Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This radio arrived (and was set up) two days before very heavy thunderstorms with hail and high winds hit my area. It was early evening and the weather looked sunny and clear outside, when this thing goes off for no apparent reason. I thought it was a mistake or false alarm, but when I turned on the cable weather channel the radar showed a huge thunder storm rapidly forming in the West and moving my way. It's very late in the Spring season right now for a storm like this and I wasn't expecting any harsh weather. I had time to get the cars under cover, find the cat & put her inside and bring in the outdoor furniture cushions before the storm hit. In our neighborhood, we lost some big limbs a few trees and some cars were damaged by hail. Fortunately, I had no damage.

The instructions are not very complicated and the set-up was much, much easier than that required for a VCR or TIVO. It has battery back-up in case the power goes off and doesn't take up a lot of space on the night stand or dresser. Also, you can program which alerts you want to hear and limit the alerts to those applicable to only the County you live in. This really cuts down on unnecessary alarms. For example, though we are in an area that can have flash floods, I don't need this warning because I don't go out in heavy rain or flooding anyway. A warning about a storm only is sufficient. I think I might get this radio as a gift for some elderly friends and relatives of mine. It's a good and very unobtrusive watchdog.

This radio can be programmed not to sound alerts which are unimportant to me. For example, I don't want to hear flash flood warnings as I am not in an area prone to flooding. Basically, what I really want are tornado warnings when issued for three specific counties in Tennessee and one county in Kentucky. This radio can do that. (There are some alerts which cannot be blocked, but these are rare, for example a chemical hazard warning.)

The radio is fairly easy to program. It took me about 30 minutes to get everything the way I wanted it. It runs on AC power and has backup power provided by 4 AA batteries (not included). Overall, I rate this as a very effective, well-designed product, and I have just purchased some additional units for friends.

This little unit is easy to set up and has the SAME functionality which is important to me since I didn't want to hear warnings for places that weren't near to me. Other units I looked at had extra options like AM/FM radio but I didn't need those features. I just wanted something that would wake me up if a tornado was coming my way. This will warn you of many other things and you can set what you want to be notified about. Follow the instructions, it's pretty easy. It also will take rechargeable NiMH or Ni-Cad batteries and keep them charged. Or, you can switch it to accept Alkaline. The battery backup is important to have. Great unit, no complaints.

Let's get to the point. What you want in a weather radio is for it to work when it's supposed to and be easy to set up. This one does that. I have programmed a Midland WR-300 for my In-Laws, and it was a long winded pain. They still can't figure out how to use it. I own an Oregon Scientific WR-103... an equal P.I.T.A. to set up, and you can't shut off the weekly test siren, which is an irritant to us day sleepers. You also can't mute the frigging beeps each time a button is pressed. Surely someone can come up with a more pleasant tone for this purpose.
Anyway, the First Alert is really easy to set up, and much more intuitive to use. I can mute the weekly test siren, and still the radio will notify me through the display if recent tests have failed. I can mute the irritating button beeps, and easily select which alerts I want to hear. This radio also holds your settings even without power, so you never have to reprogram after the first time. It has battery power in the event of power loss, and it will even charge the on board batteries when plugged in, alkaline or NiMH. You will appreciate that feature if you've ever had a radio that lost it's settings during a power outage.
What makes this radio deal even sweeter is that it's almost half the price here than it is at the Shack. Buy this one!

I've had the 'First Alert Public Alert Radio with S.A.M.E' for about two months now and it continues to surprise me - in a good way! I had been using an ancient hand sized portable alert radio for the last 8 years and this is a HUGE improvement.

Pros:
- SAME technology that works. Not being woken up for a severe thunderstorm on the other side of the state is priceless.
- When an alert activates the radio, the tone sounds, the alert plays, and then the radio returns to standby until the watch/warning is updated. However, a light continues to flash red or orange depending on the type of alert. This is a really nice feature - I have a dog that would be driven nuts by the sound so I always had to turn my old radio off when I left for work and then reprogram everything when I got home. I can leave this radio plugged in and programmed.
- Easy to understand features/directions as long as you read the owners manual (for me it took about 10 minutes total for set-up).
- You can deactivate alerts. I live in MN and am not all that concerned about Hurricanes. :-) The alerts I do have programmed function beautifully.
- Nice size. Smaller than my CD alarm clock and reception comes in loud and clear without the antennae up.
- You have the ability to turn OFF the tone that sounds whenever you push a button. Surprisingly, this was one of the main reasons I chose this unit over its competitors.
- Decent volume control - on the lowest setting I can hear the alert throughout my single level townhome.

Cons:
- While I like the size, I do wish that it was a tad smaller. This is just my personal preference (and a sign of how much I like it) since having it slightly smaller would allow me to bring it camping.
- The system stores several alert messages, allowing you to scroll through them if say you missed one while you were at work. A 'delete' button would have been very handy (like an answering machine).

