Phone Charging Dual Alarm Clock Radio

Great little clock radio. The couple of things I purchased this clock for were the USB charging for my phone. It makes it so I have one less power cord to deal with. Also, the auxilary port that it has, so I can listen to the music that is on my phone. The numbers aren't to bright to be bothersome at night, but can still be seen very well during the day.

Not easy for my daughter to use the alarm

The radio reception is not as good as an old one we had

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Sangean U3 AM/FM Ultra Rugged Digital Tuning Radio Receiver

• Water resistant
• Auto scan;10 memory presets
• Backlit LCD display
• Selectable auto shutoff timer
• 10 Memory Preset Stations (5 FM, 5 AM)

A reader warned me about the Sangean U3 being too bass-heavy. Listening to talk radio wasn't pleasant. Too muddled. Same complaint about the otherwise well reviewed U3's smaller brother, the very appealing Lunchbox, which will be available in about a month for about $12 less than my $103 U3. The lesser priced Lunchbox has a slightly smaller speaker, no headphone jack, and no tone controls for bass and treble.

Let me say before I delay any longer that the tone controls on the U3 make listening to talk NO PROBLEM. The sound is great on both talk and music. Digital FM, with 5 presets, is crystal clear with no background noise and no need to adjust the FM rubber antenna. The weakest station I listen to 89.3 KPCC comes in with no problem. AM, received from the internal ferrite, has 5 presets and is very sensitive. No ugly birdy noise on 710 AM, a sometimes problematic station on my other radios.

My wife also likes the radio, its bold look and its crystal clear sound. She said she wants to keep it in the kitchen, which means I'll have to move the Boston Acoustics Horizon Duo into the living room. For now the U3 is between my computer and yoga mat inside the office. Like all my radios, my U3 doesn't like the computer. Five feet away from the computer and all my radios suffer a bit of compromised FM. AM doesn't seem to be affected.

Power

You can power up the U3 with the included AC. Not included are the 2 AA batteries to back-up power, clock and presets in the case of a power outage.

If you don't want to use the AC, you power up the U3 with 6 D batteries.

The U3 also comes with dual alarm functions, which I plan on never using. This radio is to produce big clear sound in the house, the garage, or front and back yards. So far as I can tell it is a big winner.

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I started out looking at job site radios, you know, the ones with the battery charging systems. Some of them weren't rated very high and I didn't need that feature. Then I found the U-3. I have a hearing loss so I was worried about the base sounding mudduled like one review. Perhaps they have updated the bass control since that one review. I had no trouble with the base control and I can hear talk radio fine. I live in a rural area and have never been able to get AM reception on any radio, in my shop. Not only does it strong AM no matter where I place it, the U-3 gets crystal clear FM. My favoite FM station has always been fuzzy on other radios. There is plenty of base if you want it. The volume can boom clearly over all my machinery. The controls are eazy to use with dirty hands, and the thing laughs at all the saw dust on top of it. I have not tried the battery thing yet since I am never planning to use it that way. The thing is built to withstand an atomic attack.

Now for my only con........ If it had a remote I could put it on a high shelf. It is a minor inconvienace to put it within reach.

Treat yourself and buy this radio.

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I wanted a rugid, digital, LOUD, yet small radio for my husband to take with us tailgating, camping, and to NASCAR races. This fit exactly what he and I were both looking for. It has a light, can be used while plugged into an AC or DC outlet, or even use batteries. It's digital with memory so he can save all his favorite stations and it is LOUD for only being one speaker.

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The audio is a bit on the bass side, even with tone turned to treble, but I have no problem with it. Someone else might.

My favorite stations come in fine. Switching bands / stations is a breeze with pre-set buttons. The tuner will scan (similar to most car radios). The knobs are well labeled, very smooth, and simple to operate.

Limited testing renders DX'ing with U3 comparable to CC Radio on both bands.

The time / alarm are very easy to set. The clock displays the time when unit is turned off. The 2 AA batteries that just run the clock will probably last a year or more. I do not think the battery indicator reflects the strength of the 2 clock batteries. My guess is that when the clock stops displaying, it's time to change the 2 AA's(?).

The "Sleep" mode is handy and easy to invoke. Using it could save some battery life if one should wander off and forget radio is on.

