Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great features and sound make for a great DAB radio, 27 Jul 2008
This radio has got lots of features that make it an excellent purchase. There is the ability to programme 12 different alarms - using radio stations or buzzer as the alarm.
There is also the ability to program the receiver to record DAB programmes using an SD card - this is accomplished very easily by finding a programme on the Electronic Programme Data that the receiver downloads and pressing the record button. The receiver will then switch to record mode when the programme starts and record to the SD card. Up to 12 recordings can be programmed at one time.
You also have the facility to pause the playback of a DAB channel that you're listening to for up to several minutes, then come back and resume playback of the programme where you left off. Great for taking telephone calls or making a quick cuppa tea.
And you have the great Roberts sound(unbeatable in portable radios) and a nice, aesthetic design too. In addition the receiver can receive FM broadcasts as well as DAB. The radio can be connected to a PC with a USB lead for downloading software updates (I haven't tried this yet).This set is good value for what it does.
But there are always some setbacks, here they are for the RD41:
The main display lights up when plugged in to the mains adaptor and can't be turned off. Even at 10%, the display gives a ghostly blue light if the receiver is plugged into the adaptor overnight - with 50hrs use from the six D-cells, it will often be used with adaptor too.
Confusingly when a programme is recorded on the SD card, only the finish time of the programme, date and the station is available on the display. This makes it extremely difficult to work out which programme is which if you have recorded several.
No batteries, SD card (even a small one) or USB lead are included in the box when you buy this radio, so the first thing you have to do is go out and buy batteries and an SD card - a 1GB card will be more than sufficient. Roberts - please provide these things in the box...
The manual states that the radio isn't compatible with all SD cards but doesn't say which are incompatible. I've put a Sandisk 2GB in mine and it works fine.
Oh and this radio can't be updated to DAB+ if it comes along in the next couple of years. To be fair, I did ask Roberts about this via email, and their response is that DAB+ will not happen in the UK for a very very long time if at all. I hope they're right.
All in all this radio is recommended - it does what it does really well, picks up DAB stations and produces excellent, crisp sound. It is surprisingly intuitive to use and delivers great functionality and the ability to record radio programmes with ease. I use it to record plays and serials in the main.
Though it isn't perfect I think this receiver does deserve 4-stars as it is good value for money given its sound and features.
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does all it claims to, 14 Sep 2008
As you'd expect from a Roberts radio, the build quality is good and the sound is impressive. Having separate treble and bass controls enhances this. Having the SD card capability is good not only for recording programmes, it also allows you do stick your favourite MP3s on it and play those back if you tire of the DJs chatting through the music.
Alternatively the line-in allows you to connect an external MP3 player.
The EPG facility seems to work fine, and the pause/play is also a nice touch.
Drawbacks:
1)There are only 6 presets on each of FM and DAB, which is probably half of what you'd like to have.
2)By default you retain the blue screen when you use the on/off button, so the set needs to be switched off at the mains to lose this. However, by drilling down through the menus it is possible to change this setting, to either dim (10%) or go off completely when you press the off button.
The first one I bought lost the presets when switched off at the mains, but Roberts were very responsive via email to agree that this was not to spec, and the replacement has had no problems.
Overall a nice piece of kit. Pricey, but probably worth it.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky But Nice, 19 Nov 2008
Roberts RD41 Digital Radio I purchased this radio about a month ago and I am still finding new features. Before this I had a Roberts RD8 and more recently an RD-27, which I really liked, with pause-plus. In design superficially the RD41 looks similar except for the larger blue screen and the front controls and station selectors.
This radio has the means of pre-recording onto an HS memory card. It does so either by programming in a series such as "Every Tuesday at 12.15" or more simply by using the EPG (which, note) is fine only for those stations that supply one - BBC national, WS, Virgin etc but not most local stations otherwise. Then it a matter of pressing the record button, a dot appears on the EPG and, hey presto, it records, assuming there is enough memory, a card is present etc. Occasionally a recording will fail without explanation and only one recording is allowed at a time. Sky and cables boxes spoil us for multiple recording facilities. If the radio is off, the recording happens quite seamlessly and silently regardless. This is very good for night recordings.
The means of displaying the recordings is poor: the titles do not appear only the channel and time and date and entries appear trunkated like the pre-Windows 95 DOS titles on computers. This needs some guess work if there are several such entries. Navigation from one title to another is easy enough. The recordings are in MP2 format and will transfer and play on a PC, MP3 player etc. Quality of recordings is indistinguishable in quaity from the originals.
There are many alarms and sleep settings possible, which I have long thought an omission on other Roberts Radios. There is also a 5 minute (only)pause-plus. I once invoked this whilst listening to and recording a programme. To my amazement the recording held and the PP worked too!
I thought until today that the info button gave the EPG summary of the programme and that the old familiar scroll of RDS was not present on this radio.In fact it is. Pressing the info button out of EPG mode gives a much neater info screen than with the large scrolling standard DAB screen we are familiar with. This info is useful for traffic, recording details, news headlines etc which I was beginning (erroneously) to miss.
The Roberts accompanying instruction book is poorly written and too long, without giving just these useful details. Another reviewer mentions the Blue light background which will not switch off. It will, but again the intructions are not clear. The Radio sound quality is perhaps a little lightweight compared to the RD27, but still very acceptable and rich. The output volume is not enormous. However the surface on which the radio is placed is important for bass reproduction. The output jack gives an adequate signal for surround sound / other amplifiers and this arrangement is excellent. The radio will play MP3 recordings from the HS Card. VHF (FM) reception I found a little deaf and hissy, even in a good area, although acceptable. It is meant as a standby mode, I think.
All in all a very nice radio, good value but with some quirks which take some getting used to.
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