Herculodge

Grace Digital Coming Out with New Internet Radios

Thanks, Tom:

Grace Digital coming out with new internet radios.

Manly Watch in Casual Style: Nautica N14559G for $129

 

This Nautica N145596 caught my eye from Born2Watch eBay seller. The bezel at 52mm is large and the price, $129 with free shipping seems reasonable. 

 

Taking the watch out of the box, its black color seems to mitigate the large size. This is the "smallest" 52mm bezel watch I own. 

 

The watch is comfortable but feels light. It lacks the heft and gravitas of my 45mm Seiko Orange Monster, which costs about $40 more. 

 

The Nautica's movement is Japanese quartz. The second hand tics away and there are no instructions in the manual in disabling the second hand for getting longer battery life. But I may be wrong here. If I am, I'll correct later. 

Conclusion: The watch doesn't have the grandeur in fit and finish of my $159 Invicta Force or my aforementioned $175 Seiko Orange Monster, but at $129 it makes a very nice casual everyday watch. 

Tom Likes His Insignia Portable HD-NS01 Radio But Worries About the Battery

Thanks, Tom WC:

I have been looking for an affordable and portable HD radio for a while now. Earlier this week I bought the Insignia portable HD radio HD-NS01 from bestbuy. It's about half the size of a blackberry and I'm pleased with the performance so far. Battery life gets me through a full workday and reception is pretty good even at work in a granite building. So far, I've used it connected to several different radios and the sound quality is good. I am concerned about the non serviceable battery though, it will eventually run out. Best of all, it's on sale for 40$

I should note that there's no AM reception, but I don't consider that a deal breaker for this particular item. I do really like AM, but I bought this mostly as an accessory to add HD reception to my current radios (which of course already have AM) at a low price. The HD-NS01 fulfills this requirement nicely. An important consideration is that the headphone/aux cord is the antenna for this radio, so a short aux cord will give less than optimal performance.

Amazon Will Email You When the Sangean DT-600 HD Pocket Radio Arrives

Not as good as a pre-order but better than nothing, Amazon will email you when the Sangean DT-600 HD Pocket radio becomes (hopefully) available. Amazon was accepting pre-orders (said to be for sale in October of this year) for $99 before it downgraded radio to email notification. If this becomes available, I'll probably buy it. 

Let's Hope It's True: The New Sangean ATS-909X Coming in November of This Year

Thanks to Tom for this great news. For radiophiles, the up and coming Sangean ATS-909X, featured on Universal Radio, is equivalent to a new version of the BMW M5. No price mentioned yet, but I'll be pre-ordering mine and hope it arrives around my birthday. Here are the specs from the Universal Radio site:

The ATS-909X is the new flagship of the Sangean line. It packs features and performance into a very compact and stylish package. Coverage includes all long wave (153-519 kHz), medium wave (520-1710 kHz) and all shortwave frequencies (1711-29999 kHz). FM and FM stereo to the headphone jack is also available (87.5-108 MHz). The new enlarged LCD features a bright white LED for excellent clarity.

Shortwave performance is enhanced with a wide-narrow bandwidth switch and excellent single side band performance (SSB tuning to 40 Hz steps via fine tuning). Five tuning methods are featured:  direct keypad entry, manual tuning, auto scan, manual up-down tuning, memory recall or manual knob tuning.

This new model is expected November 2010.

Thanks to Tom for this great news. For radiophiles, the up and coming Sangean ATS-909X, featured on Universal Radio, is equivalent to a new version of the BMW M5. No price mentioned yet, but I'll be pre-ordering mine and hope it arrives around my birthday. Here are the specs from the Universal Radio site:

The ATS-909X is the new flagship of the Sangean line. It packs features and performance into a very compact and stylish package. Coverage includes all long wave (153-519 kHz), medium wave (520-1710 kHz) and all shortwave frequencies (1711-29999 kHz). FM and FM stereo to the headphone jack is also available (87.5-108 MHz). The new enlarged LCD features a bright white LED for excellent clarity.

Shortwave performance is enhanced with a wide-narrow bandwidth switch and excellent single side band performance (SSB tuning to 40 Hz steps via fine tuning). Five tuning methods are featured:  direct keypad entry, manual tuning, auto scan, manual up-down tuning, memory recall or manual knob tuning.

This new model is expected November 2010.

Good Match for Your Receiver: Behringer Ultracoustic AT108 15-Watt Guitar Amp

Mike M recommends this Behringer Ultracoustic AT108, $70 on Walmart website, for upgrading the sound on your radio receiver.

Refurbished M-Audio Studiophile AV30 Stereo Desktop Speakers for $65 Shipped:

Thanks, Paul, for apprising us of this sale. I happen to own these and they sound great and their shape is such that they don't knock over, another plus:

Refurbished M-Audio Studiophile AV30 Stereo Desktop Speakers for $65 Shipped:
http://www.woot.com

Amazon reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SDLNKA/

Great upgrade from standard 2.1 computer speakers. Note that these come with a 1 year warranty from M-Audio.

Tom Says a "Slew of New Sangean Radios Arriving Soon"

My interest in the Sangean WR-5 compelled me to re-post this:

Tom has apprised us of the "slew of new Sangean radios," not the least of which is the Sangean WR-5, a wood cabinet radio with iPod dock, RDS, 6 presets each for AM and FM and telescopic FM antenna, easily the one I want the most. 

Sony CFS-43 Buy Now $70 Plus $25 Shipping

Solid looking Sony CFS-43 in good working order. Here's an even better deal on a CFS-45, about $20 less. 

Manly Watch Sighting for Under $130: Nautica N14559G

This Nautica sports watch features a 52 mm bezel and luminescent markers on the dial with a rubber strap. The price is $129.95 with free shipping from this eBay seller. I should confess here that I bought one from this seller and expect the watch to arrive in a few days. I'll report on it then.