I'm impressed with the build. The roll cage has rubber feet and the radio is mounted to the cage with rubber mounts. It should withstand rough riding and being moved around frequently. The "rubber ducky" FM antenna functions very well and makes moving / carrying radio much easier.

Having only played U3 on the "D" cells for a few hours, I cannot comment on battery life at this time.

The AC wire is on a spool in the roomy rear compartment. Returning the wire to the compartment is not difficult or "challenging", as with many portable radios. The AC plug is 2 prong; no wall wart.

While operating on AC, the battery indicator disappears as an indication that batteries are not in use.

The AC wire compartment has room for my 12V lighter plug adapter & cord.

Sangean should include this wire/adapter or at least offer one as an option. I was able to make one up, but only by luck of having correct parts on hand.

The display is large and easy to see and read.

Display back light remains on for about 15 seconds in both battery and AC mode. This is a good thing, in my opinion, since my CC Radio back light eventually burnt out after a few years of being on with radio always connected to AC. Pressing any button re-illuminates the back light at any time.

I've made no attempts to charge a cell phone from U3. I do not have the required wire for my phone. (No wires come with radio for cell phones or 12V DC input power.)

I'm also impressed with the door on the battery compartment. It has a screw-knob, is hinged, and not likely to fail.

All the auxiliary receptacles have rubber hinged stoppers in them to add to the water-proof integrity. Hand grip is rubber padded and very comfortable; radio is rather heavy (about 9 lbs),yet still easy to grab & go. It's very good for placing on the ground or floor.

Side-by-side, the audio is just as good (for my ears) as my GE Superadio, which up until now, has provided the best audio of all my portables.

Operating the U3 next to my computer, I get no noise on AM or FM.

I'm very pleased with the U3 radio.

I encourage Sangean to offer accessory connectors or at least links for 3rd party providers. Sangean may also care to re-visit the bass level of this radio.

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I bought this sight unseen or heard. It had all the right features, but it only had one speaker and there where one or two posts complaining about sound quality.

When the box arrived, it is way smaller and lighter than I thought. I plugged it in, set my MP3 player on Foo Fighters, and the box rocks. Nuff, said.

I was looking at the Sony ZS-H10CP Heavy-Duty CD Radio Boombox, and I am so happy I did not buy that. This is a boombox you don't mind carrying 3 miles in the woods. It is tough so you don't have to even think about being careful with the thing.

Two things weird things that have turned out really useful. One, the built in light was really handy. Two, the built in alarm clock proved a life saver.

I honestly think I can beat a bear unconscious with the thing, and not lose radio reception while doing so.

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Sangean CL-100 Table-Top Weather Hazard Alert with AM/FM-RBDS Alarm Clock Radio

• DeLuxe Table Top, AM/M Clock Radio
• All Hazards SAME Weather Radio
• Receives all NOAA Weather Channels & Reports
• Certified Public Alert Radio
• LCD Dimmer & Contrast Control
• Alert Type: Civil Emergencies Weather Disaster Evacuation Details
• Scrolls Event Information

So I've been trying to find a decent weather radio. One that you can disable certain alerts, one that pays attention to EOM (end of message) and one that doesn't look like junk sitting on the kitchen counter.

So far I've been blown away with the quality of this radio. Everything from the button feel to the LCD display is excellent. Surprisingly the quality of the internal speaker is good as well, the sound is nice.

Feature wise...

The radio does allow you to disable alerts! And it's easy to disable them as well. This is very useful when you don't care to be woken up for a thunderstorm *watch*.

The radio pays attention to EOM! At then end of each voice alert broadcast they play a tone to signify EOM (end of message). When the radio hears this tone it mutes itself. This is great if your in bed, laying down, in the other room or just don't want to go over to the radio. The radio will play the alert message then mute itself once the message is over. Some units like the midland (nearly every model they make) doesn't pay attention to this, and you get to keep hearing the same alert message repeating over and over until the 15 minute timer runs out.

The time and date will automatically set itself if you point it to a FM radio station that broadcasts the time/date via RDS. (I had to try a few different stations that broadcast RDS until I found one that did this; seems not all of them do in my area)

FM radio reception is excellent. To boot you get to see song name/Artist and radio station information scrolling on the screen.

I did find some of the instructions to be a bit not well translated. Like you have to have the weather radio set to "ON" or the "weather" button doesn't work. But really this is minor stuff, and you'll forget about it once you use it.

