Customer Reviews

Grace Digital GDI-IRD4000 Portable Wireless Internet Radio Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

In mid 2008, I purchased another Reciva-based product that was more expensive. I still like that one very much, but it has some glitches that are more or less permanent. Some of them are due to the design, and some are due to a lack of support from the brand. I was expecting rough edges from this radio, but my experience with it has been smoother. In short, it has the tried and true feature set common to Recivas, without the glitches of my old unit.

Positives:

Streams, Podcasts, UPNP/DLNA.
MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, Real.
Customizable menu entries via Reciva website.

Differences:

Missing from this is a wired Ethernet jack and a USB port for Mass Storage Compliant devices, but the MSC feature on the other radio was half-implemented anyway. The old unit couldn't run on batteries. The wi-fi bars on the old unit's playback screen have been replaced by a clock.

Knocks Cured:

More robust power cord from "brick" to radio.
Mute works with headphones.
Hardware power switch on back of radio.
More responsive menus.
Wider field of regard for remote control sensor.
More robust remote control.
Remote control takes AA batteries.
Fewer, but easier-to-use presets.
Display backlight can turn off.
Redundant entries removed from station listings.
Station listings have subcategories.

I've been using my Grace Digital Battery Powered Internet Radio for about two months. I also own two Grace ITC-IR1000B Internet table radios, that I've used for two years (they have performed flawlessly). This is the main reason I chose the Allegra radio. My two previous radios use the Reciva tuner for all station programming. Using the Reciva website to add stations to my radios is a painless process. Once you register your radio(s) with Reciva, all of your stations appear on each radios tuner (in my case, if I add a new station, either using the Reciva website, or my radios tuner, the station is added to all three of my radios, awesome).

The radio can be powered by the included AC power adapter, or from rechargeable batteries (the charging circuit is built into the radio so you don't have to remove the batteries. It's also a smart charger, knowing the difference between rechargeables and alkaline cells.

The sound quality is pretty good for ar a radio of this size (7"H x 5"W x 4"D). It has an 8 watt digital amp that provides decent volume. Please note that this is not a boom-box in any way. I use mine out on my back deck, about 6ft away from my seating position. I have the volume set at 3/4 (there is no distortion of any kind), and it sounds very good, minus the deeper bass tones, but very good for a 3" speaker. If I'm having a conversation, I need to lower the volume, just to give you an idea of the sound level.

As far as WiFi connecting, I've had no problems. I can walk anywhere through my house, and have absolutely no buffering. I can also walk around my house, outside (close to the house) and have no buffering. My wireless router is in the front room of my home, and I've used my radio while washing my car at a distance of about 18ft outside. On my deck in my back yard, I need to keep the radio close to the house (at this point, the radio is about 28ft from the router, outside). My solution was to mount a weather proof shelf on the side of my house. It works great, and keeps the radio safe and out of the way. The included wireless remote helps in this installation.

I hope this helps anyone who is sitting on the fence with this radio.

I was skeptical after reading a review on c-net, but the Allegro WiFi proved itself to be a powerhouse of a radio. The website provides an easy to follow method of programming and updating your radio's performance and capabilities. A simple initial set-up and, with the remote, it is one-touch access to my favorite streams, including Pandora, and my favorite--Live-365. You can choose from hundreds of pre-programmed streams, or set your own-as I did with Rewound Radio, or set your own Podcasts, as I did with MikeOMeara's Podcasts. The battery powered unit can also be taken anywhere within the range of your wireless network, so I can carry it from the garage to the bedroom, with no loss of signal and the speaker fills the room with a ton of quality sound. I'm like a kid again, with my favorite "transistor radio" of days gone by, with the music I want to hear, not the junk on over-the-air radio!

This radio is a good idea. Executed properly, it would be a wonderful product. So far it hasn't fully lived up to that. Before you buy one, make sure you realize that you are on your own when setting it up. The user's guide that comes with it just skims the surface, and isn't well written. For instance, the diagram that names all the buttons refers to one as the "OK" button. However, all through the text they call it the "Select" button. It took a little while to figure that out. Many of the settings are not discussed at all. You figure it out for yourself.

When you need customer support, there is no telephone number to call. There are online questions and answers, but you'll be luckier than I was if you find what you need. You can also email tech support. However, they won't take the time to really read what you say and will come back with some simple answer which is already in the manual. In the end, you are on your own.

If you get one, you may very well need to read the part on doing a <Factory Reset> so that you can start all over again. For me, even though it would say it was reset, it never brought up the full initial setup again until I had reset it 9 times. Why it finally relented is unclear. Maybe it is a faulty unit, maybe a faulty design - who knows? After several hours I was successful, and I now have a working radio. I haven't had it long enough to know how well it holds up over time.

Afterwards I talked to my computer guy, who knows more about them than anyone else in town. He strongly recommends the Logitech Squeezebox over any other internet radio. He thinks they are simplest and most reliable. On the other hand, he is a computer tech so he is better off dealing with this kind of equipment than I am. They cost a lot more, and this one is portable. I'll see what I think after using this for a year.

I value the customer "star" ratings and comments. In this case I was concerned about the ratings. Many were from folks who had connection issues or connection quality. Someone complained about the sound quality. Well, I wanted a portable radio and that's what I got. It doesn't sound like a surround system but that's not what I wanted. As far as connectivity comments- I've had wi-fi issues with different computers and components. Customer configurations and situations are infinite so I was reluctant to put much weight on those reviews. What was left was mostly a ton of positive reports.

