Rating: 
Summary: Good Thing They Sell it as AM/FM Because SW is Lacking
Review: The Sangean ATS-404 is a budget minded travel portable designed for the business or vacationer on the go who wants to take a small receiver along for the trip.The radio is touted as an AM/FM stereo portable primarily, although the unit also is considered an entry level shortwave portable. The AM sensitivity and selectivity on this receiver is only fair, and if you are close to a transmitter, the receiver can be overloaded and spurious (secondary) signals will appear as you scan the band. FM is adequate, but the receiver is also prone to overloading in areas near FM transmitters, with stations appearing in places they do not belong. The shortwave performance on this receiver indicates that band was an afterthought, much like some boom boxes used to include one long shortwave band for novelty value. Even reception of strong signals available to North American shortwave listeners such as Voice of America, Radio Canada International, BBC World Service, Radio Havana Cuba and Deutsche Welle were not all they could be. The reception of good quality signals on shortwave requires a decent antenna, and the antenna on this receiver won't cut it. Attempting to hook up an external antenna overloads the receiver. If you are looking for a travel portable with AM & FM reception, this is an adequate choice, but if you want a receiver that can competantly handle shortwave, choose a higher end Sangean model or a unit priced at $99 or above with digital readout. You'll be far happier.
Rating: 
Summary: For this price you can't beat it!
Review: This is the lowest price I've seen for this radio anywhere! Its great for a 'first' short wave radio!
Rating: 
Summary: Great radio for the money!
Review: This radio is the best of its type for the money. The Sangean 505 gives you SSB and a nice fine-tuning knob, but it is considerably more expensive, and also quite a big larger. If all you want is a good, small, AM/FM, basic shortwave radio with a speaker and memory, you can't beat this. I find its reception to be quite good, on all 3 bands. As far as battery use, it works very smoothly with rechargables. It has a 3-segment battery indicator that displays when you first turn it on. When only 1 segment is lit, it means you are getting toward the end (maybe about 1 hour left). At that point, you can charge a second set of batteries and install them when it finally dies. You can also just disregard the battery indicator and wait for it to die, and then charge the second set. As soon as the battery power gets too low, the radio shuts off, but still retains the time and memory station settings. It can run in this low-power mode for hours. In my case, I had 4 nicads in it that died, and it took me 6 hours to charge 4 NiMHs that I use as the 2nd set. The radio's time and memory settings were still intact when I finally installed the NiMHs (you have 3 minutes to make the actual switch). Very nice!
Rating: 
Summary: Good price for a basic shortwave radio
Review: This radio is very similar to a panasonic I purchased 7 years ago, though that one was $100 and had limited sw bands. For its price, this is an excellent deal. None of the information I could find prior to purchase explained the sw band range, which is 2.3 to 26.10 MHz, from 11M to 120M. I'm giving this radio a "4" on the basis that some die hard SW enthusiasts would probably prefer something similar to the more expensive models available from Sangean, Grundig, and others. For my purposes though, this radio is more than suitable. Radio Netherlands, Deutche Welle, BBC, Radio China, Russia, etc.. are all easily heard. Size overall is about 4" high, 6 or 7" wide and 1.5 deep. Light and easily portable for travel. Other details - has an alarm function, 9 am presets, 18 fm presets, and 18 fm presets. Also comes with "ear bud" head-phones and a nice case. A filter switch cuts out high end noise in the am and sw bands. Has a back illuminated light that can be turned on or off 7 seconds at a time. Has a stereo and mono switch for headphone use. An adaptor may be used instead of 4 AA batteries. Sound projected from a small 3" speaker, but the clarity is very good without distortion. Very good reception. In all this is a good way to own a quality SW radio.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not perfect
Review: What other reviewers have said is true:
- It's a battery hog
- Often confusing controls
- Disappointing AM reception But for someone who needs a portable AM/FM unit
with an external speaker, this is probably among
the best that you can buy at this price.
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