D220 Portable Radio AM FM SW Shortwave Receiver Pocket Radios, 2 AA Battery Operated Transistor Radio with Excellent Reception for Gift, Family, Elder (Orange)

XHDATA has quite a few excellent radios, and here's another good one with a retro "transistor radio" vibe that performs a lot better than the ones did back when these types of radios were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Still, there are a few operational details that might make it less suitable for some listeners than some other radios.Reception: FM and shortwave are exceptionally sensitive. In fact, I compared the shortwave reception of this radio to a couple of digital receivers I have. I was able to get everything on the D-220 that the bigger radios would get. And on a few of the stations, this little D-220 actually delivered cleaner reception than the larger, more expensive radios. Quite a surprise. But here's the problem: The entire shortwave band, which runs on this radio from 5.6 MHz to 22 MHz, is packed into one band. Finding a particular frequency can be a challenge. But with patience and a steady hand you can eventually get there. If there is ever a revision of this radio, I would hope they would consider dividing shortwave into two bands to make it easier to find specific frequencies. FM works really well also, especially given the relatively short antenna. I am able to receive an FM station about 70 mi away that's right between two local stations on the dial. Again, though, you need to really tune slowly to do that because not much movement of the tuning thumbwheel can sweep you right past the station you're looking for. AM (Medium Wave) reception is predictably not as good as FM and shortwave because the radio's small size means the internal AM antenna isn't very big. It works fine for local and stronger regional stations, though, and it will pull in some distant ones at night.Sound Quality: The biggest strength here is that the radio gets pretty loud without audio distortion, making it suitable to use outdoors or in noisy environments. Overall, I would rate the sound as good for a radio this size. You don't have a lot of bass, but the audio is clear and crisp for news/talk and casual music listening.Operation: Because of this radio's overall simplicity it might seem suitable for an elderly person who prefers a radio without a lot of extra buttons, knobs and controls. However, because tuning it requires fairly precise movements of the tuning wheel, a person with limited hand dexterity might find it frustrating to use. On the plus side, though, once you do find the station you want, the radio's digital signal processing chip homes in on the center of the signal, so there isn't much need to do any fine tuning.Battery Life: Phenomenal. To test this, I took a couple of previously-used AA batteries out of a different radio and checked their voltage, finding that each battery was between 1.2 and 1.3 volts - significantly less than the 1.5 volts of a new one. I then put them in the D-220 and turned it on at a moderate normal listening volume on an FM station. So far the D-220 has been playing for over 48 hours continuously on those previously-used batteries.Overall: The XHDATA D-220 is a high-quality radio at an attractive price. For those who intend to do a lot of shortwave listening, I suggest also looking at XHDATA's D-219, which costs about the same and divides the shortwave spectrum into several bands, making it easier to find the exact frequency you want. But if you prefer the slightly smaller size and vertical orientation of the D-220, the shortwave performance is excellent on this radio as well, albeit requiring a little more time to tune.

Very impressive radio that exceeds all my expectations. Loud and clear sound from such a small speaker. Tuning control holds stations with no distortion. Strong reception on FM frequencies and AM reception is OK. Great buy for only $10.

First impressions. This is a nice radio for the price, and with some interesting features. The radio is designed to be operable in different markets (i.e. Europe or the United States). For FM, the user switches between FM1 and FM2, depending. For AM, the tuning changes at 1KHz steps, so no need for a switch. And short-wave on a small radio like this at this price is, to me, amazing.Reception on AM is pretty good. I picked up a decently powerful fringe station about 270 miles away during the daytime and it came in loud and clear. And I picked up a couple Spanish language broadcasts on shortwave at about the same time while experimenting. FM is likewise very good. In all cases the speaker is very good for such a small radio.There is no play in the turning, and it isn't too stiff or loose. Similarly, there is no play in the on/off/volume control.On the negatives, the bar showing position on the dial is hard to see depending on the light and the angle you are holding the radio. This is with the orange model, an orange bar on orange background, and certainly would not be an issue with the black and green models. The easy workaround is to tilt the radio to see the contrast better when this is a problem.The band switch will probably be ok, but I wish it felt a little more solid and tight, more substantial, when switching from one bad to another.My uses cases would be a travel radio, especially if traveling by air and carrying everything, or stick in your bug-out-bag with lithium batteries and forget about it until you need it.

Honestly for the price that you pay the radios is really good i get all my favorite radio stations and more the built to it is good the sound quality is really good like any other speaker it will sound nasty once the volume is put to high but over all the volume for the size of this radio is surprisingly very good i love it for the simple reason it firs anywhere yet still has good reception without out having to extend the antenna so long, the buttons are so simple and easily manageable over all worth the purchase

Works great