I'm scratching my head now, trying to remember when I last saw anyone walking down the street with a radio in their hand, or for that matter, with a torch in their hand, let alone both in one! - I suppose, if a burglar broke into the house, you could blind him with the torch, deafen him with music, then turn the light off and throw it at him. You could bet the bugger never saw that coming! 🤦💨😹😸🤷 But, on the other hand, I have a cheap DAB/FM Bush radio that I bought from Sainsbury's, with Bluetooth built in, and it can be handy for hands free use of the phone, or low power audio for CZcams videos, if you don't want to make too much noise. I'd be wary of the 18650. You may find it has very low Ah capacity, as some folk have discovered when "borrowing" batteries for other jobs. It's the one with no markings that are the worst for that......💩
By the time they ship it half way round the world and Dealz get their cut, it really makes you wonder how much are they pumping these things out for. The Bluetooth was a surprise.
When these radios first came out they were €11 I remember buying one, Dealz put the price up, I tried the Bluetooth on my one working away, I think the market for these Radios are for emergencies and OAP's, I like the idea you can recharge the battery on it.
I've seen these covered before, but never to this level of technical detail. I'd been thinking of buying one, and now I definitely will. That beige retro one would look fantastic on one of the shelves in my living room.
In a world where things are routinely described as doing things that they don't, it refreshing to see something that is not described as doing something that it does..... if that makes sense LOL! Love to know what that chip is....
I have an XHDATA 368 which was similar price and I got it out of similar curiosity. It also has similar features with USB/SD/Bluetooth playback. Didn't do a video on it as it's not old, others have reviewed it and there's not much more to say. It has more SW bands so you'd expect the tuning to be better than this one, but it's not anywhere near the D-808 and sometimes you get some imaging of strong MW signals on the SW bands. Suspect it has the same chipset but haven't had it apart. The sound is actually pretty good on FM and MP3 for a small speaker.
I'm not a fan of radio's without a proper variable capacitor for tuning, makes finding a station uncertain & erratic, by the way, Absolute Radio have announced they are closing down their AM network on 23 January 2023.
That's sooner that I'd expected - was discussing AM attrition on the channel recently. Though I think Bauer are frontrunners when moving everything to streaming/apps. I suspect the trend will accelerate, as the big players leave Arqiva will have to rinse the remaining tenants a lot.
Just now the market is flooded with these cheap Chinese made radios that use clones of the S7435 DSP chip. As you have noticed, tuning is rough. The best of these was the Tivdio V115. With direct entry tuning and a digital display and a mp3 player for £14!
Poundland sell reasonably good electronics these days. I have a vido retro bt speaker that cost £5 it's also able to play mp3s of usb or micro SD and has a great FM radio . It's rechargeable battery is 800mah so it plays for ages and has pretty good sound. Thanks for your review
I got one of these about 18months ago. The instructions made no mention of Bluetooth. I found it out when I was playing with the mode button. Great for camping. The torch is useful, you can even charge a phone from the USB in a pinch. I paid £10. I have it in the bathroom to listen to when I have a long bath
Are you sure that it is a rotary encoder ? These chips these days usually use a potentiometer where the resistance chooses the next step frequency. Band switching is also done with a resistor network where the resistance switches the band. These chips can actually tune much more than this radio does and can be set to fit everywhere in the world. The manufacturer of the chip is most likely Sillicon Labs.
ALL radios from China are great FM receivers, but poor on everywhere else like SW, VHF (if it has that much) and rotten on AM (if that works at all). Batteries, when included, are half the weight of those made in Japan. Quality? I do not think China ever heard of that. I refurbish 70 and 80's equipment (both audio and some ham gear) and that stuff is worth the trouble.
Well for 15 quid, it's cheap and cheerful.
I'm scratching my head now, trying to remember when I last saw anyone walking down the street with a radio in their hand, or for that matter, with a torch in their hand, let alone both in one! - I suppose, if a burglar broke into the house, you could blind him with the torch, deafen him with music, then turn the light off and throw it at him. You could bet the bugger never saw that coming! 🤦💨😹😸🤷
But, on the other hand, I have a cheap DAB/FM Bush radio that I bought from Sainsbury's, with Bluetooth built in, and it can be handy for hands free use of the phone, or low power audio for CZcams videos, if you don't want to make too much noise.
