Home > Consumer Reviews > Sanyo R227 WiFi Internet Radio (Black)

I found the Sanyo R227 easy to use once set up. You must have patience in setting it up, it is not very intuitive, but once set up it is very useful.
The number of stations available is astonishing and it works very well. The sound quality is good for a device of this size. We use it every day.
I can recommend this product to all.

I've owned this Sanyo radio for 9 months now and will review it critically. I picked Sanyo because of its brand name. I've had no technical issues with the radio and have not needed Sanyo tech support. The radio works well.

Build: Solid. Ideal size...not too large or too small. Neat rectangle, fits squarely on the desk corner. Weighs about 2 lbs, perfect with rubber feet, no slipping.

Display: Backlit, easy to read.

Speakers: Internal speaker is reasonable for talk radio, sports. Has fair but not great volume. Strongly suggest using computer speakers through the headphone out jack. I have attached Harmon Kardon computer speakers with subwoofer and the sound is stereo, full, deep and rich. With external speakers, the volume is loud. I'm listening at 25% max volume here at my desk with it 4 feet from me, and it's plenty loud. Can turn up in big room at full volume with external speakers for great sound volume. It does not have red-black speaker wire jacks; only an headphone out type jack on the front (like your computer-thus you need computer speakers).

Sleep: Radio does have an Alarm Clock to wake you to internet radio, and a Sleep Timer to shut off automatically.

Stations: 10k as stated in the ad. Can be scrolled by alphabetical order, by Location (e.g. your favorite city) or Genre of music. For those that know XM Sirrius, it has the same types of categories (the decades, hard rock, heavy metal, country, folk, kids, Latin and on and on). Also can search by call letters (e.g. WKIM-FM 98.9) or country of origin. I see, scrolling now, Guam, Viet Nam, Samoa, Argentina, and dozens and dozens more.

Remote Control: Tiny, small buttons, not back lighted, but functional. All buttons same size, so you really have to stare at it to see which button is scroll up, down, volume. Can access the saved stations setting from it, though. I use it frequently. Very basic. Buttons should be better marked and larger. The whole remte should be larger.

Memory Stations: Has 8 saved station presets. Eight! For 10k+ station menu! I bet I could easily find 30-40 stations that I enjoy on a regular basis in various genres-but it lets me save eight. Silly. Frankly, this alone (plus the so-so remote control) cost this radio one star in my overall review. My car radio has more memory preset stations than this Sanyo. What you'll end up doing is writing down the stations you like on a 3x5 card and keeping it by the radio and manually tuning to the stations you wish to hear. There is not keyboard input, so it's unfortunately indirect access... you hit Station Select, then scroll through the call letters to find your station of choice. Takes about 1 minute every time you wish to get to the station you desire (unless it's one of the eight stations in the memory, in which case it's instant from one of the eight preset buttons on the body of the radio and on the remote control).

Internet Wi-Fi: Impressive. I use a standard Linksys internet blue box and can put this radio anywhere in the house and have streamed music or news instantly. When the radio is first turned on, it takes about 40 seconds to link to the Wi-Fi system each time...going to whatever station you last listened to automatically. From then on, no hics or skips. Know how frustrating it can be listening to internet radio on the computer and having it stop periodically for "buffering" midway through a song? Never has happened to me even once in hours of listening to the Sanyo. Perhaps it would happen to someone with a slower internet service, but with my cable internet, Linksys Wi-Fi, once connected, no glitches. Smooth sound. I wonder if the buffering on a computer is due to the computer doing more than one thing at a time as one uses the computer for many functions simultaneously, whereas this is a dedicated radio server.

Computer Radio: Why not just listen to radio through my computer. (1) Not portable-this radio is self contained and portable. Just plug it in and rock out. (2) This radio is smoother, no "buffering". (3) Although I'm sure the internet has a server with 10k stations and presets, why bother? Boom-one click and this baby is on, whether your computer is on of not. (4) No computer necessary. (5) Remote control. (6) Can use as alarm clock.

I am a tech lover yet tech challenged. I took this Sanyo radio out of the box, plugged it in, and hit "on" and that was it. It automatically connected to the internet and was ready to go. I browsed the stations I liked and hit save memory for the eight I liked, just like a car radio. It has international stations and local stations. It doesn't have every station known to man-I like, for instance, Stephen King's radio in Maine, and although that's available online, it's not on here for some reason. This radio is linked to Reciva, some radio distribution service, but you pay no fee and it's seamless-not ads or anything. Reciva and Sanyo must have some deal. They have a Reciva website Google Reciva), so see if your station is available; check it out, they have quite an extensive list. For a sports lover looking to hear your fav teams, for niche music lovers, for news junkies, this radio is all you need. I felt motivated to write a review after owning it for several months. I would definitely buy it again and highly recommend it to a friend. Hook it to computer speakers for a very full and smooth sound. G'luck and happy internet radio listening.

