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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
from Richmond VA on 6/28/2008
Apparently production of this model was plagued with various technical problems. There are many for sale on [...] from $0.99 to $10. I just bought one at a very low price and am actually enjoying it! I'm tuning the AM band, side-by-side with the phenomenal Sangean PR-D5. This Radio Shack 12-150 picks up everything the Sangean does on AM. (The Sangean has the famed C Crane Twin-coil Ferrite Antenna). What's interesting about the RS 12-150 is its 'silence' on AM -- no static; no band noise. A weakish station will fade-in & fade-out from a totally squelched background, for example. That's pretty cool. Probably the greatest asset of this RS 12-150 is the sound quality, esp. in AM Narrow mode (I realize some people prefer AM Wide option, but that produces an annoying 'hiss'). Deep, rich and clear voice. The only major fault with the model I bought is that it will not receive our local weather station 162.745 MHz. Not at all -- zero. Perhaps a wire is disconnected or something, but I'm not too concerned because of the bargain-price I paid for it, and, because I already have a high-end radio especially for weather alerts. This is a fun radio to have on the table-top & play around with.
I just bought this "Extreme Range" radio yesterday. Like most of the other reviews state, it's not. I live on the west side of Cleveland, and I compared this next to my GE SR III. On AM, test conducted during the daytime hours, with the Extreme, AM 550, WGR Buffalo was almost non-existent, while my SR pulled it in with good volume, although a bit hissy. I then tried 570, WKBN Youngstown, a station just about any radio should receive, at least weakly. Yes, it was weak on the Extreme, volume had to be all the way up to get it at just under normal listening level. My SR pulls 570 in great. I then tried 700, WLW from Cinci, barely came in. An long range radio should have no trouble with this station here. Same for 960 from Wooster, and a TIS on 1630 performed about the same as the other AM stations, much weaker on the Extreme. On the down side for the SR, it has a couple of "birdies" on the AM dial, one about 930 AM.Also, an irritating click when tuning to each AM station, and if you had the volume up for weaker stations, the click became very irritating. As soon as you let go of the tuning knob, "CLICK!".I noticed the Wide setting seemed to make the stations a bit stronger and clearer, but still no better than an average table radio. FM wasn't horrible on sensitivity for a portable, but you have to keep the bass under half way, as many songs would distort, so the radio was very tinny sounding on FM as you had to keep the bass flat, or less. Also a very strong close station can be heard at multiple points on the dial. My SR has a ittle better sensitivity on FM, and no overloading, and the speaker sounds much better.I could only get one weather station, and it was very weak, while my dedicated Radio Shack weather alert radio pulls the local one in fairly well, plus a couple others.I realize maybe it may be tough to put the quality expected and digital tuning into a [$] package, but I would be willing to pay a few bucks more if the quality wasn't skimped on.I should have checked out the reviews before buying.
The first one of these I bought worked OK for 2 hr, then quit and was dead. Completely dead. While it did work, the reception was OK, not great, and the sound was marginal but acceptable. [...] The second radio had absolutely horrible reception, when tuned to one station it would be receiving a station not anywhere close to the one it was tuned into. Could not get reception of public radio stations that my $10 portable radio sitting next to it could get great reception with. My experience is that this radio is best left on the shelf of the Radio Shack store.
--weather: normal, very easy to use, worked well
--FM: sensitivity OK, selectivity very good
--AM: wide is great daytime, narrow super for night
--AM: AGC Gain Control not great (volume varies)
--audio: phones mono, a little scratchy
--audio: speaker vry.good, tone controls effective
Compromises, great night AM, the 1 memories AM+FM
with 1-button recall are a really nice convenience.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I NEVER return things, but returned this radio immediately. It experienced horrendous internal oscillations (feedback, basically), but I decided not to try a replacement unit because it was insensitive on AM, and the FM overloaded since I live near a large number of transmitters, a problem unacceptable in radios costing more than about ten dollars. In addition, the tuning system is clunky.
Good quality if not amazing large analog AM/FM radios have been sold for years, including formerly at Radio Shack; my hope was to get something like that, except with digital tuning. This may look that radio, but it's not.
Great Radio. Gets 93.3 WMMR from Philadelphia in Pottsville PA. (also on top of a mountain). In fact it gets almost all of the Philly stations (the local stations suck, and half the time the locals dont come in as good as the philly ones...on any radio)
I am a longtime fan of Radio Shack, but I am very disappointed with the 12-150 radio. My 12-150 will only "pick up" the strongest AM radio stations. (My $12 bedroom clock radio is more sensitive than my 12-150!!) The automatic gain control (AGC) does not work at all, and that makes the radio's operation unpleasant. [...].
I bought this radio for my husband for a christmas present. It was one of the biggest dissapointments when he tried to use it. I immediately returned it to the store, especially after I read the other reviews.
from Moorhead,Minnesota on 12/20/2007
I used this radio to keep me company. But the antenna is too easily broken to be used a lot at work .I am on my second antenna it broke .2 in a year??? i say there must be something better made then what comes with the radio.something sturdy
If the info on the box was what you got inside ? This would be a nice buy ,But the radio doesn't live up to the advertising.
