Coby CX-53 AM/FM Radio with Digital Display & Alarm Clock

by Coby

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4 x 1 x 2 inches ; 5.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000CPYU3Q
• Item model number: CX-53
• Batteries: 2 AAA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,752 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 17, 2006

Product Description

AM/FM Radio with Digital Display and Alarm Clock

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Difficult tuning & display; make another choice., June 12, 2007

By 

J. Young (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coby CX-53 AM/FM Radio with Digital Display & Alarm Clock (Electronics)

I bought this unit, along with another pocket radio, to fill up an order. I planned to use it around the house or put it in my emergency supply kit. The digital display, and clock & alarm aspect sounded interesting, and for $9, it couldn't be a big mistake. The radio is really small, which is fine, and takes AAA batteries. That's OK too, but they don't hold as much energy as AAs. The big problem is the tuning. It has a digital display but it is not a digital tuner. It uses a regular thumbwheel on the side, and the position of that dial is indicated on the display as a digital frequency. The resolution of the tuning is very poor: a small displacement of the knob results in a large tuning change, so you have to be very dexterous to tune in a station. Plus, in my unit, the displayed numbers did not correspond to the real station frequencies; it was miscalibrated. The display is hard to read in daylight, and there is no backlight, so it's no good for beside the bed. Other than that, it seems to work OK for a <$10 radio with a small speaker.

My advice: buy the Panasonic RF-P50, the other radio I bought in the same order. It's $1 more, a bit larger (AA batteries, which I prefer) but still pocket size, and works great. Tuning is very easy, with a slide bar indicator, with good resolution. Sound is surprisingly good from the bigger speaker. A nice clean retro look, too. If you really need the clock-alarm function, buy a travel alarm, or a cheap watch and strap it around the Panasonic!

I think Coby tried to do too much and still hit a low price mark. They should have aimed closer to a $15 sale price and spent the money on better tuning and a better display with backlight in a slightly larger package.

5.0 out of 5 stars Item Works as Expected, May 11, 2009

By 

W. Dabaja - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coby CX-53 AM/FM Radio with Digital Display & Alarm Clock (Electronics)

The radio does what its supposed to do. It plays fm and am stations, has a alarm (which has an okay volume), and comes with good headphones.