EtonElite Field Radio with AM/FM, Shortwave, RDS, Bluetooth, Digital Tuning, Treble/Bass Control, 50 Memory Stations, External Antenna, Rich LCD Display, Retro Tabletop Design

I bought this radio while drunk-shopping on Amazon. The next morning when I got the "it has shipped" alert, it was my intention to send it back as the last thing I need is yet another radio but, since the seller shouldn't be held hostage to my whims and irresponsibility, I opened the radio to give it a fair try-out to make a proper decision. I'm glad I did as it's a really good one and I will be keeping it. I paid $80+$5 'tax'.I'll be comparing this to my Tecsun PL-880 as that is considered a very good receiver and has served me well, although at nearly twice the cost. MW (AM) and SW are pretty much neck-and-neck in reception with the Eton, maybe, having the slightest advantage over the PL-880. Obviously, the Eton does not have SSB and the PL-880 does. That's okay. I have other radios (Alinco SR8T, PL-880, GE 7-2990A) that cover that spectrum should I choose to venture off into the side band world which is mostly just boring old guys rattling on incessantly about their radio equipment and complaining about new Ham's. The Eton has a wide band/narrow band switch and with the bass and treble controls, you can really dial in the sound for your ears which is great for someone with tinnitus and deafness at 8 kHz (wear ear plugs, kids). I'm near Dallas/Ft. Worth and we have one of the largest markets in the world so there is no shortage of stations, close or far, to try and search for. Unfortunately, my physical location and the radiant barrier in my house causes SW to be hit-or-miss but, still, the few stations I can get came in as well as possible using the stock aerial. I haven't tried it with a long wire yet although I did connect it to my outside GMRS base antenna got a few of the closer SW stations in a bit clearer so the antenna connection does work.FM reception is fantastic with this radio, easily surpassing the PL-880. In scan, the PL-880 has a tendency to stop on dead-air stations which the Eaton filters out. I didn't even extend the aerial, just raised it into position, and it was pulling in stations very well. Connected to my external GMRS antenna about 18' in the air outside my house caused the Eton radio to pull in crazy amounts of FM stations. It's quite the FM DX'er.The bluetooth connection on the Eton is quite nice. Presently I have my iPhone paired streaming a station. No problems, it hooked right up and sounds great. It only receives, not transmits.The instructions on the Eton were just fine and easy to read. About 10 minutes of unpacking, and scanning the little manual and I felt like I was a pro with this radio.It runs on 4 D batteries so with moderate volume control and reduced bass response, they should last for a very long time. I don't have a time frame on this one, yet, but in my GE which uses the same 4D setup, the batteries went bad before they went dead, probably about 8 years. Of course, when not in use I do not store alkaline's in any equipment, leaving them in a container beside my radio which was fortunate since they started leaking. I, typically, don't like digital displays as they trickle-drain batteries but this Eton seems to be okay, completely blacking out the screen when not in use - as long as you flip the 'display off' switch on the side - although you can still faintly see the time and battery meter. Time will tell how long a set of batteries last. It would be nice to be able to charge a set of rechargeable batteries though the radio if plugged in with the wart but not so with this radio. The PL-880 uses a single 18650 battery recharged though the side with a 5v wart or battery back.The tuning on this radio is a bit clunky and annoying. The knob does not have a recess for your finger allowing you to be able to spin without your finger slipping off when using fine tune and the fast tune is just meh. It some sort of geared mechanism but not very smooth and can be a little jerky. It appears the best way to tune this radio is by using the up/down arrows (hold for 1 second and let go). Also, it doesn't have a continuous scan, stopping on every station and forcing you press the arrow again to start a new scan. The PL-880 has a 5 second hold on the scan and moves to the next station.This radio has 10 presets per selection. Really? 10 presets? There is also no auto search (which why would there be with just 10 presets?) so if you take it to a new area, you can't automatically scan the waves and load the stations in that area.I really like this radio as it feels good in the hand and it sounds fantastic. An included protective case would be nice although I see the one for this radio is here on Amazon for an additional $40+. I do recommend this radio, highly.

Great for the price. One of the few Christmas gifts my husband actually uses and loves!

My first Eton radio after seeing them and hearing how good their portable radios are....I finally got this Eton Elite Field AM/FM/SW radio. Sound qualities are very good with one decent-sized speaker and it has bass and treble control knobs along with the volume control knob. It has lots of buttons, knobs and more buttons on it....some of which I will never use like the sleep functions. It has a easy to read digital tuning display with a warm orange background and I really like this radio. Plays well, AM reception is not the greatest during the day and a bit better at night time. FM reception is excellent and this radio comes with a very long.....if I had to guess....a 30 inch whip antenna for FM and 3 SW bands....good idea for better reception on those bands. It has a pleather or leather carrying handle on top and is a bit larger than I expected....but that's good in my case. I wanted a decent-sized portable radio I can use in my office on my desk, so this works excellent. SW reception is so-so, but I have not really tried much there. I got it mostly for FM. It appears this radio has a digital fine tuning knob with the regular tuning knob and it's pretty precise. It does use batteries, but I am using the included AC cord right now on this radio. I'd rate this wonderful Eton portable radio 4 stars overall mostly due to poor AM radio reception and some controls seems complicted to me.

UPDATE 2 after additional troubles, I've given up & returned this sad descendant of the Grundig S350DX for a refund. For 10+ years I enjoyed my trusty old Grundig and decided to upgrade to a newer unit with similar features (MISTAKE). This newer Eton branded unit appeared to be a successor of the older design & did seem to have better audio (PRO), but the PROs end there. Immediately it had problems the old unit didn't, firstly some poor engineering which drained batteries faster than my old Grundig ever did (CON). Out of the box, the clock malfunctioned- I would reset the time & turning it back on a day later, the clock was wrong (CON). After resetting the clock several times over a few days, I gave up correcting it & left the display with a permanently wrong time. All around Reception was better on the old radio (CON). After about 2.5 months, the units' occasional freeze (CON) became a regular crash - almost daily, requiring a system reset via a deeply recessed button which is a pain to reach (CON). This was becoming too much work so the Eton radio was returned. Incredibly my refund had deducted "Damage fees" totaling $24.32 (BOO!). ETON: poor shadow of the once great German company "Grundig" brand. So disappointing. Waste of time and $$$.

Great desk radio!

I needed to replace my portable radio that I keep for emergencies and received my Eton Field radio yesterday. It is a portable (with a carry handle) and it runs on 4 D cells but also has an included AC adapter. It feels pretty substantial (it's about 12" long) and I appreciate the use of a rotary knob for tuning (and for fine tuning) but it does have the ability for presets. I set it up and the FM reception in my area is very good (I'm not likely to have much use for the AM or SW band). And it does have blue tooth capability allowing me to stream from my iPhone. Thus far, I am satisfied with the quality of its construction.One thing that I would like to note about the packaging: My radio arrived in perfect condition despite the fact that the product box had a few dents in it from shipping and handling. But Amazon had shipped the product box in an unpadded plastic bag-they need to do better here.