So I've been trying to find a decent weather radio. One that you can disable certain alerts, one that pays attention to EOM (end of message) and one that doesn't look like junk sitting on the kitchen counter.
So far I've been blown away with the quality of this radio. Everything from the button feel to the LCD display is excellent. Surprisingly the quality of the internal speaker is good as well, the sound is nice.
Feature wise...
The radio does allow you to disable alerts! And it's easy to disable them as well. This is very useful when you don't care to be woken up for a thunderstorm *watch*.
The radio pays attention to EOM! At then end of each voice alert broadcast they play a tone to signify EOM (end of message). When the radio hears this tone it mutes itself. This is great if your in bed, laying down, in the other room or just don't want to go over to the radio. The radio will play the alert message then mute itself once the message is over. Some units like the midland (nearly every model they make) doesn't pay attention to this, and you get to keep hearing the same alert message repeating over and over until the 15 minute timer runs out.
The time and date will automatically set itself if you point it to a FM radio station that broadcasts the time/date via RDS. (I had to try a few different stations that broadcast RDS until I found one that did this; seems not all of them do in my area)
FM radio reception is excellent. To boot you get to see song name/Artist and radio station information scrolling on the screen.
I did find some of the instructions to be a bit not well translated. Like you have to have the weather radio set to "ON" or the "weather" button doesn't work. But really this is minor stuff, and you'll forget about it once you use it.
This radio is really a home run: great features, high quality and good aesthetics. Sangean CL-100 Table Top Public Alert Certified S.A.M.E. Weather Hazard Alert Radio
I've owned many weather radio's over the years and I like this one the best. Sound quality is very good on this radio. It has a good size speaker and bass / treb controls. The voice of the weather service is very clean and clear on this radio. The display is excellent. It displays all relevant information and is easily viewed from almost any angle. It has a brightness and contrast control as well as the ability to program the duration that the back light remains lit. Build quality is superb.
Update 01/25/2011: I have found a few minor annoyances with this radio. It allows you to disable the alert siren for things like the Required Weekly Test BUT you cannot disable the Voice Alert for the same alerts. What this means is that if your receiver is set to VOICE mode rather than Siren then you cannot disable the alert and are still forced to hear it go off. Also, you cannot set the alert volume for Voice Alert. I just got a Tornado warning and the damn thing blasts you out of the room at full volume. I don't know why Sangean overlooked this. If your radio is set to Siren you can set it to LOW, MEDIUM or HIGH volume.
I wonder if there will be some sort of software or firmware upgrade because in the menu there is a way to display the software version. Mine is version 1.11 dated June 24, 2010
In the past couple of years I have bought & returned SAME weather radios from several manufacturers (Radio Shack, Midland, Reecom and First Alert) due to poor quality and/or poor functionality.
I have owned a Sangean pocket radio for 6 years which works as if it is brand new so I was expecting the SL-100 to be a good radio. It has exceeded my expectations !! The SAME weather radio is easy to program & works perfectly. The AM/FM radio works very well even though we live in a highrise apartment in downtown Chicago where often AM/FM reception is poor. Sound quality is excellent for a small tabletop radio. The alarm clock works well also.
My only "complaint" is that the instruction booklet has some minor errors and could use some tweeking. However programming of this radio is somewhat intuitive even for someone like me who is technically challenged
Craig T
I purchased this to replace a First Alert WX-268 that self destructed after a couple of years (the display went blank). This CL-100 is a much better unit. The controls are easier to use, the display is easier to read, and it is easier to program. Excellent reception and sound. The only issue is it really can't be used as a bedside alarm clock unless the table height is lower than the bed height due to the angle of the display. Overall, very happy with this purchase and would purchase again without a second thought.
Midland seems to be the standard to which all other weather radios are compared. Sangean's latest entry into the market really proves who is on top.
Midland radios are ubiquitous. Every store that sells weather radios displays them prominently. Unfortunately their build quality and feature set have taken steps backward in recent years. The last one I bought had a faulty antenna. Almost all the "top" receivers use the same, blocky, 16-character alphanumeric display they used 10 years ago.
Sangean's CL-100 greatly improves on readability with a nice pixel LCD display. The best features are EOM (End of Message) muting, the ability to switch off the alert siren for unwanted alerts (like thunderstorm watch). It also comes with a nice external antenna. The radio can set its own clock via a local FM station's RDS signal. The controls and user interface are leaps and bounds above any competitor's offerings. It could work perfectly as a combination weather and clock radio for the bedside, even offering stereo output for nicer speakers, although the internal mono speaker isn't a slouch.
The only cons I can think of have to do with the display itself. Although it's great, its lowest backlight setting is still too bright for my bedside. Also, there is no way to adjust the display's angle, making it hard to read unless the radio is at a level well below the bed, whatever the contrast setting. If not used as a clock radio in the bedroom, it's perfect. - Weather Radio - Weather Alert Radio - Same - Weather Alert'
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