Coby CX50 Compact AM/FM Radio with Digital Display (silver)

These people giving bad reviews gotta rethink their value system. Just like a micro 10 cent pen won't be as good as a full sized 2 dollar one, the same holds true for radios.

There are only a few useful radios on the market this tiny, with a built in speaker (as opposed to headphone/earbuds - only radios). Out of the ones this tiny I found the CX-50 beat the others of similar size & price.

I bought mine for about 5 bucks, liked it so much, I ordered 3 more as stocking stuffers. For the price & size, I thought it was a good deal.

This isn't a serious performer. It's more like a micro travel radio or travel alarm clock (Yes it has an alarm clock in it).

It's stylish too. A cross between modern & retro, with an all metal face. It solid & heavy compared to most mini radios.

Sound quality is about what one would expect from such a little speaker... you won't get much bass, but the included earbuds sound rich & full.

It sounds better, tunes better, & has better reception than the Katio KA-208, & Coby CX53 (both of which are identical to each other except for the brand name stamped on it) radios. Tuning is tricky, but you get used to it. I've seen worse tuning on most mini & cheap radios.

FM reception was slightly above average for a mini, or cheap radio... Better on FM than the CX53, KA-208, Bell & Howell 9 band world receiver, & the Sony ICF-S10MK2 (other "under 10 dollar" radios).

AM reception was crip & clear, but not as sensitive as larger radios. Usuable, but no serious DXing on AM. I was able to pick up quite a few distant stations in evenings, but not as many or as clear as on the Sony or Bell & Howell radios (the only thing they're good for).

Because the stations take up such a wide space on the radio's AM dial, you do not need to tune it "dead on" the frequency to get the station clearly. The bad part of that is if there's a strong AM station near a desired weaker station, the stronger one will interfere with it unless you turn the radio a little to cancel out the stronger station.

It did reject noise & interference from computers & office machines on both bands better that the other radios I mention here.

It a fun little micro radio, that looks kinda cool. Ideally suited as a travel alarm, or basic ultra mini portable.

The 2 little AAA rechargeable batteries I put in mine have been going strong for over a week's worth of regular daily use without me having to recharge them.

So is it a great radio? No. It's a great radio for it's size, price, & efficiency... with better than average FM reception for a micro radio.

Keep one around for an emergency or because it looks cool too.

It's a couple millimeters thinner than the KA-208 & the CX53. It's also about a millimeter less wide & tall as well. That makes it the smallest radio with a built in speaker that I've ever seen in recent times.

There was one smaller I had in the 70s. AM only, ran on a single AA cell, & sensitivity was pretty bad... strong stations only. But I wish I could find one like that again because it was so tiny, & sounded good.

There's a lot to like about this radio, especially if you can find it for $5.99 like I did. I was looking for a small pocket radio that would unobtrusively fit in a shirt pocket and had decent AM reception. None of my mp3 or media players have AM, only FM. I purchased the Grundig "Buzz Aldrin" G6 to fill this void. I love that radio, however it was ill-suited to carrying in one's pocket. It DID fit in the large pockets on my cargo shorts, however, the jog dial came off a few times...luckily I found it in my pocket and easily snapped it into place, but if I'd lost it, the radio would be worthless! It does come with a carrying case, but that made it even bulkier to walk around with. Furthermore, I didn't want it to get banged around in my pocket with all the jostling and jockeying for position that happens on the subway here every day.
I'd seen this Coby cx-50 on Amazon for awhile and really liked the looks. When I saw it last week in a downtown electronics retailer for $5.99, I couldn't pass it up. I mean, at that price, it wouldn't be worth it to return it since the rountrip on the subway would be $4.50 lol. I was expecting a flimsily built radio based on the other Coby products I've purchased, but once I wrestled it out of its clamshell, I was very surprised with the quality feel of this unit. It is almost exactly the size of a credit card and about 1/2' thick. It's thick enough that it can stand without falling over easily. It has a very attractive brushed aluminum face place, a small round LCD display (GRAY W/BLACK CHARACTERS, NOT THE ORANGE GLOW SHOWN IN ALL PICS OF THIS RADIO)surrounded by a ring of 8 mettalic buttons, giving it a nautical porthole-like look...POWER OFF, HOUR, MINUTE, POWER ON FM, POWER ON AM, ALARM SET, TIME SET,AND ALARM ON/OFF. It is necessary to read the fairly-coherent-mostly typo-free instructions first.
Under the brushed aluminum faceplate, the rest of the radio is simple black and gray plastic, with tuning wheel and volume control along the righthand side. On the left is the mono earphone jack, and a carrying strap. The battery compartment on my unit is very hard to open...I'm afraid I'll break it one of these days trying to get it open, but other than that, fit and finish are surprisingly good. I liken Coby's products to early Hyundai cars, circa 1985, which built cheaply made cars that sometimes worked well, and sometimes they didin't, but bang-for-the-buck was impressive,and they kept improving their products little by little that now, their quality meets and exceeds that of Toyota! Panasonic and Sony are basically staying out of this low-revenue market segment, with each having like 1 excellent pocket radio in their lineup which hasn't been updated in years (not a bad thing...their pocket radios outshine the Coby on all fronts except portability...and can be found for $10 or so.
Reception here in Manhattan is quite good. I have no trouble tuning into all the major am and fm stations. True, the tuning is imprecise...try tuning to am 770, and you'll be likely to land on 775 or 769... either way, the tuning is still very good. FM reception is also good but is impeded by the tiny whip antenna. For this price and size, the sound is about what I'd expected. Sure it's tinny, but I don't need a boombox to listen to talk radio in my tiny kitchen! FM is acceptable just don't expect hi fidelity...this is seriously the low rent kind.
So far, the only major flaw (and I've only had this radio for a week) is the way this thing eats batteries! Apparently that "always on" LCD time readout has a big appetite for power. I'm only using this radio for at most 3-4 hours a day. I am using fully charged Sanyo Eneloop batteries, and can't get a week's use out of them. The manual suggests not once, but twice, removing the batteries if you won't be using the radio for a long time under the guise of preventing damage from battery leakage...well, a week isn't long at all. Also, as the battery power wanes,the LCD display gradually dims to the point of being unreadable, yet you can still pull in a signal for a short time after the display conks out. I'll try some good Duracells to see if that makes a difference. I wouldn't recommend using this radio as an alarm clock to get you up for work, or to catch a plane...it might die during the night!
In stark contrast, the Grundig G6, which runs on 2 AA vs. 2 AAA batteries for the Coby, runs for at least 2 weeks on fully charged Eneloops.
Given the spotty reliability of Coby products and the unacceptable battery life, I am reluctantly rating this ***.

I'm a D.I.Y ( Do It Yourself)er I wanted a tiny cheap radio with a integrated speaker. As a D.I.Y, I work around my home as I do others as well. When I work on power outlets etc. I turn the brecker off. I use this(everything goes better with a radio). When I get a call for help this is in my tool bag and just the right amount of volume not to bug anyone. I never used the head phones can't review that part sorry but if your looking for a tiny cheap radio this could be the one your looking for.

It is also an alarm clock. If a poweroutage happen this is great. It will wake you up (Im a dead sleeper).

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