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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
from South Carolina on 9/14/2008
I have tried numerous radios in the past to pick up some distance sports talk show and had no luck finding a portable radio that would fit the bill. Then I found the G5 and this one works great plus I have fun listening to the Shortwave side and AM side of it early in the morning and late at night. You'll be surprised what this little radio will pick up.
from Anchorage,Ak. on 8/24/2008
I read the reveiws and decided to purchase this radio for my boat as I enjoy listening to AM radio.I was hoping for the best after paying the high price tag,brought it home,read the instruction,dialed in a AM station and was imediately disapointed,my 20.00 dollar clock radio gets better reception.I took it with me on the boat that weekend and read the instruction several times,seeing if there was something I had missed...Nothing but static on all bands....[...]....Do not buy
from Springfield, IL on 8/10/2008
Bought one to take to Canada with me and terrrible reception. Four months later is DIED.
Don't waster your money
This portable shortwave radio has amazing performance for such a tiny unit. It could actually fit in a coat with large pockets. I also own a Sony ICF-2010 which is one of the most successful portable communications radios in history and no longer produced. The G5 is as sensitive, sounds great, has a quieter receiver and one third its size. Although there isn't a dedicated USB/LSB mode switch the "fine" control works very well and SSB communications sound great. The FM radio reception is also fantastic on this unit. I will primarily use this unit when outdoors and for travel. I enjoy listening to international broadcast stations, amateur radio, military comms, marine comms, and much more. G5, highly recommended
from Virginia Beach , VA on 3/26/2008
Great radio for SW and AM reception and also FM reception. The LW bands need improvement cause there is still 2nd image problems like theres a local station on 1050 kHz thats found on 150 kHz (f-900kHz=image carrier)(f-(450kHzx2)= Image . The best way to remedy this problem is use a loop antenna or active antenna that's tunable source. Also the sensitvity is low to on LW good if you have a huge antenna.
I agree with previous review. Radio will short out from static discharge when touching antenna. Same thing happened to mine. Shortwave band now has no sensitivity, but AM/FM still seem to work fine. Too bad because this radio had as good if not better reception than any a shortwave portable that I ever owned...Sony, Grundig, Sangean, etc.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I use this radio for monitoring the Ham bands (SSB and CW) and for general shortwave listening. The quality and stability of SSB reception is excellent, especially with the narrow bandwidth filter position.
Audio quality is very good and the "line-out" jack is a nice feature as I sometimes connect it into my stereo system.
The backlight is nice and bright and evidently uses one of the new bright LEDs so is not much of a drain on the battery. The backlight automatically goes off after a short time if no controls have been touched. As soon as a control is operated the light automatically comes back on. There is a switch to cut it off if desired, but I leave it on and still get exceptional battery life. Oh, and the buttons are backlit also.
The external antenna jack is nice as I like to build and experiment with different antennas.
I am continually amazed at the sensitivity of this radio. It even receives well on the 80 Mtr ham band with only its whip antenna. Below 3000 KHz the radio automatically switches to its internal ferrite antenna which performs better than a short whip at the lower frequencies.
The dual conversion circuitry is a nice feature. I haven' noticed any "image" signals except for some local AM broadcast signals down in the Long Wave (150 KHz to 500 KHz) band which I don't listen to anyway.
Tuning works really well with no "chugging" or muting when using the tuning wheel.
There is plenty of memory and storing and retreiving stored stations is easy. There are 100 pages of memory, each with 7 memory slots. The pages can be dialed up, by alpha name, then the seven memory buttons used to recall the stored frequencies for that page. The LCD inticator indicates how many of the seven memory slots are filled and which one is currently selected. I keep a page stored with ham band frequencies, one page for W1AW, a page for VOA, a page for Radio Netherlands, etc.
Auto-scan works well but I wished it would stay within a selected meter-band. As is, it scans continuously up or down without resetting when reaching a band limit.
I haven't had the radio long enough to comment on durability or reliability, but it seems very solid and well made. The whip is nice and firm compared to the flimsy, loose whips on other portable I own.
