ETON Mini GM400 Super Compact AM/FM Shortwave Radio with Digital Display

by Grundig

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 2.8 x 4.3 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001QTXKFG
• Item model number: GM400
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,993 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #49 in Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Radios > Shortwave Radios
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 1, 2009

Product Description

Color: Black

Super Compact AM/FM Shortwave Radio with Digital Display

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice little radio, May 30, 2009

By 

VS (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ETON Mini GM400 Super Compact AM/FM Shortwave Radio with Digital Display (Electronics)

I just received my M400 and these are my first impressions. The radio is very slim and just a bit wider than previous Grundig models (100 and 300), which makes it a perfect pocket companion.

Pros:
- great SW reception (on par with Grundig G1000, for instance)
- good AM reception/selectivity (strong stations don't bleed too much into the adjacent frequencies)
- solid feel. non-slippery plastic body

Cons:
- some mirror images from powerful FM stations on SW (not a huge problem, though)
- FM is quirky - without the extended antenna only the most powerful stations are heard, but if you extend antenna for just one inch, they overload the receiver so I couldn't listen to some of the weaker stations in my area (like 90.3 or 91.1).
- touching the unit below the LCD panel changes the tuning by a couple of kHz, so I learned to hold it a little lower to prevent a station drift.

Overall, not a bad buy for $30.

UPDATE (after 1 week): I essentially gave up on the FM band in this radio - it's practically useless as it fares much worse that any other radio I have. There's no way for me to change the initial 4-star rating but I'd give it 3 stars based on this fact

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There's better out their! REVISED, June 13, 2009

By 

Clarence Miracle II - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ETON Mini GM400 Super Compact AM/FM Shortwave Radio with Digital Display (Electronics)

ONE STAR RATING!!! I've used this radio for a while now. Please buy something else. It drives me crazy. the drifting is getting worse and I have to retune the radio every 15 minutes or so. Buy the Sangean or a Kaito KA11. I did and now this radio is in a drawer. I will give it away at some point.

I bought this to carry to baseball games and it sure fits in a pocket well. The little speaker does a nice job, talk radio is tolerable and a ball game sounds OK as long as you are in a quiet place while listening. It's not great but for this size radio it's very acceptable. FM reception seems very good, AM is spotty at best, and SW I don't know enough about to inform so I'm not saying a word. A bass boost would have been a great option as well as a lock for the tuning (more on that in a moment).Now that I have said the most positive things I can about this radios lets move on to it's shortcomings.

The volume control is unguarded so when you drop this into your pocket or the supplied carrying case the volume goes to 11 and you either jump like an idiot or your ears are bleeding. Seriously the volume control is very easily rotated so it goes to zero while removing it from the case and all the way up while inserting back into the case.

This radio drifts, and I mean alot. You can tune in a strong AM station and just watch the digital tuning go up or down. Also as another reviewer wrote, if you hold it in the wrong place this will definately move your tuning point.

I wouldn't recommend this radio to a friend. It has a few good points, but the negatives really hold this radio back. I've thought about returning it but by the time I pay to ship it back to Amazon, it just isn't worth it. Sangean makes a good AM/FM pocket radio with a speaker....try that first. It's more expensive but you tend to get what you pay for. Another option is the CCrane SWP. I have one coming in after borrowing a pals. It isn't perfect but it's a much better product.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars AM really poor, everything else makes this a good radio, June 12, 2009

By 

Heinz Hammerling (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ETON Mini GM400 Super Compact AM/FM Shortwave Radio with Digital Display (Electronics)

UPDATE 7-30-10: After I bought two more of these radios for good friends, the two later editions were even better than the first for FM! The LCD display is now excellent! AM reception for the last of the three radios is so dismal that 45 miles from NYC there is NOT A SINGLE AM station that it will pick up, this with "volume set" to "extra high". Note, in NYC and close to the city, AM is good. SW on the last two is exceptional, but still difficult to tune.
-----

FM: EXCELLENT, sensitive, stable, good stereo earphones. Note, I live in the boonies, do not have issues with overload.

AM: DISAPPOINTING, will not catch weaker stations. Too much 'hiss' and noise on stronger stations.

SW: GOOD sensitivity. DIFFICULT to tune in the higher frequency band (19m and 16m). You will miss (skip) many stations when manually scanning this band.

OTHER: Build-Quality is EXCELLENT. The accessories are nice and good quality. The radio is too wide for my palm. This destroys its "thin-ness" appeal. Speaker output is "high-pitched", this elevates unnecessarily static and noise on both AM and SW.

NOTES, two weeks after the first purchase and a trip to Europe: I love the easy to read (without glasses) ALARM and CLOCK functions! A real shame that the AM section is so poor, else I would give this radio now five stars. SW is actually "good" (I am comparing to "Grundig Buzz Aldrin G6", and the SANGEAN built "Radio Shack DX-398" Do not forget, this is a $30.- pocket radio.)

Three IMPROVEMENTS which I would like to see: 1. Snooze button 2. Print a table of the Meter-Bands frequencies on the back. 3. Give the radio a higher contrast LCD display (even my $9.98 CASIO solar calculator can do better.)

2115|RL33NCITION7L;2115|R32XU6L83KJ1Y8;2115|R1M9TFINR9A0AJ;