Home > Consumer Reviews > C Crane CCRadio Plus Multiband Portable AM/FM/Weather/TV Band Radio, Black

Kind of pricey for a radio but the reception for pulling in those had to get stations is worth the price. Out performs reception compared to all my other radio's. I can't live without After dark.

I bought the original CC like many of the other reviewers, after hearing glowing recommendations on Art Bell's show. I found the performance of the radio to be quite good, especially on AM, which was exactly what I had bought it for. When the LCD display died (after the warranty period, of course) I visited CC's web site and found mention of the display problem and saw that repairs would cost $50.00. But reading between the lines, it was obvious that the problem was not uncommon since a special FAQ had been established for just that purpose. Pay shipping charges and repair costs for an obviously defective part? No way! My previously glowing opinion of C Crane company crashed and burned that day. The radio was retired to a shelf in my garage where it sits to this day, working fine on the single AM station I managed to tune it to. Without a display, my controls are limited to the on-off switch, which still works. Any attempt to tune to another station will mean many minutes of wasted time trying to figure out what the heck I'm listening to. I just stumbled across this bunch of terrible reviews and now I see that the LCD problem is not just common - it's almost universal! So I thought I would just add my experience to the pile. I think it's a shame that C Crane can't admit the design fault of their product. Maybe they should take a lesson from Toyota, drop the snow job and just accept responsibility. In the meantime, no more C Crane products for me!

I have two of these. My son's is still working. Mine failed a few weeks ago. It won't turn on, and Crane can't repair them any longer (original CCrane Radio). I can understand that. No parts, out of luck. I had mine for about eight years. I know something about repairing electronics, and it was nothing obvious. Today I got a call from John at CCrane, and he had tracked me down. Thanks to his extra effort, I was able to take advantage of a credit of $40 towards any other radio they carry. That's fair. I liked my CCrane radio, and will buy another one, perhaps a different model. I was a bit surprised when it failed, but stuff happens. The main thing is that CCrane cares about their customers. A good company to do business with.

Well first the reception. Am at times is no better than the little clock radio/phone combo sitting 3 inches from this unit on my night stand. Didn't expect better FM reception nor did I get it. At least the speaker was bigger and sounded better than the clock radio. It cost me money to have the LED display fixed when it failed after a few years. Seems this happened to a LOT of units. The fixed version is holding up so far. I happened to call yesterday to see if there was anything I could do about boosting FM reception. Finally a talk radio station in my area but its FM. A really nice person tried to help but after exhausting all avenues it was suggested I clip another lead on my pull up antenna and run it outside. For a radio this expensive hanging a piece of wire on the antenna would look like a redneck job. She then said she would find out if a mod they used to do ( sounds like I wasn't the only one that wished it had an fm jack in the back ) was still available. At least this would make the radio usable. I'm waiting for her call. This radio should be better than it is for the price.

I am a tremendous fan of Amazon. I especially like reading the comments and appraisals of the products. Almost everything I buy is from Amazon because of excellent pricing and the "reviews" on the products. So, if I am to rely on reviews personally, it is important to provide reviews of the product I have purchased to the best of my ability for the benefit of others.

Usually I will not buy a product without many excellent reviews on Amazon. This time I made an exception and purchased a "C Crane C CSW Radio" in late November, 2009 partly based on advertisements and comments I had heard on late night radio (other than Amazon reviews)plus some of the good reviews I read on Amazon. I did note that some Amazon reviews were fairly good and some (quite a few) gave reviews that did not encourage me to purchase the C Crane radio. The C Crane radio I ordered was delivered last Friday, December 4, 2009.

First, let me point out that I am an experienced listener to radio including AM,FM and shortwave. I have a Panasonic RF 4900 purchased in 1984 (that is just about dead, but still works on FM), a Sangean WR 2, Eton S350, etc. The point is that I was able to set up the new C Crane radio next to Eton S350 radio for comparison. This is exactly what I did and worked with both radios for about two hours. So, my opinion is based on actual side by side results and not just on listening to the C Crane radio without an actual comparisons of receiving ability.

The first thing I noticed was that the screen on the C Crane radio had only one light for the screen which was on the left side of the screen. The results of this screen lighting was that the right hand side of the screen was mostly dark. I did not like this at all since I am used to the Eton which has a nicely (and evenly) lighted screen. Plus, my Sangean and Panasonic have excellently lighted screens. I guessed that maybe there was a failed light bulb on the right hand side of the screen but, if the bulb was there, it obviously did not work. If the radio had performed properly I would have sent it back for repair or replacement of the light bulb (assuming that there was a light bulb on the right hand side of the screen). Because of other problems with the C Crane radio this screen lighting matter became a non-issue.

