- Sangean BB-100 BlueBox AM/FM Ultra-Rugged Digital Receiver with Bluetooth and Built-in Battery Charger

My 20 year old cheap work radio finally and sadly played its last song, so I was looking for a replacement that was durable with Bluetooth, AM and FM, was chargeable, that I could take anywhere. This is not as easy as it sounds. Most Bluetooth radios do not have AM radio for some reason and if they have AM radio they don't have Bluetooth, and if they have both they are not chargeable. Well after some research I found the BB-100 by Sangean. I received it today and I was quite impressed with the build quality, the Bluetooth linked up instantly with my iPhone 7, and it sounds great. I do wish it had 2 speakers for a more stereo sound and higher volume, but I knew what to expect with one 5 1/2" speaker and the volume is enough for me, although I have not tried it outdoors yet. I still give it 5 star because the speaker sounds great even at the highest volume and it's packed with features for its very portable size and extreme durability. If you value quality sound, durability, and versatility over shake-the-windows volume then this is the radio for you. If you are only looking for shake-windows-volume over quality then buy a cheap radio with huge speakers then save your money to buy another cheap radio in a year, then start saving your money again, and don't forget to recycle those 1 year old garbage radios. I could go on but I won't. This is an excellent buy and in 15 years you can look back and say "Wow this is a great radio and it only cost me $6.27/year". Oh, did I mention the AM and FM reception is amazing?

I tried to upload a photo but kept getting an error message, oh well. Bought this because I love going to the drive in. Every year this includes a weekend long event of horror movies at a nearby drive-in. It gets annoying running the car between movies, and the sound isn't always great from the car. I finally broke down and decided to get a good radio with better sound to hear the movies. This thing was awesome. Good sound, great volume, good reception, and I got rechargeable batteries for it. Never ran out of juice watching 4 movies in a row. It's big but easy to carry and we camp out overnight so it meant we could bring it in the tent with us as we watched from our sleeping bags and still hear well. I should have bought this or something similar years ago. Better late than never!

I was looking for a durable radio to use while working outside and this radio has performed well so far. I purchased the BlueBox version to get the Bluetooth. Even though the antenna is short, there have been no reception issues with regard to FM radio stations and the Bluetooth paired with my iPhone has worked flawlessly. The speaker is more robust than a lot of the portable radios and it does lean more toward the bass side of sound - which I prefer. The carry handles (frame) seems rugged and well-built and it has four rubber feet to keep it from moving around. I also use it inside and the rubber feet work well to protect furniture. Good purchase.

I have six Sangean portable radios and they are all GREAT; I have two of this model and use the Bluetooth connectivity to pair to my phone. Like all Sangean radios their speakers are the BEST, really enhances whatever you are listening to: music, podcasts, sports talk shows, and sporting events. I keep one of these for general use around the house and one in my wood shop when woodworking or when grilling or smoking meats.

This compact radio does everything you’d want, but does have some shortcomings. The single large speaker produces bass heavy sound. The mids and highs are a bit washed out. However this isn’t a deal breaker. If you are in a noisy environment, it might seem a bit quiet and you’ll have to crank it up to hear. But I work somewhere really noisy so take that with a grain of salt. The digital tuner which lets you pick up digital signals for greater clarity is great. It also has static mitigation so when you would otherwise get blasted with white nose, it lowers the volume. The number of presets is only 5 total per band (1 FM, 1 AM). So you might find that a bit lacking. The Bluetooth is dead simple and never fails to connect to my iPhone for simple listening. The build quality is good, and it could probably survive a drop due to the roll cage. However the cage is plastic so if you’re tossing it into a truck frequently it might not survive long. It’s also water resistant, but keep it out of the pool. It’s just splash proof. It could probably survive a rain storm. The built in battery charging is a great feature. Do yourself a favour and grab some rechargeable Ni-Mh C-Cell batteries if you pick up this radio. The only downside seems to be that the batteries won’t charge unless the radio is off. So it can be a bit of a pain if you don’t intend to leave the radio plugged in and off when you aren’t using it. For the price and for those who want to use Bluetooth, this stereo is a great choice, but you get what you pay for. It isn’t the most rugged nor is it the loudest or the clearest.

I've had Sangean shortwave radios before and never had an issue with them. Sound and reception were great. I found myself needing a bedside radio and instead of the usual plug ins, decided to get a rugged radio that I could also take on the road for camping trips to the mountains and the beach or for just cranking up for backyard bbqs. This one works great streaming Spotify from my phone and is easy to set up. Nice rich bass, warm midrange, and a sweet high end tweeter. Haven't taken it on the road yet, but as a luggable waterproof radio that you can tether down so nobody can steal it, this checks all the boxes. Reminds me a lot of my beloved yellow plastic Jeep cassette/CD boombox that I had back in the '80s but was lost many moves ago. Highly recommended.

Excellent sound, great looking, super buy. Works well on the beach and great for entertainment at outside or inside parties or special occasions. Well worth the price and easy to set-up its Bluetooth system!

compact, durable feeling (good construction), portable, and looks cool. The guys at my work love it for how intuitive and easy it is to use. Doesnt blast music, but plays it at a nice volume when close by. Good sound, but when you want to blast it at max it gets distorted. Signal isn't the best on it, havent tried this yet but the antenna is swappable for a better one. For a future model I would want it to be louder with more clarity at the higher volume, and a better antenna.

I'm using this on by the pool and brought it to the beach this summer. Great little radio and the bluetooth capability is fantastic. I run this on rechargeable battery and I can easily get 6-8 hours of music without running out of power ... mind you I'm not blasting it at high volume. The only reason why I gave it a 4 is the radio reception, which could be better. Radio station that works well in my car or home radio will sometimes have a hard time to be tuned with that radio ... I'm wondering if the antenna is the culprit. I would recommend, especially if you intend to use it on bluetooth mode !

Although, this radio does seem durable the radio reception is terrible in a garage. My old radio was able to pick up most stations. Where as this one I'm lucky to get one to come in, but it's still 'staticky'. Therefore if your looking to purchase this for the radio aspect in a garage I would not recommend this one. At least it has Bluetooth so it wasn't a complete waste of money.

Sangean is not like everything else from there. They quality is much higher and this unit is no exception. It is much bigger than i expected and sounds great. I use it in a wood work shop and leave my iphone on Spotify outside the shop. Bluetooth does the rest. Bluetooth connectivity is flawless. Great sound. Plenty of volume. Good bass. Overall much better than expected. Glad i got the bluetooth version.

Use this outside on the deck to listen to baseball games, which is on AM radio. Crystal clear sound. Also use the Bluetooth with no issues. Hopefully we don't have to test the ruggedness or the waterproof feature but it seems like it would hold up. Recommend for sure.