I bought this shower radio on a spur of the moment thingy! I was innocently walking round the warehouses in the Digbeth area of Birmingham and there it was… this cute little seahorse that is actually a water resistant shower radio.
I have had shower radios in the past and loved them, I keep loosing them when I move house! The whole idea of being able to relax in a nice hot bath with the radio on in the background sounds so good!
So when I saw this one I just had to get it. I have never come across this design before. I was a little wary of buying it at first due to the fact it was from a discounted warehouse and I’ve had stuff from there that hasn’t worked before, but this was cute and just under a fiver. £4.46 to be exact.
On getting the radio home, I promptly forgot about it for 3 days! But then I found it and after searching around my room for ages I found some batteries.
This radio takes 3 AA size batteries, which are not included when you buy the product. These fit into the battery compartment on the back of the radio. I found the batteries a little tricky to put in as they kept popping out before I could get the cover back on. The battery compartment is sealed with a waterproof rubber seal and the cover to the compartment is held securely in place with a screw. I must point out that this screw is genius! It has a large head so if you don’t have a screwdriver handy then you can use anything that will fit in. it sticks out form the back, so you don’t need to find the perfect fitting tool to unscrew it. Now then this is the genius bit… normally when you have a compartment
with a screw, it is a small fiddly screw which you often loose, not in this case, this screw has a washer on the other side of the compartment holding it in place so it can only be unscrewed just enough to take the compartment off and it can’t be lost!
The design of this radio is quite cool really, it is shaped like a seahorse and it is yellow with blue stripes all over it. The novelty part of this radio is that swell as it being shaped like a seahorse, all of the buttons and knobs on it are part of the seahorse’s features. The volume knob is the seahorse’s eye, the band selector is the little antenna on its head and the tuner is the fin on its neck.
There is also a siren button, which is large, and red, if you press this it will cut out all radio activity and an alarm will sound, it isn’t what I would call very loud, but it is loud enough to get someone’s attention if you need help. To turn this alarm off you simply press the button again.
To use the radio you first need to put the batteries in the compartment on the back and switch it on.
To switch the radio on, you need to twist he seahorse’s eye (sound painful!) in a clockwise direction, you will hear a small click and then hopefully the noise of the radio. The eye is also the volume control. You need to turn it clockwise to turn it up and anti-clockwise to turn it down or off. To be sure the radio is off completely make sure you hear the little click noise again and it wont turn any further, otherwise it will slowly drain your battery power.
The radio is a 2-band radio. This means you can choose between two frequency waves, in this case they are FM and AM. To choose between the two you use the seahorse antenna, which simply moves backwards and forwards.
Next you need to choose your radio station. To do this you need to turn the little fin to point to the number of your radio station.
EG: In Birmingham is BRMB is 96.4 FM so I have the fin pointing between 94 and 98 as 96 isn’t marked on there.
Tuning in is very easy as there are clearly marked numbers for both bands around the edge of the fin and you will of course be able to hear the music too!
*At first glance to the fin and the antenna you don’t see how you will be able to tell where about you are tuned into as they are quite big compared to the little markings and it is not crystal clear which part of the button you need to line up, but if you take a closer look, you will see there is a small raised dot and this is what you use to line up and tune in.
The speaker is in the seahorse’s belly next to the red siren button. The speaker is nothing special – just a load of holes in its belly!
This radio is easy to put up. The are two suction cups on the back which hold it onto the wall, or alternatively if like me you couldn’t get it to stick, there is a piece of nylon rope supplied which loops through a hanging bracket on the back so you can hang it in a place to suit you. I have mine on the back of the bathroom door, mainly because I don’t want my 2 year old brother getting his hands on it or it will end up swimming in the toilet!
Right then I have my radio in the bathroom, turned on and looking cute, but what does it sound like?
Quite good actually! With the shower radios I have had in the past they have had tendencies to be crackly but this one hasn’t. (So far!)
With new batteries this radio gives out a nice crisp and clear sound, it does have slight interruptions occasionally but nothing major. When the batteries run down the sound quality does deteriorate slightly, but the manufacturers do recommend you change the batteries frequently, this may be why. Well it’s the only reason I can think of!
The battery life really depends on what brand of battery you use, how often and how long for you use this radio. Another thing which effects battery life is the volume, unfortunately the louder you have it the more power it will use. I’m currently on my second set of batteries in about a month because I left it turned on by mistake and forgot about it!
The packaging on this radio stands out well and makes it very clear what you are buying. The radio comes in a long blue box – about 14ins long. On the front of the box the is a picture of the radio with the words “shower radio” down the side, the manufacturers name is across the top – Morphy Richards, and also beneath the picture is a brief description of the radio. “Water resistant seahorse shower radio with alert siren”
The sides of the box also have pictures of the radio and some info about the radio:
It also states on the side of the box that there is a 2-year guarantee on this product. However there are no details supplied about the company or how to contact them if you do need to.
The model number is also on the box, this is R1922.
There is no instruction sheet included in the box as all the instructions are printed on the back of the box along with a detailed diagram of the radio. The instructions are very basic and are about the batteries, radio operation and installation of the product. There is also a sentence about the siren button and changing the batteries frequently.
Summary
Product – Seahorse Shower Radio
Features – AM/FM Radio, emergency siren and novelty buttons.
Battery Life – Good (so far!)
Sound Quality – Very clear, unless batteries need changing.
Size – Box is about 14ins. Radio is about 12ins.
Colour – Yellow with blue stripes.
Price - £4.46 from Latifs Discount warehouse in Birmingham.
Overall I would recommend this shower radio because it is very easy to use and you can have a nice little sing-song in the bath or shower!
Also because of its size I found this useful to take camping with me rather than a normal radio, as this one is water resistant so it didn’t really matter too much about the rain!
So there you go… a cute radio that you can sing along with in the bath, shower or even camping or wherever you want to take it!
Thanks for taking the time to read!
This product has not yet been reviewed.
07.09.2005 21:38
Great review, never thought about having a shower radio before - what a fab idea. Thanks, Sal x
15.03.2005 09:45
A very thorough review, my husband would love this. Jane x
15.03.2005 00:15
cant beat a shower radio for the football.