Home > Consumer Reviews > Roberts SOLARDAB-W SolarDAB Solar Powered DAB Radio wth Rechargeable Battery Pack - White

I've never had a DAB radio before and I had held off buying as I felt that only having the radio in one room could prove frustrating. When the SolarDAB came out I jumped at the chance to own one. I have never taken the power cable out of the box, I simply leave the radio on my windowsil until I want to use it. I have listened to it for many hours and hardly used any of the battery life. It sounds ok too, its no Bose but it sounds good enough for me.

I highly recommend this.

I bought this to replace a large and bulky Pure Digital Oasis DAB rechargeable radio and am very pleased with it. It sits in the bathroom on a well lit, south facing window ledge (something the Pure could not have done) and gives a good, clear sound and, though not as big a sound as the much larger Pure, has plenty of volume to compete with the shower so you can sing along with your favourite tune (or mutter at the Radio 4 Today presenters) to your heart's content. Ideal for an environment where you don't have access to a mains plug. Check you have DAB coverage, of course - there is no FM backup on this model.

I use it on average about 20 to 30 minutes a day and (after the first mains charge) have recharged it every 2 months or so (not that it had run fully down by then). That was over the winter. At present it seems always fully charged anyway. I can imagine taking this outdoors on a picnic etc (something I would never have done with the heavy Pure) as it is solid enough but light in weight for what it is. Let's hope for a good summer.

I chose the white, but there are other colours available so you can express yourself as you wish.

Neat, attractive and easy to use. But only 3/5 stars because if you don't study the small print before purchase you might think it is so eco friendly by recharging in sunlight - its main selling point and what will attract the majority of buyers. But it doesn't. According to Roberts' helpline the only input the sun has, is to keep the inbuilt battery topped up when the radio is being played, but NOT when it's switched off. So if the battery is low or flat you can't recharge it by simply placing the radio on a sunny window ledge. It needs to be playing, then any charge the sun adds is being simultaneously used up for that very reason. Possibly okay if the room where you always use the radio is sunny, but if it isn't, then it has to be charged with the mains adapter, and in my experience a full charge takes around 15 hours.

I've been put off buying a DAB radio because they've been either mains only, or had such poor battery life that they may as well have been mains only.
This SolarDAB is different of course, since it's powered entirely by light. Seems quite a breakthrough.
The radio itself is quite small and neat. It's not exactly beautiful, nor especially well-finished, but it seems solid enough and has a 'back to basics' charm about it. You might call it 'cute'. I think most of the colours it comes in are horrible, so I got the white one.
It's certainly practical: the grey ends (and therefore the feet) are made of non-slip rubberised plastic, as are the buttons and knobs. The arial points straight up or nothing, but it's one of the longest I've seen when you extend it. You can unscrew the arial and stow it in a slot on the back of the radio, which could be handy if you're taking it somewhere. Because the arial screws in, I suppose you could probably screw in an external arial if you needed to.
The display is simple and clear. The backlight comes on when you're pressing buttons on the radio and with the backlight on, the display is outstandingly clear. The backlight goes off after a few seconds to save power, but the display remains very readable.
The display can show the time.
Set up is extremely easy and took just a few moments. I didn't even extend the arial and got a full list of stations, all of which are crystal clear.
You have to charge the battery with the included 'eco friendly' mains adapter for 24 hours before you use it, so bear this in mind.
The sound is more than adequate for a small portable radio and goes quite loud. There are no tone controls but the balance is well judged and particularly good for spoken word stuff like Radio 4. There is a slight treble drop-off if the radio isn't pointing right at you though. But the best part of the DAB experience is the total lack of hiss.
I was surprised there wasn't a sleep function.
It's been pretty sunny since I bought it and the battery indicator hasn't dropped below fully charged so far even though I've listened to it quite a lot. The real test will come in the winter I suppose. I'm hoping that I won't have to think about the battery again for several years.
So, on the whole, this is a very likeable radio that works well and gives you the advantages of DAB without the permanently attached mains cable. Its solar technology, decent sound, excellent display and pleasant controls justify the relatively high price.

The review by soprano is actually wrong- it definitely does charge when turned off! I tested it by making sure the charge bars went down a couple of notches, turned it off and placed on a sunny windowsill, and then checked it an hour later and the battery was showing a full charge.

This really is a cute little radio, a lot smaller than it looks - 19cm x 11cm x 8cm compared to 21cm x 14.5cm x 7.2cm for the Pure One Classic. The grey parts that you see in the photo- the sides, aerial, buttons and dials are not, as I thought, grey plastic, but grey rubber which looks very stylish and the rubber on the sides acts as a grip to help you carry it around - no doubt it would help if you drop it too! The rubber will also be more resistant to scratches than glossy plastic and it also prevents the sound vibrating on whatever surface you put it on (the rubber edges protude slightly). It feels very well made, there is no wobbliness in the dials and the display is very clear and lights up when you are actually using the dial or pressing a button. Changing stations is very easy- you just turn the tuning dial and press to select the station, you can also have 10 presets for your favourites. I find the sound much clearer and brighter than the boomy/bassiness of the Pure Evoke radio which I returned, it is perhaps a little lacking in the bass area, but no doubt this would require more power which negate the advantage of the solar panel. The quality of the classical stations is not quite as good as FM due to the limited capacity on DAB, but I bought it mainly for R4, and the stations I cannot get on FM, mainly BBC 5 extra, 6 and 7 and the improved quality with BBC 5 Live and World Service over AM (you could always connect a small personal FM radio to the line in socket if needed). The display shows the name of the station and the frequency, and it will also give scrolling info on the programme that is currently on, even the particular track that is playing and what CD it is from! If you press info it will give the bitrate and whether stereo or mono, and press again it will display the time.

Using a hifi quality Profigold 3.5mm 1.2m cable I was able to connect the SolarDAB to my Ipod and it gives a very clear sound, absolutely no hiss or interference. It is necessary to turn the radio to max volume, and the ipod to half-3/4 volume to get a decent sound level. I am looking to get a solar charger for the ipod, either the Uniross Charger, or the more powerful Powermonkey Explorer so I can be fully solar sound sufficient!