Sony ICF-306 Portable AM/FM Radio - Black

Brilliant little radio, easy to use, clear and audible. Bought it to use outside whilst gardening and am really happy with this model from Sony. Have also got other models of Sony's portable radios for use around the home and out in the boat and all are little treasures - you wont go wrong with one of these, battery life is amazing.

For a good, old-fashioned portable AM/FM radio with no frills, it's the ideal for late-night reading, or taking round the house with you. It takes 2 AA batteries (I use Duracell Ultra which last me literally months). It's just a plain bog-standard radio - no CD, or any other high-tech (or low-tech) functions, and is ideal for an old-timer like me. It's mono, personal and light, and don't expect to be able to hear it in the next county. But, as I say, for my purposes, perfect.

The Sony ICF-306 is not a bad little radio for the price – currently around thirty pounds from Amazon – but you are probably paying a bit more for the Sony brand name and many Chinese generic radios offer a lot more features for less. However, if you like Sony products then the ICF-306 is worth considering for certain uses – I am using mine in the garden during lockdown to listen to the AM service of Radio Caroline on 648 and this Sony works OK for doing that. On the plus side the battery life is very good (2xAA required) but as there is very little bass the radio doesn't have to work too hard driving it's rather small speaker – however, the rather tinny volume doesn't annoy the neighbours when used outdoors! This radio is quite attractive, as you might expect from a Sony product, but the controls are not really ergonomic and are rather poorly laid out. The band change slider is also the on/off switch and the tuning and volume controls would be better if they changed position, with the volume control made to turn the radio on and off too. There are two LEDs – green for battery status, change the batteries when it goes dim – and red is the tuning indicator – there is a 3.5mm headphone socket for personal listening and a foldable carrying handle for portability. The Sony ICF-306 is a reasonable-enough little battery powered radio, but not one of Sony's classic models – perfect for the bathroom, garden, garage or workshop where battery power is required – there is no mains option here. Four stars, but check out the similarly priced models from Panasonic as well.

I wanted a small portable radio not to expensive to take with me to the allotment each day after reading the reviews I decided to take a chance on this one and so glad I did.Being a Sony I assumed the quality wold be there and I'm not disappointed it is easy to use and the sound is excellent.

Small,neat and compact with good volume control

Ignore the 'Sony' brand name. It's not the quality Japanese product it was. It's a cheap Chinese radio.Volume is limited, I suspect that's because it's got a cheap speaker, so no use if you want a loud sound.Aerial is cheap so breaks easy.Expensive because of the brand name but there is better quality amongst unknown names.Of course they are all made in China and I guess the Chinese make what they think we want. This probably costs 50p to make. Yes it is that bad.

I bought this radio for my very old mother while she was in hospital. It was hard to tune and she found the "on"/"off" too difficult.I now have it, which is ok for me. The tuning is difficult but at the end of the day, it's an ok radio considering how cheap it was. I keep it in my bathroom and leave it on my favourite station.

This portable radio is ideal, works well, looks decent and has got AM waveband which is quite rare these days. If you require DAB then this radio is not for you. Satisfied with this item, it does exactly what I wanted.