Sony ICFS79W AM/FM/Weather Band Digital Tuner Shower Radio (White)
by Sony
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony ICFS79W AM/FM/Weather Band Digital Tuner Shower Radio (White)
Customer Review: With one modification, PERFECT!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm glad I took the time to read lots of reviews before buying a new shower radio. My oldie had an analog tuner that was becoming worthless, and lousy reception. The raves I read about the reception on this Sony are right on the mark - I'm pulling in some of the weaker stations no problem.
The only other units I considered were the Sangean @ $69.99, and the Sony with the CD player $59.99. I rules out the Sony w/CD after reading what I expected - that CD players and showers/water areas don't mix, the CD player doesn't last. Also that model has two smaller speakers for "stereo" (in quotes, because they're so close together!) while the ICFS79W has one big honkin' mono speaker, for superior TONE. The Sangean would be perfect for boating since it floats, but it's too large for the shower.
One flaw I discovered in Amazon reviews is that the battery compartment can get wet and short out, and they're right. Sony didn't add a rubber gasket to truly waterproof the unit, so I took a step of my own: I took some plumber's putty (Man, this stuff is handy. Any putty will do - modeling, Silly etc) and made a thin bead to line the part of the battery compartment door where a sealing gasket SHOULD have been. I also slapped a dab over the cover tab for good measure. More convenient than tape - it'll still be easy to change batteries, although according to reviews that shouldn't be required to often.
Funny review gripe (I love funny review gripes): one person complained that it took THREE C cell batteries. That's bad, how? Because they're sold by twos & fours.... Gimme a break.
Did I mention the tone? Very pleasant sound, whether I'm listening to the NPR folks yammer on or the morning blues show on WRFG... even AM sounds tons better than my older radio - which did have a large and decent quality speaker compared to other shower radios.
$50 seems like a lot for a shower radio, until you HEAR it.
Pros:
-> Excellent sound, crisp and full
-> Great reception
-> 15 programmable presets - two banks of 5 for FM, 5 AM
-> Easy auto-shutoff timer, can be set to 60/45/30/20 minutes
-> Not ugly
Cons:
-> I recommend waterproofing the battery compartment, which shouldn't be necessary.
-> Pricey, but hey - you need sound to get going in the morning, right??
Customer Review: THE BEST
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been using this radio since 2000 for the house, never in the shower. I keep one in the bathroom and that travels with me to my bedroom while getting dressed, and I keep one in my kitchen that goes back and forth between kitchen and office. Fabulous sound. Very sturdy. A great gift, too. 5 presets for AM and 10 presets for FM. I wish it were the other way around.
TIP: after a few years the plastic covering that you press on to switch stations and turn on and off will start showing signs of age, as in with enough years of use, the plastic will start to deteriorate. For me, it was the on and off buttons on one of my radios. I let it go and the plastic ate right through. The button won't work without the plastic over it, and I had to throw it out! If not for the plastic eating through, who knows how many years I would have gotten out of that radio.
My other radio had less deterioration of the plastic but a little so I covered the on and off buttons with one layer of clear packing scotch tape. It does not interfere at all with the operation of the radio at all. The clear tape just protects the plastic covering.
I am now ordering 3 more, one for a gift and two to have on hand as gifts or a possible replacement for me. I'm worried that Sony will discontinue this radio (or maybe they have already and there's some inventory being sold).
If you love radio, don't just listen in the car. Listen at home too. This is an attractive and great radio!
Customer Review: I love this thing
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the past decade we've had three or four radios in the shower. I expect them all to fail within a year or so due to the nature of the environment and in general we just keep the radio tuned to one local station due to the difficulty in tuning a new station while the water is running and the fact that most of these radios make the display hard if not impossible to read.
This Sony is a revelation. First of all it's the first one we've had where the construction allows us to put it on a shelf rather than hanging it from the shower head, that alone will increase the life of the unit by years! The unit has presets that are dead easy to set and use but our favorite feature is the auto off timer. What a snap, just set the timer for ten minutes and don't worry about forgetting to turn it off and killing the batteries.
The sound quality is just fine, even though we don't want to deal with the antenna our favorite FM stations are listenable with the water running, the marginal stations would come in fine if we used the antenna, since the wire antenna is stored in the battery compartment I decided not to deploy it and take the chance of giving moisture a foothold.
This is the first "shower" radio I've owned that I could absolutely consider using outside of the bath, it's just a very, very nice radio with great features. I suspect I'm going to order another one for the patio as soon as I finish this review!
Customer Review: The Best
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought one of these about 3 years ago and I love it! My girlfriend and I listen to music or NPR every time we shower, so it gets easily an hour of use per day. The radio has yellowed a bit with age, and the battery connection has finally corroded to the point where it no longer works. I scraped the corrosion off the battery connection a few times but now there is almost no metal left... she's finally hitting the recycling bin.
(I'm posting some pictures of the new vs. old radio for those who are interested.)
I have owned other shower radios that didn't last more than a month, so to me this one lasted an eternity. I have mine hooked around the shower head where it receives a continuous trickle of water. If you can place yours out of the direct flow of water it would probably last even longer.
We have become so "spoiled" that we can't live without this radio! I'm buying 2 more because I moved to a place with 2 bathrooms. If I don't put a radio in the second bathroom then nobody will ever shower in there!
This radio was very handy during and after hurricane Ike last year. Our power was out for about 2 weeks. During that time we listened to the radio and TV. The radio is so energy-frugal that the batteries never needed changing, even though it had been using those same batteries for about 4 months of regular showering.
Customer Review: Great bathroom radio
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been using this radio as a bathroom radio for a few years now. Excellent reception and sound plus it's splash proof and dunk resistent (get it out of the tub quickly though and let it dry out). Plus it's small enough to easily carry around.
As far as batteries goes, it uses three or four C size batteries but they last a long time. I change them maybe once every 12 or 18 months.
There are only three cons that I can think of. First is the price, but I've had cheap radios before. They are no fun, spend a little extra and get a radio that you will enjoy and sounds great. The second con is that there are no inputs for .mp3 players so all you have is the radio, all this does is the radio (and the weather). The third con is the lack of an alarm clock. You can set it to turn *off* after so much time, but not turn on, thus it can't be used as an alarm clock - if it could I would have this in my bedroom.
Look, this is a one trick pony. It does the radio *very* well, but nothing else. If you are looking for a great sounding radio that takes some abuse, doesn't need to be plugged in, is portable, looks good and isn't too big then this is the radio for you. If you want a CD player, .mp3 player, etc then keep looking.