Midland ER102 Emergency Radio Review

I got the radio (new) for the weather alert, alarm clock and flashlight. I didn't expect excellent radio performance. I did, however, expect it to actually work.

First off, the quality of the parts are horrible. The switches don't work, you have to jiggle them and then, the radio periodically shuts off. It feels like a short. Great for the "emergency alert" because it may be in "wig out mode" when the weather service sends out the alert, you'll never get it. At least you won't be disturbed by those pesky weather alerts!

You can really tell they used the cheapest parts available to build this thing. The thin plastic volume knob really demonstrates this. I'm surprised Midland put their brand name on it in such a pronounced font, if I were them, I'd be kind of ashamed of this product.

As far as the radio itself, I'm a bit of a radio geek, I own a panasonic RF-2200, radio shack DX-392, several antique radios, etc.. I didn't expect this one to even come close to the RF-2200, but the truth is, it doesn't even come close to a cheap $2.00 clock radio or novelty transistor. For AM, it is simply awful.

It pulls in some strong local stations but thats about it. I can't speak for the FM, I only listen to one FM station and it's OK for that.

Tuning AM is awkward, it is an analog radio with a digital display. The tuning really needs a fine tuning knob. (even a cheap clock radio is easier to tune than this thing) it drifts quite a bit too.

Assuming you survive the tornado despite the cheap weather alert failing.. all you really need is the local powerhouse station anyway, I guess. Don't get this if you want a good radio.

The weather radio (when it works...) is good. I was able to get more weather stations on this than I did on an SW-100 multiband. Moreover, the weather radio uses PLL circuitry, so, it's bound to be better. (again, this depends on whether the thing "feels like" being on)

Battery life..

The manual said to charge it for 12 hours. I did this, in fact, I exceeded 12 hours of charging.

This gave me about 1.5 minutes of power...

The flashlight is great, produces more light than I'd expected.. well.. except that the battery dies immediately. (even with 12+ hours of charging)

I'm stuck with it. Can't really afford to buy weather radios all the time. Hoping the switches clean themselves off so that at least I get the alarm to work.

I can't say for sure, but I really doubt the thermometer is accurate.

The feature set is great, it's a good concept radio but it would appear to need a lot of refinements in quality.

Avoid it if you can.


Buy it here now!