Sangean DT-200X AM/FM Synthesized Pocket Radio

I hesitated somewhat in buying this radio because of its size, so I made a 3 dimensional template and happily, it ended up smaller. It is exactly 4¼ inches tall x 2 3/8 x 7/8 inches without the removable belt clip. It is only slightly larger than the DT300 model, (which has served me well - for two pocket radios, but no longer available). The rounded bottom of the DT200 does not allow it to stand, so why not lay it down at a desk? Those rounded bottom and corners are likely designed to slip easily into your pocket and not catch or create wear on the pocket fabric. I like that. The many reviews here were very helpful in deciding between various models, but I am definitely a big fan of Sangean. This will be my fourth purchase, with three of them now being pocket radios and the fourth a clock radio that I really like with the buttons for station changes instead of a dial. I am replacing the Sangean DT300 with this one because that radio no longer has a working `down' button feature. So I wonder when I will lose the `up' button and be forever stuck on the same station. The identical model radio previous to that one lost its on/off function. Now back to this DT200. Overall I am pleased with its features. The port for the L plug trailing antenna/ear buds (straight plug) is on the top of the unit - I liked the side feature slightly better so that it did not interfere as much with the volume wheel. The on/off button is at the top. The lock button is on the side - I liked the top position better so as to activate the locking feature w/o taking out of pocket. But I can live with the differences. The topside port does give a point of reference for other features on the top. If the MEMORY feature is turned off, you select the band and move through the frequencies one by one or hold down the button for the radio to select the strongest. If the MEMORY feature is turned ON, you scroll through whatever channels you have set one both bands. I am pleased that this radio has only the two bands and not also the weather band (which I don't use, living in sunny southwest, it is pretty much the same) or the no longer accessible analog TV band. The TV band still exists on some other models for sale here but, since the change to digital TV a couple years ago, it will no longer work no matter what you read or expect! With my DT300, I had to scroll through 3 other bands to get to my band of choice. The mix of AM/FM on the DT200 favorites function is a most welcomed feature. It is no longer necessary to switch bands for favorite station presets. I was thinking that for those who bemoan the fact that they have only a few favorites and unable to delete slots; why not enter your favorites twice or to where you use up all the slots? Now, after I have set some of my favorite stations, I see that it does not scroll through any empty slots, i.e., I have selected only 7 favorites and it does not scroll though 8-19. I find that selecting and adding favorites is much more intuitive than the 300 model. It is much easier to understand these directions which may have been written by a more user friendly user than in the past! The overall reception after a few days use is definitely better out of doors and seems to be quite good. The display is a generous 1 3/8 by 5/8 inches and there is a brief back light - this may come in handy during an infrequent power outage or certainly when I'll use this radio at night. The battery life indicator is active when the radio is in use. If the lock button is ON, it will blink if you try to change the setting or turn it off. It does not lock the volume, as someone else indicated. It locks only the ON/OFF feature and the current station setting. Because of my main use out of doors, I keep the radio in a clear sandwich bag. Thus, our fine desert dust and occasional rain can affect my nice little radio a whole lot less. I am a big fan of rechargeable batteries, so always carry along a spare pair at the ready. How do I use my radio? Mainly out of doors, horseback rides, overnights, yard work and gardening, nature walks and finally as a companion for that dreaded job of cleaning the pool tile! The occasional power outage makes this a handy little radio to have while trying to get back to sleep. For the most part I do not use the supplied ear buds, but the trailing antenna instead, which by the way must be let out if you want FM reception. I am one of those folks who still likes to hear what else is going on around me in the realm of nature. For night time use, I use ear buds, but the ones I prefer are made by Phillips with a soft over the ear wing. This radio was an excellent choice and is highly recommended.

First off, it was shipped very fast. Don't know how Amazon does it with the millions of orders they must get. Now about this radio. It is great! Granted I just received it today so I am not reviewing its durability. I will append to this review if it breaks down prematurely. When hurricane Sandy was on its way I went and bought a cheap battery operated radio. It has a rotary type dial and needle for tuning into stations and it is just about impossible to find your station. Comparing the two radios just magnifies how crappy my cheap radio is. The Sangean radio with digital tuning gets so many more stations. It comes with a 33 inch soft wire antenna that you use when listening from the built in speaker. This antenna must be why it picks up so many more channels. It also comes with ear buds and bud covers, and the ear bud wire acts as the antenna when using them. The radio also comes with a plastic belt clip. I haven't tried that yet, I probably won't need it. The radio is the perfect size to have in my shirt pocket. The display on this radio shows the time when the radio is off. When turned on, the display shows the channel, the battery level, whether or not you are using favorite channels, and a stereo icon when in stereo mode. It has a mono mode that eliminates hisss from distant channels or from talk radio. The radio also has a button to enhance the bass sound. Keep it in bass mode for a rich sound when using external speakers. I plugged the radio into powered stereo speakers and it sounds great! Hard to believe that the tiny radio is making the full sound. It also has a lock button to keep the channel from being changed even if the tuner button is pressed. The manual was very clear and the Sangean is very intuitive to operate. The best part is the digital tuning and auto scan with the large channel display. So easy to find your station. The only negative issue, which is just inherent in a radio of this size is that the built in speaker can not produce a full rich sound. But it sounds so much better than my cheapo radio's built in speaker. Forty three bucks seems pricy for a little radio but the functionality of this one is worth the extra money. I am very happy with it. Oh yea, it runs on two AA batteries so you can use your rechargeable eneloop batteries. No need to buy and throw away alkalines.

