SONY ICF-SW35 Portable World Band Shortwave Radio

Rating:
Summary: Fair Radio with Tin Speakers
Review: I've had my Sony SW35 for five years and while its reception is better than most analog radios and is not much bigger than a CD jewel case, I can't recommend it. First, its five layers of magazine presets are counterintuitive and require a lot of practice and constant references to the user manual. Second, the speaker is almost useless, a piece of tin that has no business being on a 75-dollar radio. Third, for the same price you can buy a far superior Degen 1102 or its clone the Kaito 1102, which has a better speaker and stronger reception. If you want to spend a little less and get good reception with an analog instead of the more expensive digital you might take a look at the Tecsun BCL 2000, a superior model to its inferior clone, the Grundig S350. I've tried many radios, own several, and can assure you that for digital PLL synthesized dual-conversion radios, you can't beat the Degen 1102 or its twin the Kaito 1102 (both around 60-100 dollars depending on where you buy them). For analog, you can't beat the Tecsun BCL 2000, about 60 dollars, forty dollars less than its older clone, the Grundig S350.