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Namibia, Windhoek
1 Level
721 Review
52 Karma

Review on πŸ“» Retekess V117 Analog AM FM Radio: Battery Operated Transistor Radio with Large Knobs, Clear Dial, and Simple Operation, Ideal for Indoor Use by Elderly and Senior by Jon Lesperance

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Good radio performance (see updates) and great customer service

Looks like I've fallen into disrepair. After seeing all the great reviews and owning the TIVDIO V-111 and V-115 (both work great) this was a huge disappointment. Pros first: good size, good build quality, decent sensitivity, good sound. Now the big minus: tuning. In a word, it's absolutely messy. On my unit, each FM station appears four times on the watch face, making it impossible to tell which event to tune in by scrolling the watch face up and down. Worse, it's not a frequency (e.g. 92.5MHz reads like 91.5MHz). Both problems together make the station setting crazy. AM and SW also share frequency inaccuracy, and aggressive muting on these bands causes stations to appear/disappear constantly. Due to performance issues, at least on my device, I wouldn't recommend the V-117 to anyone except for those who want to take the time to tune into one of their favorite local AM or FM radio stations and get off. 1 Star.**UPDATE** 4-4-18. Angela from Retevis customer service contacted me the same day my post was published. She wanted to fix everything and gave me the money back. I have to admit I'm very impressed with the level of customer service, even for a $16 radio. So I'm updating my rating: still 1 star for wireless performance, but 5 stars for outstanding customer service. Net rating: 3 stars **UPDATE** 04/21/18. Angela sent me another V-1117 to check. This device has the same good build quality, sensitivity and sound. The tuning is better than the first block in terms of frequency. Overall not bad for a $16 radio, although TIVDIO can have some quality issues. Radio performance increased to 3 stars, customer service remains 5 stars, network = 4 stars.

Pros
  • Top marks for support and durability from testers
Cons
  • Out of style