EtonAmerican Red Cross ZoneGuard Weather Radio - White (ARCZG100W)

Very Nice

Adding this as a 3rd weather alert radio into the house. My current 2 radios have no problem keeping lock-step in with actual NOAA/NWS advisories. This radio? It mis-classified a watch as an advisory. And then later when a storm warning was issued, it was silent. But my other 2 radios were dead accurate.I had no problems setting up the SAME code or programming in my weather band, and I did figure out how to get it to "listen" for alerts. This is *after* I did the "proper" set up -- problems of wrong and missed alerts are still there. I was hopeful that the reviews stating that there aren't any problems were just wrong, because I do really like the lightbar, and the slim design. If this had worked properly I would have been happy to mount it by my kitchen door.Maybe the positive reviewers don't have anything to compare it against. I should have trusted the negative reviews.Folks, don't buy this one.Still want a weather radio? Midland WR400 & WR120B, and the Sangean CL-100 (my favorite of the bunch) are all top picks. The CL-100 is the most expensive of the three, but if you are fortunate to live by a radio station that broadcasts time signal, it can keep the clock in perfect sync and that is :chef's kiss:. It also has the best speaker IMO. We have it as both a weather radio AND a backup clock alarm in case something with the cell phone alarm goes wonky.The Midland hand crank radios get well reviewed as well, but I don't have personal experience with them.

It can be very hard to find a good weather radio. I looked everywhere before settling for this one. All I really want is a device that will come find me, tap me on the shoulder and say "hey, human buddy, don't be too alarmed but there might be a tornado coming this way. Best put your tornado pants on and stroll down to the root cellar." But this device isn't that device. This one is pretty difficult to set up, and even after you've done so it screams at you and doesn't like to cooperate.Choosing which warnings come jumping out of the speaker? Well, the descriptions limp so S-L-O-W-L-Y across the screen that you might drift off into another state of consciousness while waiting for the words to create themselves. I personally found myself wondering why foxgloves are called foxgloves, and not mouse hats, or pixie thimbles, or almost anything else. Do foxes have fingers? Do fish, for that matter.This weather radio also should have been rechargeable. It's not, of course. The electricity scrambles up the power cord, goes into the white slab of the radio and then just disappears, instead of running around inside some rechargeable batteries.And it's very difficult to work out how the radio actually works. You have to turn on the weather service, then press some other switch on the side, then jump up and down, then read the first five pages of The Waste Land. The instruction book? Not helpful, really. Read The Waste Land instead.If you do get the white slab radio to work, be warned: the 'siren' (for 'tis what they call the screechy noise) is SUPER-DUPER LOUD. I know what you're thinking: "That's the whole point of a weather radio that warns you about tornadoes and windstorms and swarms of locusts, stupid!" And I get that, I really do. But this 'siren' is just TOO LOUD, and TOO JAGGED, and there's no way to turn it down. I wrapped masking tape around the speaker, but when the 'siren' sounded the masking tape exploded into a shimmering haze of rainbow dust which formed itself into a giant albatross which flew through a crack in the clouds to a land where happiness reigned, and music played ever so loudly*. Mind's drifting off again.So all in all this is okay, but not great. If you leave it turned on it'll wake you every twelve minutes-or-so to warn you that someone in the next county burned their toast; and if you leave it turned off then a huge tornado full of sharks will creep up on your house and slightly dampen your evening.* if you're wondering, it's from 'Hole In My Shoe' by Traffic.

Just like the other negative reviews say, it doesn't do it's one job: go off when bad weather is near, or severe weather statements have been issued. The whole green, yellow, red light thing? Not in reality. For the money, the design is cool, but the performance and features are NOT worth what they are charging.

Nice weather radioI read some negative reviews here and almost did not order this radio. I am glad I decided to ignore the negative reviews and trust my instincts instead. I am delighted with this radio.I took it out of the box and read the "ZoneGuard Quick Start Guide." There also was a much thicker Owner's Manual in the box but, so far, I haven't opened it. I set up everything in about five minutes by using the "ZoneGuard Quick Start Guide" alone. The setup was quick and intuitive.In short, the ZoneGuard Weather Radio is small, cheaper than most other weather radios, and seems to work well. It sits silently until an alert is issued. I have never had any "false alerts" when it went off at a time other than a real weather alert.It also serves as an AM/FM radio. I especially like the push buttons to select different AM/FM stations, just like a typical car radio.The only downside I can think of is it doesn't seem to be as sensitive as the old weather radio I used to have before it died. The old radio, made by a different manufacturer, would pick up three or four different weather stations, although some had static. (That old radio died so I purchased the ZoneGuard Weather Radio as a replacement.) The ZoneGuard Weather Radio only picks up one weather station where I live. Luckily, it is a local station and sounds crystal clear on the ZoneGuard Weather Radio.The ZoneGuard Weather Radio only cost about half of what my old weather radio cost so I am not complaining. If you live in an area where the nearest weather station is some distance away, you may want to purchase a more expensive weather radio in hopes it is more sensitive.