Customer Reviews

ETON G6 Aviator Buzz Aldrin Edition AM/FM, Aircraft band and Shortwave Radio, Black

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

When the G6 arrived I must say I was a little shocked as I was expecting a larger package, but as the old expression goes "Size Makes no Difference",and that applies to the G6!
The build quality was extremely good, the rubberized coating and the "just right" weight make for a very good, solid feel.
After a brief scan of the operating manual I placed 2 AA Alkaline batteries in the G6 (you can also use NI-MH batteries and charge them in the G6) but I was very excited and did not want to wait one minute longer, I wanted to play now!
I powered the G6 up and selected the MW AM Broadcast Band, my favorite
for chasing weak, distant signals. I then thought to myself, I need a "Standard" in which to compare the G6. Being an avid radio collector I selected a Tough Act to Follow" radio from my collection for the AM MW Blue Ribbon. I chose my Panasonic RF2900.
Both radios had brand new alkaline batteries installed, as I did not want to deal with AC power line noise, induced into the units by operating from the AC Mains.
It was in middle of the day so I selected a station on 1360 KHz, KWDJ, 1000 watts day, in Ridgecrest, CA, about 100 miles from my location in Lancaster, Ca. At that distance the measured signal strength of KWDJ was less than 100 Micro volts/Meter (Measured on Potomac FIM 22 AM field strength meter)
I placed both radios on the same table ,and rotated the units so their loopsticks were optimized for reception from the direction of Ridgecrest, Ca.
Also note, that in Lancaster, there is a 1000-watt AM station on 1380 KHZ
Its transmitter, less than 3 miles from my location, and in the same heading as
Ridgecrest!
As I tuned the RF2900 to 1360 I heard Dr. Laura, pretty clear along with a fair amount of background noise.
I listened for about 2 minutes to make sure that the signal was steady, which it was.
Now it was "ShowTime" I powered the G6 up, and using the Jog Wheel, I tuned the G6 to 1360...and with the volume set about halfway....I heard Dr. Laura, with about the same amount of noise as the RF2900!
Needless to say, I was impressed.
OK I said, lets take a listen to the low side of the band.
How about a lowly 100 watt AM station XSURF on 540 KHZ in Mexico, over 100 miles away.
I rotated the radios toward Mexico, tuned the RF2900 to 540 ,and there in the noise was XSURF on 540.
I should call the G6, the "Little Engine that Could" because when I tuned it to 540 KHZ, there was XSURF with just slightly more noise than the RF2900, WOW!
The G6 had no trouble in pulling in most all of the Los Angeles radio AM signals which ranged from 75 to 100 miles away with only one 50,000 Watt signal.
Ok, I was convinced that the G6 had great performance on MW AM, but how about FM?
I went back to my radio collection looking for a portable radio to make the comparison, a unit with better than average FM reception, my Eton E5.
On FM a good test would be pulling in KGZO, 90.9 in Shafter, CA
Operating with only 1.9 KW of power, over 100 miles away.
This is a good test of sensitivity and selectivity as my location in Lancaster, Ca, is within the 1MV contour of Superpower 110,000 Watt KPFK at 90.7.
In the past the Eton E5 had no problem in pulling in the KGZO signal in full stereo, with only a slight intrusion from KPFK.
The Eton E5 repeated this task as expected.
After tuning the G6 to 90.9 and with a little playing with the rod antenna, there was KGZO in stereo with just a slightly more amount of intrusion by KPFK, but still listenable!
The G6 had no trouble in pulling in signals from all the Los Angeles FM signals from Mount Wilson, the location of 99% of Los Angeles FM Signals.
On more thing.... do not let the small speaker size fool you, this little baby can fill a small room with pretty good volume.
On Shortwave the G6 is comparable in selectivity and sensitivity to several of my Shortwave rigs including my Eton E5, my Sony 6500 ,and my Sangean 909. The BFO makes copy of SSB a breeze as well.
On VHF I can hear signals from Aircraft and from LAX and Lancaster's Fox Airfield.
On a scale of 1 through 10 the Buzz Aldrin Edition Grundig G6 gets a
BIG 10!