This radio is really a home run: great features, high quality and good aesthetics.

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I've owned many weather radio's over the years and I like this one the best. Sound quality is very good on this radio. It has a good size speaker and bass / treb controls. The voice of the weather service is very clean and clear on this radio. The display is excellent. It displays all relevant information and is easily viewed from almost any angle. It has a brightness and contrast control as well as the ability to program the duration that the back light remains lit. Build quality is superb.

Update 01/25/2011: I have found a few minor annoyances with this radio. It allows you to disable the alert siren for things like the Required Weekly Test BUT you cannot disable the Voice Alert for the same alerts. What this means is that if your receiver is set to VOICE mode rather than Siren then you cannot disable the alert and are still forced to hear it go off. Also, you cannot set the alert volume for Voice Alert. I just got a Tornado warning and the damn thing blasts you out of the room at full volume. I don't know why Sangean overlooked this. If your radio is set to Siren you can set it to LOW, MEDIUM or HIGH volume.

I wonder if there will be some sort of software or firmware upgrade because in the menu there is a way to display the software version. Mine is version 1.11 dated June 24, 2010

UPDATE: 06/22/2011 Sangean generously offered to update the firmware on my radio. The firmware version that I now have is 1.13 dated October 08, 2010. The radio now allows me to defeat a VOICE Alert and I've just verified that the "Required Weekly Test" does not set off the radio. It still shows the Advisory LED and a readout tells you what is going on but the radio is silent. YAY!

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In the past couple of years I have bought & returned SAME weather radios from several manufacturers (Radio Shack, Midland, Reecom and First Alert) due to poor quality and/or poor functionality.

I have owned a Sangean pocket radio for 6 years which works as if it is brand new so I was expecting the SL-100 to be a good radio. It has exceeded my expectations !! The SAME weather radio is easy to program & works perfectly. The AM/FM radio works very well even though we live in a highrise apartment in downtown Chicago where often AM/FM reception is poor. Sound quality is excellent for a small tabletop radio. The alarm clock works well also.

My only "complaint" is that the instruction booklet has some minor errors and could use some tweaking. However programming of this radio is somewhat intuitive even for someone like me who is technically challenged

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First I was most impressed with the very high quality of this product. The buttons have a very solid click to them and there is absolutely no wobble as this product rests very solidly on any table. Such quality is rare in most consumer electronics this day and age. I honestly get the impression that this thing could sit for 30 years somewhere doing its job like my grandfather's old radio --only thoroughly modernized.

Setup of this device is very very simple with guided instruction and the round, up down, right left, center select button, clear buttons for weather clear LEDs for advisory's, alerts and warnings. I am very very impressed with this ease of use.

A couple of things:

A) included external antenna this product comes with a very nice metal external antenna (in addition to the rabbit ear that you see pictured) that you can plug into the back and then place up to several feet away. This antenna gives very nice reception from our station which is a good 30 or 40 miles away (I do live on a two story house with a basement near the top of my hill though).

B) it has a battery backup (4 AA cells). If you lose power, the unit works in all respects on battery power including radio and weather radio a nice plus. I don't think it's meant to run on batteries for extended periods of time but its very nice that its fully functional on battery power very nice. It takes regular AA batteries and does not charge the batteries but it does have a battery health meter to let you know when to change them out.

If you're considering buying a weather radio, I honestly think this is the only real option on the market.

It also includes FM/AM. Clock Radio. Two alarms and the ability to turn off certain alerts that don't apply to you or that you might not be worried about (or want to be woken up over).

If you're on the market, you can't go wrong with this one.

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I purchased this to replace a First Alert WX-268 that self destructed after a couple of years (the display went blank). This CL-100 is a much better unit. The controls are easier to use, the display is easier to read, and it is easier to program. Excellent reception and sound. The only issue is it really can't be used as a bedside alarm clock unless the table height is lower than the bed height due to the angle of the display. Overall, very happy with this purchase and would purchase again without a second thought.

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Timex T435B MP3/CD Line-In 8-Color Clock Radio

• Sleek low profile design
• Custom calendar with year/month/day. Backlit amber-glow display with dimmer. Extra large snooze bar. "Sure Alarm" battery back-up.
• Custom one-touch alarm settings for 7, 5, or 2 days. Programmable 90 minute sleep timer.
• MP3/CD line-in jack with cord included allows users to listen to their favorite songs from their MP3 player or portable CD player.

