Sangean SR-35 AM/FM Analog Pocket Radio with Built-in Speaker, Black

I read quite a few negative reviews, which would typically put me off, and I’ll just continue searching... but with this Sangean radio I decided to also watch some video reviews before continuing to another product (Sony was next on my list). So after watching few videos I could clearly hear the difference. I have several portable radios and they all have this tiny box like sound, pretty similar to the sound from a cellphone speaker... but this Sangean guy definitely didn’t sound like other radios. Then I thought I’ll take the risk and just buy it and in case it has problems as described by quite a few negative reviews I’ll just return it. So I ordered the radio and it has been only few days and I am quite happy with it. The sound quality is like no other radio of this size I’ve ever heard. It is full and definitely doesn’t sound tiny and has well defined lows and highs and no distortion of any kind at normal listening volume. Hopefully the radio keeps on working for long time because only based on how it sounds I think that it is pretty good value for money and definitely a five star radio. Other aspects of it are ok too. I am not so much into listening to AM radios because of all the interference from household items such as dimmers, fridges, etc. but from the little time spent on AM I think that tuning works decent. FM on other hand is what I listen to all day and I think that this radio is perfect there. I have no complaints whatsoever, it has a great reception and because of the excellent speaker it listening is really a pleasant experience. I will post another comment after an year to share how it performed in time, including how is the battery life or if something goes wrong, etc. Meanwhile I’d highly recommend it to anyone who cares about sound quality :)

For this class of radio, the sound is outstanding. Again, for this class of radio. It's much better than my comparable panasonic, or the little sangean with the built in weather. It has more base than my iphone. It's not as good as my bose mini speaker. FM reception is very good. AM range can't be great, but the sound is very clear - as if there is some fancy digital filter. The wrist strap was a bit challenging to put in.

This radio has excellent sound quality for such an inexpensive and small radio. The reason for the 4 stars versus 5 is that the power light does not light up when turned on. This is not a big deal to me since the tuning light works, but it would be nice if everything worked right out of the box. Tried this radio with headphones and it sounds great in stereo and is nice and clear out of not headphones.Would buy another one but would pay less since a component (power light) doesn’t work.

This radio is better than you might for a $20 radio. It has decent audio and reception. AM is not it's strong point though. It pulls in signals but it is very muddy AM audio. The fM audio on the other hand is very good.

