Eton E10 AM/FM Shortwave Radio

Very nice radio
Seems to be very well made and works well. A couple of things about it, the
bass & treble sw does nothing? The ear devices are worthless. Very hard to stand up.

The best radio, period.
This radio is amazing. The reception is great and the sound quality is superb. It's very easy to use once you've read the manual. Features, like being able to recharge batteries (several types), make it ultra-efficient. I could say that a weather/emergency band would make it better, but if there was a real emergency it would be all over AM and FM. The only problem I had with this radio was with one of the standing props. There's one for leaning and one for upright. The leaning one is plastic and broke off shortly after I bought it. The upright is metal, though, and works great. Excellent radio.

Eton 10 - Tecsun PL550

This Eton radio is the U.S. domestic version of the Chinese Tecsun PL-550 all-band pocket sized radio. The Chinese version is legended in the native language and utilitarian in appearance and less expensive. The Eton is, well, in English with slight curves. I have used and tested other Tecsun produced radios, including the PL-200 (Eton 10) and the Grundig eTraveller VII. This radio, like the other Tecsun models, has excellent frequency discrimination, as well as the ability to directly enter the frequency desired (if you know it), or scan through the AM, FM and many shortwave bands, find the stations you like and store their frequencies. Closely allied, for example, FM stations within 200 kHz (only the strongest will be heard on most commercial FM receivers) of each other, can be picked up with clarity, positioning the manuverable whip antenna. Very, very few radios, excepting expensive car radios, can boast such performance in the Unites States. Now on the market are other comparable radios, all made by Tecsun in China using the very same sophisicated reception circuitry regelated previously to expensive shortwave receivers. This model has other features as well: two preset wake-up times for programs from preselected stations, scanning of all bands for stations and an antenna trimmer which permits optimizing reception on weakly received broadcasts, some 500 station memories and special reception selectivity for shortwave stations whose frequencies are almost overlapping. For the price, this radio is simply an excellent value, but people wishing to receive shortwave broadcasts are warned: shortwave reception from this radio, and every other shortwave radio for that matter, of stations other than the powerful broadcasters, benefits enormously from the use of an external long wire antenna. Tecsun does provide a retractable wire antenna with the radio. Alas, as with almost all radios this size, there is no single side band (SSB) reception, an enhancement that, defying digital technology, actually requires listener intervention to optimize and has great potential, but has, for the present at least, been consigned to the province of the technical listener more interested in ascertaining distant reception than actual broadcast information. The Dalai Lama for all his 5,000 watts SSB from Tibet can not be heard on this radio. China Radio shortwave, at 150,000 watts conventiona AM shortwave, with Canadian relay stations, does just fine. Australian radio, at the same power, Radio Havana, Radio Serbia, Croatia, Russia, Netherlands, Sweden, India, Israel, etc., at lesser power, and some with and most without relay stations, are also heard clearly on the Eastern seaboard during their times of broadcast - usually in the early evening EST.

Disappointed
I had dreams of listening to stations in English on the European continent. I have not been able to locate any. Most of the stations I have located are from the United States or in Spanish or other foreign languages.

ETON HITS A TRIPLE !!!!
I've had my E-10 for around nine months and have been most impressed by it's performance. My interests in radio pretty much revolve around A.M.(or medium wave) DX'ing and shortwave listening. It's performance on A.M. is on a par with the highly regarded Kaito KA-1103 which I received for Christmas this year. Shortwave performance is very close, however, the Kaito is superior in this area (and features SSB tuning as well)F.M.? The E-10 is well above average but falls short of the Kaito KA-1103. I've yet to see a radio that can equal the Kaitos performance in this area, but the E-10 is closer than most.Build quality,ergonomics,and appearance are second to NONE and better than MOST. The slightly rubberized texture of this set just plain feels good when handling and adds to the to the overall impression that this is a "Top of the line" portable multi band receiver even though it's moderately priced.It's LCD digital display is one of the largest and nicest I've seen,very easy to see and well lit with a pleasant orange backlight. Other amenities such as 500 plus memories,12/24 hour clock,I.F. shift and antennae trim which are both useful in Shortwave reception,local/dx switch and the internal battery charger for NICAD or NIMH batteries all add up to make this a radio I'm glad I purchased and often recommend to those needing a radio of this type.Even the accessories included with this radio such as the carrying satchel,earbuds,and reel-up shortwave antennae are top notch! Now, if you're wondering why, after all this praise I only gave it a four star rating,and not a five it's because Eton did not provide SSB tuning capability on this receiver. And it's a shame because it's shortwave performance is good enough to utilize it. In my opinion they shortchanged this otherwise exceptional radio. Hence they only "hit a triple"(which is way more exciting nonetheless, I'm a baseball nut too) and not a home run.