Philips AE6370 > Reviews (1)

Like many people I leave my seaside abode and commute to the 'big smoke' and so spend a large proportion of my life on buses and trains. So to brighten up the journey I thought I would invest in a portable, personal radio so I can keep up to date with current affairs, and when I am feeling frivolous tune into Radio One.

I purchased my small analogue Phillips AE6370 at John Lewis after looking at a range of radios, I chose the Phillips because in the shop it did work, and the sound quality seemed okay.

Nitty gritty...

****What's it look like?****

It is grey about the 6 cm long and about 3.5 cm wide. It has a retro looking edge to it; an old fashioned looking dial shows you what frequency you are on. This was one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place.

****Features****

MW / FM stereo wavebands
Dial tuning system
Dynamic bass boost
Rotary volume and tuning controls
Pen type pocket clip
Slim, compact design
Complete with earphones
Size 83 x 44 x 20 mm
Weight 45g
Flimsy belt clip, which would would barely hold a ball point pen to your pocket let alone a radio.

****Tuning and Reception****

You have to use a manual tuner, in this case a dial, to find the stations you want. This can be tricky and I have found that when you do manage to get a decent station if the dial is knocked it will un-tune itself, which is highly frustrating and oh so easy to do.

What's more the tuner is quite wide, meaning in that some stations, such as Radio four are on quite a narrow frequency, so this does two things, one it is hard to find, secondly when in London one minute I am listening to the news and then a hip hop station will start playing over the top of it! So fundamentally as if it could not get worse the reception on this radio is shonky too!

****Sound****

Due to the radio picking up as much interference as it can voices are often distorted and dalek like, there is also a lot background fuzziness, so overall very poor sound due to the terrible reception.

There is a Dynamic Bass Boost facility which I find improves the sound quality and removes some of the hissing which this radio readily seems to pick up.

The radio uses 1xAAA battery, this is easy to insert and last for about 16 hrs use.

****More downsides****

This radio seems to defy picking up any signal when moving, whether that be on a train, bus, car or walking, it constantly needs retuning.

The headphones have an 'inner ear' shape to them, which I have found extremely uncomfortable; what's more the wiring gets so easily tangles and actually sticks to itself, so you end up having to unpull the headphone wires every time you want to use it.

Overall- don't buy this radio unless you don't move anywhere! It cost me a whopping £24.95 and has given me nothing but disappointment.

It is so bad I cannot even bring myself to list places where you can purchase one online.