This is a nice clock for the office, but I don't depend on it to wake me up. I chose this clock because of the dual alarms and iPod connection. The buzzer alarm is not very loud and turns off automatically when the radio alarm goes off. The radio is not good very bad reception that fades in and out without moving the dial or antenna wire. I'm going to find a better alarm clock and take this to the office as a desk clock & iPod speaker. The good features: dimmer for the display, 2,5, 7 day alarms, automatically updates with Daylight Savings change and you can adjust the volume for the sleep setting without changing the alarm volume.

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I recently purchased this Timex clock radio because of it's dual-alarm and MP3 hook-up capability. The alarms are way to soft and I slept through them twice (and I am not a heavy sleeper). However, the worst part was that I was unable to read the clock face unless standing above it at an odd angle. The lighted digital display of time did not contrast with the background enough to distinguish unique characters. The clock constantly looks like it reads 18:88 instead of the correct time. Changing the soft display colors did not help. After two days of having no clue what the correct time was, I returned it for a full refund.

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Timex watches might take a licking & keep ticking, but this clock radio is very poorly designed. It's difficult to program time/date (not intuitive like other clock radios). The off buttons stopped working after 2 weeks. I'm taking it back to the store. This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for. Now I'm willing to pay more to get better quality.

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I'll admit, I bought this clock mostly for the shiny colors. The MP3/CD jack was an added attraction, along with the low price. But I've had it for less than 24 hours and I'm already sorely disappointed with it. First off, you can only set one of each type of alarm one buzzer alarm, one radio alarm. That doesn't really qualify for a dual alarm in my book, and this is the first alarm clock I've ever seen where you can only set one alarm to buzzer and one to radio.

The buzzer alarm is hardly a buzzer it's more like a "meep meep" sound. And to hook your MP3 player in to listen to it, you need to keep it on continuously, or wake up and turn it off when the sleep timer shuts off. I don't have an iPod so I can't dock it in an electrical charger, so that means lots of burned-out batteries. The radio/MP3 line in are both great-sounding, bordering on pleasantly loud, but the radio reception is kind of iffy. If I could set both alarms to wake to a loud radio, I think this alarm clock would satisfy me but alas, I can't.

The redeeming qualities are that you can set an alarm to go off every day, M-F, or weekends. Of course, I work Sunday-Thursday starting at 11:45 PM, so if I set the clock about 45 minutes fast, this would work for me. The daylight savings time auto-switch is nice, too. And, of course, I'm a fan of the shiny colors. But after having this clock for approximately 12 hours, I'm going to return it to the store tomorrow.

I've had this alarm clock for a year and a half, so that's pretty good because many others have said that within only a few days the alarm clock will completely reset itself as if the power went out. This is what happened to me a few days ago. I thought the power went out because the date and time were wrong, so I went to set the clock to the right date and time and as soon as I did, the clock completely reset itself on its own again. I'm glad it hasn't done this when I had to wake up for class or work, I guess I'm lucky. But don't buy this if you want a reliable clock that lasts.

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Jensen AWM965 AM/FM|CD|DVD|MP3/USB Wallmount Stereo, DVD player, Front USB supports MP3, WMA, JPEG,

• Jensen AWM965 AM/FM|CD|DVD|MP3/USB Wallmount Stereo
• 12 volt, DVD player, Front USB supports MP3, WMA, JPEG
• Supports charging of iPod and other USB based devices, Front 3.5mm line level video / audio input
• Clock with sleep timer and alarm clock feature, Adjustable LCD dimmer setting
• 3 Stereo high level speaker output zones, 1 composite video out, 1 stereo audio input, Remote control included

I bought this to replace the older model Jensen that came with my RV. This newer model has much more power and better sound. The digital tuning is great & I like that it can handle 6 speakers. It's really nice to be able to play my Ipod through it.

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American Red Cross ARCZG100W ZoneGuard Weather Radio (White)

• S.A.M.E (Specific Area Message Encoding) Technology to receives alerts for your area
• 3 level High-visibility color alert light bar (Green - Watch, Orange - Warning, Red - Alert)
• AM/FM/NOAA Digital Radio with6 preset stations
• Digital Alarm Clock
• Elegant, thin form factor with angle stand and wall mounting options

This is a really nice radio....BUT only after you have it set properly!!

