PL-310ET FM Stereo/SW/MW/LW World Band PLL DSP Radio Black

2.5 month update- Battery life is amazing, over two months with Amazon Basic alkaline. Doesn't even justify buying rechargeables and the charger- More SW testing - excellent sensitivity and ability to bring stations in a very noisy environment- Durability - tested by my kitten who tried his growing teeth on the telescoping antenna - no damage, and later dropped the radio on the floor - no damage, no scuff marks.The only minor issue is volume control. At a low volume the control is too coarse: while listening in a quiet environment, I use settings 8 or below, and between 5 and 7 the volume changes too much. This is a minor issue, will not be noticeable on AM or SW or in a noisier environment.Overall: the best radio for under $50 I've ever had__________________________________________________________________________________________Original reviewI tried several other radios before ordering Tecsun PL-310ET. I watched numerous videos and read many reviews, and finally decided to give it a try. This radio did not disappoint, but rather impressed me. As a point of reference, I am an electrical engineer with 30 years of experience, so I am writing this not just from a consumer's point of view.I read some reviews here, and I am not sure where the most of negative reviews come from. One reviewer is complaining about not receiving anything on LW - sure, the LW broadcast has been discontinued in North America decades ago, and this type of waves don't propagate far enough to receive them from another continent. Not sure why there are complaints about distortions while receiving high-power stations - I live in SF Bay area with many high power stations nearby, the closest in 3 miles, and I've never noticed any distortions. Not sure where "cheaply made" comes from. The only one complaint I could agree - the manual is not written clearly, and since the controls are not 100% straightforward, less technically literate consumers may have some difficulties.Another complaint I've seen in several reviews is that the radio mutes for a split second while tuning manually. I agree, it makes browsing though the SW bands more difficult. But this has nothing to do with this specific radio. This radio as well as many others are based on Silicon Labs receiver ICs with DSP, and this is the way these chips work. If this is something you cannot live with, get a traditional radio.I experimented with the radio a little, and the results exceeded my expectations:- I am receiving all MW and FM stations equally well, even weak ones, in the room where I have a desktop PC, laptop PC, cable modem, Wi-Fi router, two NAS, and LED lights with dimmers. The DSP is dealing with all interference beautifully. For a comparison, I have analog dual-conversion Tecsun R9710 radio (which is not a bad radio to begin with), and it simply cannot deal this so much interference, while PL-310ET can.- SW reception is great. As soon as I take the radio onto a backyard, I am receiving about 20 stations. This was tested at 8pm with Kaito 23' antenna. My backyard is pretty small, and all neighbors houses have similar interference-causing equipment. Yet the radio is fully capable of filtering most of the noise.- Battery life is excellent. I've been using this radio for several hours every day for a week, and the display still shows two out of three bars. I am using low-cost Amazon Basic batteries.- The sound is very good. It is not a Hi-Fi tuner but every measure, but it is not intended to be either. For a subcompact radio it is more than sufficient. The variable lowpass filter is a great help. On FM I often connect the radio to an amplified stereo speaker, and it sounds sufficiently good to listen to music while working.- The build is reasonably good. Not sure that the radio would take any excessively rough handling, but I wouldn't expect any special ruggedness from a $50 radio, considering its all features. With reasonable handling the radio will likely last for a very long time.In conclusion, I can recommend this radio for someone who wants an all-band consumer-grade subcompact radio and a casual listener. For DXing, the muting between frequency steps and the lack of sensitivity control could be the showstoppers. For someone who wants everything in a radio, get an AOR receiver or similar instead.