Chris Compton
Professional Broadcast Engineer, and Avid Radio Collector for over 35 Years
Lancaster, CA

This Buzz Aldrin edition of the G6 aviator radio is indeed an excellent new product. Identical in all aspects (except for some printing on the front of the unit) to the standard G6 aviator radio, it seems very well made and should last a long time if treated with care. The radio is both extremely small (almost the same size as the Kaito KA11!) and readily transportable yet the reception is still excellent on all available bands. It is certainly not as fine a radio as the Kaito KA1103 by any means, but for its size and weight it is quite exceptional, plus it has the aircraft band frequencies (see below for further details and limitations, etc.).

I like being able to change the news/music switch in order to slightly improve AM and SW signal audio fidelity (on my unit it is certainly NOT a deep bass boost switch however with little tonal changes being evident as the switch changes its position). Unfortunately this is also NOT a narrow/wide bandwidth filter switch which is not available on this radio at all. Using the SSB (single sideband) BFO (beat frequency oscillator) tuner is also very easy and straight forward with a key press on the front of the radio and in fine increments using the tuning dial as well. Unlike some other radios, SSB tuning is also available on the G6 on the AM band as well as on SW which is a very useful feature. The separate ability to step tune in very small increments with the jog dial setting is also excellent in my opinion once a signal of interest has been located. The unit also has an attached 20 inch telescopic antenna as well as an external antenna jack which is especially nice for receiving the weaker FM/SW/Aircraft band stations as well as an earphone jack for private listening (including FM stereo). LW and MW (AM) stations are tuned using the internal ferrite antenna coil.

I rather like the digital volume controls as well. The steps between each setting are sufficiently small that quite precise control of the volume levels can be attained, especially when using earphones which is my most common mode of operating this radio given the smallness of its speaker (but still adequate).

In addition, the Grundig manual for the G6 although too brief and lacking in some important technical details is just fine to read with no English translation problems as with the Degen (Kaito) radio manuals for the KA1102/KA1103. Degen now makes the G3, G4, G5 and G6 for Grundig (whose designs originated from the Degen engineering brainpower from some 6 years ago now). These radios are now advertised as designed in California (by the Eton Corporation) and made in China, but to be fair Grundig has capitalized on a proven Degen/Kaito design and greatly improved on the ergonomics for using these fine radios.

The availability of the complete LW spectrum (formally from 153-279 KHz), but continuous on this radio from 150 KHz all the way to the start of the AM (MW) band at 520 KHz and of the Aircraft bands (117-137 MHz) and of the complete SW spectrum (1.711 to 29.999 MHz) on this unit is also true of the G5 as well (with the exception of the aircraft band that is available on the new G3 which should be available in th3e middle of April this year). The Eton Corporation will soon start to advertise the availability of the complete LW band features on these new Grundig branded radios since it was originally and inadvertently overlooked by the marketers. (If you still have any doubts read the back of the radio in zoom mode on this website). The Sony ICF-SW7600GR also has the full spectrum of LW/AM(MW) and SW bands too and has advertised it all along, but that radio also lacks the aircraft band that is available on the new G6 Aviator radio. Especially for international travelers, the 10 KHz AM tuning step for N. America can also be changed to the 9 KHz step that is standard in Europe and Asia too.

One negative item is that the airband can not be automatically scanned like all of the other available bands on this radio. Another very negative item (see also below for those of you who live in heavily urban areas with lots of simultaneous interfering signals possible), is that there is no RF gain switch (DX/normal/local, etc.) on this radio at all either. Considering just how sensitive the front end of this radio is to weak signals, this is a very surprising error of omission in my humble opinion and one that should be rectified by Grundig (PUN intended!).