I highly recommend people to have 3 new AA batteries for setting this up. It does not come with batteries. Comes with an AC adapter, and a plastic stand you install in the back to have it "sit" upright. The reason I recommend batteries is that it will be much easier moving it around for setting it up.

Also set aside a good 30 minutes to program this radio. As I will go into, everything is there in the book, but it can be puzzling on moving the arrows up, down, left, right, menu to get everything done properly.

Next, you had better have good lighting as the directions are VERY small. A magnifying glass might help. You can go to the homepage of ETON:

there you will find PDF instructions you can print and/or which you can enlarge.

The alert settings can be confusing. A menu button followed by four directional buttons around it are what you use to set the alerts for the weather alerts which are voice, siren, or silent.

It ships with ALL counties around you to be alerted for weather alerts. However you can set it for your county single, or whatever counties you prefer.

Here is where Eton makes no mention of what they mean when they say "codes." The average person is not going to know what they mean by "codes." When Eton says "codes" they are referring to the NOAA Weather Specific Area Messaging Encoding (SAME) codes that are available for all of the counties in the United States and it's properties and marine. You can find the county codes at the NOAA website listed state-by-state.

When you program the codes (see instructions) the screen defaults to the number 1 through 25. Meaning the first would look like: "01Code"

second

"02Code"

Setting up your local NOAA radio is simple as there are only 7 to choose from, then you click the memory button.

Also you can listen/store AM/FM radio channels. 6 AM and 6 FM presets.

Telescopic antenna that rotates.

You can store 25 SAME county alert locations.

I think it's terrible for Eton not to give any detail on how to find them or give a description other than saying "codes" in referring to the weather alerts. And also to give instructions in such small lettering. For all of this I'm taking away one star. Otherwise it would be a five star radio!

It is a great radio to notify you of storms! You are always one button away from your local NOAA radio.

The screen is a bright blue screen. You may need to hold the radio at various angles as the lettering is block style, not all connected.

The speaker is good. The volume is very good. Just at a 2-3 is loud enough.

The top of the radio flashes and lights up various colors depending upon the weather alert. Red for the Warnings, Yellow for Watch, Green for Advisory.

Siren goes off for about 5 minutes. And it's loud enough to wake (most) people.

Also there is a digital clock on the front. And it has an alarm feature you can set.

There is a battery indicator on the upper right corner of the screen.

Lightweight, easy to carry.

There are holes in the back for you to mount it on a wall (screws are not included).

Keep in mind the alerts are 24/7. So if you have the siren on and you have a tornado warning when you are sleeping, it will wake you up. Could save your life. Also if you have it set for ALL counties, it will give you alerts to neighboring counties which you do not care for. And here is why the SAME codes are important.

Also if you click the RIGHT arrow at anytime, it will scroll for you previous alerts or say NO ALERTS.

It "holds" the information you program it to for a few seconds. I tested it by removing the batteries, then putting them back in. I'd say it took around 20 seconds. My advise is to always keep batteries inside it (regular batteries, NOT charging type as it does not charge batteries), and you can keep it plugged in.

This radio would come in very handy during a severe storm. As long as you have power and/or batteries you'll be able to listen to weather alerts, and AM/FM radio.

Again, if the instructions were larger and gave more detail. And details on the SAME codes were either provided or an Internet address was provided for them I would of given it five stars.

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I like the basic design of this -the small sleek size, nice layout of buttons, large display. The radio reception seems to be decent, although mounting it on the wall is not possible in my area, since I have to turn it various directions to get a couple of local AM stations. Weather band reception is OK, as is FM reception.

That's about where my positive feelings for this little radio end.

It is way too difficult to set up, NOT with regard to the physical aspects of hitting the correct buttons in the correct sequence, but rather in terms of deciphering and understanding the instructions. The instruction leaflet, such as it is, is written in such small type that it's nearly impossible to read. I finally went to the Eton website and downloaded the instruction manual there, then "zoom"ed it so I could read how to set the time, store radio stations, etc.

Then there's the issue of the S.A.M.E. codes. I had never heard of this technology before I got this radio. NO WHERE in the included instructions is there any mention of NOAA, or even the "S.A.M.E." designation. On the Amazon product page, there is a mention of "S.A.M.E." in one of the product features bullets, and "NOAA" in another product feature bullet on the product page here on Amazon, but nothing that explains what "S.A.M.E. codes" actually ARE. The instruction manual tells you how to "Select the county" -OK, so what does THAT mean? The instructions don't tell you that "Select the county" really means "enter the NOAA S.A.M.E. codes." You're not "selecting" anything; you need to know the S.A.M.E. code(s) for the desired area(s), and then ENTER those according to the instructions.

