Customer Reviews

Oregon Scientific WR102 Portable All Hazard Radio with S.A.M.E. Technology

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

We live in an area that does get some severe weather--it's not Oklahoma, but one morning early, I was awoken by the distinctive sound of a tornado or strong down-wind rushing by the house, sounding like a train. And we get big thunderstorms. I got this radio because our local stations are weak and don't broadcast local weather reliably.

The radio comes in a holster that can clip on a belt, and it has a tether. It is sport-yellow, and obviously designed for boaters. The three batteries (not alkaline, but you can replace with these) are included so you can test that radio out right when you get it. By going onto the NOAA website, you can find your local NOAA station and tune the radio to the one of seven frequencies, indicated by letter, that is right for your area.

While tuning in the frequency was a bit tedious, once it's set up, turning the radio on is easy. You push the top right button and on comes your local NOAA station. In our area, the marine forecast comes on the quarter and three-quarters of the hour, and the local station broadcasts at the top of the hour. If there is severe weather in the broadcast area, a "statement" flashes on the very readable, backlit LCD screen. If there is a severe weather warning, a warning flashes, and the operating light goes from green flash to red flash.

If you don't want to listed to the continuous-loop broadcast, you can press the ON button once more, and a circle-with-a-dash comes on the LCD. This indicates the radio is on squawk-mode. If a warning or statement is issued, the radio will come on and inform you about the weather.

Press the ON button once more, and it's on MUTE--so you will only see statement or warning indicators if you look at the operating flashing light on the upper right corner or on the screen for any statements from NOAA. Press once more, and the radio is now OFF. If you want to sleep, but be alerted of weather hazard, the squawk setting is great. It will wake you right up. If you just want to wake up at a specific time, there is an alarm clock built in, and the LCD screen always shows the time and day, as well as the station you are tuned in to.

Summary: Boaters, this is CHEAP insurance, if your craft does not have an elaborate navigation and radio system. Homeowners in areas that get severe weather and golfers and sports enthusiasts can also benefit from this radio.

The volume is controlled by arrows up and down on the left side. The only defect to this unit is a lack of AC adapter, though you can purchase one if you intend to run this on your desk at home. The form factor is good--strong, non-slip plastic in a hand-friendly shape, sculpted to be held easily, again, probably with boaters in mind.The outlets for AC adapter are covered wtih plastic plugs, so you can tie the tether somewhere on the boat if you are worried about it going overboard, and the plug coverings make it water-resistant.

We have been using one of these for almost a year. Radio alerts have been on par with a base radio/external antenna we use. It has worked well on our canoe/camping trips. Enabling the S.A.M.E. idenifiers (available on the NOAA website) can limit alerts to your county of preference or all counties in the alert area. The radio stores 6 county codes. This is much more specific than other plain alert radios. This radio has been able to receive NOAA stations when some other radios have not, which is interesting, considering the size of the antenna. This includes some more expensive radios and "combo" receivers. Until recently, the closest NOAA tower was 35 miles distant and we where able to receive the signal reasonably well. With a new local NOAA tower in town, reception is 100 percent reliable and quiet. Case construction seems fairly robust and water resistant, but is rather oddly shaped. I have been told this was the same case used in a FRS radio. Clock has two programable alarms which have been handy as a travel alarm clock. Programming is no more difficult (or easier) than any other small electronic gadgets. Not perfect, but overall, this little radio has been great.

This little radio has been a great help, considering the sometimes strange and quickly changing weather we seem to have in eastern Tennessee. I bought this radio because of its portability and SAME feature. A year later, it is still a handy tool to have but it does have some fairly large drawbacks.

The SAME alert feature is reassuring in times of bad weather. We do have severe weather fairly frequently during warmer months, and I can say that I have felt more secure having a radio with the ability to warn me of severe weather in my own county. The codes for individual areas are available on the NOAA website: simply find the correct page for your state and a list of counties or regional/metro areas will be listed with their SAME codes. You have the ability to allow all warnings (within the broadcast area) to activate the radio on setting one. If you want more specific warnings for a certain county (or multiple county/regional area), simply put in the SAME code for the first area on setting two and go from there if you have more than one code to put in. This ability lets you get weather warnings from the direction in which the severe weather is traveling from. Another use for this feature is to use the additional SAME slots for traveling without erasing your original county codes.

The drawbacks of this radio include battery life problems and ease of use. The radio eats through AA batteries quite quickly, potentially leaving you without the use of the radio during inclement weather. We have a set of rechargeable batteries that we use with the radio. We also don't power up the radio unless there is an indiciation of bad weather to save power. It does function well as a regular weather radio, but with the poor battery life it makes it more difficult to justify popping back in the batteries just to listen to the outlook. Ease of use in programming the radio is also a big drawback. Trying to set up not only the correct band for your local weather radio (available on the SAME pages mentioned before) and also setting up SAME county/regional codes can be very trying, especially given the need to continually reset them up due to poor battery life.

I think the unit has an AC adapter port but the unit doesn't come with an adapter. If one could obtain an adapter then this would be a great home weather tool. Otherwise, this radio is still a good choice but make sure to invest in a set of rechargeable batteries and a permanent list of SAME codes to keep nearby.

