Sangean H201 Shower Radio AM/FM Waterproof, Weather Alert Radio, White

Update, June 2022: Nearly six years. All below still applies, but I will report that the button sensors are now getting a bit worn and sometimes have to be pushed more than once. I'll be honest - I usually read 5 star reviews last. Many review a product when they've just gotten it and are excited by the new purchase. When I review products, I review them after I've owned them for a good while. I bought this specifically to be a shower radio. If that's what you're after, I'll say again nearly two years after my four year review that this is the product to buy.******At this writing, it's July, 2020. I bought this item in July 2016 because I enjoy listening to radio and podcasts during bathroom time. It's mounted in my shower stall below the shower head and above the shower handles. I found I couldn't get quality sound no matter how loud I turned up the radio outside the shower. This radio has taken a shower with me every day since then and it still works as well as the day I bought it. I spent around 80 bucks for it and it might be my favorite all-time Amazon item purchase. I recently purchased a second that I keep over the kitchen sink.I remember the questions I had in my mind when I bought it so I'll share what I've learned after 4 years of use:Q: Will this radio really stay on the wall in my shower when I'm constantly getting it wet?A: Yes. Totally. I've had it for four years. I use a handheld shower sprayer. I've drenched it for four years. It's firmly stuck to the wall in my shower and has never come loose.Q: Won't the batteries or components get wet?A: No. I've drenched it. The batteries don't get wet. Ever. The display is as prominent as the day I first used it. The buttons work fine. I have no worries that it will suddenly short out. It works great.Q: Even if the batteries stay dry, how long will they last?A: No kidding - FOREVER!...well, close. This might be the most impressive aspect of this item. I put cheap, dollar store batteries in this radio and it's my constant companion almost every time I go into the bathroom. Somehow, the batteries last for many months. Seriously, don't worry about battery life for this radio. It's amazing how long they last. Also, there's a battery strength indicator on the display - when it gets to one bar, it means you've got at least a couple weeks. There's no reason to buy a plug-in power supply or worry. Just buy some D batteries at the dollar store twice a year and you'll be fine. You'll be in the shower and actually say to yourself - "How the heck are those batteries lasting so long?!"Q: How's the volume?A: The volume is good. The volume control goes up to 30. I have a hearing issue, especially with background noise, because I'm more than 50% deaf in one ear. For radio, I set the volume to 20 or 21 while in the shower and I have no problem hearing anything with the water running full blast. Occasionally, the volume isn't so good when picking up streaming over Bluetooth. This has more to do with how the source material was recorded than the quality of the radio volume. If you're looking to blast music for a serious bathroom jam-out session, this is the probably the best you'll find as shower radios go - just look at the ratings of the others on Amazon.Q: Does the Bluetooth work?A: Yes. The Bluetooth connects as well as it does for any device I own.Q: How's the radio reception?A: I live relatively close to a small-ish city, in a good-sized metropolitan area. I listen to radio a great deal and I have no issues picking up the more popular local AM or FM stations in the nearby city. Radio reception is dependent on a variety of factors, so I can only say that I'm happy with it. This radio is as good, or better, than any radio I've owned when it comes to radio reception.Q: What about the emergency alarm feature?A: In the four years I've owned this radio, it's gone off maybe three or four times. When it's gone off, I've already known why it was going off - major storm coming in, etc. If the radio isn't within 20 feet of you, I doubt the alert would wake you up. If you're worried that alerts might be going off all the time, I wouldn't worry about it. If you have the opposite concern, and are wondering if the radio will alert you to major events before the internet and media, the answer is that it won't. The alerts would only be useful to someone with no contact with any kind of external media.Q: The clock is battery operated, so does it keep time?A: Yup. Unless you entirely kill the batteries, the clock will keep accurate time right up to the last breath of the batteries.Q: Whats the deal with the emergency light?A: In the event that your power should go out while you're in the bathroom, the radio has a flashlight built into the side. The light power is like a flashlight you'd buy for a buck or two, but much better than a cheap LED light. So far, I've never had to use it for real, but I push the button every now and again to see that it works.Any negatives? Yes. There's a minor design flaw. When you're in the shower, splish-splashing around, you occasionally find that what you're listening to has suddenly been muted. This is because the grates over the speaker can get filled with water when hit with water at a precise angle. This is easily fixed by simply tipping the radio and letting the water drain out. If you have a hand sprayer in your shower, you can also just give the speaker a zap of high thrust water. Also, about a year ago, while changing batteries,the spring in the battery compartment between the battery and the contacts came off. I simply position it back in place when replacing the batteries and it works fine.Final tips:Read the instruction manual.If you want a shower radio, this radio is a no-brainer. Buy it.

