Angelo Reviews the Panasonic RF-B10

The Panasonic RF-B10 is the little radio that could.  It's about the size of a pack of cigarettes.  It feels heavy or at least solid for it's tiny tot size.  The sliding tuning selector feels cheap and it's hard to slide it to the band you want without "overshooting" and ending up on one of the other bands---then you have to slide it back to settle on the band you want and hope you don't "overshoot" in the opposite direction.  I also find it counter-intuitive that the "Off" Button only turns the radio off. 

To turn it on, you have to hit the "FM" or "MW-SW" button.  Why not make an "on" button to turn the radio on or off, and switch between bands as needed, like most radios?  I bought it used, and the earphone jack seems finicky, as I have to wiggle the headphone prong sometimes to get sound to come out of the headphones.  I guess that about sums up the bad news. 

Good news is that the external speaker is very competent for such a small radio.  Nice, full sound that rivals many large clock radios.  I'm not sure how they do it---the speaker must be about the size of a silver dollar or even smaller, yet comparatively big sound comes out, and not tinny either.  There's no bass or treble controls, but there is a high/low tone switch---a nice feature on a little radio like this. There is also a local/distant switch that actually works.  There's also a kill switch you can use to make sure you don't accidently turn the radio on in your pocket or when putting it away, a real battery saver.  The tuning isn't bad at all---picks up plenty of stations on AM, is certainly adequate on FM and even pulls in a fair amount of shortwave with the telescopic antenna.  Of course, it's analog, and that's just fine with me. 

My take on the radio is that you can live without it...but on the other hand, I've found myself playing around with it more than I thought I would.  The ridiculously compact size makes it so convenient to take along----and you're not giving up all that much compared to slightly larger radios.  My opinion is that if you can find one used, for $30.00 or less, go ahead and pull the trigger.  If it's much more than that, it's probably not worth the novelty, unless you really need the tiny size for some reason.  It's another good product from our friends at Panasonic.         

Comments

[Mike S.]

Thanks for the review. I have a keen interest in small multiband portables, and this model comes up every once and a while and have come this () close to bidding several times. The standard bearer for me for a long time was the Sony ICF-SW100, which has wonderful sync detection, but horrible audio quality. The ICF-SW20 is decently sensitive, but like the SW100, it's also rather hard for me to enjoy the audio. My interest in the B10 is definitely renewed.

[John]

Angelo, are you familiar with the Sangean MS-101? How does its performance compare with this radio's?

[Angelo]

I am not familiar with the Sangean MS-101. The little Panasonic is great for it' small size.

[John]

Mike, you might want to consider the Sony SW-15--it has the '20's sensitivity/selectivity and, I'm guessing, a larger speaker.