The G6 even has alarms and time zone capabilities and 700 memories that can be labeled along with with multiple and very useful ways I might add to tune and store information in this very versatile, dual conversion PLL (phase locked loop) synthesized, diminutive "micro-receiver style" radio. These memories are arranged for all of the 100 pages with 7 memories to a page. Each of these 100 pages can be labeled alphanumerically in groupings to boot. The presets can also be chosen on each page randomly regardless of the band. In addition, numerous pre-stored time zones (~30) from all around the globe can also be easily chosen while traveling in order to make changing your local time setting with respect to UTC world time very convenient.

On another website there is a discussion of some occasional small microprocessor problems when loading two adjacent presets on a single page. The radio apparently can lock up, but it is easy to unlock and simply reload the page once again with no further preset storage problems.

There is even an on-screen clock as well as the day of the week and a battery level indicator, a hold switch for locking all of the buttons as well as a separate lock switch chosen through the jog dial for the tuned frequency. There is also a very nice on screen and very detailed signal strength meter and a nice orange back-light system. The radio can also charge batteries inside the radio (sounds like the KA1102/KA1103 proven technology once again- eh?) and it even comes with a one year warranty, a slip case as well as a AC/DC adapter charger. It runs on 2 AA batteries normally while in its portable state. It even has a nice carrying strap permanently attached to the radio as well which is a nice touch given its very small size.

UPDATE: May 27, 2008:

I am in Alabama on travel and I too have now experienced very significant bleeding of apparently high power am stations directly on to the aircraft band at several frequencies. As a heads up, this just goes to show that to adequately test any radio it should be done at several locations. However, I have experienced none of this am frequency bleeding at my home location in the high mountains of New Mexico for example. This suggests that the dual conversion available at two IF (intermerdiate frequencies) in this radio are not adequate in some locations to adequately block unwanted noise from the aircraft bands.

June 18, 2008 UPDATE:

Yes, as I had previously indicated above, the G6 Aviator is a PLL (Phase locked loop) dual conversion receiver with a digital display and 700 presetable memories (Information recently confirmed by Walter Hess, Technical Support Manager, Etón Corporation, 1015 Corporation Way. Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA)

Finally, I look forward very much to having the fun of using this radio for the high quality sounds of music, news and just general LW/AM(MW) broadcast band, shortwave and aircraft band listening from all over the globe for a very long time.

September 8, 2008: UPDATE

For those of you who really really like this radio (and there is a lot to like), in order to compensate for its extremely good sensitivity (except perhaps in the am band), a trick that I learned about by reading other web reviews is to actually shorten the whip antenna length significantly when bleeding and other interference occurs. This allows the arriving radio signals to not overload the system and be received with very significant improvement. Ironically, usually we are always interested in lengthening the radio antenna (especially outdoors if it is not too noisy at the radio frequencies of interest). I hope that this may help you to continue to enjoy your new Grundig radio! Out in the open countryside this bleeding is NOT a problem at all, so only the big city radio listeners (or travelers to big cities) need to be beware of this potential problem for the G6.

April 3, 2009: UPDATE

Amazon currently has a great sale on the Buzz Aldrin G6 aviator radio for about $90 including shipping or about $102 including shipping with the Kaito passive wire, reel antenna (AN-03L) that makes this an even greater bargain item!

April 11, 2009: UPDATE

One very nice feature of the 24 hour clock system is that it is fully adjustable for traveling including a GMT (Zulu or UTC) setting. With the radio off you simply press and hold the #8 key until a long list of coded city names appears. Next, you simply choose the time zone code closest to the one that you are currently within using the tuning knob and wait 8 seconds and you are all set (it is then automatically stored until you change it again). If you desire to know the Universal (UTC) time separately, you simply choose the "GMT" choice briefly to find the time in Greenwich, England and then repeat the above procedure and go right back to your current timezone location. (Unfortunately there is no provision in the G6 for entering the date or activating daylight savings time so at certain times of the year your indicated GMT time could be up to 1 hour off unless you live in Arizona, etc.) As you continue to travel this process is easily repeated as often as may be needed.

