Thanks, Gary:
I noticed Amazon has Certified Refurbished PR-D4W radios for sale directly from Sangean America for about $47, so I bought one. I've been watching lots of PR-D4W reviews on YouTube, including yours from three years ago.
It's not a perfect radio, but it seems to offer AM reception as good as the PR-D5, FM reception better than the PR-D5, and doesn't have the muffled sound of the PR-D5 and PR-D15. I think it will sound clear, more like my small PR-D7, but it will have far better AM and FM reception than the latter. (My favorite portable for both AM and FM sound quality
is still the CCRadio-SW. Most others pale in comparison.)
I like that the PR-D4W uses four batteries (D cells), rather than the six that the PR-D5 (C cells) and PR-D7 (AA cells) take. With the latter two, I use AA rechargeable batteries, charged externally (even though the PR-D7 can charge internally, it's not optimal to do this). With the PR-D5 I put the NiMH AA batteries in C cell adapters. With the PR-D4W I'll use Eneloop NiMH AA batteries in D cell adapters.
I'm not too keen on the polished black finish of the PR-D4W. Polished white or pebble grain black would be better. I also don't like that the display changes from frequency to clock after ten seconds. I think the CCRadio-2E does this also (should be an optional feature on both radios). When on, I'd rather that a radio show the frequency continuously, like the PR-D5 and PR-D7 do. Also, a handle would be nice, on the PR-D4W and on the other two.
I do like that the PR-D4W has multiple AM and FM bandwidth filters, a signal strength meter, and weather band coverage, all of which are lacking on the PR-D5 and PR-D7.
Anyway, I hope it works okay. Being refurbished by Sangean gives me some confidence. If it doesn't work as well on AM and better on FM than the PR-D5, as Jay Allen implies it should, I can always return it. In my experience, there is still a lot of sample to sample variation in radio performance.
-Gary
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