Learn More About DAB Digital Radio
DAB digital radio has less interference, easy tuning, and in most parts of the UK, digital radio doubles the number of available radio stations. To find out more, and learn what's available in your area, click on this link to find out more.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical Details
- Solar powered DAB radio with rechargeable battery pack
- Built-in rechargeable battery pack
- Multi language support
- 10 station presets
- Line in socket for iPod/MP3 playback
Product details
|
Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
solarDAB is the world's first solar powered DAB radio. This stylish and compact portable radio has a solar panel integrated into the top of the unit which absorbs direct sunlight in order to power the radio. There is a level indicator on the display screen that shows the power level generated by the solar panel. Under good conditions, there is sufficient power generated to charge the batteries and power the radio.
The built in rechargeable battery pack is charged whenever the solar panel receives direct sunlight. Once fully charged the low power consumption of solarDAB allows the batteries to power the radio for up to 27 hours without the need to recharge them. The radio can then be used away from sunlight or mains electricity until recharging becomes necessary. The batteries can be recharged either by sunlight or using supplied mains adaptor if there is not sufficient light available.
solarDAB is ideal for use in gardens, conservatories, greenhouses, on suitable windowsills, or away from home while camping, fishing, at the beach, or anywhere that you wish to listen to the radio away from conventional power sources.
For further information with regard to our product please visit our website at www.robertsradio.co.uk or call the customer care line on 01709 571722. If you need Technical Assistance please phone 0208 758 0338.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
UPDATE: December 2011 and the radio is still going strong on solar power alone after two-and-a-half years. Even though I have the option to charge from the mains, I've never had to. I'm impressed.
I've been put off buying a DAB radio because they've been either mains only, or had such poor battery life that they may as well have been mains only.
This SolarDAB is different of course, since it's powered entirely by light. Seems quite a breakthrough.
The radio itself is quite small and neat. It's not exactly beautiful, nor especially well-finished, but it seems solid enough and has a 'back to basics' charm about it. You might call it 'cute'. I think most of the colours it comes in are horrible, so I got the white one.
It's certainly practical: the grey ends (and therefore the feet) are made of non-slip rubberised plastic, as are the buttons and knobs. The arial points straight up or nothing, but it's one of the longest I've seen when you extend it. You can unscrew the arial and stow it in a slot on the back of the radio, which could be handy if you're taking it somewhere. Because the arial screws in, I suppose you could probably screw in an external arial if you needed to.
The display is simple and clear. The backlight comes on when you're pressing buttons on the radio and with the backlight on, the display is outstandingly clear. The backlight goes off after a few seconds to save power, but the display remains very readable.
The display can show the time.
Set up is extremely easy and took just a few moments. I didn't even extend the arial and got a full list of stations, all of which are crystal clear.
You have to charge the battery with the included 'eco friendly' mains adapter for 24 hours before you use it, so bear this in mind.
The sound is more than adequate for a small portable radio and goes quite loud. There are no tone controls but the balance is well judged and particularly good for spoken word stuff like Radio 4. There is a slight treble drop-off if the radio isn't pointing right at you though. But the best part of the DAB experience is the total lack of hiss.
I was surprised there wasn't a sleep function.
It's been pretty sunny since I bought it and the battery indicator hasn't dropped below fully charged so far even though I've listened to it quite a lot. The real test will come in the winter I suppose. I'm hoping that I won't have to think about the battery again for several years.
So, on the whole, this is a very likeable radio that works well and gives you the advantages of DAB without the permanently attached mains cable. Its solar technology, decent sound, excellent display and pleasant controls justify the relatively high price.
I've been put off buying a DAB radio because they've been either mains only, or had such poor battery life that they may as well have been mains only.
This SolarDAB is different of course, since it's powered entirely by light. Seems quite a breakthrough.
The radio itself is quite small and neat. It's not exactly beautiful, nor especially well-finished, but it seems solid enough and has a 'back to basics' charm about it. You might call it 'cute'. I think most of the colours it comes in are horrible, so I got the white one.