Update Jan 24, 2021If theres any doubt, this is "the little radio that could", mine has put that to no doubt. Almost 4 years of daily use and abused badly, it works as good as new and other than a little paint worn off the dial position and scratches, the radio is solid physically as when I got it. The on/off/volume dial, tuner dial, tune display marker, antenna, battery compartment cover, body,speaker, every screw, 100% solid.Its ToughnessI listen to talk radio, 5 days a week 5-6 hrs a day, I am a disabled vet & have a 4 wheel walker and put the radio on the seat while walking, it has fallen about 22 inches onto cement, tar roads, rocky dirt park paths, in mud, in muddy water hoof prints, 2-3 times a day everyday on my walks. The batteries pop out sometime but they go right back in, close it up and its back on. Its fallen from 4+ feet up many times onto my cemet patio, off 6 foot fences onto gravel/rocks many times, I lost it for near 2 weeks, finally finding it in a tall outside pot planter in the california winter where it was rained on continuously for that time and amazingly it was on that whole time. I heard a strange buzz sound, thats how I found it, turned it off, then on, tuned dial and got perfect radio!. That was last year as in at least 12-14 months ago, its still coochin'Station Pick UpI listen to AM only, FM doesn't make it in good, not even in my good car radio, at least for the classic rock stations I like.I live in Morgan Hill, Ca, east side, literally right up against the Diablo Mountain Range. I get stations from San Francisco, Marin County to its north, from south to Salinas and Monterey, I even get KMJ in Fresno, clear and loud as a bell or as we in the Military say 5 by 5. The amazing thing is, its 130 miles as the crow files but a 30 mile wide 150-200 mile range 1500 feet-2000 feet sits in between us and I am butt up against it. Absolutely amazing! I get so many stations I cant count them and many are from that far away or more, even from Stockton & Manteca they come in & given the angle to them thats 60 miles of mountain range to jump, even higher than KMJ. It's like every little turn of the dial, Ive got a station.Battery lifeLike I said, hours every day, and I change batteries maybe every 5 if not six weeks. Just dont crank the volume, thats where all the power goes, not the receiver circuitry, its speaker volume.OtherStill happy with the sound, its ni=ot high fidelity but the speaker is more than great for this class and price. It is not digital of course, so you may have to rotate the radio, for AM only, to get the best reception.Old Time Nostalgia & SimplicityI was born in '55 and had a little transistor radio like this, if your from those days and miss those simple times, or you just want a simple radio without a million switches, modes and other "modern" annoyances like login's and tracking, and a radio that can take a pounding and fit in your pocket, all without breaking your bank, don't think,just get it!!!!!!!!! I'll be updating this in another 4 years!Original ReviewI've used this now for about a week and absolutelty love it. I see this radio is now 19.97$, I got it a week ago at 18.74$ Feb 11, 2017...mmhh is Amazon jacking the price thinking I'll buy another ?Anyway I look over all the radios in this price range, some reviews say great and some say bad and I beleive them both. Your reception depends upon your location (like on flat plains or in mountain/hill areas) like where live. So its hard to tell from the reviewers "will the radio work well for me in my area". I wanted a radio in this price range, give or take a few bucks. I just wanted a radio to listen to AM talk radio while working out in the back yard or talking a walk, listening to FM rack was also on my list. Not know how well any of these may work in my area, I did a search for Sangean SR-35 and of course got hits for amazon reviews, then found a youtube reviewer.This reviewer is a radio enthusiast and bought just about all the pocket radios and other larger radios from amazon and did a side by side review of each from the same location at the same time. Now that still doesn't answer the question how well will this work in my area, but it certainly answers the question, how good is the AM and FM reception between each other under the same conditions. He starts with a physical go over of features, then slowly runs it up and down the AM and FM bands, counting how many stations come in on each band for each radio, again at the same time (give or take and hour) and same exact location, so it is truly an oranges vs oranges comparison, he also reviews how well it does if you are walking with it or taking it for a bike ride (how well does it keep lock). Search youtube for "bigslick radio" bigslick is one word, if you make it 2 you will get something completely different.To keep this short, I was looking at the Panasonic FR P50 @ 16.95, the Sangean SR35 @19.74 (lthough a week ago I got it 1.20 cheaper) and the Sony ICPF26 @ 19.75 ( a week ago this was 21.75 or so, I remember clearly just a nitch under 22$ which I thought was to high but still considered)The Panasoinc per the youtube review showed pretty showdy physical case and a pretty short antenna about 13 in, the sony and Sangean had 17 inch, it also had no clip on the case to lock it in place when folded down and turned against the case so its pretty easy to break the antenna and I read alot of reviewers who said they broke the antenna. It also came in the lowest in picking up AM and FM stations and had poor ability to keep station in tune when moving, but it is in expensive and if you are just sitting there, its probably just fine. One other thing, it has an integrated on/off/volume switch, the