt on Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2011
The most important - and surprising thing you should know before you buy this radio is that it has a mono headphone jack. If you don't know what that is, it means that it will only work in one ear of the headphones. I was very surprised that anything is still made using that technology, as it was rare to find it in most products many years ago. I never would have thought to check that about it in product specifications or reviews. In some ways I find it unacceptable that such an antiquated technology was used. It seems as though this is a warehouse item that sat somewhere for 30 or so years. If it actually was commissioned and produced in this era, I can't imagine why they would have used mono. I confess that I thought the headphone jack was broken until I read other reviews saying that this is how it is meant to function. Aside from that, it is slightly too big to put in a pocket, even a fairly large pocket. The reception is very much like the reception of a handheld radio from the 1980's or 1990's. It works, but it's very particular about the direction it's in, and no matter what it will likely go in and out a little bit. It's much better if you wrap aluminum foil around the edge of the antenna, or use a wire coat hanger to extend the antenna's reach. These are things I did 15 or so years ago, and not since, but if you do these things it will work fine. The part that allows the antenna to swivel is very flimsy. I would suggest never moving the antenna from its base position as this is generally not necessary. You will improve reception better by wrapping the end of the antenna in foil than extending it - at least in my use. I use my radio in new york city, where most radio stations are fairly strong. The situation may be very different elsewhere. As an aside, you must turn the tuning and volume dials like you're disarming a bomb or performing brain surgery because a fraction of a millimeter is the difference between many bandwidths and many decibels. If you are very very careful though, you can go down to a low volume. I comment on this because another reviewer had said that it was impossible. It is not impossible in my hands, but challenging. This was a common engineering style in electronics when I was a kid. All of that taken into account, I really like the way it looks, even with foil around the edge of it. And I can listen to NPR on it on the way to and from work, which is why I bought it. It also comes with a warrantee which I think is extremely impressive. The sound quality is also not bad, especially not bad considering the price. Overall, if you desire to relive 1988, this is perfect. And I don't mean the sexy 1988 of revivalist culture, I mean real 1988. I am happy with it, but I believe that most people would not be at all happy with this product, or be patient enough to get it to function.
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