Home > Consumer Reviews > Midland WR-100C Weather / All Hazards / Civil Emergency Alert Monitor with S.A.M.E.

In retrospect, I wish I had ordered the WR-300, as the WR-100 does not have an AM/FM tuner. When you're hiding out in your bathroom during severe weather (and my WR-100 is located in my master bathroom for convenience), it would be nice to be able to listen to your local radio stations for bulletins. Still, this radio performed flawlessly just a few hours after I opened it up. It woke me up at 1am to tell me there was a tornado watch in my area, and I turned on The Weather Channel and confirmed this.

The manual comes with a set of instructions on how to get the radio up and running. DO NOT SKIP THESE! You should not assume that you know how to use this product intuitively, because it is not a very intuitive product at first. It will become extremely easy to use later, but only AFTER following the instructions in the manual to the letter. SAME codes for your region can be found at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/indexnw.htm#sametable

I bought this radio even though it had a few bad reviews, because I was pretty sure that some of the bad reviews were just operator error. My radio runs just fine plugged into household current, and will run for several days on the 3 backup AA batteries. Keep a pack of spare AA batteries around, because this radio is a real lifesaver and you don't want it to run dry during a power failure.

Two reasons I gave this radio 4 stars instead of 5:
1. No AM/FM radio. If you need that, get the WR-300.
2. When the weather radio switch on the right side is set to "on", every keypress will react with a very loud BEEP! If you use this radio as an alarm clock in a quiet bedroom, you must first turn that switch to "off" and then the unit will operate silently while you adjust your alarm time or activate the backlight to check the time. This is a small nuisance and I wish it had been designed differently. Don't forget to turn that switch back "on" when you're done, or the radio won't sound an alarm in case of an emergency.

Note: this is a copy of a review that I posted for the WR-100B, which appears to be nearly the same (check both listings for best price).

I live in Oregon, which is not noted for severe storms, but I was really caught "off guard" last week when a severe thunderstorm with a large amount of hail blew through. Severe weather can occur almost anywhere! Shortly after the storm, I ordered one of these weather alert radios to keep me more aware of any local hazard that could pose a threat.

The radio itself is quite sensitive, and provides reception of several more distant weather stations that can not be picked up by less sensitive receivers such as the general purpose (AM/FM/TV/Wx) Sony 410 (see my review of the Sony).

The big deal here is the weather alert function... The radio can be set to be silent until it receives a specially coded message from the NOAA weather station. The radio can be programmed to respond to "codes" from one area or several, so you can adjust your "zone of protection" to suit your needs. When a warning that affects the area that you have programmed in (by setting specific SAME codes) is detected, a loud alarm or flashing light or voice alert will sound (your choice).

If it is desired to hear a weather report, just push the "weather" button on the unit and listen... very much like those old Radio Shack "weather cubes" that were very popular 20 years ago, but with better reception.

Everyone should have one (or more) of these.

This product works perfect...and was a great price especially with the rebate....To the person with the problem making the unit run on DC power....you had it plugged into the wrong jack on the back...NOT the middle jack...Plug DC cord into jack labeled DC....and then it will run fine on household current and not eat your batteries.

I disagree with one of the other reviews posted here. The WR-100 does not need batteries to operate and functions extremely well if programed with the correct SAME codes. . Our radio was extremely easy to program and was operable within 5 minutes of opening the box. Make sure you refer to the instructions and acquire the SAME County codes via the NOAA website: www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/indexnw.htm

I highly recommend this model to anyone who might live in a dangerous weather region, I live in the heart of tornado alley.

This is a great product which has not failed my family yet. Please make sure you check into the products you need.

This radio is superb. It is easy to setup, and functions very well in our area. It has more options for user selection than any other similar device I've used. No home should be without one.