Customer Reviews

Sony ICF-36 Portable AM/FM/TV/Weather Radio

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

First of all, I didn't buy this multiband Sony for the weather, rather for the TV reception. in addition to the excellent am/fm tuning. It just boils down to the fact that sometimes I'm in a room such as the kitchen preparing a meal and still want to listen to the likes of Charlie Rose on PBS. Btw, this is my second Sony ICF36 - one for use in the kitchen and one for the bathroom.

As to the reception, having had approximately half a dozen TV/AM/FM radios over the last 25 years, this one beats them all, especially in clarity of reception. No, it's not perfect but far better than you'd expect for one in this price range.

An added bonus is it takes 4 AA batteries. Since I do a lot of digital photography, I simply use rechargeable batteries interchanged from my Olympus digital camera and get about 10 to 15 hours play time on a charge. This way, when I move the radios from room to room, there are no cords to worry about or get in the way.

Lastly, with the long play time the batteries seem to give, it makes a terrific power outage radio as you can at least hear the sound on that favorite TV show of yours when the full size TV's without power.

All in all, I think you'll you'll like the Sony ICF36. Obviously I do :-)

I have tried a lot of different portable radios for around the house use. And I like this one the best, I get great reception on AM, I don't use FM, Weather or the TV bands very much. I bought it to listen to AM. And I was not disappointed. I am receiving New Orleans, Chicago, New York City, Atlanta and Denver in the evenings, BTW I live in the Midwest. If this is the type of radio your looking for you should like it. I had the CC Radio, it worked ok, but it was so big that it was hard to lug around. I still have the GE Superradio, but I dont use it much because of size. And neither seem to bring in stations any better than this little Sony does. Digital radios use batteries up too fast. The batteries last a long time in this Sony.

If you are looking for an emergency radio or for something to listen to while out on the deck, this radio is a great option. It is small enough to throw in an overnight bag if you are going on a weekend trip. I have no problems with reception. The weather band is a great option. Sound is more than adequate for the price. Very happy with this product.

While this radio is not a great radio, it is competent for the task at hand. I compared its AM/FM performance against a Sony analog Walkman, which has surprisingly good performance. As expected, this radio was better than the Walkman, but not a great deal better. I also checked the TV bands against the known local stations and all of the local stations came in fine. The weather band also worked fine. The downsides are that the radio is best used for voice, since its sole speaker is not great. I wish its AM performance were better than average, but it is just average. It has some difficulty with strong station rejection. You will find spots on the FM dial where two or more stations combine in places they do not belong. For the price, a worthwhile purchase. It is better than Radio Shack products.

I bought one of these radios about two and a half years ago. It's been my companion through endless hours of yard work and watching the kids play outside.

This radio is built tough by today's standards and has strong reception on both AM and FM bands.

I have no idea how long a set of batteries lasts in this thing, but I know its a very long time. During the Summer I must use this radio an hour or more a day, and battery changes happen many months apart. Also, the little batteries it uses are cheap! You can buy huge numbers of them for next to nothing if you shop around a bit or belong to a warehouse kind of store.

My main use for this radio is outside in a suburban area. Only very specialized radios will work well downtown or in a metal framed office building. These radios tend to cost more. Don't expect this radio to work well under those conditions.

However, if you want to listen to your favorite talk radio show while you're hanging out on your deck or pulling weeds, this is about as good as it gets at this price point.

Finally, it's got a speaker that's good enough so you can listen for hours without the kind of listener fatigue that can build up while listening to a cheap radio.

I will echo many of the other comments here by writing that this radio packs great reception, versatility of frequencies, and long battery life into a perfect size case, similar to a small box of rice. Sony could have improved on this product by including UHF television reception, and perhaps a better speaker although this is limited by the convienient size. Overall, this is a wonderfully portable, great sounding radio for the price. I own three of these radios: one at work, one in the bath, and one in my shed (for yard work).

. . . it would have been a 5 star review. The radio itself is really good, and the reception that I got on all bands was excellent.

I bought this to use at work to replace my battery-eating Sony SRF-M37V, and I must use headphones there, so unfortunately the mono headphone output was a deal breaker for me.

If you don't plan on using headphones with it, I think it is a wonderful radio. If you plan on using headphones, look elsewhere.

we have found this product to work well, and recommend it without reservation -- great to have ac and battery power sources and price is right

So many small, inexpensive radios are just junk. We have a local FM station whose signal is so weak that most radios won't pick it up. When I needed a new radio, I went around to local shops trying several on that station. This is the only one I found that brought in a strong signal. It has good tone quality as well. The weather broadcast is fair but the TV stations come in strong.

Pros: Solidly constructed, excellent reception, built-in AC cord (no seperate wall wart required), decent volume, long battery life, wonderful value for the money.

Cons: At this price? Seriously, you are joking, right?

I was given this radio (at my request) as a "birthday appliance" by my wife. I use it primarily to listen to NPR. Here in Honolulu, our public radio station is located fairly close to a 50 KW "rocker/rapper" station (both in frequency and distance). My other portable (Panasonic) does not have the selectivity to receive NPR clearly. This little radio does just fine.

Additionally, the TV bands work well in my location - - - so at least I can listen to Hagure Keiji (my favorite Nipponese drama) on KIKU-TV when I am away from home and cannot watch the television.

Being an analog vice digital receiver promises long battery life from a set of 4 AA's, so this is a radio that should prove very useful during hurricane season.

While this radio will not reproduce "audiophile" quality sound, the sound it does produce is clear and crisp. Certainly it is sufficient to the task of keeping you up to date while on the go.

This is truly a 5-star item at a 2-star price! I (and judging by the review ratings) and a lot of other folks highly recommend it.