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.

Sangean DT200, best pocket radio I have owned. Compared to Sony icfk10 or Panasonic rf 2400, the Seagram is digital so you just easily tune to your station. I keep all the features turned off and the volume on low where only I can hear and not distracted others, I strictly use it on speaker so not sure how it works on headphones, I use NIMH AA rechargeable battery, they last me close to a month possibly 3 weeks of daily playing for about 4-6 hours per day, week days no weekends included. Voice clarity is awesome, station is stable. It’s a good buy, still on the higher price point but after buying two Panasonics I got the Sangean and like the clarity and ease of station selection more, I strictly listen to FM .

This is a Excellent radio, I don't think it can be beat for the price, a digital radio with 19 preset stations, and very easy to use, they kept it very simple to use. Nice large numbers on display, very Nice quality. The Sound Quality is Very good on speaker and Excellent with a Good set of earbuds, or Skull candy earbuds (they are much better than oem but not great quality) from Walmart are a upgrade and cheap. I really like the 90 min timer shutoff, if the radio get left on no big deal it shuts itself off, Auto-magicly, This radios reception is Excellent!!! in both AM and FM frequencies. VERY LONG Battery Life. I like that the FM antenna is a Wire that plugs into the headphone jack, typical metal telescoping antennas are very fragile. This means I can either use the antenna wire supplied or make up a new antenna out of wire and a headphone jack connector or make a Long wire FM antenna, (Note: I have a LOT of Radios) I made a Longer FM antenna wire 50 feet long that goes out the window and on the roof of the house and another 30foot FM antenna for travel or backpacking for better FM reception. For Much better AM reception I have a Tecsun AN-200 AM Loop Antenna, you can make a AM Loop antenna that really brings in the AM stations that are far away and weak. I don't use the supplied pocket clip, But in the mount for the pocket clip on the back of the radio I can very quickly put my kick stand on it. I made the kick stand out of a paper clip and paper clamp, the kickstand is to lean the radio back, so it keeps it at a angle for better listening with the speaker. This really is a Excellent radio

I just received the radio and unboxed it. I always try do an initial test on everything that I purchase, to make sure it is working, even if I don't have immediate plans for it. I bought this to replace a Radio Shack Optimus, which is pictured. Even with cardboard isolating the terminals the Energizers still leaked. A gentle swab of vinegar on Q-tips didn't help as some of the electrical connectors had battery corrosion on them, and the radio won't turn on. Oh well, this was my go to radio that I would always carry when traveling. I was surprised to see that the Sangean is pretty much the same radio. Although, the build quality of the Radio Shack Optimus seems to be better. I hadn't gone through the manual so this was a simple test of the Sangean. This radio on fast scan in FM picked up all of the local broadcasters, even those from NYC, about 60-90 miles away. Manual tuning picked up stations on just about every frequency. On AM band, without a select antenna it picked up all the NYC clear channels. Slow tuning picked up all of the local low power frequencies, without any interference. I don't know how it was able to as there is not much room for a decent size ferrite bar. The sound was clear through both the external speaker and the headphones. Many have complained about the price but this out performed my XHdata 8O8, 328, 108, Quodosen 286, and the Reketris v115. It even did better than my Super Radio 3 with a select antenna loop. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a portable AM/FM radio. It is well worth the price.

I may have expected too much out of this radio because of the glowing reviews of this radio but I have some negative observations. First off I have to say I bought this radio because I wanted something that could pick up long distance AM reception. I listen to a lot of Chicago radio stations which are about 90 miles from my home. Mind you that most of these stations are high powered and 90 miles isn't that great of a distance. Ok here are my thoughts on this radio. It feels cheap to me, the way it looks and handles. A minor drawback is the bottom of the radio is rounded which makes it difficult to stand the unit upright on a desk or whatever while you listen to it. That I can live with but a more major deficiency is the batteries in my unit don't seem to secure meaning a few times the batteries have dislodged themselves from the power connections in the radio. I examined the springs in my unit and they don't seem compressed enough to hold the batteries in place and they don't exactly line up like they should do. I like to listen to the radio when I do tasks such as mowing the lawn. I keep this radio in my pocket and a few times the batteries have moved enough in the radio where I lose power. Maybe I just got a bad unit. I don't know. Another problem is the radio keeps cutting in and out when I'm walking and slightly jiggling the radio. This would be AM stations in Chicago but I also get the same effect but a lot less pronounced on local stations just a few miles away. Another observation is that FM reception is almost nonexistent unless the trailing antenna is plugged into the ear piece connection but then you can't use ear plugs to listen to the radio. I also didn't think even the local AM stations came in great. I may revise this review when I buy another small portable radio and I'm open to suggestions on which ones to try for mainly AM reception. I really wanted to like this radio but I just don't think it was well thought out and made. Maybe when I can compare it with similar type of radios I will revise my opinion. Anyways I tried to be honest as possible on this review. I usually post more positive reviews of products I buy but just couldn't do that on this radio. Ok this is three months later an d I have downgraded my review to one star. As I said it feels cheaply made and the batteries do not stay in play. Half the time I feel like Im walking around with a pocket of rocks with the batteries tumbling around in the unit. Maybe I got a bad unit but this radio is useless for being mobile such as walking.

Granted this smallish AM FM radio is tad more expensive than other similar products, but it was definitely worth the price. Its feature set is amazing, its size is compact, it was easy to setup and the sound is remarkably good. What I really like is that I am now able to listen to local market baseball and football games that are available only on paid subscription streaming apps.