After having tried just about every SAME technology weatheradio out there, I found the WR-300 to be one of the better ones, and definitely the best of the Midland weatheradios to date.
One of the best features it has is that it allows you to disable the audiable alerts for every watch/warning except life threatening ones like tornado warning, or biological hazard warning, etc. Other brands and models will only allow you to disable the most harmless events. I do not wish to be alerted at 3am because of a severe thunderstorm warning, or tornado watch. With the WR-300, I won't be alerted unless there is actually a tornado warning.
The blue LED backlit LCD display is pretty sharp looking, too! There is a menu feature that allows you to continuously keep the blue backlighting on, although I think it would be too bright in a bedroom at night, especially if the WR-300 is right next to the bed on a nightstand.
Some people have complained about the beeps for every keypress, and I did not find that to bother me. Maybe a softer "click" sound for every keypress would be better. Also, others have reported that their WR-300 leaked audio when the WX is muted. I did not have this problem at all; it worked fine for me.
Things I really liked about the WR-300:
1) Extensive audiable alert disable ability
2) Form factor and relatively small size
3) Blue backlit display
4) 4-AA battery backup (instead of 9v transistor batt)
5) Am/Fm/clock/alarm features
6) Menu flexibility (although not that intuitive)
I gave the WR-300 a 4 instead of 5 star rating because of the following minor issues:
1) No display of event(s) remaining time(s)
2) Menu navigation and master alert disable/enable operation was not intuitive.
3) No visual indication as to whether or not the master audible alert is enabled or disabled. MIDLAND WR300 Weather Radio
I purchased 2 of these to replace the Midlands I lost in a tornado on July 13, 2004. The old radio saved the lives of myself, our 5 yr old and 3 of our grandchildren. If the radio had not been gone off, we would likely be dead. I never would have looked out the back door in time to get us all in the basement before an F4 hit our home. We live in the country and I have always had a weather radio. I tell everyone I know to get weather radio .
This is a nice model and I like the AM/FM feature. The problem I continually have had with every radio is that we live in the middle of the coverage areas and don't get the best signal at times. I have solved this by putting a Chore Boy stainless steel scrub pad on the antenna. It definitely improves the reception and seems to do better that foil. Other than that I think this is the best one I have had.
I purchased this unit 6 months ago with the fear of "tornado season" coming. I live in an area where a tornado is likely with almost every storm. In past years, Easter weekend has been ruined by the destruction of houses in the path of a tornado.
We hear the alarm and listen to the weather service warning BEFORE the news stations can announce the warning on t.v.
The WR-300 has been great. The alarm is clearly heard by everyone throughout the house and the display gives a read out of the alert while the alarm is sounding. You can hear the local weather service with the touch of a button or press the AM/FM button and listen to local radio stations of your choice. The use of this radio is very simple. My kids know how to turn off the siren and how to press the weather radio button to listen to the verbal warning from the National Weather Service. The alarm is a great asset to have during night time hours.
The radio can be plugged in for everyday use and then when power is out for whatever reason, the backup batteries take over so that you can hear announcements and further weather warnings.
Many people have complained about the beeping while pressing the buttons. Yes, there is a beep but it is not that annoying. We do not do very much button pushing in the middle of the night and it has not bothered us.
There is a weekly test that can be a little annoying if you are asleep during the day. My husband is military and his schedule changes regularly, sometimes causing him to work mid-shift. When he is sleeping during the daytime hours, the alarm sounding during the weekly test can be disturbing but it is a small price to pay for safety. On the other side, the weekly test is a nice option. Each week we are assured that the radio is working and the alert will come through during an emergency.
This is a great item and wonderful purchase to make for yourself or a loved one. You really can not put a price on safety.
I got one of these back in early April of this year. We had a couple of days of severe weather in the area. The unit would not alert when the NWS sent out alerts. I changed back and forth from "multi" county to "all" counties, but no alerts. I was listening to the alerts on another weather radio I have, and I don't believe they were broadcasting the data burst with the SAME info contained in the burst. I was only hearing the 1050khz tone. I contacted Midland via email to ask them if the unit responds to both the tone, and data burst. They replied without answering the question, and asked me to return the unit since they thought it was faulty. I contacted Amazaon about returning the unit, and had no problem. In fact they automatically shipped out another unit. However when I received the new unit and set it up, it would not respond to alerts either. I sent an email to the NWS office here in Louisville to see if someone there had the same unit and could give me some advice. I heard back from them today, and they said they had two of same units in their office which they could never get to alert! They did not say anything about the data burst and the tone signal, but I'm GUESSING that this unit does not respond to the 1050khz tone only, but needs the data burst also. I'm going to contact Midland again about this and see what they say.
Update...I contacted Midland and they said the unit does not respond to the 1050hz tone, but to the SAME data burst. I can only assume the NWS office wasn't transmitting the SAME info. We have had an outbreak of numerous severe thunderstorms today, along with tornado watches...the unit has worked flawlessly. So sorry for the low rating, but if for some reason your NWS office doesn't transmit the SAME data the unit won't alert you. - Emergency Radio - Weather Alert - Radio - Weather Radio'
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