This weather radio is very reliable and works as promised. What is amazing is that it is so small, can be taken with you anywhere and yet still pulls in signals as well, or better than table top weather radios. Sure it will use some batteries, but if you are at home, you can just plug in an AC adapter. I can see where some could have difficulty setting it up, but once it is set up, it works great. There have been 3 tornado warnings in the past 48 hours, one of which was in the middle of the night. We were awakened by the alert and were able to move to our safe area.

-Very short battery life (a few days)
-No key-lock, so the buttons get pressed if in a bag or on belt (which means you may miss an emergency alert or you may find the batteries dead)
-No memory when you replace the batteries (have to re-program and set clock)
-Belt clip/holster not strong enough (keeps falling out)
-Poor reception (missed alerts)

I would not recomend relying on this radio for backpacking or receiving emergency alerts.

This is my first review - I just thought I had to warn people about this monster.
My two huge complaints are;
1) BATTERY LIFE - ok, the original batteries lasted about 3 days, fine. New set of Duracells lasted about 2 weeks. Repeat about every 2 weeks (3 AA's) and don't forget to re-program your same codes. Yes, it will store the codes for a few seconds. If you're lucky and fast. I have started using my rechargeables - still only lasts about 2 weeks, but at least its cheaper. This is on standby mode too, I rarely listen to it unless we are having some weather (here's a concept - how about being able to turn it "off" to conserve battery life!)
2) EASE OF USE - Ok, the instructions are only partly useless, but unfortunately they are necessary, as this is the most un-intuitive piece of electronics I have ever had to use. I deal with computers and digital cameras all the time at work and am known as a fix-it kind of person, but this thing is just a joke. Luckily it is durable, because it has been thrown a few times.

On the plus side, the SAME codes work fine for me (even though the radio reception is not the best), and it has successfully warned me of the 3 tornado warnings for my county so far this year (which the sirens in town only went off once of the three - guess they don't work on Sundays). Living in a trailer park, it does make me feel better having it around, so I guess it does it's job. I recommend having one, just not this one.

This small hand held weather radio and alert system offers a great source of NOAA weather alerts and continuous weather forecasting. We use this colorful radio when on the road and out in the field to remain aware of severe weather conditions. Straight forward instructions combined with NOAA website information help educate and prevent weather related incidents. Convenient AC adapter port allows for continuous power from direct current supplies if desired. The price of batteries is a small price to pay for the safety and benefits afforded by this pocket size weather radio. We wouldn't want to travel without it.

I purchased this radio directly from Amazon for the lowest price around. When I opened the box and looked through the manual I found it was very easy to program. I had the radio and same codes set up within less than 10 minutes. The radio came with a set of batteries installed from the factory (however, they were not alkaline as recommended in the manual). Once I pulled the battery tab the unit fired up. I scanned to my local weather channel and to my amazment it picked up the signal, crystal clear and loud without any distortion, considering the small stub antenna on the radio! The belt clip is also a nice feature as is the back lit blue LCD screen (nice and bright). Only drawback is it does not come with an AC adapter; however, its sister unit the WR103 does, but does not come in the fancy sport yellow and was about $15.00 more than this unit. I am sure a standard AC plug from Radio Shack will work fine to power the unit; but since you will be outdoors with it the AC power will not matter much. HA HA HA. only other negative is the alarm mode. Unless you are a light sleeper, don't count on the alarm beep to wake you. it is faint with short beeps. I contacted Oregon Scientific about this and they confirmed that the alarm signal is very low. I give this model a perfect 5 for durabilty, ease of use and the great Amazon price tag with FREE shipping!!! If you are looking for a portable wx radio this is the one!

Bought this radio after several tornadoes had hit our area and we now have a small child at home to worry about. We cannot always hear the local sirens in the house so we wanted something that would make some noise and wake us up, if necessary.

The battery life leaves a lot to be desired, but there is an a/c jack in the side of the unit. Unfortunately, it's 7.5volts, which is a little hard to find these days. I went to Radio Shack and bought an a/c adapter for about $20 and had to get one with a customizable voltage and a separate connection. Just bring it into the store and they set one up for you.

It's been very useful b/c the unit was programmed with the SAME codes and our power had gone off. At least we knew we were under a severe thunderstorm warning along with a tornado watch. Just having that information made it worth the $20 or so I'd paid for the unit.

I would recommend also purchasing a TV radio with a weather radio since the NOAA announcements don't always give the path of the storm. At least you can hear the local news tell you which towns are going to be hit next on the storm's path.

Because of the battery life and the cost of the a/c adapter, I'm considering purchasing the docking version of this to keep for another level of the house. For $45, it seems to be a better deal.

Living in the tornado belt always has your ear to the radio, when at home I use the Television for our reports unless the power goes out like it does over and over doing a storm. This is when the new radio I bought comes in very handy. The WR102 comes to the rescue, with its strong signal and its storm information we know as much as one can know about tornados in our area. When I leave home on a day that looks like there could be a storm I carry the radio on my belt just in case I need to know whats going on around me so I can protect my family. The radio also has a light that flashes from green to red letting you know that a severe weather warning is in affect. Its a great radio and every one that lives where weather can be a problem should own one. With the WR102 you don't even have to listen to it unless a storm is near and it will turn on and give you the weather reports in your area. If you don't live in an area like I do where tornados are a problem, then the radio will inform you of any types of weather conditions. If you live on the coast and own a boat the radio is a must. I just cannot say enough about this radio, its a must buy. Larry Hobson- Author- The Day Of The Rose