D220 Transistor Radio

XHDATA has quite a few excellent radios, and here's another good one with a retro "transistor radio" vibe that performs a lot better than the ones did back when these types of radios were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Still, there are a few operational details that might make it less suitable for some listeners than some other radios. Reception: FM and shortwave are exceptionally sensitive. In fact, I compared the shortwave reception of this radio to a couple of digital receivers I have. I was able to get everything on the D-220 that the bigger radios would get. And on a few of the stations, this little D-220 actually delivered cleaner reception than the larger, more expensive radios. Quite a surprise. But here's the problem: The entire shortwave band, which runs on this radio from 5.6 MHz to 22 MHz, is packed into one band. Finding a particular frequency can be a challenge. But with patience and a steady hand you can eventually get there. If there is ever a revision of this radio, I would hope they would consider dividing shortwave into two bands to make it easier to find specific frequencies. FM works really well also, especially given the relatively short antenna. I am able to receive an FM station about 70 mi away that's right between two local stations on the dial. Again, though, you need to really tune slowly to do that because not much movement of the tuning thumbwheel can sweep you right past the station you're looking for. AM (Medium Wave) reception is predictably not as good as FM and shortwave because the radio's small size means the internal AM antenna isn't very big. It works fine for local and stronger regional stations, though, and it will pull in some distant ones at night. Sound Quality: The biggest strength here is that the radio gets pretty loud without audio distortion, making it suitable to use outdoors or in noisy environments. Overall, I would rate the sound as good for a radio this size. You don't have a lot of bass, but the audio is clear and crisp for news/talk and casual music listening. Operation: Because of this radio's overall simplicity it might seem suitable for an elderly person who prefers a radio without a lot of extra buttons, knobs and controls. However, because tuning it requires fairly precise movements of the tuning wheel, a person with limited hand dexterity might find it frustrating to use. On the plus side, though, once you do find the station you want, the radio's digital signal processing chip homes in on the center of the signal, so there isn't much need to do any fine tuning. Battery Life: Phenomenal. To test this, I took a couple of previously-used AA batteries out of a different radio and checked their voltage, finding that each battery was between 1.2 and 1.3 volts - significantly less than the 1.5 volts of a new one. I then put them in the D-220 and turned it on at a moderate normal listening volume on an FM station. So far the D-220 has been playing for over 48 hours continuously on those previously-used batteries. Overall: The XHDATA D-220 is a high-quality radio at an attractive price. For those who intend to do a lot of shortwave listening, I suggest also looking at XHDATA's D-219, which costs about the same and divides the shortwave spectrum into several bands, making it easier to find the exact frequency you want. But if you prefer the slightly smaller size and vertical orientation of the D-220, the shortwave performance is excellent on this radio as well, albeit requiring a little more time to tune.

Nice little radio. Standard size---about 2/3 the size of most cell phones. I like the color---it's easy for me to find. No problems with reception and sound is decent. I like the manual dials---I don't have to learn how to use it!!! Easy to install the batteries---no brain strain for that. I despise having to charge something up when I need it. Amazon has a good price on batteries, so I always have a supply on hand.

This has been such a solid little unit. I picked it up to go to a drive-in theater, there is still one out here, so that I could sit outside of my car. The volume and level of clarity was outstanding. Sue to it's high portability it lives in my car and has gone camping with me a couple of time. Runs for what feels like 24 hours on one pair of AA batteries. I love this little radio and will probably buy more as gifts for people!

First impressions. This is a nice radio for the price, and with some interesting features. The radio is designed to be operable in different markets (i.e. Europe or the United States). For FM, the user switches between FM1 and FM2, depending. For AM, the tuning changes at 1KHz steps, so no need for a switch. And short-wave on a small radio like this at this price is, to me, amazing. Reception on AM is pretty good. I picked up a decently powerful fringe station about 270 miles away during the daytime and it came in loud and clear. And I picked up a couple Spanish language broadcasts on shortwave at about the same time while experimenting. FM is likewise very good. In all cases the speaker is very good for such a small radio. There is no play in the turning, and it isn't too stiff or loose. Similarly, there is no play in the on/off/volume control. On the negatives, the bar showing position on the dial is hard to see depending on the light and the angle you are holding the radio. This is with the orange model, an orange bar on orange background, and certainly would not be an issue with the black and green models. The easy workaround is to tilt the radio to see the contrast better when this is a problem. The band switch will probably be ok, but I wish it felt a little more solid and tight, more substantial, when switching from one bad to another. My uses cases would be a travel radio, especially if traveling by air and carrying everything, or stick in your bug-out-bag with lithium batteries and forget about it until you need it.

I grew up with small transistor radios like this one, so the item was a retro delight to me, a trip down memory lane! While the original transistor radios were the high tech of their day, this one has considerably better sensitivity and better tone than his forebears. Great to have for fun and power outages, plus no internet required!

This radio is a steal for the price. Good sound for its size, stable reception. Some buyers complain about stations being close together on the dial. This is part of the portability design. Once you hit a station the DST (or was it DSP) chip takes over and tunes in the strongest signal. So you are perfectly tuned in every time.

Radio quality is great, volume strong and dials very easy to use. The color is vibrant and fun. Good quality material and great size, not small but not very big either. Great choice!

Dear Xhdata leaders and engineers: The new D220 model is an excellent radio in its size and performance. Muck like the d219 however with its North American 10k spacing improvement, there can be improvements as well to the D220. These radios are desirable for radio enthusiast's and hobbyists in the United States. These are my suggestions: 1. Delete FM2 64- 108 mhz. it is confusing to the American user and is also quite useless. 2. ADD SW1 2,3MHZ- 10 mhz and SW2 10mhz-22 mhz. The chip can support this and the hardware is there, This broad spectrum is vey attractive to the shortwave hobbyist as scanning even unused frequencies available are desirable and will make shortwave easier to use. 3. Delete the fold out stand. It breaks and is useless, only relevant to no headphone listening if at all. 4. Reduce speaker output volume by 30% or make the volume on headphones softer and easier to adjust. Make the potentiometer better ranging for headphone volume. Most radio users are using headphones. make it the main adjustment for volume and the speaker secondary. (but keep speaker) 5. change From "AA" batteries to "AAA" batteries. The radio does not need the amperage if power is reduced to speaker. 6. Move battery compartment and door from a lateral position to a longitude position where the stand is. 9 the stand will be deleted) 7. ADD a longer FM/SW whip antenna. with the batteries size reduced and position changed, this will allow up to a a 100 cm telescoping antenna. This will greatly improve FM and sw reception, and attract buyers. 8 ADD a larger AM Broadcast band ferrite bar antenna in the lowest portion of the radio cabinet. This will be possible with the batteries size reduced and position changed. AM broadcasting 530khz-1710 is widely popular in the united states. As are pocket sized radios that perform well on this band. The d-220 should be on par with the d-219. It is not. the d-219 is a better radio for reception. Fix this. In conclusion, the d-220 is the perfect sized pocket radio for listening and nostalgia. it's performance can be improved with little cost. my improvements will add value and demand for the d220. American consumers will pay $25 USD in retail for a radio such as this. In the United States radios such as the C .Crane, Sangean and now Qodosen dx-286 Are valued $80 - 160 USD. The consumer is demanding great reception in a traditional pocket radio size. You can offer this at a much cheaper price point. Best Regards,