Roberts Radio Sports DAB5 DAB/DAB+/FM Personal Digital Radio - White & Amazon Basics AA High-Capacity Rechargeable Batteries, Pre-charged - Pack of 8 (Appearance may vary)

Update, I have amended this review a little, after 20 months of constant use, as opposed to my original 8 month review.I wanted a small DAB radio that had good sound quality. As I would use it primarily when out walking, I wanted one that was easy to use, not necessitating glancing at the screen to get to my favourite stations too often. This Roberts device seemed to fit the bill, although, I was concerned about the use of standard batteries.I have had this 20 months now, and am very impressed. The screen is great, and the text large enough that I don't need to use my reading glasses. However, 90% of the time, I can operate this blind, whilst it is still in my pocket. There are 5 buttons dedicated to presets. There is a jog-wheel to scroll through channels and the menu. Fortunately, this is recessed and hasn't been triggered accidentally yet. The power button is on the top edge, so is unlikely to be pressed accidentally. There is a lock switch, but I rarely use it. One thing I did notice is that switching channels incurred a much smaller lag than on any other device I have tried. Not a deal-breaker, but nice. Being picky, I would say the device is a little large.It takes batteries, which will be a positive for some people, but, I really wanted a rechargeable radio. Of course, this has the advantage that you can carry spares. I reckon if this had a high capacity, internal rechargeable battery, was a little slimmer, and had an SD card slot for music/podcasts, it would be the perfect device for me.Regarding the batteries, I started off using AmazonBasics High Capacity AA Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries, charged via a smart charger. This gave good results, around 15 hours use. I then switched to the Panasonic Eneloop batteries, which are much better, giving 25 hours typically. This is very good.The display is superb and very clear. The menu system is a little fiddly to use when out walking, as it tends to go back to DAB mode due to its sensitivity, but you should only need to use this infrequently. I think they could have implemented more presets using long presses, so 10 instead of 5 for each mode (DAB/FM), or some other system.The screen battery indicator is a little misleading; it stays at 3 bars for ages, but, once it goes down to 2 bars, it quickly goes down to 1 bar, then dead. I would say it is more like 60%/25%/15%. I have noticed this with both rechargeable and standard batteries.I would add that I also trialled 2 other devices, made by Pure and Majority. The Majority device, whilst cheap, was unreliable regards clicking etc, and essentially unusable. The Pure device was gorgeous, a work of art, but very difficult to use blindly. This Roberts device is far superior from a usability point of view.Summary:-veSlightly largeBattery indicator a little misleading+veGreat screenGood battery lifeGood sound qualityEasy to use whilst in your pocket

I bought this to replace a faulty Aves Air that I had to return.This was one of the few pocket DAB radios that had DAB+. Another plus point is that it doesn't take a silly battery pack that costs £10 and means waiting hours for it to recharge.First impressions.Nice and compact. I like the presets and on/off buttons on the top. Volume control on the left side and the 'jog' switch on the right.The jog control takes a little getting used to. To scroll through stations, either rotate up or down. To change screen options (like scrolling text) press inwards until the desired text is displayed. To access menus (including moving to/from FM to DAB), press and hold inwards.I'm not sure how long this control would last out, if you were too heavy handed with it.I had it out of the plastic blister (be careful opening it!) and working in 30 seconds, after inserting 2 AA's in the battery compartment and plugging in my usual earphones.Switch it on and it starts scanning DAB.I find the supplied earphones a bit uncomfortable.5 presets on each on DAB and FM. Adequate for me, as I only listen to a few stations.To store presets, tune to the station you want, then press and hold down the appropriate preset.Sound is clear and crisp. No equaliser on it, but a DRC control is one of the menu options. It only has an effect on some stations.2 things would make this perfect for me.1) I find the display keeps defaulting to the rolling text, which I find annoying. If you change it to text that is 'still', it doesn't seem to 'remember' that choice. Doesn't matter whether this is from DAB to FM or vice-versa and also when you switch it on to start with, it's the same.According to Roberts, this cannot be changed.I did ask them to, pointing out that other radios (including their own), will 'remember' if you change it.2) A socket for a mains adaptor (optional) to recharge batteries 'in-situ', rather than having to remove and replace them each time.All in all, a nice radio and worthy of consideration.As mentioned above (and by other reviewers), using rechargable batteries is highly recommended.

This is great. I am a fan of DAB because it makes it easy to get all the stations, including 5Live at not-AM quality; it's also free from interference from pirate stations. I listen to this little thing while walking in the New Forest.DAB is nothing like traditional analogue radio as a technology. The two main difficulties with it are power consumption and reception. DAB uses quite a lot of power, which is why many 'portable' units don't offer a battery option. However, I have found this receiver to be good so far, but I do use 2000mAh rechargeables; I'm not surprised people are disappointed when trying to use anything less, especially non-rechargeables. I don't see recharging once a week or two as a big deal.There isn't a lot I can say about reception other than I'm lucky where I live. People in a poor reception area will suffer more because of the digital cliff scenario, which is a great shame. However, my location does provide the opportunity to confirm that this receiver performs well in this regard, given the right conditions. I have DAB in my car and coverage is excellent is most places nowadays.Some have bemoaned the quality of the headphones provided with the receiver. I think that's a bit silly - why increase the cost of the thing by including decent headphones that many of us don't actually need? Good headphones easily cost more than this receiver. The best thing Roberts can do is include some okay ones for those who have none, and allow the user to choose their own better quality ones if they want them.