This was my first weather radio -and I'm generally fairly good at figuring things out -but this had me confused for a good 15-20 minutes while I searched via google for "county code," "weather county code," etc. Finally found the NOAA site and the codes, and entered the one for my county.

And I STILL don't know what "Setting Defeat" means. I mean, I know how to set it, and I can read what the manual says, but it doesn't really tell me WHY I might want to enable or disable "defeat," and what, precisely, it enables or disables ("ENABLE: Alert when receiving a message. DISABLE: Displays the message on the LCD when receiving a message" -does that mean that when it's enabled, you DON'T get a message displayed on the LCD when receiving a message? What kind of Alert happens when it's enabled? the flashing light? the siren? what, precisely, am I "defeating" with this??)

I have no idea if the weather alert part of the radio works. We've had one National Weather Service-issued high wind warning here in the Pacific NW since I received and programmed the radio, and it didn't set off the alert -no light flashing, no "message," nothing. I intend to take this along on an extended road trip this summer (reprogramming the S.A.M.E. codes along the route), and I figure I'll probably encounter some sort of "alert-able" weather event along the way. I'll update this review then if that part works.

Meanwhile, I'm giving this 2 stars -it works pretty well as a compact "clock radio," doesn't take up a lot of space, and has decent reception. But Eton REALLY needs to do something about the instructions. The ones included with the product are useless, and the copy on the website isn't much better.

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The American Red Cross ZoneGuard Weather Radio made by Eton is unimpressive at best. It feels cheaply made, and just doesn't work all that well. For my rural area, the reception is horrible when compared to my Midland WR-300 unit. Where the reception of my Midland unit is crystal clear on the local station and 2 other nearby stations, this American Red Cross radio only picks up the local station with so much static it is barely understandable. When the alarm does manage to go off (it misses 4 out of 5 alerts when compared directly to my Midland unit), it does not auto-shut off; the weather broadcast will keep playing indefinitely until the radio is manually reset back to standby mode by the user.

The one nice thing this radio does have is a slim design with keyholes that allow it to be mounted to a wall, but with the radio failing to function in a reliable and useable manner, it is rather a moot point. I would recommend looking to other models with better reception if you rely on weather radio for your alerts. NOAA WX radio are the alerts direct from the proverbial horse's mouth the instant they are made, so having a weather radio actually capable of receiving these alerts is a good idea, just make sure you get a model that has good reception.

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The radio is a radio...not great sound or anything fancy. The weather band picks up clearly and works fine seemingly. We haven't had any alerts for me to see the colors flash, but I am currently in Pittsburgh, so it unfortunately won't be long. The directions are super tiny, but I found them to be easy to understand and was able to program the radio with little difficulty.

I consult for a parking company and knowing the weather and road conditions is important. The office is horrifying and disorganized. Mounting this flat radio to the wall was perfect. The weather now plays softly in the background and you almost don't notice it unless there is something that piques your interest.

I would recommend this radio especially for the very low profile and the ability to hang it so neatly on the wall. The functions aren't super high tech, but this is an inexpensive weather radio.

I am a fan of Eton products and trust their durability and quality.

Let me start by saying that we have a regular weather radio that works perfectly and doesn't have all the bells and whistles. My 7yo son is scared of extreme weather and always asks a million questions when ours says something, so I thought this would be great for him in his room. I loved the idea of the color changing light bar, so that he has a clue what is going on without having to immediately freak out. I also liked that it could be programmed to only make noise for certain things.

Well, the excitement stopped there for me. It showed up with a tiny instruction booklet with an even tinier font and unclear instructions. So, I came here to see what other reviewers were suggesting and from there went to the website and understood a little better. After a little time and frustration my husband was able to get it set up for our area and where it would only actually make noise when there is a tornado warning. We keep it in my son's room so that he can look at it whenever he wants. As far as how often it goes off, there has been no extreme weather at all around here in the last month, so I can't say how it does in those situations yet. I put batteries in it so he can unplug it and carry it around with him for the music or even take it to his safe place in a storm. I'll update my review whenever we have bad weather and it sounds the alarms.

