Sony ICF-S10MK2 Personal Analog Grey - radios (AA, Personal, Analog, AM, FM, 87.5 - 108 MHz, 530 - 1605 kHz)

I wanted a small radio to replace my Sony ICF-S22 as It's seen better days after my pet squirrel got hold of It. I decided on the ICF-S10MK2 which has a nice classic small radio design, unlike the Sony ICF-S22 with it's awful wedge shape which I dislike intensely. I compared the ICF-S10MK2 with my ICF-S22 and IMHO in most cases the ICF-S10MK2 is better. The reception on the ICF-S10MK2 is good on MW and fair on FM but I also like the much crisper audio of the S10. On MW on the ICF-S10MK2 I could hear BBC Essex on 729kHz on it's own even though I have a strong BBC R4 on 720kHz on the adjacent channel. This was not the case on the ICF-S22 where I could not completely separate the two stations. Unfortunately the ICF-S10MK2 is let down by the mediocre FM reception, but it's fine for local stations. The FM reception on the ICF-S22 just has the edge, but I find the audio on the S22 to be a little bassy and muffled for my liking. For around £10 the ICF-S10MK2 is good value and It's a nice looking little radio that you will enjoy listening too.

I bought this at the end of September 2013 to have in my office to listen to the radio (obviously). Positives: Cheap (£8.00 when I bought it). Batteries last long (the back of the box states 40 hours, but I'm on the original pair after listening to it for easily 4 weeks + at 40+ hours pr week). Sound quality is good enough. Reception in my room is good. Well built (knocked over on my desk a few times but has durable materials). Negatives: Not to find any as yet. For any price under £15.00 this has to be well worth the purchase if you're after a portable radio.

For the past three years I have been listening to a radio which, after you have been listening to it for a few minutes, would lose the signal and consequently I would end up listening to a series of crackles rather than my chosen radio station. This was okay when I could actually retune it, but when I was in middle having a bath or taking a shower it was a real pain in the neck. Because of this I was almost pleased when it finally stopped working together, as I am much too frugal to replace a radio that actually worked even though it wasn't doing its job properly. I have no such problems with its replacement, the Sony Pocket size portable though. I have had it for a fortnight now and I am already convinced that I have purchased a very good little radio. It is a small radio that, in order to give an idea of the size, would, as the name suggests, comfortably fit into the average jacket pocket. It comes in a silver/grey colour which I don't particularly care for (a small radio should always be black or possibly white) but nevertheless it looks quite cool, almost retro. For such a small radio the sound quality is more than acceptable with little distortion even when the volume is high. The sound, by the way, can be surprisingly loud when the volume is at its highest setting. The radio picks up a good number of stations in both AM and FM without the aerial being extended; with the aerial extended though many more stations can be picked up, many from overseas. Searching for these overseas stations is a particular pleasure of mine when, late at night, I cannot get to sleep. I was a little surprised to find that a earpiece was not included with the radio as I thought this was standard but this is not much of problem as they can be purchased extremely cheaply from Amazon or even in many high street shops; please note though that sound will only issue from one earpiece if using a pair. I love transistor radios (do people still call them that?) and from a early age have always owned one. Through the years I must have had at least a dozen and this Sony model is one of the better ones.

I did not realize that I had not reviewed this item until I was scrolling through my past orders. I purchased it in 2012 to replace a very expensive Roberts Sport pocket radio which stopped working suddenly and was told by Roberts it could not be repaired,so have had plenty of time to asses this little Sony. I wanted something small to go in my pocket for when I am out in the garden, also if I am listening to something interesting in a room and need to go to another room I can take it with me, it also comes to bed with me so that I can listen to 5 live at night then I don't have to get out of bed to switch the big radio off when I get sleepy. I find the batteries (2 AAs) last ages considering how much it is in use, the tone is perfectly acceptable for speaking radio and I find it to be better than my Roberts in all departments. My son already had this radio and he recommended it to me and I would have no hesitation saying buy it!!

It's a great little device, simple to use and having a little portable radio is actually really nice. The battery life is very good as well. Unfortunately the build is a bit lacklustre. The plastic feels very cheap, particularly the dials and the battery door. I also have a Roberts Sports 925, which is a similar size, but seems to have better reception, better sound quality, a louder speaker, better build and is just nicer overall, and it only cost about £2 more than this one. It also stands up with a little less wobble than the Sony. If you can get the Robert one for a decent price, it's worth it, if not this Sony is still a really nice device that just does one thing reasonably well. People have said it only plays through one ear with headphones, and there is actually a signal in the right ear as well, but it's just much much quieter than the left ear. The Roberts is fine in both ears, so if you're going to be using it with headphones I'd give the Sony a miss.

Just wanted a simple radio for listening to MW 5 live while out walking through my headphones. Unlike previous Roberts radio (which was a lot smaller) it does not 'hold' the station you are listening to and can wander away from the signal. The sound is Mono through my headphones too. Ok if you place the radio in a fixed position and listen to it through its own speaker.

J'avais déjà acheté ce poste il y a environ 15 ans, il commençait à donner des signes de faiblesse de fixation de l' antenne. J'ai voulu racheter le même qui me donnait toute satisfaction pour mes déplacements. Pas trop simple de régler les fréquences (sans doute à cause de la petite taille), mais très bonne réception, et son parfait. Donc très satisfait.