Though I found the instructions reasonably clear the actual operation of the radio can seem somewhat complex, a problem familiarity will remedy. Also, due to its compact size I found its speaker to be a bit small but capable of excellent sound reproduction non-the-less. Other than those small difficulties I have found the radio itself to be everything I had wanted in this portable a package including AM,FM,SW and aircraft bands along with 99 available programmable station settings and 3 programmable alarms for travel or shared wake-up times. I am more than pleased with my purchase and appreciate the quality of construction and attention to detail.

I'm a long-time SWL enthusiast with a number of SW radios, including the fabled sony 2010 and the SW7600. I was attracted to the G6 for its size, since nothing in my collection is this small, and I find it a perfect size for travel. My timing was lucky, because I found it at radio Shack on sale for $59.99. After my initial inspection of the first one, I liked it so much, I went back and bought a second one. At the sale price, I just couldn't pass it up. I'm either going to give it away as a gift, or keep it in case the first one fails.

In my opinion, those who rated this radio one or two stars are off-base. Honestly, I don't know what they expect to get for the price. Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to the price issue because of how little I paid. When I rate something, I consider the price-point, and I do not rate a product down just because it doesn't have features I want, unless those features are a glaring omission at the price point.

Pros:
Size and shape are excellent. Tactile feel is excellent. Rubberized coating will make it hard to slip out of your hands. Placement of encoder wheel is very good.

Batteries can be charged inside the unit from the included AC adapter, and the radio has a fabulous recharge feature that allows you to specify how many hours to charge the batteries. After that time, the radio stays on AC power, but it stops charging the batteries. This is important because batteries shouldn't be overcharged.

Battery door is hinged to the case, so it cannot be lost unless it is broken off.

The AC adapter was better than I expected. At this price point, I expected the adapter to introduce AC hum or other performance issues, but the adapter is quiet. This is a huge plus at this price point.

The screen layout is good, and the backlighting is particularly clear, covering all of the display. Both clock and frequency can be displayed at the same time, which I find very useful.

Sound quality is very good for its size class. I was surprised it did not sound more "tinny".

Reception capabilities are very good at this price point. I sometimes get spoiled because I also use a large Drake tabletop SW receiver with features galore to clean up a signal. So when I drop down to a portable, its hard not to think about features that aren't there. But since I consider this unit's main feature to be ultra-portability for travel, the reception is very good for its class.

Cons:
Cannot auto-scan on the aviation band. I don't have experience with the aviation band, so maybe there's a reason for this, but not being familiar with local aviation frequencies, it would have been useful to be able to put it in auto-scan mode until it hits something, so I can note the frequency.

Not upper/lower sideband selectable, but I haven't had much problem otherwise. Had the the feature been there, I could use it to avoid adjacent-channel interference.

Radio comes with a lanyard, but it's not on a deadeye or threaded through a hole; it's permanently attached through the case. This means if you don't want the strap on the radio, the only way to remove it is to cut it off. Or if you want to replace the strap, you're out of luck.

Variance in quality control. Having two units to compare, I notice that one starts silently, while the other makes a static pop on powerup, but otherwise functions normally. I suppose I could return that unit, but I'm undecided because performance is otherwise unaffected. I also noticed that the antenna is not straight, on either unit. One has a slight bend in one direction at about the third telescope segment, the other has more of an "S" bend. Neither is very noticeable unless you look down the long axis of the antenna, and obviously it doesn't affect performance.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this radio. In many ways, I feel it delivers more performance than expected at its price-point. For a very thorough review, you might want to check out the write-up in the 2009 edition of "Passport to World Band Radio".

These statements represent purely my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

My G6 arrived yesterday amid thunderstorms in the area so shortwave listening was hampered somewhat. I had to play with it anyway. First thing I was listening to a ham operator in Italy on 14.250 MHz on SSB. He was coming in great and sounding very clear and crisp on the G6. I then tuned in Canada, CBC on 9.625 and RCI on 9.51. Both were coming in just fine even with the antenna collapsed and folded to its storing position. This afternoon I have listened to the BBC on 15.400 MHz and WEWN (Alabama) on 15.610 MHz. In each case, the sensitivity of the G6 was reasonably close to that of my HF transceiver with outside antenna 40 ft up in the air. I havent' tried the G6 on an external antenna yet as I've been having surprisingly good results with just the whip antenna.

