KA390 Portable AM/FM Shortwave NOAA Weather Radio with LED Flashlight, Color Black

This is the PERFECT radio for your emergency kit. Simple, easy to use (my wife doesn't like my digital tuning radios, as they often get stuck with a lock feature on or some other feature that impedes tuning.) Yet, this is DSP-based, and it locks right on to signals. The flashlight is just an added convenient bonus. With something this simple, there's so little to go wrong - and when the power is out or you're stuck in the blizzards we get here in the higher elevations (7500ft +) in Colorado, you want something that just works. This radio just works, and I anticipate it will for the next 20 years. At the price, it can't be beat. Perfect for the job. It's not high-fidelity, but that's not the idea. A basic, good radio - with reception LIGHT YEARS better than the cheap chinese cracker jack toy types. As a 20-year plus Extra level HAM operator, this is hands down one of the best receiving AM/FM tuners I've had for the price. If you want something equivalent in a more high-end radio, prepare to spend $150 for a C. Crane or Sangean. $20 bucks for this AND it has weather band? Come on. Get several, and always be prepared.

I was looking for a small quality radio to use in emergency situations. It sounds great and appears to be high quality. It takes 3 D size batteries. It does not come with a AC power cord. Bought one from Amazon for $4. But of course in an emergency, you would not need this. Happy with this radio and you will be too.

First, the dislike: the clear plastic facing that display the stations came off during shipping. It still had the adhesive so I stuck it back on, fell off an hour later. The tuning knob has came off twice. I’ll have to get some super glue to keep those pieces down. The good part: having it for one day I like it. For the price it has good clear sound and goes a decent volume. I didn’t have a problem tuning into stations. I use 3x d batteries which give it some nice but not heavy weight. You can also use an adapter but that is a separate purchase. Overall it is a nice radio and does what it needs to do. Good for Camping, office, backyard, garage, etc

I've been looking for a radio receiver that is not too expensive, portable, and receives all of the major broadcast bands, and the Kaito KA390 does a great job. The 3 inch speaker provides pleasing sound that is not muffled or tinny like some small radios sound, and the volume is loud enough that I can listen from across the room. The tuning dial is easy to use and allows for fine adjustments of stations, and the D cells will give you hundreds of hours of listening time. I am happy that this radio includes both weather band and shortwave, because not many radios have both. On weather band from where I live I pick up the Scranton / Wilkes Barre NOAA station clearly and I can also get Honesdale with just a little static. The only disappointment I have is with the shortwave. It only picks up a few stations and it is hard to get the stations to come in clearly, so if you are serious about shortwave you would probably want something else. I sometimes listen to China Radio International on the 9 Mhz band which is interesting. But for slightly over 20 dollars I really can't complain; it is a great value in a small package.

I've had this radio for about 6 months now. I'm mostly happy with it mainly in the area of good quality sound and the tuning on FM, AM and NOAA. The World Band straight up doesn't work LOL! Seriously I haven't been able to listen to ANYTHING on the WB side as it doesn't pick anything up zero. I was hoping to get some action there which was why I bought this model Kaito. The flashlight is really nice, can't say I'll ever use it but if I do its nice and bright. The Antennae is nice and long seems to work well even on am/fm even without it extended. I ike the headphone jack, so far haven't needed it but like the flashlight its nice to know its there. I mainly bought this as an every day listener while at my desk, but also I can grab it and go in an emergency or take it camping or fishing. It runs on D cell batteries and so far even with inexpensive Harbor Freight batteries it runs great. Still running on the original batteries I bought 6 months ago. I bought the adapters to AA sold here on Amazon for flexibility and in case of D not available I can throw in some AA rechargables. I also ordered the corded wall plug for it direct from Kaito as the one suggested here arrived and wasn't correct size. The main reason for the 3 stars instead of 4 is that the plastic face that shows the bands fell off. I had the radio on for a long time one day and the glue holding it in place must have softened. This will be easily fixed with some super glue... but I have to go buy some now which is a little hassle. Plus if you screw up and put too much super glue on the needle is right there and you could mess the whole thing up! So I will carefully do that when I have a minute. Overall, I'd say I'm okay with this radio. I use it almost every day and it does receive FM really really well as other reviews have stated. The NOAA band is not as nice as my radio shack NOAA only radio, but it works good enough. AM is good enough and I rarely listen to AM anyway. I know Kaito makes other models and possibly I should have just gone with a non-world band model with the crank arm for power. Hope this helps with your purchase.

The negative reviews on this radio puzzle me. It's a cheap portable radio. It's designed for low cost, portability and excellent battery life - and it scores 10/10 on all three. Sound quality is really very good for a monaural radio - more than satisfactory for me - and even though it has analog tuning, I find it easy to surf the bands looking for stations. In fact, I bought an extra one for a blind friend of mine precisely because the radio is so simple to use with few controls and no mysteries. If I had a criticism, it would be that the radio's way of snapping into signal reception on the AM and shortwave bands is a bit abrupt, making it difficult to receive weak stations. This would not be my first choice for a shortwave radio. For strong AM and FM station reception (and even medium-strength stations), I think it's excellent, and having weather radio frequency reception on a low-end analog radio such as this is an excellent bonus. Don't buy it as your primary radio, but use it in power failures, for camping, for travel, and anywhere that you don't want to risk your expensive radio and yet want flexibile capability. I would buy another again in a heartbeat if mine disappeared.