I wanted a small radio with a lot of features that wouldn't take up much space in my laptop bag. The Tecsun PL-310ET is exactly what I was looking for.I primarily listen to FM and AM for talk or news, with a bit of music thrown in. I'm not a shortwave listener, but that is a neat bonus for me to play around with when I have time. Being that I live in the suburbs of a major city, I get plenty of stations on FM and AM. Near and sometimes far.The sound is good for a little low power radio with a small speaker. It's not as high pitched as other small radios, which means it's easier on my ears for longer periods of time.My favorite feature is the ETM search mode. Of course, I can switch it back to manual tune mode, but just rolling the tuning wheel notch-by-notch to the next ETM saved station sure is a time saver. I do also like the direct station entry when I know exactly where I want to tune to.I like the size and feel of the side tuning knob, which makes me wish the volume knob was the same. Like other's have mentioned, the side tuning knob will slide off with little effort. So, I used a tiny bit of super glue to attach that knob to the tuning control shaft. An easy fix.Another point is that I've found the on board temperature read out to be accurate as long as the radio isn't on, in my hands, or in the sun. If the radio is on, the temp is about 2 degrees high. If I hold the radio for a length of time, the temp will try to match my hand temperature.It seems that the PL-310ET is a well designed and a well built miniature radio. I sure like the size and all the electronic gadgetry it has within. All in all, this Texan likes this Tecsun.Update June 2, 2018:I found some older rechargeable AA batteries and a old style USB cable at my home to charge the PL-310ET from my laptop. It works great, but the rechargeable batteries don't have the endurance of new AA batteries. It's still worth the effort to keep my battery purchases down, but you do need to follow the recharge instructions from the PL-310ET operators manual. Thumbs up for this little feature.Also, I ordered and received a Tecsun AN-06 plug in wire antenna for the heck of it. The wire antenna gives solid signal strength increases to shortwave stations. From the upstairs in my house, the channels received went from 19 shortwave on the telescopic antenna to 31 shortwave on the plug in wire antenna. I also used the wire antenna for FM reception, but it had much less effect than it did on short wave. 68 FM stations on the telescopic antenna versus 70 FM stations on the wire antenna. No effect on AM/MW as that uses the internal antenna, of course. It's kind of fun to have the plug in antenna, but it's not really necessary in my situation.

Great ultra small portable radio that pulls in distant stations fairly well. You have so many options with this radio.My favorite features of this radio:* The digital display is nice and large, giving supporting information such as a signal strength meter or UTC clock.* Browsing function...this has the be one of the coolest features I've see yet. You have this for normal searching plus surfing your presets.* 550 presets...Do I ask for more?* Bandwidth control on the MW and SW. 6,4,3,2, and 1Khz spacing.* Always on option for the LCD's side light.* Ability to charge your NiMH batteries in the radio.* FM reception is top notch! FM Stereo with headphones is amazing.* AM reception is close to top notch!* External antenna jack for FM/SW.* Price!What I didn't like about this radio:* It suffers with noise from the DSP while using the AM band. When you key press options it makes a digital type interference noise.* Build quality could be a bit better, the buttons are hard to press and feel a little cheap. The LCD cover on mine is a little loose on one side.If you have just entered the hobby or a collector of different radios, don't hesitate to punch that add to cart button. Its so worth it!

Me sorprendió la sensibilidad del radio, aún con estaciones débiles/lejanas se escucha muy bien. El sonido con la bocina es aceptable para su tamaño, con audífono suena muy bien (en particular el FM). Algunas funciones del teclado son intuitivas, otras requieren una lectura rápida del manual pero realmente es fácil de usar.

A compact FM/AM/MW/SW radio that feels solid and well made. ETM feature is useful for storing stations temporarily when travelling. Runs on AA batteries, amber backlight can be set to stay on if needed. The radio has very good sensitivity and pulls in distant weak stations on AM band. The antenna jack is a nice bonus. Package comes with decent earbuds and small pouch. One minor gripe.. my radio was shipped in it's original box with labels stuck to it. Would prefer the seller box the item before shipping. Regardless, everything is there and working.

Es buen radio aunque necesité de una antena externa para sintonizar alguna estación.

Relación precio beneficio fuera de toda proporción. Muy caro para lo que es.