This is a very nice radio especially considering the cost. But there must be some quality control issues at the factory in China. I tried three units before getting one on which everything works. The first unit wouldn't receive above 3000 KHz and sometimes the operating system "froze" requiring the batteries to be removed and reinserted to reset. Auto-scan wouldn't work on the second unit and the frequency readout was off by 1 KHz. The third unit seems OK on everything, so far.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
This radio performs very well and would be a great value for its cost, except for one very major problem. The slightest static discharge to the whip antenna will wipe out the front-end circuit. I don't know if it is the antenna switching circuit or the 1st RF amplifier. But I have tried two radios and both quit working above 3000 KHz; One after I acidently touched the antenna while walking ( The static charge build up on my body discharged to the antenna and evidently wiped out the radio front-end) The other, I acidently let the whip touch the metal blinds at my window while trying to get better reception. I didn't figure this out until it happened with the second radio. It is very sensitive to the slightest static charge indicating that the front-end circuitry is not adequately designed. This is the only radio that I have had this problem with and I have had a number of portables.
Another major problem is that sensitivity is greatly reduced when using the AC adapter for some reason.
from Rancho Cucamonga, Ca on 12/18/2007
This is an excellent radio, I used it to monitor my HAM radio friends while cruising in the Caribean. The only draw back is that it is difficult to program.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Doesn't seem to reach the lower or upper ends of the FM spectrum available in Russia. Hence, I am unable to get all the FM stations I would like. [...]
After studying the reviews in "Passport to World Band Radio" (which comes out each October), I bought the Grundig G5 to replace my Grundig YB400, a great radio when it was new, except for only 40 station presets, but its whip antenna and the jacks on the side hadn't held up under constant use.
When I adjust the whip on the G5, it feels very different from the one on the YB400, so maybe it's a new and better mechanical design, and the radio runs so long on the internally-rechargeable batteries, I seldom need to plug the a.c. adapter/charger into that jack (doing that can spoil reception on some FM stations, and it takes 20 hours). And plugging my old "clothesline" antenna, strung across a window, into the antenna jack doesn't seem to work anyway (I clip it onto the whip). So I was hopeful about the durability of this model except for the buttons, whose markings look painted on, like they might soon wear off.
Then I tried the display backlight. It's better than the YB400's, and the button markings light up, too! ("Passport" doesn't say anything about this.) The white material must go right through the buttons and won't rub off soon, or ever, and this radio is almost as easy to use in the dark as in a lighted place.
Some things may seem cumbersome to a YB400 user, but that would be true of almost any other radio: The buttons on the side are flush instead of sticking out, and the tuning knob sticks out so far I sometimes de-tune the radio by bumping that knob. Some procedures, like for preset access and recharging set-up, seem non-intuitive to me.
But I'm not disappointed: Overall it's a fine-sounding, sensitive, world-band radio -- although I'll never begin to use half of those 700 presets!
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Northwest Indiana on 10/26/2007
I'm not one to string antennas around the yard or (heaven forbid) inside the house so I use the built in antenna exclusively.
Yesterday evening, sitting at the dining room table, I clearly heard Radio Australia (9850 khz), Radio Netherland (9845 khz) and Radio Canada International (6100 khz) on the shortwave bands.
By the way all these broadcasts are in English.
On the am band I heard Detroit, Cincinnati, Schenectady, Minneapolis and Toronto.
To sy the least, I am very impressed with the performance of the G5.
This radio, finished in a black stealth color, looks as good as it plays. The controls are clearly marked, the tuning knob is smooth, the display is crisp and clear. The sound, though nothing to write home about, is adequate for a receiver this small.
Grundig (or Eton), has hit a home run with this radio and you can find positive reviews not only here, but on many shortwave sites on the internet.
However the manual is lacking (which is fairly common nowadays) with the briefest of explanations and diagrams. I've found user groups on the internet that have been very helpful and informative.
So if you're looking for a well made radio with pretty darn good performance, you won't go wrong with the Grundig G5. I truly feel that the G5 is well worth the money
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
After studying the reviews in "Passport to World Band Radio" (which comes out in October), I bought the Grundig G5 to replace my Grundig YB400, a great radio when it was new, except for only 40 station presets, but its whip antenna and the jacks on the side hadn't held up under constant use.
