Home > Consumer Reviews > Midland 74200 Digital All Hazard Alert Monitor

As an unobtrusive weather radio that works, this one is it. It has full featured S.A.M.E. capabilties. It will store up to 15 county identifiers (FIPS codes) The receiver is excellent and audio is clear & quiet. I have owned this radio for almost a year and still keep the manual close by. It is sort of a pain to program. But when it comes to function it is great. Mine came with an AC adapter. It has 9V battery backup, external antenna, and alert jacks. Speaker and warning signal volumes are adjusted individually. The alerts can be set for tone or voice. The manual shows over 35 types of alerts it will display on the LCD screen as well as different tone patterns. And as the NWS adds new alert capabilities it will receive them automatically. Three different colored leds show "warning", "watch" or "statement". Up to three different overlapping alerts with overlapping effective time periods can be stored and reviewed by scrolling the display. The display is rather rudimentary, but the performance of the radio makes up for it. When it is connected to external power (it can be used in the car with the proper cig plug) the display is constantly illuminated. It is also set to respond to NWS test broadcasts. The alarm clock fuctions as an alarm clock with snooze. A large bar on the front turns the radio & alert on & off very conveniently. Once the radio is programmed, it works quite well. I have had numerous Weather radios (and returned many also) and this is the best overall performer yet. WX capability is being added to all sorts of radio products with iffy results. This one works and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Just keep your manual.

This does everything you want in a digital weather radio and more. It uses SAME technology so you can localize warnings county by county, and you can customize the alerts for visual only, or visual and sound. It is even useful as an alarm clock, so much that it now serves as my bedside clock/alarm.

It is very easy to program in order to localize the weather warnings, but curiously, it is laborious to set the clock and alarm. It's not that it's hard, it just takes more steps than it needs.

Also, the clock display is downright irritating in that it shows "PM12:00" as an example. The am/pm could definitely be smaller.

All in all, I'm glad I bought it. I just think they could have made it better and easier to use if they had put a little more thought into it.

has everything you want in a weather radio.. but the light is very dim in the display, and the contrast isn't good in the lcd, therefore it is diffcult to read...very difficult and cannot be adjusted.

I searched, researched, priced, and compared all makes and models of weather/ emergency radios. Result: Amazon offers an excellent deal and Midland offers an excellent product. I have this Midland model 74-200 for a home alert and I also purchased the Midland 74-250 for mobile alert info. Both have SAME technology that you program into the radio. Note: Initially, the programming can be thought provoking; but once this is accomplished, any weather/ emergency alert will advise you, at your command, of your specific areas in text and alert tones. ANYTHING can happen at ANY TIME - These radios will let you know immediately. The best manufacturer for this type of of product is Midland. The best place to purchase this product is here, at Amazon.

The radio was a little complicated to program - took me about 30 minutes to program it for my area. It is a very reliable little radio & it notifies my of any weather statements for my area. The time is VERY hard to read, and even if I leave my contact lenses in, I still can't read it when the room is dark. I have to put my face about a foot from the clock to clearly read the time. Other than that, I like the radio. It has good reception & I'm able to get my local weather forecast instantly. The alert is clear and easy to hear. I bought it more for safety reasons than looks, and it has provided my family with peace of mind in knowing that if severe weather threatens our area, we will be well informed.