Retekess V117 Portable Radios AM FM, Shortwave Radio(Black)

This is a great little portable radio. Great for camping, working in the yard, house, garage or office. The construction is solid from top to bottom. Yes, the case is plastic, but durable and meant to last just like an old school Walkman, I'm not scared that I'll drop it from a few feet and it will break right away. At low volume you can keep this on your desk at work and not disturb coworkers. At full volume you can (annoy your coworkers or) be across the yard or large room and still hear it just fine. Don't expect much bass - because that is not what this unit was designed for. This unit has one speaker, but it performs well. The tuning dial is exactly what you would expect from an analog station dial, it even has a slightest of give to it when you go one way or the other, and it allows a more precise fix on that hard to find signal. I have purchased several portable, antenna-less, digital signal radios, and if the signal is hard to lock onto they just give up and skip it. This radio lets me decide while I adjust the antenna. The headphone jack is well anchored, unlike some of the other portable radios and MP3 players I've purchased online. The sound is also good through headphones. Again, don't expect huge bass through headphones. This isn't designed for that, just enjoy your music. Antenna reception is awesome - THE ANTENNA IS OVER 18 INCHES LONG! Pros: 1. Well made, easy to use, pocket size, great reception, large antenna, reliable. The battery door is even hinged and attached to the unit so you won't lose it. 2. No useless battery draining features like an LED flashlight, poor quality Bluetooth connection, or hard to use buttons or confusing interface. Cons: 0. NONE so far and I don't think I'll find any. I wish more consumer electronics were built this well.

I'm pleased with this. I bought it because I like to have a small radio in the bathroom, and lost it with digital devices that claimed to do a lot but were fiddly, sometimes impossible, to tune; ran out of juice suddenly; and sometimes lost all their presets for no obvious reason. I thought, I wonder if anyone still sells simple radios that just work? They do. This radio has FM, AM and shortwave bands, and a simple analog tuning mechanism. The aerial (which is more than adequate) is retractable and the radio itself very compact, so you can slip it into a jacket pocket when you are out and about. The sound quality and the volume available are surprising for the price. There is even a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can listen to it on good speakers if you want to (though be aware, it's mono). It takes two AA batteries and these last really well; when they do go, you get some warning because the radio doesn't hold its tune so well. There are a couple of odd things. The aerial doesn't swivel so you can't easily use the radio lying on its back, which is a nuisance because it has a narrow base and could easily be pushed over. The on-off/volume control is easy and pleasant to use, but it works the wrong way rund - you rotate it downwards to switch on. Also I am not sure the shortwave band works that well (but it may be I have no stations to receive where I am; in remote areas it might be OK). Still, it works well, the sound is great and it doesn't drive me up the wall when I want to change station. And it was only $13.99 (i see now it's a little more, but not much). For a bathroom, garage or workshop radio, it's great.

I bought this based on the quality of the Retekess PR12 - an excellent, very small radio. The V117 is a different animal entirely. Its performance qualities would make it suitable to some listeners and not others. First, some good things: Sound from the speaker is great for a radio this size. If you walked into a room and heard it playing without first seeing it, you'd guess it was a bigger radio than it is. Earbuds and headphones sound really good, too, with full and rich audio. You'll get monaural audio from the headphone jack but it's wired to use both sides of stereo earbuds/headphones - a nice plus. (Some other small monaural radios need an adapter to produce sound on both sides of a headset.) FM reception is also very good to excellent. This little radio pulls in FM signals that some bigger radios miss, and the sound is good, as described above. You'll get a lot of stations clearly on FM - more than most radios, and a lot more than most other radios this size. Build quality and control feel is good. The side-mounted tuning knob is easier to use than the traditional thumbwheel you find on small pocket radios. However the one downside of this is you need to be careful when carrying the radio in a tighter pocket because the protruding knob might be more subject to damage. So, right there you have enough good to excellent qualities to justify the price of this radio. Most people these days do the bulk of their radio listening on FM, and they want the sound to be decent. If that's you, the V117 is one of the better radios you could pick. Now, switching over to AM reveals performance that another reviewer called chaotic, and I'd say that's the perfect word for it. A lot of this arises, I believe, from the manufacturer's noble attempt to provide something on AM that few radios offer - a wider AM bandwidth for better sound. Your favorite AM station - if it's close enough for this radio to receive it clearly - will sound better then you've ever heard. Even music sounds pretty decent on AM with this radio, and voice is much crisper than usual on AM. That's because the V117 is not chopping off the high frequencies as most AM radios do. But here's the problem with that: Lacking selectivity owing to its wide bandwidth, the AM tuner makes it very hard to zero in on a certain weak station. For instance, when I turn the radio to orient the internal AM antenna one direction or another, I've heard as many as four different stations come in and out - without so much as touching the tuning knob. These are adjacent-channels that are all coming in at the same frequency. You'll also find some other oddities, such as a strong station coming in on both sides of a weaker station near it on the dial. And, assumedly due to the performance peculiarities of the DSP chip, tuning across the dial will at times yield loud, pulsating static; moreover, while listening to a weak AM station, the audio may change markedly in volume from time to time, or the signal might be replaced by pulsing static or silence. Again, this is on weak AM signals. So, what's the upshot of AM on the V117: if you listen to nearby AM stations, this is a good radio for you. These stations will sound exceptional - probably better than you've heard them on anything else - and they'll come in just fine. But the odd behavior of this radio on weak AM signals would drive you crazy if you tried to listen often to hard-to-get AM stations. Between the weak stations randomly coming in and out and the loud on/off static that can, at times, replace these weak stations with aggravating noise, you'd get fed up and switch to some other radio. And, that's kind of a shame, for this radio actually has good AM sensitivity when the above issues aren't occurring, but it's just too unsteady. Shortwave runs from 8 MHz to 18 MHz, which to me is a strange choice of upper and lower limits. Night shortwave reception (generally the more active time for broadcasters) is best under about 7 MHz, and this radio doesn't get those frequencies. I'm thinking that the shortwave section of this radio might have been designed for somewhere besides North America, such as perhaps a country/region that uses certain shortwave frequencies for domestic radio services, and maybe it's those shortwave frequencies that this radio gets. Don't know; just a possibility. I've only received a few weak, unintelligible signals on the V117's shortwave band. For these reasons, if you're in North America buy something else if you want a radio with usable shortwave. Battery life seems very good - I put a set of AA rechargeables in when I got it and they're still going strong after probably 25 hours of playing time. To summarize, the V117 gets great reception on FM, it sounds good, and it offers a wide AM bandwidth that can make stronger signals sound really good, but does seem to also preclude optimal reception of weak AM signals. Depending on what you want, this radio might be a great choice for you, or or might not be as suitable as some other models. The four-star rating reflects this radio's many good qualities for its price.

