Customer Reviews

First Alert Public Alert Radio with S.A.M.E

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The First Alert WX-167 is a thoughtfully designed Public Alert receiver that offers a lot of features at a reasonable price.

Like all SAME receivers, the WX-167 allows you to filter alerts by state and county... a significant improvement over old style weather radios. However, this radio can be further configured to sound alerts for only the events that are important to you.

Things I really like about this receiver:
* Excellent custom alert filtering
* Super easy programming via the radio's function knob.
* Five alerting options (i.e. - voice/message, siren/message, voice/event, siren/event, or silent).
* Good reception and sound quality.
* 24-hour battery backup in case of power failure.
* A lit display that tilts for easy viewing at any angle.
* Jacks for adding an external antenna and/or alerting device.
* PC port, which allows additional alerts to be added (at the factory) should more become available.
* Decent chassis design and simple button layout
* A well-written user manual.

A few nitpicks:
* The radio sounds an alarm if it hasn't received a SAME message (real or test) for 10 days. IMO, blinking lights and a scrolling text message would have been sufficient for this kind of "alert".
* Alerts are completely removed from memory after they expire. Many other receivers keep the last 10 or so expired alerts in memory, which can be used to verify that the radio is actually receiving NWS data.
* Backup power is supplied by 5 AA batteries, which means you'll need to keep a few extra on hand if you normally buy AA's by the 4-pack.
* 90-day warranty. (Many competitors offer a full one-year warranty.)

All in all, I am very pleased with the features, performance, and reliability of this receiver and would recommend it to others.

I am very pleased with the unit so far. I haven't received any alerts as yet (no storms in my area since I purchased the unit) but I feel this unit should be standard equipment in any home just like a smoke detector. Setting it up was easy and you can turn off alerts that you don't wish to receive. I initially installed alkaline batteries for backup but have since replaced them with rechargeable since there is a battery charger included in the unit. The battery backup allows the unit to still provide alerts when the house power is out.
Update: After several months of ownership, the unit has sounded warnings on three occasions: "flood warnings". A siren sounds first followed by NOAA radio voice broadcast of the warning. A red light flashes when warnings are in effect. The LCD display also displays the warning in ticker tape mode. After you've received the warning, you can press the "off button" to turn off NOAA radio. I placed the unit in my bedroom, near a window as recommended, so that I would be sure to hear it when sleeping. The siren can be heard throughout my house.
The unit also receives a test signal from NOAA radio on regular basis and is suppose to warn you if no signal has been received. So far reception has been good.
I initially set the SAME codes for my area as well as an area to the west reasoning that I would get an earlier warning of weather heading our way. I'm rethinking that option, since I have received warnings at 3 A.M. that didn't apply to my area.

This radio is a huge waste of money and not worth purchasing. It functioned properly for a few weeks after I programmed it and then started throwing error messages on a regular basis. Then, it would cease to function about every two weeks - be completely dead. This necessitated disconnecting it from the power source, removing the back up batteries then replacing them and reconnecting it, and reprogramming ALL the functions and settings. It would then operate for another couple of weeks, and then stop again...the whole thing had to be repeated. I have finally disconnected it permanently and it is going in the garbage. I am purchasing a Metro radio and recommend that anyone in the market for a weather radio buy ANY one but this First Alert piece of shoddy workmanship.

Radio worked very well for us in upstate SC. Range was quite good and, being close to a nuclear plant, the Nuclear Emergency codes are pretty important to us. Amber alert worked great (unfortunately at 2AM... ugh..) Everything was fine until one weekend we noticed all the lights were illuminated and none of the programming would work anymore. Totally unresponsive.

Of course we're out of the 90 day warranty. By the way, 90 day warranty? I mean seriously, is the product not more dependable than that? I'm going to replace this radio with a unit that provides at least a 1 year warranty.

Opinions expressed here are the sole product of the author and do not represent the opinions of Amazon, Sima Corp., the federal government, the president, the pope or my mom (though she'll probably agree with me.)

Nice sound and good reception of weather channels, but radio constantly gives a weekly alarm with "radio reception error-listen to broadcast".
An emergency alert radio from a different manufacturer does not give false alarms. Poor design for automatic alerting feature defeats the purpose for having a radio with an alarm. Returning the unit for refund.

Overall very pleased with this Alert Radio. It is simple to set up, very easy to read the display and the radio is very clear. Only concern is if the alarm is loud enough for a two story house. It's gone off twice, once when I was downstairs (where it's located) and it seemed effective. The second time it went off, I was upstairs and thought it was the television, until a commercial came on and the alarm kept going, then it dawned on me that it was the alarm. I would recommend that there be one on each floor, much like CO2 detectors and Smoke Alarms.

When I first got this, there had been a rare break out of tornados in Indiana in Mid-Late November 2005 in the middle of the night. Living in a rural area with no public warning system I was quite concerned. My husband would tell you paranoid. I've always been very fearful of tornados in the middle of the night-when you can't see and your asleep.

So I purchased this and followed the instructions and set it up when I got it by the end of November 2005. I had messed with it a few times making sure the settings and stations were correct-I was beginning to fear I had a "Dud" since it never went off. It was very easy to set up-too easy.

Well, yesterday (2-16-06) all heck broke loose. There was a major thunderstorm/cold front pushing through the area after a very rare warm day (reached almost 60 degrees-rare for February) and that radio was going off non-stop. It was re-assuring to know that when it mattered the most it performed and came through as promised.

Spring will be here soon, and the "normal" severe storm season will be upon us. I would very highly suggest people buy this for their own protection-it's well worth the investment.

I'm no longer worried I have a "dud". I'm just glad it's been quite all this time. I know it will perform again in the future.

The radio was fairly easy to set up. However, like the other reviews stated, the alarm constantly goes off because of a "radio reception error". There is nothing stated about this in the manual & it happened on average several times a week. Because of this I eventually turned off the alarm, which pretty much defeats the purpose. I returned this radio & will look for a better product.

I bought two of these units for two houses. I am very pleased so far at the ease of use, once you set it up, which is easy also. Recently NOAA had an error in their broadcast and my radio came on and indicated that there was an error and self corrected in a few hours. Again ease of use and the right price.

I live in Newburgh, IN and we just had a tornado that resulted in loss of life and personal property. This radio was recommended by our local weather meterologist because a lot of the older ones did not sound at all or warn residents of severe weater. The First Alert is easy to operate and most importantly has an accurate battery back up in case of a power failure. The SAME technology allows you to leave it on all night and only interrupts you for weather pertaining to your specific county. This radio is reasonably priced and it works!