Great Sound! Looks Good Too! The TUNER SUCKS! Tonight while going through the SW dial I tuned in the local AM Station? This is my 3rd night with this radio! I waited to do a review because I wanted to give it a chance. Overall I like this Radio. However The Tuner is the weakest link. I have gone through the 4 bands at least 4 or 5 times every night. The Tuner scares me because I feel it is about to break. It "SQUEALS" when you are tuning in a station. It seems like ANY Strong station bleeds all over each band. I started years ago with a small AM pocket radio. I would listen to WBAP out of TEXAS while in CHICAGO Illinois. When in the ARMY I bought a SONY ICF 2002 and later 2 smaller portables with a tuner like The Kaito. Still later I went out and purchased A 2010 Sony. I have none of those now for various reasons. I purchased this radio to see what was available in the SW band these days. Did not want to spend tons of $ yet because I heard that SW Reception in the US is not where like it was years ago when I tuned in The BBC, Radio Moscow for Laughs, and The VOA. The smaller radios for as little as $9.99 did not impress me. Nor did their Ratings. By the way THIS RADIO IS NOT FOR D-XING! I thought that this radio would give me some idea of what is going on in the SW band these days. I might also like to tell you that the tuner NO WHERE NEAR MATCHES where the station actually is on the dial. I have Not been able to tune in WBAP yet. NOW WHY DO I LIKE THIS RADIO.... 1. THE CASE IS CONSTRUCTED WELL. 2. THE SPEAKER SOUNDS FABULOUS. 3. THE RADIO RUNS ON "D" CELLS. 4. THERE ARE AC POWER AND HEADPHONE JACKS. 5. THE FLASHLIGHT WORKS ok. 6. THE BAND SWITCH WORKS WELL SO FAR. 7. THE ANTENNA DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN RECEPTION! SO I RATE IT A 1 MOSTLY BECAUSE OF THE TUNER! I HESITATE TO SAY A 0, BUT I WANT TO GET SOMEONE'S ATTENTION! Perhaps it's reasonable Price is the reason. This could be an IRREPLACEABLE Radio if not for the Tuner! What Radio do I need to look at for a better radio with ALL OF THESE FEATURES , But WITH A BETTER TUNER? Do I NEED TO GO D-I-G-I-T-A-L ? And not for a Million Dollars either? HELP ME OUT..... Someone Out There! Once you do get in a station IT DID NOT DRIFT! You see this radio has a lot going for it! I will love listening to the CUBS in their Last Year On Radio. When I'm up and I remember to turn it on, I will listen to OLD TIME RADIO on WBBM! This radio will come in hand for everything but SW. I did get one station in ENGLISH that was not religious. However the station I tuned in was on AM and even FM so..... For the $ it is EXCELLENT for local Radio. THE SPEAKER IS FABULOUS! Forget about it for SW. This is what I experienced! I will update as time passes! TIME DID PASS...-*-UPDATE-*- I have to buy another radio! SPECIFICALLY … you tune in a station, shut the radio off, later you CANNOT GET THE SAME STATION BACK! WBBM DRIFTS LIKE CRAZY! OK GO TO FM AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT YOU HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. IN FACT AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITTING I CANNOT TUNE-IN AND MAINTAIN WBBM AM OR FM CHICAGO HERE! QUITE DISAPPOINTED!!! FEELS LIKE WE WERE "Taken"! GO DIGITAL Instead!!

I bought this radio for use when camping. The NOAA radio works well, but note that it does not have circuitry to issue automatic alerts. This radio is a unique combination of power supply, four bands, and excellent sound quality. The power supply is unique because most all small transistor radios use AA or AAA batteries with vastly less potential electrical energy. This radio uses three D cells, which translates into hundreds of hours of run time. The FM band is excellent, AM band is just OK, shortwave might be fun to play with at night while camping, and the NOAA radio channels come through very clear. The plastic case, switches, and moving indicator tuning system feel high quality. Very low static between stations. Long antenna mast. An amazing value for the $24 I paid.

I bought this with a 12-pack of D batteries. I started using it around the start of May, the first set of batteries (the first 3 batteries I used) lasted until the end of October. Six months of use with one set of batteries! I use the radio about 4-5 days a week, for about 2-3 hours per day. Sometimes I use it only ~1h per day. Sometimes I leave it on all day on the weekends. It has been a good little radio.

I like

Solid FM performance and build quality is good.

Fm reception very good, radio is not loud, No AC cord , AM reception is poor , Weather Band is correct...please pay more and buy A good Sangean Weather radio AM\ FM with line out you can connect iPod PR D 4W !!

रेडियो एक भी बैंड काम नहीं करता। केवल शोर की ध्वनि निकालता है। ₹4949 का इतना महंगा रेडियो ₹250 वाले पैरामाउंट रेडियो से भी अधिक खराब और बेकार है। मैंने इसे वापस किया है। यदि आप रेडियो का शौक रखते हैं तो इस kaito रेडियो को कभी न खरीदें।