It's certainly practical: the grey ends (and therefore the feet) are made of non-slip rubberised plastic, as are the buttons and knobs. The arial points straight up or nothing, but it's one of the longest I've seen when you extend it. You can unscrew the arial and stow it in a slot on the back of the radio, which could be handy if you're taking it somewhere. Because the arial screws in, I suppose you could probably screw in an external arial if you needed to.
The display is simple and clear. The backlight comes on when you're pressing buttons on the radio and with the backlight on, the display is outstandingly clear. The backlight goes off after a few seconds to save power, but the display remains very readable.
The display can show the time.
Set up is extremely easy and took just a few moments. I didn't even extend the arial and got a full list of stations, all of which are crystal clear.
You have to charge the battery with the included 'eco friendly' mains adapter for 24 hours before you use it, so bear this in mind.
The sound is more than adequate for a small portable radio and goes quite loud. There are no tone controls but the balance is well judged and particularly good for spoken word stuff like Radio 4. There is a slight treble drop-off if the radio isn't pointing right at you though. But the best part of the DAB experience is the total lack of hiss.
I was surprised there wasn't a sleep function.
It's been pretty sunny since I bought it and the battery indicator hasn't dropped below fully charged so far even though I've listened to it quite a lot. The real test will come in the winter I suppose. I'm hoping that I won't have to think about the battery again for several years.
So, on the whole, this is a very likeable radio that works well and gives you the advantages of DAB without the permanently attached mains cable. Its solar technology, decent sound, excellent display and pleasant controls justify the relatively high price.
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
I've never had a DAB radio before and I had held off buying as I felt that only having the radio in one room could prove frustrating. When the SolarDAB came out I jumped at the chance to own one. I have never taken the power cable out of the box, I simply leave the radio on my windowsil until I want to use it. I have listened to it for many hours and hardly used any of the battery life. It sounds ok too, its no Bose but it sounds good enough for me.
I highly recommend this.
I highly recommend this.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
The review by soprano is actually wrong- it definitely does charge when turned off! I tested it by making sure the charge bars went down a couple of notches, turned it off and placed on a sunny windowsill, and then checked it an hour later and the battery was showing a full charge.
This really is a cute little radio, a lot smaller than it looks - 19cm x 11cm x 8cm compared to 21cm x 14.5cm x 7.2cm for the Pure One Classic. The grey parts that you see in the photo- the sides, aerial, buttons and dials are not, as I thought, grey plastic, but grey rubber which looks very stylish and the rubber on the sides acts as a grip to help you carry it around - no doubt it would help if you drop it too! The rubber will also be more resistant to scratches than glossy plastic and it also prevents the sound vibrating on whatever surface you put it on (the rubber edges protude slightly). It feels very well made, there is no wobbliness in the dials and the display is very clear and lights up when you are actually using the dial or pressing a button. Changing stations is very easy- you just turn the tuning dial and press to select the station, you can also have 10 presets for your favourites. I find the sound much clearer and brighter than the boomy/bassiness of the Pure Evoke radio which I returned, it is perhaps a little lacking in the bass area, but no doubt this would require more power which negate the advantage of the solar panel. The quality of the classical stations is not quite as good as FM due to the limited capacity on DAB, but I bought it mainly for R4, and the stations I cannot get on FM, mainly BBC 5 extra, 6 and 7 and the improved quality with BBC 5 Live and World Service over AM (you could always connect a small personal FM radio to the line in socket if needed). The display shows the name of the station and the frequency, and it will also give scrolling info on the programme that is currently on, even the particular track that is playing and what CD it is from! If you press info it will give the bitrate and whether stereo or mono, and press again it will display the time.
Using a hifi quality Profigold 3.5mm 1.2m cable I was able to connect the SolarDAB to my Ipod and it gives a very clear sound, absolutely no hiss or interference. It is necessary to turn the radio to max volume, and the ipod to half-3/4 volume to get a decent sound level. I am looking to get a solar charger for the ipod, either the Uniross Charger, or the more powerful Powermonkey Explorer so I can be fully solar sound sufficient!
