C. Crane CCRadio 3 Long Range Reception AM, FM, NOAA Weather Plus Alert and 2-Meter Ham Band Portable Digital Radio with Bluetooth

This would be the one radio I would have if allowed to only have one radio. First, let me mention a couple things I like about the company. One, I like the fact I can go to the C. Crane website and actually order radios and parts from them; no having to mess around with third-party sellers. Second, I like the fact that I got quick responses from C. Crane when i asked them questions.My impressions regarding the radio. I can't speak to lasting quality because I have had this radio two months only. But, i was so impressed with the first one I bought that I bought a second one before the price increased. The radio is easy to use, has best reception (both AM and FM) of any radio I have, especially if I use it with the TERK loop antenna for AM. At night, with the radio sitting on a table in the living room) I am able to get AM stations from Cleveland, Boston, etc (and I am in northern Michigan). For FM the radio brings in two stations I like to listen to but am unable to bring in using other radios. I feel the CC Radio 3 brings in these hard to capture FM stations on a par with Qodosen DX-286.Sound quality is good, especially when taking into consideration this is still a portable radio. Sometimes hard rock/heavy metal songs sound "bunched" or the instrumentation sounds "squished together", but that could be a result of the station or the song's original recording because Jazz sounds very good. Classical sounds very good. Pop sounds very good too. Talk radio is excellent with no "ear fatigue" after listening for several hours. This is my best sounding radio after my Sangean WR-55 tabletop radio.Build quality, although is made of plastic, feels like a "good plastic", not a cheap, brittle feeling plastic. All the buttons on the radio are clearly labelled as to function and easy to figure out even without consulting the manual. Other things I like: the fact the AC power input isn't a wall wart; that I can use battery power if there is a power outage; that I can listen to weather radio (because if there is a power outage, that probably means bad weather). I feel at this point in my purchase, that buying this radio was money well-spent.

This is a well made radio that the pulls in lots of stations and gets good reception.

I just tested this radio a little, it seems to be a good portable radio and I like the digital tuning style. Weather and 2-meter ham station reception good pluses. Also love the fact that the estimated run time on four D cell batteries are generous (250 hours according to C. Crane). With a 12-pack of D cells stored away, you're ready for a 750-hour emergency! To me, that's more important for long-lasting emergencies than having some crank (usually plastic, by the way) that can break off or only give you 20-30 minutes of radio play after you wore your arm off.I am disappointed, however, in two things: (1) that the handle, while it has a rubber grip, is recessed in the back rather than being a true folding traditional grip that you can get your whole hand around - that would give me more confidence in not dropping it (see C. Crane's EP PRO radio if you want that kind of handle - but I didn't like the analog-style slide rule tuning or lack of weather/ham). (2) While this radio has all kinds of neat programmable settings, such as the station presets and weather alert modes, none of those are remembered by the radio when you unplug the radio from an AC outlet or take out the batteries - and of course you HAVE to take out the batteries, lest they leak (mostly alkaline batteries) or just need to be recharged (NiMH batteries). And alkaline and NiMH batteries are the only ones C. Crane wants you using in their radios (and those are really the only D size batteries on the market from major reputable manufacturers). C. Crane really should have had some kind of memory chip inside that would store your presets and preferences permanently, even when removed from power. A big oversight.Generally a good radio, however, like I said, and I would recommend it if you really want the weather stations and 2-meter ham stations for emergencies, as well as digital tuning style for accuracy. A bit pricey at $200, though. If all you want is a standard AM/FM portable radio, and you don't care if the tuner is old-school analog slide-rule (hint: all the tuners today are digital inside, even if the controls are analog), you might want to try the EP PRO for less than half the cost. It's old-school style (but with a sleek, modern look), has a "real" handle that solidly snaps into place, and there are no presets to worry about losing when you take the batteries out.

I have no complaints about this radio.I live in the San Francisco Bay Area where there are about 70 radio stations (AM and FM) scattered throughout nine counties. Being located about half-way between San Francisco and San Jose I receive signals from both cities about equally.Nice tunability with both FM and AM reception. It picks up and locks in on a few of the low power (college / non-profit) stations in the area pretty well.Getting good reception on the SW band as well. Don't even need the 15 dollar extra external antenna in this area. Although it might be interesting to see the difference it would make.I get 5 of the 7 weather service stations it is pre-programmed with. Works well for me.The bluetooth set-up is really cool with the feature of using 3 of the pre-set buttons as controls for the bluetooth player. Although when I connect my Blueray player to it the "pause/play" button does not function. I can't say I have a complaint about that because it really doesn't bother me.The sound quality is great for a radio of its size. Having the bass and treble adjustments available is just icing on the cake for me.It's a decent little radio.No regrets here.