I was looking for a nice unit to do some antenna testing and DXing . I don't like digital tuners but i thought i would try it anyway .
Out of the box i get my local FM station in 7 or 8 places on the FM dial very bad tuner .
With a large antenna hooked up it just gets worse, no sepperation between stations, and they are all over the place I had three stations on one freq!
The Am side is rather weak in narrow band , and only average in wide.
So here are my problems with it ,
1. Tuning is hard , If not impossible.
2. Not a distance Radio or , even extreme one?
3. Very cheap hook up's for antenna on back (This was why i bought it)
Although pretty ,it just isn't very usefull.
Returning it tomorrow.
Good FM reception and sound quality which allows me to pick up Public radio almost all my favorite stations. AM reception is so terrible that it doesn't pick up a 50,000 watt station located only 40 miles from me and almost none of the others which means that almost none of the right wing talk radio stations can heard. If everyone had only this radio five years ago we might not be in Iraq today.
This Radio looks, sounds and performs very well. Unlike the CC Radio, this radio sounds excellent for music as well as talk. For DXing the radio is as good as the CC radio and sounds better to boot. Anyone who does not like this radio does not like radio or has unrealistic expectations in the first place. It is not a satellite radio-it is however a great AM FM radio!
from CAMERON, MO. on 10/24/2007
I BOUGHT THIS TO PICKUP MOSTLY AM STATIONS AND THEY DON'T ALWAYS COME IN GOOD. TOOK IT BACK ONCE AND THEY REALIGNED OR WHATEVER AND IT WORKED WHEN I GOT IT BACK. LAST WEEKEND I TUNED IN AND AM WAS TERRIBLE. TONIGHT IT WAS GREAT. FM IS GREAT, DON'T USE THE WEATHER. NOW THE LIGHT WENT OUT ON THE DISPLAY AND OF COURSE OUT OF WARRANTY. NOT MY MONEY'S WORTH LIKE THE OLD AM RADIOS. WOULD LIKE TO TRADE IN FOR SOMETHING GOOD.
Great radio, capable of pulling in long distance stations as well as GE Superadio III and C.C. Radio! Great looking also!
from Dallas Texas on 10/15/2007
I was going to give one of these to my folks. Not anymore. The bass distorts if you turn the bass control over halfway, even at low volume.
The AM is calibrated poorly. In the wide mode, when I tried to listen to 570, I was hearing another station at 540 at the same time. The weather band didn't work at all until I hooked up a wire to the FM antenna terminal. I should have paid more for one that performs better in every way. It's no C.C. Radio.
I was looking for a radio that could deliver the best AM reception... the word "Extreem" sold me. I enjoy listening to late night talk radio (ex: "Coast to Coast AM"). My very old Grundig died and I was hoping this model would offer the extreem range needed to pickup hard to get AM radio stations (known as DX'ing). I made a mistake buying this radio for the following reasons:-Terrible AM reception.-Inaccurate digital tuning.-Tuning knob is not fluid smooth, you have to click and hold for each frequency change.-Tuning knob broke in first week.-Really a table top radio...bulky and heavy.-Narrow band switch seemed ineffective.Some good points:-Excellent speaker sound for its size.-FM recption satisfactory... very good in fact.-Input for MP3 player. (would play thru mono speaker).I returned the unit (be sure to keep the box and packing) and upgraded to a Grundig S350DL for another $50 dollars. The Grundig is excellent!
from Carrollton Ga. on 10/12/2007
I am on this website looking for a replacement for this Radio. Where I live, this radio performs rather poorly except for the NOAA Station. NOAA comes in very clear. Out of the many choices on both the AM and the FM frequencies I can only pick up 1 on each frequency clearly enough to listen to. Every other station has a very nice hiss with a lot of channel drifting, especially noted when trying to pick up WSM and the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. The hissing and station drift just makes the entire attempt at listening to the program nearly unbearable.
Very disappointed. Sure couldn't take it to the beach. Couldn't even get clear reception at home.
Its a loser.
This reciever has none of the features it proports to have, the wide/narrow does nothing except reduce the already lacking sensitivity to almost zero on the AM band, I do not know who at corporate product review rated this reciever,but they evidently have no clue!