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Tenergy Centura AAA Low Self-Discharge LSD NiMH Rechargeable Batteries, 1 Card 4xAAA

• Very slow self discharge maintains 85% residual capacity after 1 year of storage and 70% residual capacity after 2 years of storage
• Exact replacement for standard AAA size battery in all the devices
• Designed for enhanced performance for high drain applications such as digital cameras, CD players,portable audio devices
• Can be recharged for up to 1000 times, providing big saving by replacing hundreds of throw away AAA batteries.
• Can be rapidly charged with any quick charger, smart chargers, plug in charger or universal chargers
• Designed for hand held games, 2-way radios, PDAs, and other portable high drain digital electronics

I don't have much confidence in Tenergy products in general. But the Tenergy Centura AAA Low Self-Discharge (LSD) NiMH Rechargeable Batteries are presently available at ~50% the cost of Sanyo Eneloop AAA. So I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised. Here are my test results, using my old La Crosse BC-900 Battery Charger:

Right out of the package, the average remaining charge measured was only 237mAh, or 30% of the rated capacity of '800mAh'.

After the first recharge, the average capacity jumped up to 898mAh!

After another two discharge/recharge cycles, the average peaked at 900mAh. The spread is quite small, with minimum=880mAh and maximum=922mAh.

In comparison, Sanyo eneloop AAA typically arrives with ~75% of rated capacity, and the average capacity after 2 cycles is 830-840mAh. So the Tenergy Centura, while marketed as an eneloop clone, actually delivered ~7% higher capacity than eneloop.

The measured capacity of Tenergy Centura is higher than all other LSD AAA cells I have tested except for PowerEx Imedion AAA. The Imedion AAA is rated for '950mAh', and delivers 975mAh average capacity under the same test conditions. But of course the price for Imedion is much higher.

I still have one concern: the performance charts provided by Tenergy claim that the capacity of Centura AAA is within 1% variation from that of eneloop, but why did I measure ~7% higher capacity instead? It is possible that Centura cells have actually improved in capacity, or maybe they are made by two different suppliers, one with higher capacity than the other. In any case, the present low price of Centura makes it an irresistible deal. You got to start picking while the picking is good.

[Aside]

Make sure you shop around for the best unit-price. As of this writing, the Tenergy Centura 12xAAA package is actually more expensive than three 4-pack, after you factor in shipping cost.

[Update on Oct 9, 2011]

Long term self-discharge data: After 92 days in storage, a pair of Tenergy Centura AAA cells retained 83.3% of the original charge. This proves that they are indeed LSD type, although the charge retention rate is slightly worse than advertised ("85% after 12 months").

[Update on Dec 5, 2011]

Tested a second pair of Centura AAA cells after 5 months. The average remaining charge is 739mAh, or 81.2% of original measured capacity of 910mAh. Another way of look at it: those cells have retained 92% of rated capacity of 800mAh. This is probably where the marketing claim of "85% after 12 months" came from.

Unlike the Tenergy Centura AA, those AAA cells did not suffer any capaity loss after storage. So I can fully reommend them without reservations.

Buy Tenergy Centura AAA Low Self-Discharge LSD NiMH Rechargeable Batteries, 1 Card 4xAAA Now

In spite of Centura's advertised similarity to Eneloop, Centura has a significantly higher self-discharge rate. I'd rate these batteries at about 4.3 stars (Price...5 stars, Capacity...5, Self discharge rate...3.) If they didn't advertise these batteries as retaining 90% capacity at 6 months and 85% at 1 year, I'd have given them 5 stars since they are a good value in an LSD. However, since they have a higher discharge rate than advertised (I'd say no better than average for a LSD), can't do it.

I've pretty much replaced all alkaline batteries with NiMH LSD. Most devices use AAs...cameras, flashlights, GPS, wireless devices etc. and they're loaded with the older Rayovac Hybrids and Eneloops. Have a couple which use AAA and they have Hybrids. When I saw the $5 price of 4 Tenergy Centura AAAs and the advertised comparison to Eneloop (generally considered the best LSD available), I couldn't resist a purchase to test and keep them as a backup.