This really is a cute little radio, a lot smaller than it looks - 19cm x 11cm x 8cm compared to 21cm x 14.5cm x 7.2cm for the Pure One Classic. The grey parts that you see in the photo- the sides, aerial, buttons and dials are not, as I thought, grey plastic, but grey rubber which looks very stylish and the rubber on the sides acts as a grip to help you carry it around - no doubt it would help if you drop it too! The rubber will also be more resistant to scratches than glossy plastic and it also prevents the sound vibrating on whatever surface you put it on (the rubber edges protude slightly). It feels very well made, there is no wobbliness in the dials and the display is very clear and lights up when you are actually using the dial or pressing a button. Changing stations is very easy- you just turn the tuning dial and press to select the station, you can also have 10 presets for your favourites. I find the sound much clearer and brighter than the boomy/bassiness of the Pure Evoke radio which I returned, it is perhaps a little lacking in the bass area, but no doubt this would require more power which negate the advantage of the solar panel. The quality of the classical stations is not quite as good as FM due to the limited capacity on DAB, but I bought it mainly for R4, and the stations I cannot get on FM, mainly BBC 5 extra, 6 and 7 and the improved quality with BBC 5 Live and World Service over AM (you could always connect a small personal FM radio to the line in socket if needed). The display shows the name of the station and the frequency, and it will also give scrolling info on the programme that is currently on, even the particular track that is playing and what CD it is from! If you press info it will give the bitrate and whether stereo or mono, and press again it will display the time.
Using a hifi quality Profigold 3.5mm 1.2m cable I was able to connect the SolarDAB to my Ipod and it gives a very clear sound, absolutely no hiss or interference. It is necessary to turn the radio to max volume, and the ipod to half-3/4 volume to get a decent sound level. I am looking to get a solar charger for the ipod, either the Uniross Charger, or the more powerful Powermonkey Explorer so I can be fully solar sound sufficient!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great little radio
I bought this for the bathroom. The white colour sits very nicely with the fixtures and fittings. It doesn't get enough light to be completely self-powering, but I love the fact... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Howard Rogers
Battery life let's it down
I love everything about this radio except it's very short battery life. I have to charge it up at least once a week, this may change in the summer. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs Jackson
Best Radio In Years
There's something about this radio that sets it appart from any other I have used in years, it has character. Read more
Published 16 months ago by FiftySomething
how can i not give this radio 5 stars?
I dropped my radio in the bath. After about 36 hours on the radiator it is pretty much as good as before. Charge lasts, display is grand. Read more
Published 19 months ago by butterfingers
Greener radio
This is the second Roberts solar radio I've purchased. This one was a present for my son. They are great - really good quality sound and very easy to use. Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by Pippa M
now on my 3rd!
having bought a exdisplay unit from hughes i discovered that the charging unit was faulty, even in full sunshine the unit was not charging up, sent this back, got refund and... Read more
Published on 29 May 2010 by J. D. Pallant
Free to run fun radio
I've had the white version of this radio for a month now and it has been in use every day. After the initial charge of the battery, it has run on free sunlight since, even on a... Read more
Published on 27 April 2010 by A. Jackson
Just turned it on!!
I bought this radio for my mum's birthday, as she still had an old analogue radio.
Info: I live close to Heathrow Airport. And I pick up all stations. Read more
Info: I live close to Heathrow Airport. And I pick up all stations. Read more
Published on 21 April 2010 by C. Ballard
Fun in the sun
A great little radio if you have a sunny windowsill on which to keep it - I've used mine for about 45 mins each day during the winter and apart from the initial charge I've only... Read more
Published on 5 April 2010 by herladyship
Great wee kitchen radio
Just what we were looking for to listen to in the kitchen. Being solar, we don't have to worry about constantly having to charge it. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Paul
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
