Product Review - Nova Transistor Radio

After typhoon Ondoy, I bought a transistor radio since one of our challenges during the said typhoon was lack of awareness outside our area (our TV was busted and we didn't have any radio in the unit).

The brand is Nova and was made in China. It cost me less than PHP400. I grabbed it immediately since I only wanted a radio function, specifically AM band (the original request of my wife was a unit with CD player, which is 4 times more expensive).

Two weeks ago, the maid was complaining that the radio wasn't working. I checked it out, it seems that the tuner is loose, otherwise, it works perfectly.

Then just last weel when I came back from the office, the maid complained again that the radio made a spark in the morning. I checked the power cord and saw that it shorted. Apparently, the wires (under a protective sheath) are quite small and one of them might have been exposed the copper wire due to inappropriate handling (like pulling the wire when unplugging it, considering that the socket is not loose). Luckily, when I tested it using 3 DD batteries, it worked fine.

For several days, we used a battery especially during the typhoon Santi.Sometimes, the reception is bad that I have to bring the radio near the window. There's some art needed in listening to this radio unit (but then again, it's also the same with my Globe's Visibility unit).

Yesterday, I purchased a 2-pc, PHP25-plug from DYI in Ever-Sta. Lucia. With some help from my old Swiss Army knife, I was able to restore it to working condition. However, since the electric wire is quite thin (I did check the specs on the cable - it says 300v) and the hole of the plug where the cord goes through is way wider than the cable's diamater. I decided to fasten the cord with electrical tape - this will ensure that, when the cord is pulled to unplug, the cord will be pulled instead of the thin electrical wires.

So far so good. Now I am thinking of bringing the unit to our office. I love listening to AM's decade-long programs. It releases me from my daily grind with technology (e.g. MP3, Windows Media Player, etc.) and also reminds me of my childhood back in the province.

Recommendation - You get your money's worth for this product. It's definitely not for urbanites and techies, but if you want a simple transistor radio to get updated news from DZRH or DZMM or DZBB, this will do the work.

Note: I tried checking the web for Nova brand of radios, I could only find one. After clicking several related links, I got nowhere.