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 enlarge | Brand: Midland Consumer Radio
Category: CE
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $26.99
You Save: $23.00 (46%)
New (58) from $26.99
Rating:  242 reviews
Sales Rank: 469
Color: White
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries: 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 5.7 x 2.2
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: WR-100B
Model: WR-100B
UPC: 046014741010
EAN: 0046014741010
ASIN: B0001OHH0Q
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A quality product with challenging instructions June 29, 2008
If I were rating this project in terms of its performance in providing essential alarms and information, particularly in relationship to its price, I'd give it 5 stars. I do have issues, however, with its instructions and interface.
Performance-wise, this is a quality product. I've had the radio in service for a few weeks; it proved its worth almost immediately. The radio arrived during a period of late spring unsettled weather. A tornado passed to the south of us and the radio woke up to gave me plenty of warning and very good information as to the location and path. I discovered that, during a tornado warning, the Weather Service provides a live, real-time announcer who tracks the storm for you.
During normal weather conditions, you can always listen to the weather service just by punching a button--although what you get is a computer voice reading from a typed script. Once you get past the fun of listening to the computer's pronunciation errors, you'll probably choose to get your weather forecasts from other sources.
The product description doesn't make it completely clear that you can grab the radio and head for shelter without missing a lick--the on-board AA batteries instantly go to work when you unplug the wall power from the unit's back. Similarly, the unit will continue to perform through an electrical outage without any action on your part. I haven't tried to see how long the radio might run on the batteries alone. I suspect that listening full time to the radio (as compared to using it as a weather alarm) probably would shorten battery life.
In addition to its weather warning chores, the radio can also function as an alarm clock, but this does add a layer of complexity in setup and operation with which you may not wish to engage.
I've noticed a reviewer who complained about the frequency of alarms and I admit that receiving them in the middle of the night is a little unsettling. But the point of having the radio is not getting killed in your sleep, so I'm willing to tolerate being catapulted from deep slumber by the alarm. Under normal weather conditions, the radio just sits there, completely silent. You can go for weeks with nary a bleep.
Now to the problems: If you're the kind of person whose VCR used to constantly blink "12:00", you may find the setup instructions somewhat difficult to follow. I suspect they were written by an engineer because of the presence of unwarranted assumptions such as the one that all users will intuitively understand that a panel button can have more than one function. The screen interface isn't much help in this regard either in that it can be hard to know where you are in the setup sequence. If you're willing to be patient, however, rest assured that the radio will do everything its advertising promises to do. For the very reasonable price and quality performance of the unit it would be worth the trouble to find a kid to program it for you.
Bottom line: I didn't find any shortcomings in the radio itself; only the instructions left something to be desired. I'd still buy this radio if I had it to do over again. In fact, I recently did buy an additional unit to give as a gift to a family member (for whom I'll do the setup).
 Nice Unit June 28, 2008
Out of the box useage. Great for single location (you select the county for alarms.) A little more difficult for travel (RV). You must know your county and make selection after each move. Works well...and will wake you up! Bought two more for our sons.
 Two thumbs up! June 23, 2008
What I love about this radio is that you can program in the codes for the counties that you are interested in and you will only be alerted if severe weather is in those counties. That way you aren't awakened in the middle of the night for weather that won't affect you. You find the county codes on the internet. Instructions for programming are very easy to follow. You hear an alarm then you hear the warning straight from the weather bureau. You get it the same time the local TV stations do. It is a lot better than one of those subscription services where they call you on the telephone.Midland WR-100C Weather / All Hazards / Civil Emergency Alert Monitor with S.A.M.E.
Great Product at Great Price June 20, 2008
After a couple of tornado warnings hit my area I looked for a weather radio. This unit is absolutely great - small, good receptions, and amazon had the best price I could find on-line. Two weeks after buying the first one, I bought a second unit to keep on the first floor of our house. Never thought $30 could give you that peace of mind.
Good reception but annoying alert tone. June 19, 2008
The unit receives signals well, maybe too well. During a storm event, the unit becomes annoying because of the frequent and loud alerts broadcast by the weather service. If there was just a tad bit more logic to the thing it would null the loud tone after the first time it gets your attention. The repeated loud tones which cannot be disabled without turning the radio off are just more than necessary. I'd recommend putting it under a pillow once you receive the first alert during a weather emergency. Otherwise you may wind up being tone deaf. There are many types of weather alert radios out there. I own two different brands myself. The other one doesn't even respond during an event as it's reception is so poor. At least this one will jilt you into action with it's very audible screech. Just get the ear plugs ready.
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