Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony ICF-S79V Weather Band Shower Radio

If you've ever bought a shower radio (I've bought & tried several), you know that they all s*#k. This is the first one that DOESN'T s*#k. Not the slightest bit. This one is fantastic.

It's got a digital tuner - no dealing with tiny tuning knobs and guessing if you're on the right station. It's got an accurate digital clock. It's got weather band. It's got tv audio (channels 2 thru 13). It's got an antenna wire with a suction cup at the end so you can actually better tune in your station. All the function buttons are simple & waterproofed. The sound is great - for a mono shower radio. It's got a heavy duty string to hang it on your shower head, or just set it on any flat surface - it's solid and will stay still. And to top it off, 3 C batteries in this thing last forever - instead of a single 9 volt or a few AA's that other shower radios usually have. Sony did good here.

Just buy it. Then buy another whenever you can't think of a good gift to get someone - people LOVE getting this as a gift. I've given several.

I looked at several brands of AM FM TV Weather radios for use during severe weather when power might be out. I was searching for specific features:

1. Battery power (for power outages)

2. TV band (tornado tracking is sophisticated enough to get down to street-level tracking on TV. NWS hasn't caught up yet)

3. Decent sound quality

This radio met all my needs with the added bonus of being water-resistant. (I must admit I am baffled by the term as EVERYTHING is water-resistant to one degree or another.)

Reception is good in all areas of my home (including those areas where we cower when tornados are lurking). The radio includes a wire antenna for FM reception which stows in the battery compartment.

Sony recommends leaving the three "C" cells in the radio and changing them every year. This maintains the time and radio presets.

Pros: Good reception, solid design, handy controls, good sound.
Cons: Bigger than some.

To avoid finding the radio with dead batteries (or worse, corrosion in the battery compartment), I set reminders in my Palm to change various batteries annually.

I've had this radio for a year now. I use it most mornings for 20 - 30 minutes, and I'm still on the original batteries. I have it hanging on the shower wall where it occasionally gets splashed. I haven't had any trouble at all with it not being waterproof. I think the sound is good quality, and the digital tuner and pre-set buttons are easy to use. I like the one touch on/off button as well. I would highly recommend it, and would like one for our second bathroom as well. For the price, it's a real bargain!

Having tried almost ever shower radio on the market -- I was close to giving up until I saw this one. Granted it costs more than the "average" shower radios -- but there is reason. It works! You also save tons of money on batteries as it just doesn't eat them like the others. My husband and I both use this in the a.m. and we each have different radio stations we like. We have not had trouble pre-setting the channels or switching back and forth between them. Seems like the more negative reviews of this product are due to placement of the radio. Keep it out of direct waterfalls; maybe get a small shower shelf to place it where you can easily see and use the controls? Lastly, the timer-off button is my favorite. I set it for 20 mins; giving me time to shower and finish up in the bathroom in the a.m. before heading to work. You don't have to worry about getting back in the wet shower area to turn it off. Give this a try - treat it well and you'll be happy !

I really enjoyed this shower radio. It sounds great, it has a digital tuner with many presets, and it gets good reception. But, after using it for about a year it stopped working. Water had seeped into the back of the radio and caused one of the batteries to leak, and the leaking acid in turn had corroded a wire. I'll probably get another one, but keep in mind that this radio is not completely waterproof.