Review on Versatile NOAA Weather Radio: Portable AM FM Shortwave with LCD Screen, Auto-Scan, SOS Alarm, Sleep Timer & Headphone Jack - Ideal for Home and Emergency Situations (No Clock Function) by George Mendoza

This NOAA Digital Weather Alert Radio, Emergency Survival Portable Radio with large LCD arrived just in time: We survived the first hurricane of the season and NOAA's portable radio at the perfect time receive. We have a NOAA version: a countertop that has served us well for several years. We depend on a radio like this during the summer hurricane months and I thought it would be useful to have a portable one: we could take it with us if we are in the bathroom during one of them, we can take it to the beach, if the weather is questionable or for hiking. In other words, there's a good reason to have a portable version. I thought this NOAA Weather Alert Digital Radio, Portable Emergency Survival Radio with Large LCD Screen would fill the bill, but we're very disappointed so far. My wife has experience tuning and working with our previous NOAA so I asked her to install this for the Hurricane/TS Elsa when the radio arrived yesterday. As time passed and Elsa got closer, my wife became more and more annoyed with this radio. Inserting the batteries was easier for her. The instructions are VERY CLEAR. It was easy for her to put in the batteries, get FM and AM working, get the shortwave working - although she had no idea what to do with it - but the instructions - how obscure - the WB would tell us. WB NO. So she looked at everything. What there is is WX - so she tried, but nothing came out. Eventually we gave up - we had other things to do - and decided to try again today. Eventually she was able to set NOAA to WX and NOT WB as instructed. But we survived the hurricane. We'll have it for the future, but it was very awkward at the moment when it should have easily been completed. Another reviewer says he doesn't know how to put it on standby - my wife can't figure it out either. The red light is on - there's no flashlight - and she just can't figure out following the instructions - how to put it on standby. She also can't find the watch they claim they have. She can find the timer but there is no clock. If you need something in an emergency during a storm, or if you just want to turn it on and leave it on, this NOAA Digital Weather Alert Radio, Large Portable LCD Survival Emergency Radio will get the job done. A short wave seems to work, but she says she has no way of speaking to anyone - at least she can't find them. The radio works. But if you're looking for a NOAA radio that goes off in the event of a sighting or warning, or something that has an alarm to alert you, then this is NOT it. YES, it WORKS, but it does NOT work as described. And anyone who uses NOAA will learn over time that these alerts and the ability to rely on them being triggered when needed are MAJOR buying factors. We can't make sense of this NOAA based on the instructions provided or its design - it's not intuitive enough to make up for the poor instructions. We'll use it as is now - turn it on as needed to complement the main unit we have - maybe on hikes when we know something's coming - but that's the point - rely on NOAA to let you know not to have to keep it on all the time. So I can't give more than 3 stars.