There are a lot of "birdies" audible when tuning around the shortwave bands, especially noticeable during the day when signal levels are generally lower and the bands are quiet. As signals get stronger in the late afternoon into evening, the birdies are well below the level of incoming signals.

On the AM and FM bands, this little radio is excellent! The audio quality is much better than you'd expect from such a small package. They've done an excellent engineering job on the audio! Designed in California, manufactured in China.

One cautionary note. My office is about a mile from a 10kw AM broadcast station. Under those condition only the best radios are immune to interference from this station. The G6 is no exception. Interaction with this broadcaster was audible on the AM and shortwave bands.

I had hoped to use the SSB mode on shortwave stations to achieve quasi-synchronous detection. It turns out that the BFO is not stable enough to support this mode of operation. If that is important to you, you might want to wait for the G3.

Pros:
The G6 is very high performance for its size.
The audio on all bands is excellent for such a small radio.
Sensitivity and selectivity make for pleasant shortwave listing.
The LCD readout overall styling and construction are first rate.
The yellow/orange dial backlight is very attractive.
SSB mode works surprisingly well for tuning in SSB and CW.

Cons:
BFO is not stable enough for exhalted carrieer single sideband on shortwave or AM broadcasts.
Tuning in SSB and CW stations is a bit awkward.
In-radio battery charging time is very long.

I've ordered a battery charger to use rather than charge the batteries in the radio.

I thought about waiting for the Grundig G3 which looks to be very much like the G5 but adds synchronous detection and the aircraft band. I tried the G5 and G6 at the local Radio Shack and decided that the G6 sounded much better and worked just as well in the areas that were important to me. And, having several high performance tabletop shortwave radios, I really wanted something the size of the G6 to take along. It turns out to be a better performer than the price or size would suggest.

To set reference I have use this radio every day for a few hours for a few months. I have a few other radios and a couple of them are portable SW receivers, a couple of Sony and couple of Sangean, and a Uniden scanner. This has as good of reception and sound quality as my Sony and Sangean radios in the similar or slightly more expensive price ranges.

The tuning wheel is a very nice feature in this radio. It acts like analog tuning radio dials of the olden days,It allows rapid scanning and when you hit something it's easy to reverse and find it. The tuning wheel has a fast and a fine setting and a lock feature that allows you to really fix in on a station easily and then lock it. Very little chuffing on tuning. It locks and holds freq very well and the AGC works well with almost no volume pumping on weak stations.

FM is outstanding, the best I have in terms of pulling in the weak stations with clarity. AM is on par with any of my other radios or slightly better. SW is good, minimal testing on my part, just playing around. I don't know of any other radio with SSB that is this small and will really do SSB tuning, this radio does it fairly well. The Air/Aviation band works fine. I have scanners and aviation radios and this pulls the signals in good. The issue with the air band is that it doesn't have squelch so you get static between transmissions. So I would say that the Air band on this is a nice feature to have as a bonus, it works but if you were wanting to monitor the local airport the static would get annoying to me. I'd use my scanner for this. If you are buying this primarily for the Air band I would consider a Uniden scanner in the same price range that tunes the Air band, you will like that much better. For broadcast AM/FM and casual shortwave listening I think this radio is great.

The battery will charge when you plug in the external plug. The charger works great keeps the batteries topped up nice. My issue is that when you plug the AC into the radio it doesn't just start charging, you have to push the 7 button and hold it for a couple seconds. Then you set how many hours you want it to charge at 100mA, up to 36. The concept is that if you have 3000mA rechargeable batteries in it you set it to 30 hours. This is all fine, batteries never get hot on me at this charge rate. The problem is if you forget to push the 7 button it doesn't charge it just sits there on AC playing or standing by. The other problem with the AC is that there is a great backlight on battery if you touch any button and the light feature is on the backlight comes on for a few seconds then shuts off, very cool. If the light feature is on, when you plug into AC the backlight comes on and stays on, I hope it is an LED with long life, looks like it is but I wish the feature included OFF/Stay on for a few seconds/Stay on forever. The little annoyances of AC in this paragraph are the only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5. That said, most radios in this size don't seem to allow charging of rechargeable batteries in the unit, so overall it is a great feature and you don't have to use it if you want to go Alkaline or recharge outside of the radio and swap batteries. Charger / wall wart is included.