After reading 300+ reviews on Amazon. Com I decided to buy this amazing radio as I am a radio lover . currently I have 5 radio device but this radio has left behind all my previous radio. My pros and cons are:- Pros 2) Excellent reception quality no distortion while travelling through bike. 2) 2AA batteries required as I can use rechargeable batteries currently using 2800mah rechargeable batteries playing non stop 24 hrs daily. 3) very light weight. Cons:- 1) costly as this imported radio 2) plastic is little flimsy but ok with it but needs extra care as I spend 1500 for this radio. 3) sound output is good not excellent as increasing volume may cause distortion. Overall GOOD SHOPPING EXPERIENCE WITH AMAZON Must buy for those persons who love listening Radio as I do!!!!

Auch im Zeitalter von Internet-Radio & Co. ist so ein kleiner Radio-Empfänger praktisch. Man darf natürlich kein High End-Gerät erwarten. Der Empfang ist gut bis sehr gut, je nach Sendestärke der empfangenen Radiostation. Das Einstellrad für die Sender lässt sich gut verstellen, ohne dass man mit einer Berührung den Sender verliert. (Also fest, aber nicht ZU fest) Am Design gibts nichts zu meckern. Obwohl ich nicht verstehe, warum die Empfangs-LED nicht gleichzeitig als Skalen-Beleuchtung Verwendung findet. Aber das nur am Rande. Die Lautstärke wird erst bei Maximal-Einstellung unangenehm scheppernd, was sich bei abnehmender Batteriespannung relativiert. Aprópos Batterien, mit einem Satz Discounter-Batterien läuft der Empfänger jetzt schon eine Woche lang täglich etwa vier Stunden, also etwa dreißig Stunden ohne Ermüdungs-Erscheinungen. Fazit: Ein preiswertes, stylisches und sparsames Radio-Gerät für unterwegs und für die Beschallung von Räumen, wo eine Anlage kaum Sinn macht.

Anyone who thinks AM/FM radio is dead needs to read the article over at Slate from Dec 14, 2014 entitled "Don't Count AM/FM Radio Out Just Yet". Broadcast radio is still extremely profitable and big here in America and isn't about to disappear anytime soon. Besides, everyone should have a good, portable, low battery usage AM/FM radio at home in preparation for natural disasters. Given the large number of Taiwanese and Chinese brand portables on the market, why stick with the Sony brand even though it is also made in China like all the other brands? Because Sony has developed some excellent AM/FM chip technology for radio reception and these Sony proprietary chips are used in almost all of Sony's portable radios. The ICF-S10MK2 is one of these Sony radios. Reception of AM and FM is surprising good for such a lightweight, inexpensive radio. Unlike some of the recent "Fully Digital" radios that are based on the Silicon Laboratories chip, I find that the Sony radios handle Automatic Grain Control (AGC) functions much better on the AM band. You won't be treated to the irritating digital "pumping" AGC effect on weak AM stations like you find on many of the radios based on the Silicon Laboratories chip sold by Sangean, Kaito and Tecsun. The Silicon Laboratories chips are getting better in this regard but still have problems in the area of effective AGC functions. The speaker on this little gem is also a big plus. It puts out decent sound for its small size. Tuning is analog, which is a bummer, but the advantage of this over a digital display tuner is that you get much better battery life. The size and weight is a little too high to consider this a shirt pocket radio. Quality of construction is OK, considering the low price of $10 - $12 US dollars. I've seen much worse in this price range from some of the "no-name" Chinese producers. Along with the ICF-S10MK2, I also own Sony's SRF-59 AM/FM Walkman (ultra-small, analog dial) and the much pricier but much sturdier SFR-M37 AM/FM Walkman (small, digital dial, sporty model with presets). The SRF-59 is very small with amazing battery life and it can easily fit it a shirt pocket. However, it requires you to use headphones. The SFR-M37 adds the weather band along with AM/FM and also has no speaker. It runs on a single AAA battery and has acceptable battery life. All three of these Sony portable AM/FM radios are good buys. On the high end, I own a much larger Tecsun PL-880 that has AM/FM plus shortwave that I absolutely love! It has great sound from the enclosed speaker and does an excellent job at shortwave reception. However, in that class of portable radio you are looking at something that is about the size of a paperback book and that is much heavier. The price (~ $160 ) is also much higher than what you'll pay for these small Sony AM/FM portables. If you know some people that don't have any AM/FM radios in their household, consider buying a couple of these small Sony ICF-S10MK2 AM/FM radios and handing them out as and inexpensive but useful gift. When natural disaster strikes (and eventually it will) they'll appreciate having one of these little gems to turn on after the power goes out and their internet goes dead. Most broadcast stations have emergency generators and can continue to broadcast on the airwaves even after the power goes out.

This is an amazing little radio. Reception is fantastic, and the battery life is unbelievable. The sound quality is satisfactory at best, but I'm not sure what people would expect for a small portable radio that runs on 2 "AA" battery. If you are looking for a portable, inexpensive option for some music while camping then this is a great radio. If you are looking for something with amazing sound quality, buy a proper speaker.