SangeanATS-405 FM-Stereo/AM/Short Wave World Band Receiver, Silver

I purchased this radio and didn't realize how many functions it had. The sound is fantastic with headphones and open speaker is 5 watts I think which is very clear with sound adjustable. The build quality is very good and rather easy to operate when you read the instructions. It's quite powerful and not a skimpy little radio. It's just the right size for me but definitely not a pocket radio but very portable. I'm very happy with it and no problems. Worth every penny.

Excellent FM reception; great sensitivity and selectivity. I can clearly pick up a 10 watt LPFM station that is located about 17 miles away (I live about 100 feet above average terrain, so it's almost a straight shot from that transmitter to where I live). Good AM reception, but in my experience using the radio over the last few weeks, you won't be pulling in distant AM stations with clear reception. I live in a semi-rural area about 25 miles West of Portland, Ore., and all but the most powerful/close AM stations have a fair amount of static. However, this is a small radio, and it's probably unrealistic to expect any radio of this size to pull in weaker AM stations without much static. I have not tried an external AM loop antenna.The sound reproduction from this radio is amazing. Keep in mind that it's a small radio, so you won't be filling a large room with sound (but it will easily fill a bedroom, small office, master bathroom, or small garage with sound)-- the "sound reproduction" I speak of refers to the quality of the sound, not to the volume produced by the speaker. FM stations that are not over-modulated sound incredible, with clear bass, airy treble, and a warm midrange. When it comes to AM sound reproduction, it's difficult to overstate how fantastic this radio is! If you've never heard AM radio on a wideband tuner such as this, you are in for a treat! I also own a GE Superadio III, and while it probably sounds a tad wider on AM than this Sangean, in all but the most ideal circumstances, the tradeoff with the GE is that you hear monkey chatter and whistles from adjacent AM stations. There are three AM music stations I can tune in where I live, and they all sound amazing on this Sangean. The three bandwidth options, (adjustable) auto gain control, three tone settings, "fine tuning" setting, and local/DX option give you many possible configurations for tuning in and massaging the sound of AM stations. The widest bandwidth setting is listed by Sangean as being 6 KHZ, but this is somewhat misleading because in reality the audio is gently rolled off *starting* at about 6 KHZ (according to my iPhone Frequensee App), plus most AM music stations add audio pre-emphasis in this range, so in reality you are simply hearing "all of the music"; the treble is airy and delightful, and all harmonics are reproduced without audible artifacts. For those less geeky than myself, I'll simply put it this way: You'll hear all of the high notes in AM music, without that "muffled echo" sound that is so common on most modern AM tuners. I did not buy this radio for its shortwave tuner, and I really can't comment in that aspect of it.In summary, this is a great radio for personal use at home, at work, or when traveling, but is not the right radio for playing loud, boomy music-- it's simply too small to do that. FM will not disappoint, and when you have a strong signal, AM sounds absolutely incredible. Highly recommended.

I like the Sangean ATS-405, and my opinion of it has grown over time.CAUTION: The Amazon product description is wrong. It says: "Full Band Coverage from 150 kHz - 29999 kHz." There is no longwave coverage (150 kHz to 510 kHz) and shortwave tops out at 26100 kHz, not 29999. But it indeed does cover all 14 shortwave broadcast bands (not CB).It's an older model (it came out in 2015), but I picked it because it has some options not usually found on other radios: the ability to set the squelch level and options for tuning mute and soft mute. These have proven unimportant, but other features have come to the front. It also has an automatic gain control (AGC) setting, an advanced feature valuable in receiving some signals that are rapidly changing in strength.One strong feature of the ATS-405 is the display. It is bright and easy to read in the dark (with the display light) as well as in full sun. The information on the display is just what you need, and in particular it tells you the setting of the Local/DX switch (so you don't accidentally have it set to Local). The bandwidth setting is there along with the signal strength. A quick button press switches to the clock display.At first I was concerned that the radio had no tuning wheel, only up and down buttons. I've reversed my opinion. Radios like this use a digital signal processing (DSP) chip that tune only discrete channels. A tuning knob can be tricky to use with DSP radios, sometimes skipping a channel or not advancing; however, with a button press you're always assured you've incremented one channel. A long-press of one of the buttons tells the radio to scan for the next available station. The radio also has a fine tuning setting, allowing increments of 1 kHz rather than the usual 10 kHz spacing. Advanced users may use direct frequency entry rather than band scanning anyway.I've compared shortwave sensitivity with some of my other radios: Eton Elite Executive, Tecsun PL-660 and Tecsun PL-330. The Sangean is a bit less sensitive, but not by much. It's the best of the lot on MW.Other positives: Included AC adapter/charger, included case, two alarms (one buzzer and one radio) and dedicated display light button (top of radio). You can also set the display light to be always on or off after 10 or 20 seconds. Unlike many modern shortwave radios, the ATS-405 manual is well-written, informative and in good English. It uses and can recharge 4 AA batteries.Negatives: My unit had a small defect.; the BAND button is erratic, sometimes requiring multiple or extra firm presses. The audio quality is not the best among my similar-sized portables. The Automatic Tuning Storage of stations in memory is only available for FM and MW, and not for SW, and there are only 36 memory locations for each band. In many locations, one would run out of FM memory locations long before reaching the end of the band. Direct entry of a frequency requires two extra button presses in addition to the digits. It does not have an external antenna jack.My unit, and apparently most of them, has a birdie (internal interference) on 800 kHz and 1600 kHz, so I cannot listen to one local MW radio station at 800 kHz.The elephant in the room is the lack of single sideband (SSB) reception, making it useless for listening to Amateur Radio, utility broadcasts, and other non-broadcast radio services. It's a radio for local and international broadcast listening.Value? If I had $80 to spend on a radio today, I might look at something like the XHDATA D-808 or the Tecsun PL-330. Both are more modern radios and both have SSB. The PL-330 has an excellent Enhanced Tuning Mode (ETM+) to scan and store stations by time of day. The D-808 has RDS and Air band, plus a louder speaker. If I were trying to match features, I'd be more inclined towards something like the Radowow/Sihuadon R-108 in the $50 range.If you want an interesting radio, a stellar performer on MW and a radio that's easy on the eyes, then you might consider the Sangean ATS-405 I'm glad I have one.

Great reception, sensible/intuitive controls/buttons - very happy with the purchase

A little disappointed. Adequate AM & FM. Sound okay. Controls for saving stations a little hard to use. SW a little disappointing.

Excellent portable radio for travel. Solidly built, nice silver finish, buttons are spaced well and the battery compartment is easy to open. The sound is good on AM and FM. I don't use SW much because I can't get a lot of stations. I like that it takes rechargeable AA size NiMH batteries instead of the flat Lithium batteries that always seem to swell after a year. It is very easy to set alarm and back light is light color with black letters., not the weird orange or yellow color like other radios. The case is an very nice and it fits well in my total size is about 7-1/2" long and 4-1/2" high. Great tuning buttons. I love it better than any other portable radio I have ever owned.