As were previous reviewers, I also was impressed with initial capacity which was well above the 800 mAh rating. After a couple of discharge/recharge cycles on a LaCrosse BC-9009 at a 100 mA discharge rate, they yielded a capacity of 916, 880, 879, and 870 mAh. Pretty impressive for AAA rechargeables.

I initially intended to test capacity at 6 months and 1 year to determine discharge rate. However, after reading NLee's test at 92 days, decided to test a couple myself which now are at 110 days and have been stored in the basement at 60 to 65 degrees. The results: 916 mAh now down to 727 mAh...79% of initial capacity. 880 mAh down to 731...83% of initial capacity. Average the two and you have 81%...in line with NLee's results and already below the advertised 85% at 1 year. However, there is another way to look at this. These batteries are rated at 800 mAh so if you consider the percent of rated capacity, they now average 91% of it at a bit under 4 months. Although the discharge rate will likely decrease with time, given the past rate of discharge, it's pretty doubtful they'll lose no more than 1% over the next 2 months or maintain 85 percent at a year. To be fair, I'll test one battery at 6 months and the last at 1 year. If there's still 680 mAh (85% of 800 mAh) remaining at 1 year, I'll update this review and change the rating to a 5.

Would I recommend these batteries? Absolutely! They are a great value in a LSD! Get some of the major brand 800 mAh LSDs and you will pay twice the price, have less capacity, and see little change in discharge rate. However, if you want a LSD battery with that advertised 85% capacity at one year, it would seem you'll have to spend the extra money and get Eneloop.

_______________________________________________________________________________

(Update 1/2/12) Final testing. At six months (184 days) tested both remaining batteries for self-discharge rate. The results...879 mAh battery now 726...82% of initial and 91% of rated 800mAh. 870 mAh now 710...82% of initial and 89% of rated..

Ran all four batteries through 4 charge/discharge cycles to determine capacity loss under use. Including the initial preparation for testing, this represents a total of 7 cycles. Initial capacity/ Current/ percentage drop for the 4 batteries. 916/851/7%, 880/876/under1%, 879/866/1.5%, 870/836/4%.

Conclusion:It would appear that after about 3-4 months, discharge rate falls to about 1% per month...so although not quite up to Eneloop, its close to that advertised for the 800 mAh RATED capacity. Two of the batteries (880 & 879) held capacities reasonably well under use but the 870 showed a significant drop and the 916 was unacceptable. Although noteworthy that all capacities are still above rated capacity, I have little confidence that the 916 will stand up under long-term us. I would say I have two 5 star batteries, a 4 star...and a 3 star. My initial 4 star rating still holds.

Added note: Early purchasers, myself included, report near 900 mAh initial capacity while a more recent purchaser reports it near 800. This implies that Centura may have changed manufacturers or that they are branding products from two different manufacturers. My testing confirms significant variability in quality within a single lot. Long term durability of Centura remains an unknown. For those concerned about it, I would recommend Eneloop due to their well-established high quality in all aspects...especially considering the recent 40% jump in Amazon's Centura price.

Read Best Reviews of Tenergy Centura AAA Low Self-Discharge LSD NiMH Rechargeable Batteries, 1 Card 4xAAA Here

These batteries seem to be a fine replacement for the original Panasonic batteries that came with our Panasonic cordless phone set. After a month or so of use they are working fine, and much less expensive than anything else.

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Panasonic house phone set had 2 of 4 phones that never kept the charge. These batteries were the correct type. Read the reviews and tried them out. Very happy with them. Needed to be fully charged upon arrival, but put them in the phones and they charged up quickly. Great price too. With Prime delivery they got here in a snap.

With all the pre-charged batteries from different manufacturers out there now, there is no need for 1-time use alkaline batteries anymore.

Using my Lacrosee BC-700 battery charge/test function, the 4 "AAA" batteries performed as follows:

Battery 1 = 784 mAh

Battery 2 = 742 mAh

Battery 3 = 770 mAh

Battery 4 = 793 mAh

(See picture on customers' submitted images)

Straight from the box, the batteries show remaining voltages are between 1.30 to 1.31 volts (see pic above). All packs a little less juice compared to its rated capacity of 800 mAh. Compared to the more popular brands like Eneloops and Duracell, they performed not as good but not bad at all.

At the time of the review, they were available around 5 bucks which is the cheapest pre-charged batteries I can find.

I have been using pre-charged batteries for everything now, from toys, digital cameras, clocks, to remote controls.

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