from Utah on 7/31/2007
It says extreme range or some such thing on the box. This is the worst AM radio I have ever tried to use.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I was hoping that this radio would pick up some of the more remote radio stations that don't have as much power as some... really cannot tell a difference between the power of this and other cheaper models. I have trouble with some FM, most AM and don;t get as much NOAA service as I would like. Look for something better if you can afford it.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I have tried two of these radios. I thought it would be a nice replacement for the GE Superadio, that is notorious for highly inaccurate analog tuning. First the positives. It has a nice clean cabinet design. The LCD numerals are easy to read and the backlight is very uniform. FM performance is superb and the audio is excellent. WX performance is also very good. The negative is AM performance. I thought the first radio was defective, but the second was just as bad. AM sensitivity was poorer than that of most $10 pocket radios. I don't understand how radio shack can market this as an extended range radio.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
I am very dissapointed with the performance of this radio in the AM band.You can barely hear stations just 60 mi. away. You have to have volume turned all the way up.I tried two of tese radios and both were the same. Poor performance on AM.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
I gave this radio to my husband for Christmas. Almost immediately the flimsy antenna broke off, making the radio useless. It does not pull in a signal in our hilly area without the antenna.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
This is a superb AM/FM/Weather band radio with good performance, but it has one fatal flaw - the tuning control. I'm a radio afficiando and collector, and have more than two hundred radios around the house. 99% of my media consumption is via radio. I was at Radio Shack to buy a connector and saw this model. Bought it on a whim. I'm mostly sold on it. It is simple enough to learn and use, has GREAT sound, picks up many more stations than your average portable radio. The battery life is way above average - I've used mine for 150+ hours on the original set of batteries. But the fatal flaw with this radio is the tuning knob. It's not a smooth-turning tuning knob - it's this weird spring-loaded thing that you turn left or right and release when you think you are at your station. It's an inexact way to tune a radio. I much prefer a tuning knob I can turn and hear the stations go by. This thing takes a safecracker's touch to tune properly. The radio has multiple memories that are easy to program, so if you listen to a limited number of stations, this unit will work for you. It has great sound, and is quite sensitive. The weather band performance is great. No SAME or weather alert function. But if you like to tune the AM and FM band or follow your radio whim, get a GE Superadio III or CC Radio.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
I LIKE THIS RADIO FOR ONE THING, IT IS PERFECT FOR MY 86 YEAR OLD MOM. SHE HAS A HARD TIME WITH SMALL CONTROLS, AND THIS RADIO IS THE ANSWER TO HER PROBLEM. THE NICE BIG BACKLIT SCREEN IS PERFECT. THE CONTROLS ARE NICE AND BIG ALSO. ALL SHE HAS TO DO IS PUSH A PROGRAM BUTTON AND HER STATION IS RIGHT THERE, ALSO TONE CONTROLS IS A PLUS. IT PULLS IN THE STATIONS AND HOLDS THEM NICELY. I CAN'T WAIT TO GIVE IT TO HER.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I love this radio! I have a GE Super Radio, and it stands alongside if not passes it in performance. Channels stay locked, no drifting, all frequencies come in on their proper indication on the display. The sleep timer comes in very handy. Sound is great on AM and FM. Weather stations are finicky as per reception in the home basement. (I use this radio mostly in the basement.) WX reception is fine on upper floors , etc. Only glitch was I had to exchange this radio for another because the AM/FM/WX switch had to be jiggled to get it to work for WX. Replacement radio is fine. I recommend this radio and would buy another.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
OK...so it's NOT a digital version of the GE Superadio. It IS, however, not a bad (somewhat) long distance radio. I agree that the tuning could be better, and I also agree with another reviewer who said that the tuning is not dead-on especially when you are using the wide filter. The audi is great, however AND the radio seems very well constructed indeed! I live in Western Michigan and I was able to pick up stations from Toronto, Denver, Dallas and New York with no problem. OK..remember that, like any AM radio reception depends on a lot of factors including antenna, location AND the propogation "properties" at any given time. Given all of this I am satisfied with the reception qualities and the overall construction of this rig. I think it is a good value for your dollar...just don't expect a "magic box" that will tune in Outer Mongolia on demand. There isn't a radio around that will do that folks. Try it...I think you'll like it!
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
I was hoping for a nice digital version of the GE SuperRadio that would have maybe 75% the performance. This radio has poor problems in high RF fields for FM. The AM is totally miscalibrated... in the wide mode, you have to tune up one to properly re-tune the radio (if you're tuned to 930 AM, switch the radio to wide and you have to tune to 940). The WX captured the weather station (20 miles east of me) about the same as my scanner.
FM sensitivity and selectivity are good on a par with receivers costing a bit more. It receives only FM mono even with headphones. WX band sensitivity is only fair. AM sensitivity is only average. You can hear some AM DX stations but it will only be the clear channel power-house stations. Audio quality on strong local stations with the filter in the AM-Wide position is great thanks to the large speaker. Generally an OK radio but it is not a super sensitive DX machine.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I had hoped for so much more! Pros: -Nice looking radio -Digital readout -Metal front -Good Sound -Good sensitivity Cons: -Tuning is not a smooth dial but the click and wait method, very frustrating.(this is why I returned mine). -Readout light is always on with AC power on. -Unnecessarily too large. -Cheap strap handle
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
This radio apparently has quality control problems related to tuning. It is far inferior to the GE Radio 12-890. Only one frequence came in correctly. I checked from 520-1710.