Overall, I give the unit a solid 4.5/5 stars. It has great features (though I think there's always room for improvement) and it's a fairly inexpensive way to gain peace of mind.

We really like this First Alert Weather Radio. We bought a Midland first, but couldn't get a signal no matter where we put it. We had a First Alert for years that was great and lasted several years, but we bought the Midland because at the time we couldn't find another First Alert. After the Midland mistake we searched and found this First Alert Public Alert Radio. We get a good signal and receive all of the alerts and warnings that we need. We live in North Texas and need a reliable weather radio for the scary Spring weather. I recommend this First Alert!

The only complaint I have about this radio is the battery life, which is awful. I don't know why, but it draws power from the batteries even when plugged into the outlet. The four double-As it takes were dead within a week of my putting new ones in.

If you know about the battery life in advance and keep batteries right next to this radio, I guess you could get by, but what happens if you're sleeping when the power goes out and the batteries in your weather radio are dead? Not good. Could be a life-and-death problem. Surprising in a product from First Alert, eh?

I have a Reecom R-1630 (bought at the same time as the First Alert because I needed two radios and couldn't decide which to get) in another room, and it is a much safer alternative, in my opinion. The batteries I put in it when I bought it last summer -- which, by the way, are from the very same package as the ones I originally put in the First Alert WX150 -- are still working. No loss of radio when the power went out, and it was out for several hours over the space of two days during the recent blizzard. That convinces me the Reecom is the better weather radio, even if it's only for the battery life.

Both radios perform all the functions advertised, as far as I can tell. But I would not rely on the First Alert WX150 alone for the safety of my family.

I purchased this radio after doing research on other weather radios. I first purchased a GPX weather X radio (at Wal-mart) which I returned for a refund due to absolutely NO reception--AM/FM or weather. Did some research online to find a radio that seemed reliable and had good ratings. The Midland was a possibility, but I don't need another AM/FM radio and a few people mentioned that it was difficult to program, so I decided to go with the First Alert. The First Alert manual is easy to follow and the radio was a cinch to program. The radio is completely customizable from what kind of siren (2 choices) for alerts you want to what type of alert or emergency you want to be notified. The reception was very good. Having the S.A.M.E. technology to program what counties you want to receive alerts for is an excellent feature. Plus, the First Alert radio meets the certified "Public Alert" standards for a weather radio. If interested in more information about these standards, see [...]. I might also mention that no sooner did I have the radio set up, the siren went off to alert me of a thunderstorm watch in the area, so needless to say, it worked! I've only had the radio for about 3 days now and am happy with it's performance so far. I'm hoping there won't be an issues with it in the future--only time will tell. All in all a good radio for a good price.

This is not my first weather alert radio... but it is the best I've owned thus far (and not the most expensive one, either). Only CON is that it is not portable like my smaller Oregon Scientific which is the size of a walkie talkie, but what it lacks in portability it makes up for in functionality. Perfect for our house. It's pretty compact.. I found a spot for it that is central to all of the rooms of the house and played with the volume to make it loud enough to hear when it goes off but not blast you out of the house loud. It can be set quite loud if you want/need that.

It was very easy to set up, including the SAME codes. Just follow the book, look up your SAME codes on the Web (or call the 800 number), and you can set it up in about 5-10 minutes.

I particularly like that you can control the alert siren, including when it goes off and the volume. Our older one had an extremely loud siren that terrified our dog and sent her diving under furniture, and you could not adjust it at all. Off or on, that was it.

Since setting it up, we've had severe thunderstorm and flood watches and warnings all over the state every evening, and it's reliably only gone off for the counties we have programmed in with SAME codes (and not the ones we don't). Before we were getting alerts from quite far away, so it went off all the time. We live in central NC, so we were getting alerts from nearly the entire state and Virginia (scary siren, diving dog... not good).

I also like that it has three small indicator lights: one for advisory, watch, and warning that, once activated, stays lit for the length of the alert (very helpful if you were not home or were outside when it went off). If I see that the Warning light is lit, I push LIsten to hear the current weather. Very easy.

Having the option of alkaline or rechargeable batteries is also very nice. I bought rechargeable batteries on sale and it's ready to go.

And finally, I comparison shopped on the Web, and Amazon had the best price. With Prime free 2-day shipping, it was a good deal and arrived quickly.

This is a great weather/alert radio. The directions were clear and easy to follow. It does everything the Midland WR-100B radio does, plus much more for only a few dollars extra.

On this radio you can delete watches that you do not need or wish to hear. Another big plus is that the volume can be changed. This is a biggy if you are going to place it beside your bed. It has individual lights for watches, warnings, and advisories if you should miss an alert while you are out. It has a big enough screen that missed messages can be read easily.

I also own the Midland WR-100B radio, which is a dependable, but very basic radio. The First Alert seems to have more quality built in and is easier to use. This radio would be my first choice.