Cheap C CRANE AND COMPANY CC RADIO Plus Multiband Portable Radio BLACK (Electronics) Price

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Customer Reviews of C CRANE AND COMPANY CC RADIO Plus Multiband Portable Radio BLACK

CC Radio Gone Wild
My husband bought this radio for me as a gift on our anniversary. I was a bit taken back but, reading the expression on his face, I could tell he was excited and meant well. At first, everything seemed to work according to the user manual but now, seems to have gone wild with a mind of it's own. Sometimes, when I press the power button, nothing happens and I have to press again. Or, I press it and the dial light comes on but not the radio. But most annoying, when I press a memory button, it will either stay on the old frequency or go to the wrong frequency. There have been times when I have to press button #4 three times before it changes to the memorized frequency. But now lately, it is acting even more bizarre. About two times out of every ten, when I press memory button #1, it goes into the alarm mode with the first digit of the time display flashing. I then have to press the alarm button a couple times to get this to shut off. I've reset the radio (insert toothpick into small hole on bottom to trip switch) and re-programmed it a couple times but it always goes back to acting strange. I've put the radio back into its box and storing on the closet shelf. I hope my husband don't notice as I don't want to disappoint.

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Did not meet my expectations
If you have the older original model (ccRadio without the plus) I suggest you keep it and avoid upgrading to the newer model. The first disappointment was with stereo headphone listening. I'm using the Koss Titanium headphones and noticed the lower end of the volume control is not linear. That is, when the control is fully counter-clockwise, you still hear audio at a low level. As you rotate the control to increase the volume, it suddenly jumps to a level that is too loud. This sudden drop off at the lower end makes adjusting the headphone volume to a comfortable listening level almost impossible. Next, I was very disappointed with the background noise while listening on any of the 7 weather channels. The plus model, as compared to the original, has a background hash that sounds like several high-pitched tones mixed together. This is very noticeable while scanning the wx band, holding the up/down frequency button depressed. When the button is released and scanning stops on a signal, the annoying noise becomes less intense. I suspect this is generated internally by clock or scanning circuits. I don't hear this at all with the original ccRadio. Lastly, when the plus model was placed on a flat surface, it would wobble. I checked the bottom of the case and all 4 rubber feet were in place. I'm guessing that this defect is due to imperfections in the plastic molding process. The bottom section of the unit where the rubber feet attach is not flat and true. The amount of wobble was about 1/8 of an inch at one corner. I found this constant shifting and moving around to be extremely annoying and unacceptable.

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Condensation affects LCD in CC Radio
I'm on my second cc radio since 1999, both have had LCD failures when using it in my camper. Other then that, it has been a fine AM and Fm receiver in the back country of Idaho, Montana and Northern California. It does not have the speaker quality sound of my GE Super III with it's larger 2 speaker system, but it will filter out more backgound noise on FM and AM stations. However the smaller size, clock, alarm, and WX band keeps the Super III at home and the CC with me. <
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>After lengthy talks with C. Cranes techs today, they tell me high condensation has caused LCD failures in some observed conditions. Condensation in a camper closed up at night from ones breath is quite a problem, especially in the Winter or at high altitude with wide temperature changes. The LCD failures I've had are always in the Camper on battery power, after 3 or 4 days of camping. This last incident was in Idaho with a freak cold rain storm for two days in July. The radio when brought home seems to "heal" itself within a day, and the LCD works again. So the condensation theory seems plausable. C. Crane has also stated some LCD units had problems in some shipments of 2000, so they are going to replace the LCD in my out of warranty radio, with the later LCD, for free, after a call to them today, 7-19-05. 5 years later, what more could I ask for. Well, perhaps the new Mini CC, they tell me it will sound better than the cc with a smaller speaker, like a Tivoli Song Book................. <
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>Researching LCD's in general, I found the following about them: <
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>"Condensation at terminals will cause malfunction and possible electro-chemical reaction. Relative humidity of the environment should therefore be kept below 60%." Other sites mention limits of 10% to 80% limits with "No" condensation. <
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>Perhaps those camping, or using the radio in other high condensation areas like a bathroom etc. Should consider radios with analog tuners. I now remember my LCD alarm clocks won't work at all below certain temperatures when camping in the Winter. <
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