This venture started with me buying a more expensive radio with a color screen. That unit has hundreds of 5-star ratings but won't take batteries- only the mfg's battery pack, available separately for too much money. That unit was returned. So, 5-star ratings might not always suit your situation just as lesser ratings aren't always awful.

This unit appears well built and feels good to handle although I wish it had a little strap or handle. It uses 6 NiMH (only) batteries.

I was anticipating an afternoon of connectivity issues but was listening to music in about 20 minutes. It took longer to sift through some choices to find what I like to listen to best.

One big plus: The entire owners manual is in English! I appreciate that and salute Grace Mfg!

The menus are very intuitive. I didn't read the manual after the first couple of setup pages. This radio has many capabilities that I have not tried or explored yet. One day I'll park on my recliner and study the manual.

My goal was to have a portable radio for the shop and picnic table and this is it! Too bad the expensive color screen 5-star radio won't do that. Grace got it right!

Then I got real bold and downloaded the Grace Remote App. I didn't know what to expect but figured it would require configuration and agony. When I executed the app it said to press the red power icon. So I pressed it expecting error messages. Wrong! The radio powered up and my favorites started to play. And the various commands I tried have worked flawlessly. My big surprise was the album covers display on both the iPad and iPod along with all the what's playing info. The Pad/Pod menus work well but I have not tried every option.

Because of my experiences I am very pleased with this radio. I know there are all kinds of fancy stuff it will do but right now it's playing what I like best. I have no complaints. I would recommend this to family and friends for sure.

I bought this for my husband who owns every new gadget and cell phone that ever comes out..he's just a electronic gadget guy. I was a bit hesitant to buy this at first because of the low stars but there had been a review of it in the newspaper that was glowing so I thought well, if he hates it, he can return it.
He likes to listen to talk radio before he goes to sleep at night and this seemed to have everything. Our wireless router is pretty far from the bedroom and I was afraid it wouldn't work in there but I was wrong (thank goodness).
It works great. The speaker is a good clear speaker and easy enough for me to hear it clearly and I wear hearing aids. It's remote is very handy and the programing was a breeze. He now has Sirius, Pandora all internet stations plus all the other stuff he likes too. The alarm is great and it has a snooze button which my hubby uses over and over.
I would really recommend this product to all those people that want everything available on their bedside side table. It's sturdy and easy to use.
Just make sure your bedroom has accessable wireless.
A BIG THUMBS UP. My husbands anniversary present was a success.

I love this little gem of a radio...it packs a ton of features in its compact size!
It was super easy to set up, and we're not particularly techie...you do need to register the radio, and get a reciva account, so your stations come to your tuner. I did contact Grace Support for help with setting up, and they were great. It takes a little time to get used to the interface, but once you are used to it, and the more you use it, the easier it gets. We like the app for the ipod as a remote control for it.
Our family loves Pandora, and this little box adds a little extra to our get-togethers. We really enjoy playing music outside on the patio when the weather is nice, or out in the garage when we're tinkering. It can run off of a power adaptor, or batteries (it will actually re-charge your rechargeable batteries), there is a headphone jack on the back, and we also have some Grace wireless speakers that we could hook up to it if we wanted to make the music go further- for a bigger gathering (if I can wrangle them away from my teenage son- I may need to buy another set!) OH, it also has an alarm so if you need an alarm with battery backup, this would work for that as well.

I had been looking at the Logitech Squeezebox radio with the optional remote control and battery pack for around $200 as well as researching Grace internet radios when I saw the price drop on this model to $119. This price includes the remote, a very good one and you can purchase 6 of your own double a batteries to make the Allegro a true portable with a reliable back up alarm in case of a power failure.

I had read reviews of this model that said it was hard to set up, not true. I watched a Youtube video by Grace explaining the set up procedure and inside of ten minutes I was setting up my folders on Live 365. There are just too many stations to try and the choices are endless.

Sound from the Allegro is very good. You won't bother the neighbors but it plays at a decent volume with little distortion. As I said, the remote is excellent, much better than the credit card remotes that come with many other models.

On the downside at least for me are the menu options. I find themn a bit confusing but the more you use the unit, the easier it becomes.

I have searched for and set up many stations, used the time and alarm function and all works very well. I have not streamed my music from my PC yet but this was not the primary reason I purchased this radio for.

If you are looking for a smaller, well made good sounding radio that has a usable alarm function and is truly portable at a very reasonable price, you should consider the Allegro.

This is the perfect gift for the music lover in your life. It is small but full of power. The sound is great and you can get music stations from all over the world. The portability allows you to take it anywhere outside or inside your home. I was impressed with everything this small radio had to offer.

Got this radio a few days ago, so far it has been exactly what I wanted. We live away from most radio stations of my taste and no NPR! I wanted something to listen to the radio like I used to, like on the back porch, not on the computer. The radio seems pretty robust and nicely finished. It sounds very good for a small table radio, volume is more than adequate for what I want. Menus are easy to figure out. Good remote control. If you are able to set up any other modern device this will be easy for you to set up but if your VCR is still flashing "12:00" you might need some help. I have not checked out Pandora, etc. yet. Having a lot of fun searching out stations by location and genre, now I have far more stations than when I lived in a big city. I have already found a lot of interesting stations from all over. I would highly recommmend this radio.