There is extensive memory features many pages of frequencies, works great and after you read the manual it is easy to do. Then after you don't use the feature for a while I find i have to read the manual again, same as all of my other radios, not completely intuitive but not bad, better than most.

The backlight is very good, glows a nice orange. You can shut if off. There is a very good feature in a "lock" button. This disables all other buttons to prevent frequency change or volume change, very nice if you are carrying it around etc. where you might bump the buttons. Set it up, hit lock and it will play away. One nice feature in lock is that the light still will turn on if you touch any button so you can check the time and frequency. Time is always displayed with frequency, another nice feature.

I seem to get about 24 hours of play time on earbuds, moderate volume with about 2500mAH NiMh rechargeable batteries installed. This is as good as any of my other radios in this size and price class or slightly better.

The radio is small, I always wish it was smaller but much smaller and the speaker would be too small to have any decent sound and the buttons and display would be hard to use. The rubberized feel of the unit is nice, easy to grip, feels solid.

Speaker sound is OK, better than most this small, but let's face it it isn't good for music in this size if you really want to listen. On earbuds/earphones the FM music is as good as any radio I've used. Stereo on the earbuds, mono on the speaker. Overall for what it is I give a 5 for audio quality overall.

Nice little radio with no major flaws and a few nice extras like charge batteries in the radio without taking them out, AC (plug in wall) operation, Air band, backlight and clock shows on screen with frequency, direct numeric frequency entry and rotary tuning knob simulating analog tuning. 4.5 stars I would say overall.

I found this little radio to be a very accomodating radio, all the expected features are included in the small package.

I often listen all night to this radio, changing stations is easy to do without looking at the radio, in total darkness.

Short wave stations are mostly the strongest signal stations. Night time AM stations can come in from all over North America making cross country listening very interesting. Great value for the money.

What a pleasant surprise is this "little" radio. I found the Grundig G6 when I was looking for a small radio that that would provide quality reception and could pack easily and go along on trips. When I first saw the G6, I was skeptical that it could receive much, but I decided I would take it home and give it a try. The store manager where I purchased it said I could return it up to thirty days after purchase if I was not satisfied.

At home I have been using the larger pricier Eton E1 and Sony ICF-SW55 radios for much of my shortwave listening. Both of these radios have many customizable features. Both are very sensitive and selective providing clear reception of a multitude of worldband programs.

Once I got the G6 home, it immediately exceeded my expectations. The actual listening performance of this small unit rivals my other radios. In a side by side comparison, I can pull in world band programs nearly equally well. The customizable features on the G6 are fewer than on the bigger rigs, but the options given are completely adequate (ie a audio hi/lo tone switch instead of variable treble & base dials; a 24 hour clock format instead of a choice of 12/24 hour formats, etc.), and the reception on this radio is loud and clear. As you would expect, the audio fidelity from the small speaker in the G6 does not match my larger radios, but when using headphones, I can scarcely tell the difference. The owner's manual for the G6 is short and to the point for each operation and function.

It is exactly what I was hoping to find. I am keeping it.

Moreover, I am so pleased with the G6, I have just ordered one for my grandson. Because of its simplicity and solid performance, it will be a great introduction to worldband radio for him. He will likely enjoy listening to lots of clear international broadcasts without the "interest killing" hissing, crackling and fading so common in competing units at this price point.

