Sony SRF-HM33 Walkman FM/AM Stereo Headphone Radio with 20 Preset Stations

This radio functions well. The removal and replacement of the battery compartment cover is a bit difficult and the station tuning is a bit complex.

Great Walkman radio. You get what you pay for. Paid about $40 when I got mine several years ago. Unit still works well, I haven't abused the it, and has held up well. I live in the far western suburbs of Chicago and the FM reception on this unit is fairly good considering the last Sony headset radio I bought, had an analog tuning dial and literally "sucked" on FM. I can recieve my favorite radio stations from Chicago well (on FM.) On AM, the reception is decent. The unit picks up my favorite weak signal station fairly well. But, just like all AM radios if you turn the wrong way the weak stations can't be heard, and this holds true on this unit. But if you listen to strong signal AM stations the reception is superior The tonal quality from the unit is decent, not superior, but adequate. But then again most lower priced Sony headsets don't have superior "audiophile" sound. For most people the 15 FM / 5 AM presets are plenty. But I wish there were 20 on FM and 10 on AM so I could store all my favorite stations in memory. Having the dual headbands is a plus. That helps keep the unit in the perfect position on your head. Also because the unit runs on two "AAA" batteries the life is very good. I don't use the unit for long periods of time to give a better review on the battery life. Couple of drawbacks is you can't go to a memory preset while your in the tuning mode. Next you dont have direct access to the presets, you have to scroll through them. So going to preset 8 from preset 1 a bunch of button pushes, but not a problem for me be it I can listen to the same station for long periods of time. Lastly you cant display the clock while the unit is on, you have to turn the unit off to see the clock. Overall this is a great radio. When I wrote this review I came to find that tis model headset radio is no longer being made. But if you want to buy this particular you might want to seek out one of Sony's factory outlet stores and see if you can obtain this model there. Hopefully the replacement model is as good or better than this one. If you see this model buy it, its worth the money.

My husband loves this walkman. Found it to be very well made, sound is excellent. He is out hiking every day, and he has had no problems with this walkman. We would like to order another, but it seems to be currently out of stock, although we did see it on the Sony website. No negatives whatsoever!!

I did not receive the product ordered, was given the runaround regarding a refund and still have not gotten my money back. The Etronics customer service reps have called me "arrogant" for demanding my money back over two months after the order was supposed to arrive. This was a Christmas present - how embarassing.

BUYER BEWARE

I am totally pleased with the Sony Headphone Radio. I am an electrical engineer and have designed receivers for many years. No FM receiver can receive FM without being subjected to multipath distortion caused by reflection of FM signals from metal structures or fading due to movement of the antenna. Both of these situations cause reception to fade in and out as you turn your head or walk. This radio works as well as any I have ever used and probably as well as is technically possible.

The AM performance is governed by the size of the antenna. Since the antenna must be small in a headphone receiver, the received signal will be much less than that of a car radio for example. However, I am able to receive AM stations as well as any similar product I have ever used.

I am also impressed by the headphone audio quality and the double headband used to keep the radio/headphone in place as you move.

Overall, I am very satified with this product. And if you recognize the technical limitations of a small receiver with a moveable antenna, then you will be as impressed with this product as I am.