I went out on a limb buying this with the problems that the older dewalt had and not having any reviews out yet, but this radio is awesome, its laid out real nice and really easy to use. everything from programing station memory to setting the clock on it are simple. the radio has a great dial for turning up/down the volume and changing stations. its damm loud, used it while a man was using a skidsteer 10 foot away in a horse stall and and i could still hear it clear and loud. the antenna is nice and swivels in a lot of ways and stays there. the display is clear and the clock comes quite in handy. the cord tucks away underneath the radio nicely. I bought this thinking i would never use the cordless function but was i wrong. i got 6 hours out of a older 18 volt that was pretty much charged. I would recommend this to anyone that wants a nice jobsite radio. DEWALT DC012 Worksite Charger/Radio
I am a self-employed handyman and count on my DeWalt tools on a daily basis. I am completely invested in the DeWalt line of cordless tools, and overall, am very pleased with the tool quality and durability. The radio/charger however leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Radio reception is poor. The tuning doesn't seem to stay "locked" on a station and drifts off after a while. It also doesn't seem to pull stations in very well that are farther away. More importantly, the battery charger is nearly worthless. Most of the time, I get the quick flash series indicating that the battery is no good and should be replaced. I put the same battery in a regular charger and it charges in 45 minutes with no problem. All other features are fine. I like having three outlets - a no brainer that should have been on the earlier model. Controls are fine and can be used with gloves on. For the job site radio, the sound is very good. Somebody else complained about the sound quality. Really!? If your job site is a cubicle, then by all means, forget this DeWalt and go for the Bose Wave radio. Bottom line, for the money, this radio should charge the batteries just as well as the stand alone chargers, and the radio tuner should be much better. If you don't have DeWalt batteries to charge, forget this radio. Your money can be much better spent. If you want to charge DeWalt batteries, forget this radio and stick with the standard chargers.
Note that this is the LATEST model (as of Aug 2010, anyway) of the Dewalt Work-Site radio, that charges LI-ION as well as the NI-Cads. This IS THE ONE YOU WANT, not the now-cheaper, older models. They won't charge LI-IONs.
Overall, Dewalt has the best work-site radio for 3 reasons: 1. It can be used as a charger, 2. It can run off of the charged battery if there isn't an electrical outlet available, and 3. It charges ALL Dewalt batteries. Li-ION, Ni-Cads, of all voltages. Dewalt has a huge advantage in the fact they have designed their older batteries (ie, a Ni-Cad 18V) to be compatible with the newer batteries (ie, a LI-ION 18V) of the same voltage. This certainly helps with the radio as well, since it can charge most Dewalt batteries made in the last several years. Most work-site radios only play from a fully charged tool battery; they DO NOT charge the batteries.
Now, for the radio itself:
Positives: Everything mentioned above, plus a very good digital layout and controls, and very rugged. Overall a very good design. The aux input for IPods, or other MP3 players, is really handy. They have resolved many of the issues of the older models.
Negatives: Sound is so-so. Not enough mid-range and treble sounds, too much base. Its acceptable, but not sure why Dewalt didn't invest in a little better speakers. Also, radio reception is just "ok". I hate it when you walk around a radio and the signal fades in and out. That's what this one does if the signal isn't super strong. Compared to other portable radios I have, the reception is weak. Not a problem if you have strong signals, but if they are marginal, you'll be wrapping a wire around the antenna.
In summary, I would buy it again, in spite of the sound quality and reception issues. It does what I need: Charges batteries, and plays a radio off of a charged battery.
So my bosses have owned the earlier versions of this radio. I always hated how it seemed the reception was disrupted easy.
I purchased this newer model hoping that would have been fixed one way or another. NOPE. the reception is still interrupted easily. And I don't know about everyone else but I hate hearing static while trying to listen to music.
I believe the bosh is a better work site radio.
Thanks
Just like the other model DC011, this radio has THE WORST TUNER. The secret was out a long time ago that Dewalt's tuner gets horrible reception. And they didn't even improve upon that with the release of this new model. How stupid is that? Anyway, go with the Milwaukee, Makita, Bosh, even Rigid which all have quality tuners.
I finally broke down and bought one of these. I've been a Makita user for years, but converting over to Lithium Ion has caused me to re-evaluate brand loyalty. In looking over website reviews and opinions, I've decided to work my way over to DeWalt. With that, the radio/charger seemed like a good place to start.
The radio is plenty loud enough, even for listening in noisy conditions. Volume won't be an issue folks. I've read some reviews about the volume being less or even insufficient when using the input jack (which I've used for ipods and even my iphone). If it is less, it isn't enough to cause any meaningful difference. My eight-year-old daughter had a pool party at our house right after I got this, and I hooked her ipod up to it so they could listen to her music outside. That badboy blasted for hours on an 18v Lithium Ion battery way loud (no distortion). It was probably half volume, and ten screaming eight-year-olds were swimming, dancing and singing to all of it all through the yard. Again, if volume is your concern, worry no more.
Some people have talked about inaccessibility for a second input jack near the battery or battery cover. Despite the fact mine appears to be the same model, I can't find any such input jack. Even if I could, you're only going to use one at a time, and the jack on the front works great.
Some people talk about the quality of the radio case. Yeah, it's not exactly bullet proof. If not for the "roll cage", I'm sure this wouldn't make it through a couple jobs or parties or camp outings. But the roll cage is there and it does seem to do the protection job well, so no big concern there.
I've read some comments about wandering stations (not holding the station tuning). I've used mine mostly with ipod input, but when I have used it for radio, it hasn't wandered or acted up in any way.
FYI-The battery case is folding-locked and there is a flexible metal band that holds pressure to the battery so it won't rattle.
And so in summary, the music quality is good (not excellent and not bad); the volume is way ample; the yellow case is cheezy but the roll cage is ample and seems capable of protecting it. Four stars because it's a good radio in many respects, but it's not yet the excellent sounding bullet proof jobsite radio. If it was a few bucks less, it might have earned a fifth star in my book. - Radio - Chargers - Cordless Tool Accessories - 18 Volt'
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