Midland WR 100 recent expierence

[allniter89]

The Midland WR 100 is looking pretty good to me, but the price has me worried ($29.99 on Ambient), I'm afraid I'll get what I pay for and it'll be a cheap trashy radio. Does anyone have any recent experience using this radio? 

[moehoward4]

Mine only FULLY worked for about 13 months, now it only gives 'warnings', no weekly tests or watches. I paid about the same $$ for mine. Personally, I haven't found a GOOD one yet, 4 out of 5 have been throw-aways. 2 different brands.

[allniter89]

Thanks moe, I bought a WR 102 about a month ago, so far so good but the warnings for 100 miles away are a pain. I didnt research enough before jumping in to buy  so now looking for a good radio with SAME and maybe sell the 102 cheap.....or maybe I should save the 102 for a backup since it seems most radios are throwaways 

[BigOkie]

Thanks moe, I bought a WR 102 about a month ago, so far so good but the warnings for 100 miles away are a pain. I didnt research enough before jumping in to buy   so now looking for a good radio with SAME and maybe sell the 102 cheap.....or maybe I should save the 102 for a backup since it seems most radios are throwaways  

Owned a 100 for several years...and they are a basic radio.  Good for entry level.  The one I bought I believe still works, but I no longer own it, so I cannot be sure.  I bought it at Wally World over a winter when they couldn't sell them, so I got two on clearance for $20 for both of them and gave one to my brother.

Just got done spending right at 60 for a Sangean CL100 and in the few days I've had it I've been impressed.  Now, a caveat to that is I've not seen it in action as far as dispatching warnings/watches yet since it's so new.  The quality of the unit itself however is par to the price, since it doubles as an AM/FM radio with a dual alarm and RBDS on FM.  It also has RBDS-CT (which means you give it the frequency of an RBDS FM station..in this instance, it uses up to three to rotate amongst...and it will set the time automatically on the unit every two hours).

Great sound from this unit though.  I also have a Reecom 1650 that I've relocated to another room in the house that works well also.  But can't say that I'd spend the 60 I spent on it again.  Especially after seeing how Reecom treats it's commenters in the Amazon forums who do not like the unit.  The kickers for both however is that they honor the SAME EOM (end of message) signal.  In other words, when the watch/warning/whatever is finished, it stops the voice part of the alarm.  All the Midlands I've owned don't do that, and you get to listen to NOAA weather radio for 10 minutes after the initial transmission.

The Reecom 1650 (they also have a 1630 which is just the weather radio with no AM/FM):  http://www.reecominc.com/r1650.htm
The Sangean CL100:  http://www.sangean.com/products/product.asp?mid=84

[allniter89]

Thanks for the input Okie! After doing more research I'm leaning toward the Reecom 1630 now, from the reviews I've read it seems like a good midprice wr with many features I'd like. I too am concerned about the poor customer relations Reecom seems to have but I guess I'll cross that bridge when i come to it.

[JACK10562]

I picked up a Sangean CL100 after reading numerous reviews of several competing models.

I had only one minor problem with the day/date display but a simple "reboot" solved that, otherwise it's been a very solid performer for over a year.

[BigOkie]

I picked up a Sangean CL100 after reading numerous reviews of several competing models.

I had only one minor problem with the day/date display but a simple "reboot" solved that, otherwise it's been a very solid performer for over a year.

Good to hear.  I thought I was going to get a chance to see it in action last night, but the storms stayed north of me.

At least it won't be 90 today..back to more seasonable (mid 70s) temps for Green Country.

[WXman]

Bought 3 of these Midland 100s and 2 of them have already died (less than two years old).  I probably won't buy a Midland again.  One of them lost audio...and the other stopped responding to key presses and commands.

[sacreyweather]

I have a WR100 that was given to me by the county several years ago.  It worked okay for about a year then lost audio.  Its back in the box it came in.  I also have a WR300 that works fine that I am using for my NOAA Weather radio feed to Weather Unground and also have a Reecom 1630 that works great.  The 1630 I love because when a watch/warning is announced for my county, the alarm rings for 8 seconds, then tells what the watch/warning info is and shuts off the voice.  Absolutely love it, just for that.  Don't have to get out of bed at 2:00a.m. to turn the thing off anymore.

John

[BigOkie]

I have a WR100 that was given to me by the county several years ago.  It worked okay for about a year then lost audio.  Its back in the box it came in.  I also have a WR300 that works fine that I am using for my NOAA Weather radio feed to Weather Unground and also have a Reecom 1630 that works great.  The 1630 I love because when a watch/warning is announced for my county, the alarm rings for 8 seconds, then tells what the watch/warning info is and shuts off the voice.  Absolutely love it, just for that.  Don't have to get out of bed at 2:00a.m. to turn the thing off anymore.

John

Yep, gotta love proper EOM processing in the newer radios.  I just got a Sangean CL100 that does it and a Reecom R1650.  The Midlands are good radios (at least for me) but I did hate their lack of EOM handling.