others have separate switches/controls. Dont mean to trash Panasonic just stating facts.The Sony ICPF26 watched this next, case it very nice as you would expect from Sony, ling 17 inch antenna, large speaker, but the Sangean is a bit larger, it had near double the AM and FM stations that the Panasonic did, the only negative is this thing is a boat, at like 1.3 - 1.5 thick its like a computer har drive, I did not like that and you should consider that the most. Also reception while moving was very good.The Sangean SR-35, Case is beautiful and sturdy, I already dropped it 3 feet onto rock, continued to play like nothing happened, integrated on/off and volume control, some dont like this so they can have volume at same level when turned back on, as if your volume wheel wont move after you put it down or pick it up and fiddle with it, I dont see this as a problem, just one less thing to break. It has a nice large tuner wheel, the larger the better as it helps you tune the station in, a smaller wheel makes it much harder. His side by side comparison had this pull in a few less AM stations than the Sony but just a few like 3 or 4 out of 23-25, but it beat the Sony hands down in AM reception, I can remember the number but it was 5 or more. Plus it has a 17 inch antenna and it has a really nice swivel on it and a locking tab at the bottom of the case to keep it secured. This is quite a bit slimier than the sony, like you would expect from a packet radio, height and width about the same or smaller.My own review of the Sangean SR-35 Gald I bought it, love it. Again its light and far far thinner than the sony, nice rounded edges on sides, its speaker is just a bit bigger and it is very very very high quality speaker, I tuned into an FM rock station and had volume maybe halfway up or less and could hear it 100 feet away with nice clear sound, I was really shocked, I thought the speaker would not be this good, but it is. I live in Morgan Hill, Ca. its a small town in a small valley surrounded by mountains and I can pick up tons of AM and FM stations from San Jose and Monterrey, I also get the station I really wanted 560 KSFO talk radio on AM 5000 watts, that comes from San Francisco 60 miles north of my as the bird flies and blocked by many mountains and my shielded valley, and it the Sangean picks it up great. If that is not enough I can get AM 580 from Fresno, Ca. which is 109 miles away and we are separated by the Hayward Fault mountain range and my house is about 150 yards away from the edge of this mountain range, I'm backed right up to it !!The batteries are lasting for ever, I've had it running for 8 hours a day for the last 5 days and one day I had the volume all the way down but did not turn it off. Battery life will be excellent for any of the old time transistor radios that you get, they will last for weeks or longer while digital radios will die quickly. Plus you use 2 AA batteries for this. I did not want a radio with integrated battery as you can't recharge (or at least easily recharge) when your out hiking or in a ark and the battery dies.Even with the Sony price dropped more than 2$ and the Sangean raised by 1.25 this past week, I would still buy the Sangean, the Sony is a boat which is why maybe its price was reduced, see it in bigslicks youtube video, he points it out, much bigger impact when you actually see it. And side by side this had better AM reception. Amazon did have the Sony listed as Amazons choice and with all respect to Amazon I think that means they get a better deal through Sony, than it actually being about any quality or operational features, I know they will "buy this back from you" but it is literally pennies on the dollar, guess that is why it is their choice. I don't know why they changed the prices but usually if you put something in your cart and then in the save for later category you will see in a few days or a week a message about price drop in your cart or write Amazon and ask why did they suddenly raise the Sangean by a 1.25There are draw back to these old type transistor radios, after you tune it in, it can fade out a bit if you turn its direction, because you are changing the direction of the antenna, also as you may take a walk the signal may need adjustment, but I walk everyday for about 2.5 miles and it locks pretty good the whole way, but its not without a few adjustments here and there. The digital radio have phase lock loops that compensate for frequency drift, these dont. These radio are aslo subject to background static noise, but who cares.I just wanted a simple radio to listen to while I garden or walk and its really a nice feeling to have a reminder of your childhood. Wow back then we were more than happy to have a small pocket radio all the rage back then for a few bucks. Today you cant get along without spending 500$ every few months to upgrade your phone and 100-250$ months for your families monthly bill, so you can type messages on a phone that was meant for talking on and so it can tell you how to do everything in your life while spying on everything you do in your life, because you have become so dependent on google, Microsoft and many others to tell you how find and do simple things ( In my days we did research, today the nation does "asking") or how to get to locations you should now how to because you have never looked at a map and like most high school kids these days can't even name 20% of the names of states in the US or even know where they are, dont even know where countries in the world are, actually there is very little they do know.Well to much ranting, I think things were better when they were simpler, this radio is simple and will give you an eternal amount of joy and good tunes.