Amazon Selling Certified Refurbished Sangean PR-D4W for $47

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Comments

[Gary]

I just looked at the CCRadio-2E manual, and it does have the option to show the frequency continuously on the display rather than reverting to the clock after several seconds. It may have been an earlier CCRadio model that didn't have the option to do this.

It's too bad Sangean didn't put this option in the PR-D4W. At least I can't find it in the manual.

[Gary]

My refurbished PR-D4W arrived yesterday.

The AM reception seems to be as good as a PR-D5, but the sound on AM is much more pleasing (more extended treble and less bloated bass). I like the 4 and 3 kHz bandwidth positions. I can't hear any noticeable difference between the 2.5 and 3 kHz filters. All of the other changes are obvious. It picks up my weak TIS station on 530 kHz as well as the PR-D5.

The FM reception seems to be a little better than the PR-D5. The FM sound is a bit weak on bass, and there are no tone controls to correct this.

The weather band reception is very good, as good as my handheld PRO-106 scanner connected to a longer whip antenna.

I'm still not a fan of the display that reverts to the clock after several seconds rather than showing the frequency continuously. Also, the display has lower contrast when viewed from straight on. It looks better when viewed from above. This is even more noticeable when using the backlight.

This radio could definitely use a handle. With four D cell batteries loaded, it weighs quite a bit and is somewhat unwieldy to hold and move around. I ended up switching to 4 AA Eneloop batteries in D cell adapters. This is much lighter, and the batteries can be recharged (externally) when needed.

The description that the refurbished model "looks like new" is a bit of an exaggeration. There are lots of fine scratches and swirls on the glossy black finish, like you might see on a black car. It looks like someone cleaned it with a rough cloth. I probably should have just bought a new one instead. This radio would have been better with a pebble grain finish rather than glossy. At least the performance of the radio seems fine. I've had some refurb/orphan radios in the past that were poor performers.

[Gary]

Sadly, my refurbished PR-D4W only worked well for a little over one day. Now, medium strength and weaker AM stations have a greatly reduced audio level. Before, they sounded fine. It seems like the AGC is faulty. For example, KFI 640 is loud and clear on both the PR-D4W and the PR-D5. KABC 790 is loud and clear on the PR-D5, but has a very low audio level on the PR-D4W.

Also, it seems like the AM auto tracking isn't working properly anymore, except maybe on strong stations. Something in the DSP circuitry has probably gone awry, causing these two issues.

Oh well. It was worth a try. Back it goes. No more Sangean "certified refurbished" radios for me.