shortwave and all-hazard radios

I've only had this weather radio for a few weeks and already had two thunderstorms where I used it. It's a solid weather radio. The signal is great. It's easy to change channels. It has a bright blue backlit which makes it easy to see the screen in the dark. The S.A.M.E. is awesome although I could see where people could have a little trouble setting it. Oregon Scientific has very complete information on it though. All you do is go to an official NOAA web site, type in your zip code and it gives you a "SAME Code" and then you enter it in to the radio. It's similar to setting an alarm on a clock. If you don't know what a SAME code is, a SAME code is a code you enter for your town so that you only get warnings for your town and not just ones around you. When you get a warning, the screen will flash "Warning" and if you want it will set off a 110 decibel siren that will wake anyone up. I haven't had any battery problems. Whenever I don't need it I just have it in the stand (included) and have it plugged in. It's also very rugged and it's not afraid of a little rain. I'd suggest this product to anyone and think everyone should get one.

I purchased this radio directly from Amazon for the lowest price around. When I opened the box and looked through the manual I found it was very easy to program. I had the radio and same codes set up within less than 10 minutes. The radio came with a set of batteries installed from the factory (however, they were not alkaline as recommended in the manual). Once I pulled the battery tab the unit fired up. I scanned to my local weather channel and to my amazment it picked up the signal, crystal clear and loud without any distortion, considering the small stub antenna on the radio! The belt clip is also a nice feature as is the back lit blue LCD screen (nice and bright). Only drawback is it does not come with an AC adapter; however, its sister unit the WR103 does, but does not come in the fancy sport yellow and was about $15.00 more than this unit. I am sure a standard AC plug from Radio Shack will work fine to power the unit; but since you will be outdoors with it the AC power will not matter much. HA HA HA. oly other negative is the alarm mode. Unless you are a light sleeper, don't count on the alarm beep to wake you. it is faint with short beeps. I contacted Oregon Scientific about this and they confirmed that the alarm signal is very low. I give this model a perfect 5 for durabilty, ease of use and the great Amazon price tag with FREE shipping!!! If you are looking for a portable wx radio this is the one!

I love this company - Oregon Scientific. I had bought their photo frame as a gift for my father-in-law and loved it so much that I shopped for another gift for Father's Day and found this emergency alert monitor. It notifies you of severe weather, civil emergencies, child abductions (amber alerts) and a host of other life-threatening dangers. I have a friend with another model and his battery life is very short compared to this unit. We throw it in the car when we go camping, skiing, fishing - anytime we're away from home and need to know about weather or emergencies. It's a great product that we'll never be without.