I'd be wary of the 18650. You may find it has very low Ah capacity, as some folk have discovered when "borrowing" batteries for other jobs. It's the one with no markings that are the worst for that......💩
I'm out a lot walking our dog with a Walkman radio in my pocket, it's about 11 / 12 years old.
Ear buds in, listening to local radio chat : )
The tuning on that reminds me of a satellite receiver that Wickes used to sell back in the 80s. It tuned from about 10.5 to 12GHz in 3/4 turn!
As you say it saves us buying one to see how good or bad it is ,€15 seems a cheap handy radio for keeping the cat or dog company 👍
Chinesium! But, that's why I like the old stuff. Thanks, oj!
By the time they ship it half way round the world and Dealz get their cut, it really makes you wonder how much are they pumping these things out for. The Bluetooth was a surprise.
When these radios first came out they were €11 I remember buying one, Dealz put the price up, I tried the Bluetooth on my one working away, I think the market for these Radios are for emergencies and OAP's, I like the idea you can recharge the battery on it.
Not bad for a cheap all on a chip radio. I wonder if you could fit a 360 encoder just to spread the tuning a bit... hmmm
I've seen these covered before, but never to this level of technical detail. I'd been thinking of buying one, and now I definitely will. That beige retro one would look fantastic on one of the shelves in my living room.
In a world where things are routinely described as doing things that they don't, it refreshing to see something that is not described as doing something that it does..... if that makes sense LOL! Love to know what that chip is....
I have an XHDATA 368 which was similar price and I got it out of similar curiosity. It also has similar features with USB/SD/Bluetooth playback. Didn't do a video on it as it's not old, others have reviewed it and there's not much more to say. It has more SW bands so you'd expect the tuning to be better than this one, but it's not anywhere near the D-808 and sometimes you get some imaging of strong MW signals on the SW bands. Suspect it has the same chipset but haven't had it apart. The sound is actually pretty good on FM and MP3 for a small speaker.
I'm not a fan of radio's without a proper variable capacitor for tuning, makes finding a station uncertain & erratic, by the way, Absolute Radio have announced they are closing down their AM network on 23 January 2023.
That's sooner that I'd expected - was discussing AM attrition on the channel recently. Though I think Bauer are frontrunners when moving everything to streaming/apps. I suspect the trend will accelerate, as the big players leave Arqiva will have to rinse the remaining tenants a lot.
Just now the market is flooded with these cheap Chinese made radios that use clones of the S7435 DSP chip. As you have noticed, tuning is rough. The best of these was the Tivdio V115. With direct entry tuning and a digital display and a mp3 player for £14!
👍Thanks for taking this apart. I saw these in local pound store and almost bought one to see what was inside. Now I don't have to.
Poundland sell reasonably good electronics these days. I have a vido retro bt speaker that cost £5 it's also able to play mp3s of usb or micro SD and has a great FM radio . It's rechargeable battery is 800mah so it plays for ages and has pretty good sound. Thanks for your review
I got one of these about 18months ago. The instructions made no mention of Bluetooth. I found it out when I was playing with the mode button. Great for camping. The torch is useful, you can even charge a phone from the USB in a pinch. I paid £10. I have it in the bathroom to listen to when I have a long bath
That doesnt seem half bad for the pennies 😀
Does it remember the station you tuned to after a switch off then on?
Probably the biggest pile of rubbish I've seen for years
Bought one last year for £8 in Poundland, can not fault it for that money, I have installed a higher capacity battery for longer run time.
Gimmicky radio but could be worse.
£2 land now
It used to be €1.49 land here, that's long gone!!
Are you sure that it is a rotary encoder ? These chips these days usually use a potentiometer where the resistance chooses the next step frequency. Band switching is also done with a resistor network where the resistance switches the band. These chips can actually tune much more than this radio does and can be set to fit everywhere in the world. The manufacturer of the chip is most likely Sillicon Labs.
ALL radios from China are great FM receivers, but poor on everywhere else like SW, VHF (if it has that much) and rotten on AM (if that works at all). Batteries, when included, are half the weight of those made in Japan. Quality? I do not think China ever heard of that. I refurbish 70 and 80's equipment (both audio and some ham gear) and that stuff is worth the trouble.
I'm going get this
What an utter sack of ***t. I shall stick to purchasing decent equipment. Anyway, many thanks for showing us this terrible product! :)