Home > Consumer Reviews > Sangean DT-110 Digital Pocket AM/FM Stereo Receiver

I bought this radio for my 30 minute walk to work. It's serving its purpose well. I threw out the dual earbud headphones for a single ear bud so that I can still hear what's going on around me as I walk. I only listen to 2 or 3 stations, so I use the favorites button. I can operate all of the buttons that I need while the radio is in the sleeve pocket of my jacket. Reception is fine. Battery consumption is good too -- I'm on my third set of batteries in six months with about 60 minutes use per day. It's compact, stylish and it works. I like it.

This durable, amazing, practical, great-sounding radio has been with me non-stop for several months now, tagging along with me in my shirt pocket, coat pocket, jacket pocket, PANTS pocket, strapped to my belt, tied to my sleeve, dangling into a bag, clutched in my hand or just laying near me.

I've worn out a dozen pairs of headphones along the way (in case you think I'm super-careful or anything), but the radio is totally unscathed. It's the greatest. It fits in my pocket, has amazing sound quality, and is every bit as good as it was on the day I bought it.

buuuuuuuuut..............

It's amazing how such a magnificent piece of electronic engineering can be rendered so user-unfriendly by poor interface design.

I like the small size and excellent sound quality, but a few aspects of the ergonomics could be improved.

For example, I like to switch rapidly between pre-set stations (as soon as a noisy commercial comes on, for example). This requires pressing two buttons instead of one -- as all of my previous el-cheapo walkmen could do easily -- so I'm a bit annoyed at that. The work-around is to use the "priority" settings, but it's limited to only 3.

Yet I could live with that if only it functioned properly. I bought one and had to exchange it because the low-battery indicator didn't work. They sent me a new one and it had the SAME PROBLEM. Guess it must be a design flaw. So I simply have to accept the fact that it'll suddenly stop working without any warning whenever the batteries run out.

But I thought "no way, that can't be true" so I contacted Sangean. They told me that the battery indicator light is only there to let you know that you've just removed the batteries (DUH!) and should replace them soon before the station settings disappear! Hey, tell me something I don't know, like the fact that the existing batteries are weak! When I told the Sangean guy that every single battery indicator in every single product I have ever owned was there to tell me that it's time to replace the batteries (and not a "reminder" that I just did so a second ago), he shrugged as if I were nuts.

Second, I figured out that they must have made the left earpiece chord shorter so that you could easily tell them apart while running without having to read the fine print; however, they don't do anything to let you increase the slack on the chords (by sliding the wires apart), so the left side keeps popping out of my ear whenever I turn my head! The work-around, of course, is to go out and buy a 2-dollar pair of headphones and use that instead.

When I asked him if Sangean intended to address any of these problems in the next model, he said "no, but we'll be making it in lots of choices of colors!" Ah, so good to see that they have their priorities sorted out. Ahem.

Guess I'll keep this because I'm not finding anything better out there, and frankly, it does sound great.

Aaaagh.

And yet I still give it 5 stars, so you can imagine how happy I am with its qualities. (Sigh)

I bought this radio to use while commuting to work. I find the reception to be poor cutting in and out, when in the suburbs of chicago, and static prone when in the city. It could really use a local/distant switch. The headphones are uncomfortable and poor quality. The other features of the radio are good and so is the battery life.

The reception on this is quite good, even in NYC where there is a lot to mess up with your signal. The earbuds work for me just because I am merely walking around with it. If I planned to use this while working out, they would be inappropriate. The weight and size are fine.

My main problem is that in order to surf between pre-set stations, you must first press a button which pushes it into "preset" mode. This would not be a big deal except that it only stays in preset mode for a short period of time. After that, pushing the up and down arrows just moves it along the dial (rather than switching to your next preset).

So, this is a good radio if you're planning on listening to one station for a long period of time. If you're impatient like me, and like to switch around to avoid annoying commercials, you will find yourself often pulling it out of your pocket and managing this process. I find myself merely scanning for the next clear station, since this does not require the additional step. It's a problem that seems small but becomes a larger issue after awhile.

This is an excellent quality radio at a great price. Its FM section is equal to a high-quality stereo tuner. AM reception is very good--it can really pull in distant stations! It does not have a speaker so you do need to use headphones or to connect an exterior speaker.

Highly recommended. I am very pleased with my unit.