The Retekess V117 is quite a surprising little radio. I bought it to use as a bedside radio as I need music to help me sleep. I wanted something decent that would give good battery life. Digital displays are nice and convenient, but they drain the batteries faster. I expect good runtimes between battery changes because when this radio is turned off, it is completely off. It receives all of the FM stations that I would expect. AM is surprisingly sensitive and selective, pulling in signals from hundreds of miles away and separating stations that are 10 kHz apart. SW on this is sort of odd in that the range is 8 - 18 mHz. Too bad it is not 5 - 15 or 6 - 16 as it would be more practical. But I knew this going in. It's really a non-issue though as I have other receivers that cover full shortwave, some with single sideband. Sound quality is very good. This radio can fill a room with sound. The sound, sensitivity and selectivity are worth noting because this is a small radio that will fit in a coat pocket easily.

This is a nice, compact little analog radio but does not tune or hold stations as well as digital tuner. It's fidelity is not as good as other Retekess, e.g. TR 603, which gives you a lot more bang for only -+ $6 more. But I think the brand is better than most others.

Received this radio a few days before the Hurricane hit us here in NC. I have used it several hours each day ( at least 4). I still have not needed to change the 2 AA batteries that I installed when I received it (over two weeks now). Volume is great. You can hear it very well on low to middle volume across a 30 foot room with no problem. I do use the antenna that extends out about 19 inches and is very stable. It brings in every station that I can bring in with my car radio or my home stereo. Several stations do not need the antenna out. Very good reception overall. However, I have not heard anything on the Short wave band. Maybe no one close by using that band. AM band is also very clear and I get a large number of stations in the Raleigh NC area. Excellent radio for talk shows as well as music. Update: Important!! Several reviews claim their radio was ok at first but later could not hold the station. Just change the batteries. Unlike some radios this radio may have good volume as the batteries go down but loose the stations and have some static sound as the batteries go down too low. However the batteries do last a long time with this radio. Still a 5 star product

Got exactly what I was looking for in this little radio. Use it at work with headphones. It’s small, easily fitting in my desk drawer. Not a lot of buttons and dials, easy to figure out how to use. No battery-eating digital stuff. Especially like the tuner knob! If you have big hands or arthritis, you’ll really appreciate it, too. Band-selection slide bar is in a convenient place, easy to see which band your on. Only change I’d make in the dial face is to make the numbers whiter, brighter contrast would help those with vision issues. Well-made antennae, fits snugly to body of radio for protection from damage. Even has a little kickstand making greater antenna positioning. Not a battery hog, uses two AA’s. Wrist strap well-made, allows for carrying or hanging. Headphone jack is away from other controls, prevents interfering with their use. A little heavy, seems to be well made, all seams fit together well, nothing out of alignment. Thankfully, my stations, including AM, are close so I haven’t experienced the “weak station issues mentioned in other reviews. Sound is really good for the size. Overall, the radio seems very well thought out in regards to the controls, their placement and function. Happy I chose this one.

Update: I bought two of these a few weeks apart. They were fine for a few months. After a few months, however, all I get is screeching noises out of both of them. At first it was voice/music mixed with screeching and finally, I just wasn't able to tune in any stations at all and just got screeching noise where a station was supposed to be. Guessing that these radios are not built with stable, quality components so after a time the component values change and the radio stops working properly. Great radios while they worked, but they have a very short life span. I have radios that are 30-40 years old and still work great, so these Retekess V117 radios are cheap crap. Not recommended. Unlike other negative reviewers, I was never contacted by the sellers. Original review. I keep this in my basement to listen to a hard to receive NPR FM station which is about 50 miles away. I always get clear reception. The sound is very good, though I only use it for an NPR talk radio station. Simple controls, easy to operate one handed. Seems to be easy on batteries. Picked up a second on for $10.90 in a "Lightning Deal" to keep in another room with a radio which has trouble pulling in my NPR station. If another good deal like that comes up, I will buy a third radio to keep in my car for emergencies.

This is a competent AM/FM radio that produces vibrant sound reception in metropolitan area. Ideal for keeping beside computer whilst working outside in bushfire [or emergency] prone areas where reception to emergency radio is a survival necessity. Works well with plug-in earbuds. Requires only 2 batteries that seem to last for hours+.

C est le troisième radio que j achète de cette marque. Très satisfait du son, de la réception. Et de l autonomie de la batterie. Si vous voulez un radio quand même résistant à bon prix, je vous le conseille. Son aussi bon que certaine grande marque , beaucoup plus cher,

Excelente! Superou a expectativa!

Muy buen producto. Facil de usar para adultos mayores. Recomiendo 100%