Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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199 of 201 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When comparing it to.........., March 6, 2005
If you've been considering the purchase of either a Sangean DT 200 or DT 210 portable, read THIS review.
I'm writing it as a basic comparison to both Sangean portables, which in themselves are excellent radios, but if the traits and features of both could be fused into one... then we'd have the HOLY GRAIL of pocket portables! I'd also like to make some comments that other reviewers have failed to discuss regarding the DT 200.
Let's begin with what the DT 200 is constantly touted for, perhaps more so than its cousins... AM reception. When comparing the DT 200 and DT 210 for AM reception, there is NO DIFFERENCE! Both perform equally well. This is for standard daytime listening, when comparing the selectivity/sensitivity for both and the ability to null locals for capturing a weak or out of town station. Basically ANY radio can receive double to triple reception on AM after dark. So in this catagory, they're ALL the same. Turning to FM & TV audio reception in a large metro area: the DT 200 seems slightly MORE sensitive on both bands than the DT 210. Although unless you're trying to get a more obscure station, I seriously doubt most people would notice a difference. Selectivity in the city (for both radios) on FM can be tricky. I have never found a portable of this type to do a satisfactory job of cutting down on the serious bleeding and overloading effect caused by strong FM locals (within 10-20 miles of towers) that a good car stereo or CCRadio type unit can.
TUNING & MEMORY: What is unique about the 200, is that its 19 presets are NOT band specific! If you want, you may have 19 AM presets! OR... 19 FM presets, OR a combination of AM/FM & TV presets... as long as it's 19 or less! What is also good, is the way only 1 button is needed to "flip through" your presets. The downside to this, is that it flips through ALL bands back & forth, if you've selected memories from each. Or, it can be used to automatically "scan" though them... either up or down (but it won't stop on a weak or static-laden signal). The 210 allows 30 presets (10 on each band) which I think is the better way of doing it.
SOUND: The external speaker on the 210 sounds BETTER than the 200! (less like a "transistor radio") The 210 has bass-boost to use through the earplugs, the 200 does not. Both allow for stereo to be switched on and off.
BUTTONS: Generally good for both. The placement of the setting controls is easier to use on the 200, but the actual "tuning" buttons are in a difficult position for holding the radio in your right hand and trying to change channels with 1 finger. This operation is far easier with the 210.
BELT CLIP: Easier to use on the 210. It swivels! The 200's clip (although more snug) doesn't budge.
Bottom line: If audio is everything to you, the DT 210 may be a better choice. If ease of use regarding memory settings is your concern, then you might want the DT 200. Regarding AM reception, just remember this; for everything you may of heard about the DT 200... don't let ANYONE tell you it's superior to any other Sangean portable! I have NOT used the DT 300, but can swear that reception between the 200 and 210 is IDENTICAL. If price is your concern, you might get the 200 a bit cheaper. That's it.
OK, now YOU decide.
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78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Walking Companion, August 16, 2003
I've owned 4 of these amazing pocket radios over the past eight years. They are solidly built, take a beating when dropped, battery life with the newer metal-hydride batteries is superb, and the sound quality with nicer headphones is excellent. All members of my family have one (so there is no argument over who was the last one with the radio), and I keep one at my cabin. It fits perfectly on a belt on shirt pocket, and with nicer earbuds (Etymotic) and a strong FM channel, one feels like they are really at a concert. The size of the radio and its abilities to pull in TV channels never leaves one too far away from the latest news or radiowaves. The presets are easy to use, though when you remove batteries you must replace within 30 seconds or the memory of the presets disappears. I could go on, but the hearing, portability and durability is quite amazing for such a small unit with a great price. You won't be sorry on this purchase.
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60 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The User Interface doesn't live up to standards.., November 29, 2005
I was very excited to purchase this portable radio but am returning it after only a few days. With my job, I often will get stuck on a job driving heavy machinery for several weeks at a time. To pass the day, I listen to various talk shows. Recently, while using my battered (but still working!) Sony AM/FM/TV/WeatherBand portable radio, I was disappointed that one of the stations I can usually get wasn't coming in that well. While I was far from my normal working area, the station still came in with my pickup's factory radio.
So I began searching the internet for the "best portable radio" I could find. I quickly came across the Sangeon 200. After reading the reviews, I was very excited to have found the solution I was looking for! I even picked up some new headphones to go with my purchase.
While the reception on all bands was good, to get the most out of it, you really need to be able to set the radio on a table and rotate it "just so" to lock into an AM frequency. Don't get me wrong, the unit is great at what it does and we have certain laws of science here limiting what it can do, but for my application, I needed something I could just clip to my belt and forget about. (I'd still like to know why factory radios in cars don't need to be rotated to get their internal antenna to tune in.)
But, like I mentioned, the DT200V IS an improvement over the Sony in pulling in stations. The Mono button is great at getting rid of static on FM stations too. Even clipped to my belt, the performance was better. But what really made me return this thing was the user interface. I had to read the instructions (just a tiny paragraph) three times in order to learn how to program stations into memory. I'm a gadget geek and that's unusual for something to be so counter intuitive. The root of the problem is that there simply aren't enough buttons on the radio! Programming stations is one thing (how often do you need to do that?) but the fact that switching from one preset to another can take SO many button clicks in inexcusable. I often like to switch from program to program during the commercial breaks, but with the DT200v, you'll find yourself listening to the commercials anyway because it's too much of a hassle to change.
It's almost as if this thing was designed in the late 80's or early 90's. Especially the "feature" requiring you to replace the batteries within 3 minutes or else you lose all of your programmed stations. Back then, electronics WERE this hard to figure out. But now, when you can have a product like the iPod come to market and be such a success, mainly because of its easy to use interface, the Sangeon doesn't live up to standards. The iPod came out YEARS after portable mp3 players had been available from other companies. But it took off because it was EASY TO USE.
So, the bottom line is that if you can settle for a hard to use unit that is GREAT at pulling in stations, the Sangeon DT200V is for you. Perhaps you like to listen to the radio while sitting at the pool, beach or sporting event. Features like the built-in speaker make sense for such an application. But if you are going to be active while using your radio, and you like devices that you can operate with one hand (while barely looking at what you're doing) keep looking!
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