I owned a CC Plus radio for a number of years and thought it was great with excellent design and performance. Then I got hooked on Internet radio with its clarity and wide selection. So, for some time I used an older laptop as the input to my CC Plus radio. This worked pretty well until my son asked for the old laptop. So, I decided to shop for an Internet radio and chose the Sanyo R227.

First, the good news. I get the same clarity, wide selection, and decent performance from the R227. I use it as a bedside radio and enjoy talk radio programs for awhile as I drop off to sleep. I maintain that this radio was, at the time, probably the best compromise between function and price at the time I purchased, and I do not regret the purchase for that reason. Set up was not difficult, sound is a bit bassy, but not a problem and perhaps better for music. So, don't get me wrong. It's a pretty neat radio. The choices are endless!

Now, the bad news. I think the functional design of this radio is truly lacking. The biggest issue, perhaps, is the fact that you cannot shut down the display illumination (bright as a spotlight when you're trying to fall asleep)if the radio is on. Isn't this absurd if one uses this as a bedside radio? This sure is not a problem with my CC Plus radio. To add insult to injury, I call the Sanyo support phone number and some bored tech tells me that no, you can't turn off the light while the radio is on and suggests I turn the radio around on my night stand so it does not shine at me! What a helpful genius. Anyway, I point out the shortcomings of this lack of functionality and suggest that the next software update remedy this situation. I got one of those "Sure, Mac, now let me get back to my coffee." type answers. Not impressed at all if this is the caliber of their support. My solution is to hang an old credit card (with adhesive tape)over the display. This way I can flap it up or down. It's not elegant, but I suppose it will have to do.

Furthermore, you get 8 lousy pre-sets to deal with the thousands of station choices available to you. Buttons are all tiny (no convenient dial to control volume), as is the situation with the miniature remote. In other words, using this radio as a bedside radio in the dark is a serious challenge-- never an issue with any previous radio. As others have reported, there are a handful of stations I used to listen to via my computer that, for some obscure Reciva reason, are not available on the R227. It's not a huge deal because of the thousands of other choices, but it is slightly annoying. Don't count on much functionality with respect to listening to your MP3 collection back on your PC, either. Can you do it? Well, yeah, but it's pretty clunky.

All in all, it is worth the $155 but be aware of the shortcomings of this radio. I give the design a "D" and everything else an "A-".

A longtime radio maniac, I received one of these for a birthday present, and am simply blown away by how well it's not only engineered, but also by how much thought Sanyo put into the user interface. Within less than 5 minutes after unpacking it, I had connected it to my home's wireless network and was scrolling through the ~10,000 stations it retrieves via the Reciva database. The remote control is a perfect size, and very easy to use.

And the sound! The sound is so lively and rich, I have a hard time believing it's coming from this small box.

Perhaps the only gripe I have is that it supports only 8 preset stations, which seems kind of comical given you are able to peruse thousands. I definitely have more than 8 favorite stations, so I've been forced to pick and choose. Thankfully the tuner interface is so easy to use that you can find another station within seconds.

The backlight is also preset to a rather bright setting, so if you're using it as an alarm clock (in addition to alarm clock capabilities, it also offers a fantastic FM tuner), you can tone down the brightness within the control panel.

I haven't been so impressed by an electronic product in years. This is a no-brainer purchase if you're in the market for a WIFI radio. I love it so much that I'll soon be buying a second one for my office.

With this radio, you may pick up almost any station in the US, perhaps the world. It takes a bit of set up (15 min.) and you are good to go. The sound is great. Maybe a bit heavy on the bass for a purist. I grew up in Northern California, but now live in Arizona. I can listen to KCBS in San Francisco, perhaps the best news station in the country crystal clear any time I want. KJZZ from Phoenix and KNAU from Flagstaff always came in a bit fuzzy here in our mountain community. Now they are clear as a bell on the Sanyo.

The sound is great, no static. I have replaced my Bose Wave radio with the Sanyo.

Negatives? The radio takes a minute or so to connect to my WI-FI signal. Sometimes it takes a few more seconds to connect with the individual station. We turn the radio on in the morning and leave it on all day to overcome these minor problems. Also, I wish Sanyo had added more presets than 8.

You can listen to FM stations directly (I don't know why one would want to) and it has an alarm. I want a second Sanyo for the bedroom!

Great buy for an innovative product.