Review of the Sony ICF-700W

Paul has gone radio hunting and has brought back the good news:

I recently picked up a Sony ICF-700W at a garage sale for $7. This is a small, very light 2-band AM/FM radio (from the 1980s, I would guess). Plastic is used throughout, there is no metal. It has a carrying handle, telescoping antenna, analog volume and tuning controls on the side, and a headphone jack. Dimensions: 8¹/8" x 5¼" x 2½".

 

Three things about this radio are interesting:

 

1. Unlike the previous Panasonic I reviewed, and many older Sony radios which are made in Japan, the ICF-700W is made in Taiwan.

 

2. The radio can be powered via 3 C batteries, or an AC adapter. Now, the AC adapter is actually built into the radio; it's very small, permanently connected via a power cord, and can be stored inside the radio (along with the 3 batteries!).

 

3. Although the AM slide rule dial markings go up to 1600 kHz, the radio can actually tune up to 1700 kHz (I have verified this with a local station broadcasting on 1700 kHz). This is an older radio, so I don't think X-band coverage on AM was included by design. Probably the previous owner tweaked it a bit (easy) or the extended coverage is simply by accident.

 

How's performance? Surprisingly good for $7. On certain FM stations the radio can easily overload with the antenna extended, so the solution is to collapse the antenna. On AM reception is quite good. The radio can be very loud also, although at high volume, you can hear reverberation from the plastic enclosure. A real tuning knob would have been much better than the present tuning wheel and allowed for finer tuning. Also you should note that the radio has no tone controls whatsoever. Don't except great sound quality out of this little guy.

A new-in-box version of this radio recently sold on ebay for $55 + $13 shipping.

Comments

[Angelo]

This goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot to pick up a capable radio. $7.00 is crazy---but even on E-Bay, very nice AM-FM radios (even those optioned with police band) sell for under $15.00--and another 10.00 for freight. I maintain that a quality radio for under $25.00, delivered to your home, is still a great deal. Stepping back into the 70's and 80's with these radios keeps me feeling like I'm in high school!