When I adjust the whip on the G5, it feels very different from the one on the YB400, so maybe it's a new and better mechanical design, and the radio runs so long on the internally-rechargeable batteries, I seldom need to plug the a.c. adapter/charger into that jack (doing that can spoil reception on some FM stations). And plugging my old "clothesline" antenna, strung across a window, into the antenna jack doesn't seem to work anyway (I clip it onto the whip). So I was hopeful about the durability of this model except for the buttons, whose markings look painted on, like they might soon wear off.
Then I tried the display backlight. It's better than the YB400's, and the button markings light up, too! ("Passport" doesn't say anything about this.) The white material must go right through the buttons and won't rub off soon, or ever.
Some things may seem cumbersome to a YB400 user, but that would be true of almost any other radio: The buttons on the side are flush instead of sticking out, and the tuning knob sticks out so far I sometimes de-tune the radio by bumping that knob. Some procedures, like for preset access and recharging set-up, seem non-intuitive to me.
But I'm not disappointed: Overall it's a fine-sounding, sensitive, world-band radio -- although I'll never begin to use half of those 700 presets!
from silvis/ il on 9/29/2007
just got this radio and it works
just fine out of the box.
an excellent radio.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Austin, TX on 9/25/2007
Many years ago I had an excellent portable receiver. It picked up the entire shortwave band, from 2-30MHz. I gave it to my oldest son, who loved it as much as I did! Now this new one, it's smaller, has all the features, doesn't need all the batteries the other did, and it still has 2-30MHz coverage!! It has presets to program your favorite sites, meter band scan so it stays within the band you're scanning (did I mention it has scanning!!). You can manually punch in an exact frequency. It has ports for ext power, headphones, ext antenna, and options for narrow/wide band and DX/Local sensitivity! AND, you can "lock" it on frequency, and you can "lock it OFF" when you store it, to save your batteries! They thought of everything!!This is an excellent shortwave receiver!! THANK YOU GRUNDIG! FAMILY 4wd ADVENTURES![@]
Images shared by: Rich AllcornYes, we "travel" ... a LOT! Shortwave is IT!
Tags: Using Product
After handling as many radios as possible the G5 really stood out with its tough rubberized coating. So many slippery plastic radios out there and this one, being a new design, has the best user interface I've seen. Performance is fine as long as you don't expect great music to come out of the three inch speaker. With good headphones and a strong FM signal performance is simply stunning! A simple long-wire outside antenna will give excellent shortwave results and nickle hydride batteries are highly recommended.In all, this must be the best sub-$200. radio on the market at this time.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Gastonia, NC on 9/3/2007
This is a great radio [...]
[1 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Excellent receiver for the price, good stability, very good receiving SSB and CW and RTTY, AM sensitivity is great, from Park City Kansas (near Wichita) on the AM Broadcast band at night I receive WSM on Nashville with no difficulty at all as well as several other east coast stations, and as far to the west as Seattle and San Francisco. On the shortwave broadcast bands performance is also excellent.
[2 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
This radio is small and compact but really packs a punch!This radio's SSB feature tunes LSB or USB without any ajustment.The BFO not only allows you to tune SSB,but if you put the radio on SSB, you can listen to Morse code.This radio tunes 150-29999 kHz so you get longwave and mediumwave as well as shortwave. The radio has good reception with the built-in whip antenna, but I took it a little further by wrapping insulated wire(Bare wire will short out) around the whip and strung across the room.this makes reception even better.The local/DX switch can be used to turn down the sensitivity if the signal is overloading the radio.The wide arrow switch helps with getting rid of interfereence.I live within a few miles of KDKA and I can listen to a distant AM station on 1030, which I was never able to do with the boombox I used to get faraway AM stations with was not selective enough to get it!!! There is only one small problem with this radio: There are a few images here and there that come from very strong AM stations, but this is not a major problem if you write where the images are and not be tricked into thinking they are broadcasters. Overall, this radio is amazing.
[2 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
This is a great receiver for the serious short wave listener. The SSB feature works very well especially on aeronautical utility stations. The radio is easy to use out of the box and has excellent reception on all bands with just the built-in whip antenna. I researched many portable receivers and this one always was rated high and now I agree.