Eton Field Radio with Bluetooth & Fine Digital Tuning

Eton Field - World Band Radio with BluetoothI had a wish for a great old world type radio what would give me the best AM and FM reception, audio performance and functionality for my money. After a long but happy search perusing Amazon’s offerings, it came down to a two options for me.. . the Sangean PR-D15 and the one I finally purchased, the Eton Field – World Band Radio with Bluetooth otherwise known as the Eton Field 550 with Bluetooth or simply the Field BT.But for short time, I felt all the work was in vain as after I had it about an hour, I found two things bothered me so much I almost sent it back. The beeping (really pretty loud) with every button press became a nuisance, but worse and most annoying was the clock would not stay set. The RDS feature (Radio Display System) which in addition to providing station and content information told the radio to set the clock to London England GMT. Indeed, a handy feature if I intend to use this radio 4,500 miles from home. However, it renders the dual alarm clock function nearly useless for me. The solution from the friendly and accessible Eton Tech Support was…with the radio off, push the down arrow button on the front to toggle from “Auto” to “ Manual”, the former allows the radio to set it’s time automatically from the RDS. Oh, and the solution to that annoying beeping problem is found in the manual. Again, with the radio off, press the “Alarm” button till it toggles to “Buzzer Off”. With these two fixes I am very happy with this radio.Squinting into the front grill I expected to find a 5inch speaker to blast sound out of this large lunch pail size radio. I was disappointed to find only a small aprox 1inch tweeter to produce sound. But after a few minutes of listening, my disappointment was gone. Somehow, though the radio is not overly loud, the sound of this radio was IMHO, beautifully tuned for both music and voice. A little research shows that Eton has given this Field BT a tuned port sound system providing technological sophistication over a regular plain and probably less efficient speaker system. I am very pleased with the sound, though I might want a bit more volume, it is perfectly suitable for everyday use.The Field BT comes with two alarm settings, lighted buttons and displays time with a beautiful hi-med-low brightness adjustable amber screen that can switched to remain on or to go off after 10 seconds. This is a welcome and uncommon option that allows continuous display of time and RDS information or preserve energy if on battery. This allows the Eton Field BT, with time always visible, to better serve as a bedside alarm radio. When off, with adequate lighting, the display window can with close scrutiny dimly show settings as if viewed from a magic 8 ball. Nice enough. Would be nice to have display more visible when power off, but on or off, I have absolutely no quibbles with the display on this radio. Setting the clock is easy the second time you do it. The manual is clear and is if anything for me anyway, all too brief. A few buttons do different things when radio is on or and something different when off. That said, but for the undocumented RDS auto clock setting issue, the Field BT is intuitive enough to please the non-manual reader that just wants a radio that plays.And play it does. The Field BT pulls in all the distant NPR FM stations that I hoped to hear and one more I did not expect. SW functions fine for me and the AM band is also OK for the few stations available to me. I am very happy and especially after finding the AM performance is significantly boosted by my Terk Passive AM loop. For that reason, I do not regret choosing the Field BT over the Sangean PR-D15, having decided Eton’s Bluetooth feature trumped (must stop saying that now) Sangean’s longer and more powerful ferrite core AM antenna. The Field BT Bluetooth feature (receive only) works great, pairs well and plays content and controls (pause and skip track) from my computer and phones. It also has a line out, a headphone jack and an AUX input that kicks in when 3.5mm standard audio cable is inserted for playing from computer or other audio source. The Field BT offers a lot of flexibility without being complex.I really like the Eton Field BT radio, especially the FM sensitivity , AM and SW reception and the FM RDS (radio information system) displaying the station, call letters, music or broadcast information, time and date.I also like the padded strap that securely attaches to the top of the radio. Note, you just might appreciate the option to convert from handle to shoulder strap as this is not a pocket transistor size radio by any means. It measures approx. 12.4” x 6.9” x 3.0” and weighs about 4 ½ pounds with 4 D cells. It comes with an AC wall wart adapter that, unlike the Sangean, does not charge the batteries in the radio. Unplugging AC without batteries may require you to re-set the radio to stop beeping and defeat the RDS auto clock set feature.Pop Quiz: How do you re-set the beep function and automatic RDS clock set? Answer: With the power off...press Alarm button to defeat the audible feedback beeping and press the down arrow key to set and keep the clock to a time you choose.I am very happy with the Eton Field BT radio. Though it does not have a keypad entry, tuning is quick and easy using Eton’s logical warp jump “QTune” system, its concentric large and smaller fine tune dials and surprisingly adequate 10 (ten) memory settings per band. The DPS locks into the stations like a spike and keeps them stable.This solid handsome radio works for me and well worth $129. Very very happy with this purchase .

There are a lot of Eton/Grundig product reviews all mixed together here, so be careful to match the review with the right product. This is a review of the Eton Field - World band Radio WITH Bluetooth. There is another radio just like this but without Bluetooth.I've had this for a month now. It shipped promptly but was packed only in the factory box, no outside heavy cardboard. I was alarmed at this, but the radio arrived safely. It was easy to unpack. It includes the radio, a 6v wall transformer (rather large and heavy), and a rather minimal instruction manual. That's OK as the radio is surprisingly well laid out and almost self-explanatory.What it HAS: AM, FM, Shortwave, Bluetooth connectivity, Line IN for connecting to things like iPods, laptops, and CD players. It will connect to anything with a headphone jack. It has a line OUT to connect to a tape recorder or to send the radio station to a bigger stereo system for when you want LOUD. It has jacks for optional AM, FM, and shortwave antennas, but it has very good internal antennas for each as well. It runs on AC (included) or four 'D' cell batteries (not included). Two timers, sleep timer, and alarm clock. It has a big, backlit digital display. It has controls for bass and treble with a two-way speaker system. It looks like a 4" woofer and 1" tweeter. The woofer appears to be ported for better bass response. It is stereo ONLY through headphones. It has coarse and fine tuning controls, a few memory presets, an a squelch control for improved shortwave reception, and a few other controls for the usual up/down, clock functions, etc. The Bluetooth range is the normal 38-ish feet.What it DOESN'T have: No long wave, air, TV, or weather frequencies.What I LIKE: It's got remarkably good sound for a portable radio, although it is a little on the quiet side. This is not for big parties or loud crowds. The bass and treble controls are very good and useful. Using only the internal antennas it gets every FM station I can receive with other radios, and AM reception nearly as good as a GE SR-III portable. I won't compare this to a large communications receiver because that's unfair. Shortwave reception is as good as my Sangean 909 portable (again, don't compare it to big rigs). SW reception would probably be improved with a long wire antenna. It seems well built, but frankly, I wouldn't take it into the 'field' despite the name. It has good battery life (about 200 hours).What I HATE: The handle on this thing is a disaster waiting to happen. It's a soft handle that converts into a shoulder strap. The first time I picked it up the handle decided to convert itself. The radio would have hit the floor if I didn't have a firm grip on it. Does anybody REALLY need a shoulder strap on a portable radio? I know I don't.OVERALL: I give it four stars. It has a lot of features for a portable radio in the price range. It's easy to use. Gets more than adequate reception for my area, and pretty decent sound quality for a portable. Not as good as the GE SR-III (which is only AM/FM with bigger speakers), but close. I'd give it five stars except for the stupid handle. That really bugs me.