Jensen JCR-250 AM/FM Alarm Clock Radio with Digital Tuning
Clunky interface, so-so reception,
I'd been wanting a simple radio to be able to take with me to listen to baseball games on.  I received this one for my birthday last year.  At first, I was pretty excited about it, being a digital system with presets.  However, the more I use it, the more I've been disappointed in it. <br /> <br />First off, it's difficult to use.  I'm a software engineer, good at figuring these sorts of things out, and it's even a pain for me to use.  Most of the buttons are in a small row on the top, with almost no space between them, and it's very difficult to figure out the proper sequence of buttons to do even simple things.  (For example, to turn it off, I have to press on/off TWICE). <br /> <br />Second, the reception is just not very good.  I have to make sure it's angled properly (it has no external antenna) and it still doesn't pick up so well. <br /> <br />Third, the volume control is poor.  It ranges from 1 to 10.  Level 1 is very soft, pretty much useless.  Level 2 is already moderate, then level 3-10 increase pretty gradually never getting particularly loud.  I really wish there was a level 1.5.  Also, don't bother trying to use the headphone jack.  Level 1 is loud and with a lot of hiss already, anything higher is painful. <br /> <br />I'm going to buy a simple, analog transistor radio to replace this.