What I immediately discovered was that the Eton radio (which I like very much and have had for around three years) easily received distant radio stations on AM. I live in Tallahassee, Florida and can receive an Atlanta, Georgia station (WSB)on the Eton. At times I have listened to a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee also. I did not spend a lot of time with this comparison since I receive a station here in Tallahassee that I like. Basically, I have no reason to generally listen to distance AM stations. While I do not rely on receiving AM stations, as a general rule, I was counting on the C Crane radio to be able to receive the distant AM signals when and if I wanted to listen to a distant AM station. I, then, checked out FM and, while the C Crane radio received most stations I could receive with the Eton (on FM), the Eton radio received more stations with a clearer signal on the more distant FM stations. Already I was becoming disappointed with the C Crane as you might imagine. Then, I moved on to shortwave. I could receive quite a few stations on shortwave on the Eton radio. I did not note the exact frequeny I received but mainly I was listening in the 5 to 6.5 Mhz range. I did not spent too much time with shortwave but the end results was that I would find a reasonably good shortwave station on the Eton and then I would tune in the same frequency on the C Crane radio. I never heard even one station on the C Crane radio on shortwave. I tried different shotwave frequencies and the results were the same in all cases. There was no shortwave reception on the C Crane radio. After about 45 minutes working with the C Crane radio on shortwave I did not hear even one signal on short wave.

I have a simple short lead antenna connected to the Eton radio on FM that came with the radio. I also had placed a three foot piece of small gauge copper wire connected to the Eton radio for AM reception. I wondered if these short and simple antennas have given the Eton an advantage. So, at this point in time, I removed the AM and FM antennas from the Eton and connected them to the C Crane. This made no difference in the reception on the C Crane. I also have an AM "TERK" antenna purchased from Amazon. It is a circular antenna. I hooked it up to the C Crane and this did not improve the preformance of the C Crane radio on AM (or shortwave) at all.

Let me point out that there may have been some major problem with the C Crane radio that would not have existed if I had received a properly operating C Crane radio. But, I did not want to get into sending the radio back and all the efforts that would cause for me. I simply decided to send it back to Amazon and ask for a credit.

The point is that the reviews that I have read on Amazon seem to be generally correct. There are problems with many of the C Crane radios and it seems that quite a few of the new radios received are disappointing to the customer. Certainly, I was disappointed in the performance of the C Crane radio which I received.

The only thing I noted that was good about the C Crane radio was the sound. The large speaker (larger than my Eton) produced a nice sound and it was better than the Eton radio I was using for comparison. The adjustible bass and treble definitely did produce a good sound on the stations it received.

Let me point out that the main reason I ordered the C Crane radio was the enthusiasm about its "great" AM internal antenna. I have heard advertisements about the special antenna for quite a long time. I do not have many good AM radio stations here in Tallahassee so I was looking forward to being able to receiving more distant AM stations. As I have already said, the AM performance (along with shortwave reception which did not exist at all) was terrible and, therefore, ended my desire for keeping the C Crane radio.

As I was reading another of the reviews about the C Crane radio I noted that one person hit the "nail on the head" when he talked about the advertisements for the Bose radios. I purchased a Bose radio about nine years ago expecting an excellent (and exceptional) sound. I certainly was disappointed. While I still have the Bose radio there is no way it can compare to a good stereo system with seperated speakers, etc. Sure it sounds good but not as good as many, if not most, stereo systems. The C Crane radio is like the Bose in my opinion. A lot of advertisements will not necessarily make for a radio that will receive distant AM and shortwave radio stations

Would I but this radio again? The answer is absolutely NO. But let me repeat that my purchase may have been that I received a radio that was faulty and that could have been resolved by exchanging my C Crane radio. I just did not want to take a chance in this matter since I had already ordered another Eton radio at the same time as I ordered the C Crane radio. I'll stick with what I have found to be an excellent radio with the Eton. (The Eton radio I just ordered has not been received so I cannot comment about the new one I am to receive in a few days; all my comparisons were made with an Eton radio that is three years old which I have used for years with complete satisfaction.)

One more comment about the shortwave and AM reception on the C Crane radio is that I did consider the location of the radio in my house. While the comparisons I made with the radios were side by side (seperated by about four feet) with the Eton radio I did place the C Crane radio in a window to see if this improved its reception. Placing the C Crane in the window made no difference at all. So while I gave the C Crane an advantage in its physical placement at the end of my test the improved location did not matter.

I strongly expect that I received a "lemon". I also wondered if many of the persons who disliked the performance of the C Crane also received a "lemon" radio. But, if this is the case since some other persons were satisfied with their C Crane radio I would guess that the factory qualtity control measures of C Crane is not what is should be. It is possible that C Crane might not be "final inspecting" their radios before sending them to a supplier (retailer). If this is the cause for the problems indicated by reviews I have read then it seems to me that C Crane is making a big mistake with their product. Once a person gets a bad taste in their mouth about a certain product it certainly will hurt the sales of the product with that person and, when you have available reviews like those on Amazon, other persons will avoid purchasing the product also. I hate to see this but it may be the case. I can think of no other reason to see the reviews all across the spectrum with this C Crane product.

Sorry to give such a bad review on the C Crane radio. But, if a customer is to give a review of products purchased, he should give the truth as he sees it for the benefit of others who are considering purchasing. Then, it is up to the potential new purchaser to make his own decision about his purchase.