I only give 5 stars if I feel that I would definitely buy the item again and not even shop for anything else. This is a 5-star radio.I'm doing some house hopping and needed a radio. While I'm showing, grooming, dressing, etc. I like to listen to NPR on the radio. I missed my radio this season, so I decided to try this one for the snowbird location.I am a happy owner of a Sony Tap Tunes radio that is probably 30 years old. If Sony still made that radio, I would have purchased it. I'm a big fan of Sony radios (I also own a Sony transistor radio that I bought in 1966 that still works perfectly) but they let me down this time. I realize prices have gone up, but $300 for a radio? Nope, wouldn't do it. So, I started shopping around and came across this Sangean radio that had good reviews. I've never heard of the company, but I thought I'd give it a try. Lucky me, it was the right choice. I am more than pleased.I bought the H-201 model (w/o Bluetooth). I live in a ex-urban area with iffy radio and tv signals, but this radio found my station and the FM signal is perfect. Got the radio up and running without reading the instructions (yes, I'm a Boomer), no problems. No worries. Excellent sound. The size is good. The volume control and tuning are easy to use.If you need a radio, I highly recommend this one.

This seems to be a successor to an earlier bathroom radio that was great. This one also seems to be excellent at this early stage. (I wish that Amazon sent feedback options 3 -6 months or so, depending on item. All in all, radio does what designed to do, and Amazon is fantastic -- an exemplar of how the market could and should work...

We completely remodeled our bathroom. To help make the room look more "updated" we wanted a new radio to replace our GE Bathmate radio which we've had since about 1986 or 1987. We wanted a radio that would hang on the wall, thus a "shower" radio wasn't in our sights.We wanted a radio that would sound good (considering the size and it's a radio). I compared the sound of this Sangean and it is better than our old Bathmate (which had a good sound for a radio). It's only been on the wall now for about a week. During that time frame, it is working well. Sounds good. Haven't had to yet, and hope the need for it doesn't happen, but it does have weather alerts and a built in flashlight; which if the need arises will be handy features.I can't address battery life as we haven't owned it long enough yet to determine what the battery life will be. The GE Bathmate took 4 C batteries and 1 AA for the clock. Those batteries would last probably 9-12 months, based on about 2 - 3 hours a day of playing. I guess we'll see how the 2 D batteries compare.The radio we purchased is white. It looks great on the wall in our bathroom and matches our decor very well. There are NOT very many radios out there that are wall mountable, occupy relatively minimal wall space, are water resistant, and have a good sound. This is one of the few that meet that criteria.If you don't want to mount it on the wall, it would easily sit on a counter. It also has a very versatile handle that allows you to easily carry it, hang from a hook, etc. It also comes with a strap. It has a single wire FM antenna which you can string out as needed if the reception is not good with the antenna stored inside the radio.Based on the features and sound, I would highly recommend this radio. Having said that, it is based on only having the radio in place for about a week as of the date of this review.Update: 1/16/2022We have been using the radio about 2 hours a day since the first part of July. Thus, a full 6 months. The sound is very good and clear with the local radio stations. We have used it only for listening to the radio, so can't speak to the other features.We have not replaced the batteries yet. The indicator just went from 2 out of 3 bars, to 1 out of 3 bars. But still clear and no static or noise. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the batteries won't need to be changed until February, about 7 months of use. That's for 2 D batteries. Our old radio used 4 C batteries and they maybe lasted 8 -9 months. Thus, I don't consider this to be a battery eater.