Just would like to share that I have enjoyed using this radio a lot. Its now a month since I bought it and have gone through all the features by now. Its keeping its word with all the said features and a lovely radio even for first timers like me. I never knew about shortwaves just 2 months back and than after understanding and realizing its capabilities, finally selected this particular model for the experiance. Have used some of my home made antennas on this radio and they have worked very nice. The telescopic antenna it comes with is also very very good. I have not had a full experiance of DXing yet since I live in a populated locality which is not best for first timers. Ill be making better antennas very soon and than try to cross more distances.
I live in india and have listened to Japan, Russia, London, middle east and some EU stations. External antennas can be built very easily using easily available hardware and then plugged into the radio using its special antenna port (which exactly the same 3.5mm stereo jack but with just two wires). Read guides for making you first antennas.
The sound is very loud and battery life also runs very good - though I listen to it just about an hour day, it lasts about 2 weeks.It comes with 4.5V DC input along with two AA battery sacks. If you change the batteries within a minute or two, it won't need to re adjust the date/time. The memory space of 100 pages * 7 stations is very huge and easy to group stations.
I also use it as wakeup radio and has 3 separate alarms, with volumes, durations and stations.
It was a great purchase.

In the strictest terms of portability, smaller is always better. However, in order to achieve a smaller size, sacrifices need to be made. For example, a camera phone isn't as good as an SLR, a Ford Focus isn't as smooth as a Lexus LS - well, you get the point.

With regards to portable radios however, the Grundig G6 Aviator pushes that envelope quite a bit. It's no E1, but somehow those folks at Eton have stuffed many functions of the respected G5 into an equally good-looking unit about half the size. Surprisingly, they even found room for a few additions! Overall, for the size and price, this is one heck of a radio.

First, the function highlights:

Full LW/MW/SW coverage with SSB Full FM (76-108)
700 Memories (Alpha-numeric page labeling)
Three alarms you pick the day of week, loudness and favorite station
World clock with all time zones
Tuning wheel, no chuffing.
Will charge batteries (2 AA)
Pouch, AC adapter, ear buds (Buzz Aldrin card for that version)

Performance.

One of the better FM radios out there (of any size). I compare it with the G5 and Degen 1103, two of best regarded FM performers. Slightly less sensitive, but selectivity within that class

Comparable SW performance, I'm able to receive most signals the G5 gets - SSB is decent. Again, this is a small radio for $100 that, if you were hiking and wanted to pack small, you'd feel fortunate to have functioning SSB!

MW (AM) is very sensitive, more so on the low end of the dial. I found it quieter (in terms of general noise) than the G5. (The G5's display seems to affect MW performance on certain frequencies)

Air Band - I live near a small airport, so there's a little activity. Cool to have, but not the main reason to buy this unit.

Ergonomics:

It took me a while to get used to the buttons on the G5, whereas the G6 (being smaller, compact and better arranged) just felt very natural in my hands. The tuning wheel has two speeds and a lock position. There are less buttons, but you'll find the same functions as the G5.

Battery life is excellent. I play and push buttons constantly and alkaline batteries seem to last forever. (You can charge rechargeables within the unit.)

Sound:

Max Grundig made his mark back in the day by making radios with beautiful, rich sound. Eton has respected this legacy by keeping that emphasis on all of their portables. Even the Mini 300 sounds better than anything of equal size. More importantly, the Grundig line has always found the optimum of sound and loudness with the amp to speaker ratio. But the G6 is something else. With a speaker the size of a half-dollar, it has a very full and pleasant sound. I was pleasantly surprised. It won't fill a crowded room, but for travel, you'll get a fair amount of volume before distortion sets in. (The only sacrifice here is that in order to achieve optimum performance of the speaker, the amp won't drive your headphones to a relatively full level. You'll get better headphone sound from the $30 Mini 300.) Since ninety-seven percent of my listening is done through the speaker, this doesn't matter much to me.

Is it as good as the G5 (or replacement G3)? Not quite, but taking its size into account, it comes mighty close. I own both and use the G6 when I bike and want something that fits in a pocket. It out-performs all radios in its size class and many radios costing more.

I'll end by saying that if I were forced to pick just one for general travel (or even just to the beach), this would make the cut more often than not.

(I own G5, S350DL, YB-400PE, YB-550PE and Mini 300.)