Silvercrest radio SWED250 A1
This is a report for a radio that has been returned back
due to flaw on batteries
a nice radio with big problem !!
This year (2016?) my parents in law had problems with their Degen 1102 models . The one has button hardening and the other has problem with it battery connection. Even more the technician cant help for servicing the second . this made my parent in law to look into a cheap solution.
Two weeks ago my in-laws have bought two Silvercrest SWED250 A1 MW SW FM radios from Lidl at a price of only Eu10.
As my in law told me this new radio had also a big problem which is that the radio operated OK for several hours then the battery drained out completely. He has used only the one of them and decided to return both of them
I just kept the Silvercrest radio only for short time for a review . And kept using various batteries for the check .
-------
Here I post a report on how the radio worked
First some pictures :
THis is the front of the radio . A digital radio with all buttons on the front big LCd screen memories etc
Here is a close up of the keyboard
Form the let to right:
Top line : memories , memory store , band , and search . The step is by 5 kHz in SW, 100 kHz in FM and 9 in MW . 10 memories per band . pressed for more than than 3 secs the search buttons start scanning
Medium line: Clock , 12/24 set , digital volume from zero to 16
Bottom line : DX local . alarm sleep , snooze . a low battery LED and power button
Earphones and mains power socket . No adaptor provided. Radio requires 5 V. This is clearly USB voltage
Fist for the socket . I have several power adaptors in my collection . Nothing was compatible with this radio!...
And these are the earphones .
Their audio is very bad so needless to call for more
Second about the audio : Connecting with earphones the audio is sounded as if the plug is loosely plugged into the socket !! It gives a stereo wise diversity though the output is MONOPHONIC !!! (that is ridiculous. first time i find radio of this type still using monophonic output !!)
Operation:
Battery: I have fist used a alkaline battery from LIdl . The battery was drained after 10 hours while radio was ....OFF!
These batteries have been bought from 'sellers on the road' The battery set is 16 pieces for only .....1 Euro !!! Their thickness is ca 0.5mm shorter.
And this is more funny : Batteries really seem drained immediately ! The little LED battery indicator was constantly blinking !The multimeter shown a voltage of 1.56 V ....(and this is the funniest of all! )
Actually the alkaline batteries show as drained (as shown in the LED indicator blinking )in ca 10 hours
Weight : the radio though bulky is very light . Only 146grams !
FM : the radio has good sensitivity fair selectivity (around 250 kHz ) with all stations on the band received in clear, providing the use of the DX/ LOCAL buttons set to DX. Otherwise the only a few stations could be herd. MY in law found that this radio had better selectivity than 1102 without noise.
MW: The radio has good reception . IN most frequencies during the night were occupied and directivity zeros are very sharp . During the day all empty frequencies were occupied by self images. No enhancements from the basketena close to it , except during morning. That means to me the radio uses DSP technology
SW : the same with MW : nice sensitivity with DX/LOCAL button set to DX . or very string signals could be received . Using the external 8 m antenna with button set to LOCAL has the same signals levels. radio is NOT overloaded if external antenna is used with button set to DX !
Once set to LOCAL i had nearly the same reception with the external 8 m antenna! Sensitivity is comparable with the 1102
These are the bands as separated: with memories 10 per band
5.0 -7.5
7.51-9.5
9.51-11.5
11.51-13.5
13.51-15.5
15.56-18.2
Earphone audio with the Creative Zen earphones: Zen has the highest audio level than any other earphone i have. The sound is quite audible with volume set to 1 in my very quiet room
Verdict 3/5: if the radio had not the so fast battery drain woud be a very good radio (very similar to my DSP radios though not so narrow in FM )