Outdoor Living : Weather Radio & Charge Cradle

Rating: - Outstanding weather gear
Just what you would expect from Oregon Scientific: an excellent device which does exactly what you expect it to do. It is easy to program and retains settings when you change the battery. It virtually ensures that you are advised of any bad weather approaching. I programmed in all the surrounding counties so I will get an advisory no matter which direction the weather is coming from. I also like the belt holster and the docking cradle.

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Rating: - News you need but don't want to hear
Weather Radio & Charge Cradle We shopped almost a year for this, and a couple of times thought we might not survive to find it. We travel full-time in our travel trailer and don't watch t.v. or listen to local radio. Our first clue weather is turning bad is the sky or weird temperature or wind swings. But you need better information, especially if you live out of doors like we do.

This little weather radio has been great. We receive flood warnings, weather warnings, and weekly test notifications. The box included a belt clip and the radio is so small it is easily carried. We leave it in the charger in our camper most of the time and have occasionally put it on the truck dash while we travel.

We have used other Oregon Scientific products with very good results and expected the same with this product. We have no experience with other weather alert radios, but this one has worked very well for us and we would purchase the same one again.

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Rating: - Poor Execution
I purchased this exact same model direct from the Oregon Scientific store. It was brand new not refurbished or anything.

Welcome to the 1980's!

The radio does alert fine, but there are at least 2 not so clear area's in the instructions for setting it up. The instructions must have been written by Scientific engineers because there are a number of assumptions the user has to make to get through the setup steps. Luckily after quite a while and enlisting my 14 yr. old nephew we were able to figure it out. My nephew was even confused and he is an electronics geek and usually figures stuff out by merely glancing at instructions. He had to really read these though and make a few guesses before we got it set.

Once set up I noticed that the connection to the base / charging station is weak. There is never really a good fit and the radio kind of bounces in there. I have ours set to alert / standby but always hear loud static coming from the radio. So much static that my wife was so annoyed by it that she demanded that it be removed from our bedroom (which is where we wanted it so in case of severe weather while sleeping we would be awaken). So now it is down the hall in a spare bedroom still making all kinds of static, but no-one for it to bother. We may miss an alarm in the middle of the night now which is defeating it's purpose.

Another issue possibly related to the weak unit to charger base connection is that the rechargeable batteries never charge up completely. Additionally after about 15 minutes of having the unit off the base and listening to severe weather alerts for our area the rechargeable battery is just about dead. If I were just rating the rechargeable battery I would give it a 1 star as it is VERY bad.

And a final issue possibly related to the weak unit to charger base connection is that it constantly loses the time and date settings and flips back to the menu setting screen. I have many times re-entered the date and time and just as I set the unit back on the base it wipes it all out and jumps back to the menu screens so you have to re-enter everything again. I did that once 5 times before it actually stayed set and balanced on the charging base. After it is seated in the charging base I hold my breath and slowly turn away.

Overall the execution of this radio is poor. Considering what Garmin and TomTom and similar companies have done for GPS and all the cell phone manufacturers out there and portable DVD player companies I am not sure why this radio is put together like it came straight from the 1980's. There should be a much better quality rechargeable battery in it, there should be a USB type interface for charging, and a significantly better user interface.

I give this a generous 3 stars only because it does alert.

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Rating: - not good in the mountains
I live in the mountains in a rural area and I only receive one station that is the next county over. I was able to set it up myself, and I am not good at electronic devices so that was pretty amazing; the directions are good. I might call the company and see if they can help me find another radio channel that is closer to where I live. I did take it hiking and it fit nicely in my raincoat pocket and it was nice to have it just-in-case.

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Rating: - Great weather radio!
Radio was easy to setup and configure to receive alerts for my city. At first had trouble getting reception but after carrying it upstairs and placing it on the ledge of a window, it works great! I have the volume all the way up so I can hear the alerts all over the house. It always stays in the cradle so the battery stays full charged. The LCD screen maybe a bit dim however I listen for the audible alerts rather than viewing the moving text across the screen. I highly recommend this radio!