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Every Household Should Have One of These Radios

Sangean MMR77

What is most impressive about this radio is its relative freedom from power issues. This radio is very conservative in its power consumption whether one is using an external 3-Volt power source, a set of “AA” cells, or the supplied 2 x “AAA” cell internal-rechargeable pack.

Reading the pre-sales description of this radio one may mistakenly assume that it plays for only thirty minutes from the internal rechargeable batteries. In fact what is being claimed is that one-minute of cranking the dynamo results in 30-minutes of playback. Cranking for two minutes will result in one hour of playback. The longer you crank the longer it plays. When fully charged the internal rechargeable pack will operate the radio at a reasonable volume level all day and on into the night.

The radio has a built-in replaceable “AAA” plug-in battery pack similar to those found in wireless phones. These batteries are recharged by the dynamo. This pack is accessible and replaceable, after 300-500 recharge cycles, by removing six-screws at the back of the case.

Further two “AA” batteries are easily replaceable through an access-port at the rear of the cabinet. The radio can also be powered by an external source, solar-cell, wall-wart, or what have you, through a socket located under a splash-proof cover on the left-side of the radio.

The dynamo handle is sturdy. The left-side of the case is partially cylindrical in shape. The left-edge of the speaker grill is actually a rubber grip. The radio is well balanced and easy to hold while cranking the dynamo. The dynamo can be cranked in either direction facilitating use by either Right or Left handed people. Lefties will not be able to see the green-LED which illuminates to indicate that one has reached adequate dynamo cranking speed. A minor inconvenience.

The bottom of the case has four rubber-pads which when combined with the radio’s weight cause it to grip well on flat surfaces. No tipping. The overall build quality, fit and finish, of this radio is very-good.

A splash-proof earphone port is located next to the external power-port. Both earphone channels are driven, monaurally. The radio’s internal speaker is only two-inches in diameter. This is not a boom-box, but the sound that emanates from the speaker is very accurate within its effective range. Classical and Jass music sound fine. If you are a heavy rock-listener you may yearn for more oomph in your everyday listening.
The primary purpose of this radio is to provide information when the lights go out, but it makes a useful everyday radio as well, with the previously mentioned exception for rockers.

There is a small incandescent bulb that illuminates the slide-rule tuning-dial and provides enough-light externally for small-tasks such as reading your watch or a business-card. The lamp is illuminated through a small push-button on the front of the cabinet. There is another small push-button on the top of the cabinet. This button activates a chirping sound through the speaker. The sound is similar to that of a smoke detector, but not as loud. This does not seem like a very useful feature but perhaps some of you will think of a use for it?

Another switch on the top of the radio selects between the AM and FM bands. A switch on the back of the radio selects between the internal dynamo powered batteries, or the replaceable “AA” battery and external power options.

Most importantly, in addition to all of the above, is that this radio has very good sensitivity and selectivity characteristics. Analog-dial radio tuning may be a new experience for any of you that were raised on digital-dial radios. The Vernier slide-rule dial of this radio is relatively small so one has to tune slowly and deliberately to isolate stations. However, once a station is tuned-in, one is rewarded with solid drift-free reception. The audio is free of noise or distortion, has surprising fidelity, and good dynamic range, within the limited range of the small speaker.

I recommend that every household have one of these radios, and another in the trunk of the car. When disaster inevitably strikes the prudent use of this radio as a source of current information could allay further personal-suffering, or loss of life.

Update (5/19/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Sangean MMR-77 Emergency AM / FM Portable Radio Electronics, was written by Henry Alfaro.

The average rating for this item is 5 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.