Customer Ratings & Reviews

When I first turned this little radio on, it immediately locked on to our PBS HD station 40 miles from my location. I was stunned, since I have a very expensive Cambridge Sound Systems HD table radio and I have to use an amplified antenna with that HD receiver, and it frequently drops the HD stations. This little radio has a very good HD receiver in it. I would highly recommend this radio to anyone who wants a very small portable HD receiver.

I LOVE this radio. However, the sound in my second one just quit. The display is on, but the sound quits. My first one lasted about 3 months and the second one about 6 months. Best Buy will not replace it, as it is past the 90 day warranty. I can't just keep replacing them at $50 a pop. Even though I understand the warranty, I am discouraged with Best Buy's refusal to replace a defective product. Insignia says that they honor Best Buy's warranty.

I use my radio for 1/2 hour every other day. It only lasts for two workouts. The velcro armband is strong, but to short. The reception is decent, and earphones don't stay in my ears. I found a set that wraps around my head that works better. I would look for one with a better battery if I were to buy another one.

the LCD display rarely doesn't work. I've experienced this problem with all 3 units I've owned. there are rare occasions when the LCD display doesn't work when you turn on the radio but the radio is working. my third unit has reception problems while it is charging. this is something that I didn't experience with my previous two units. the latest firmware finally allows you to save HD-2 and higher on the presets. my previous 2 units only allowed for the primary station to be saved on the presets.

Maybe I just got a bad one, I don't know. But I sit here right now and hear NOTHING. Wait - now there's MUSIC - except I had sports talk on. Bought it for the AM talk, less for the FM music stations. Was initially quite impressed. But now - 2 weeks or so later - the HD-2 and 3 stations do not remain connected. They just blip out - somethimes to come back on but oft times they check back to HD-1 (in my case this being hip hop/pop rather than the expected sports talk. This happens even when in HOLD position. Thus.................have to then click it back to HD-3 from 1, hope it sticks. Sound? No static, but still not crystal. Also - you have to use the headphones that come with the unit, as the antenna is built into the phones. I may just keep it....may exchange........at 39 bucks (sale) a real good deal if the negs were not there. HD radio's a cool idea...........skipped the 200 buck Zune for now........getting something from this unit, but it's quite imperfect, yes. Will review-back if I trade in for another unit and it is BETTER. Otherwise this stands as a warning if you want something awesome for your not so awesome expenditure Cheers Reyo

I've had it for two weeks and I'm not real happy with it. Ilive 5 miles from downtown so I should always have great signal strength. It drops HD signal quite a bit but I don't know why. Live broadcasts sound horrible. I have it running thru a new Bose Wave radio so sound should be great. I now only listen to 1 HD blues channel,l which was the original reason we got it in the first place...not sure if I'm going to take it back for another yet. I gotta check the return policy. I would love to use the HD thru the Bose all of the time. I do pick up over a dozen HD signals but I havent checked to see if they are better than my favorites...I am hopeful that I can get this figured out...ear buds are real good..went to Radio Shak and purchase adapter to plug into Bose as well as USB to AC adapter

This portable radio is great for carrying with you while walking or jogging and the reception is good. Finally a portable radio that does what it says.

I just bought this a few days ago and I love it. The station I listened to changed formats and I found out that they play the same format in HD (So far, I have not even heard a commercial) It appears that the reception is based on the 3.5mm cable or the headphones being plugged in and I have yet to try it inside a building while at work, but I love this thing! I only rated it a 4 on durability because I have not had it long but it seems pretty sturdy.

I love to listen to talk radio in the morning. Didn't want anything big for my desk so I purchased this one and I LOVE IT. The reception picks up really good sometimes I have to move it around to get better sound but it works.

Writing this info's for future buyers i was looking for and did not find. Battery charging for 1st time takes 2 hrs for fully charge. Dissapointed because don't have AM tuner (Noise on AM prefered to have on HD taken away FM don't have this problem )would prefere AM to a clear sound on HD. Good Sound performance but dissapointed for no having AM tuner.

I saw the portable HD radio in Best Buy and wanted to try. In my area I could only find one FM station with an HD alternate channel. It was a rock station that just played different rock records on the two channels, so no real advantage unless you want to continually switch channels. If it had an AM radio and was an mp3 player I would have kept it.

I had waited a long time for a portable, compact HD radio like this one. However I should have known better to have purchased an Insignia brand electronics. The battery discharges itself slowly within 24 to 48 hours. It is too much trouble to recharge the battery with the USB port of a computer. It would be more convenient to charge with a portable recharger. This radio is a great idea and would give much enjoyment, if it wasn't an overpriced overrated product. I hope someone else comes up with a better HD radio at a better price.

After I spent an hour with this radio, I am convinced the 2 or 3 reviewers that gave it 1 or 2 stars are the smart people that actually understand the technology. The rest of them claiming the radio rocks have no idea what they are talking about or raving about. HD Radio's transmission rides on top of analog FM signal as sideband noise unlike DTV which is transmitted on a different channel/frequency. As such, if you can't receive digital well, it falls back on the received analog signal seamlessly (using a synchronization technique). You think it might be on HD Radio but it's very likely on analog FM. HD-1 is a simulcast of the analog FM programming that is traditionally associated with the station. The digital receiption of this radio is horrible compared to other more expensive desktop units. It has a hard time recoverying the digital transmission consistently. The firmware is also not well written. When the RF signal level recovers, it doesn't try to go into digital mode... At least it doesn't do that quick enough... Sometimes the HD Radio symbol is showing solidly (indicate it has a digital lock) but you can actually hear the analog inteference (indicate the radio has already fell back on analog FM). The only way to truly test the digital receiption is to find a HD Radio station and go to the secondary channels, i.e., HD-2, HD-3, etc. Because these secondary channels are not simulcasted, there is no fall back to analog. You can easily tell the receiption cuts in and out as it blanks out... So bad that you can't really listen to the program. Also, the auto seek function has such a high SNR expectation, if won't find you many stations. Instead, you should go to HD Radio website and find your local stations, so you can manually tune to them, so the radio gets enough time to recover the digital signal and switch to digital.

this is basically a walkman with hd sound.....it works great sounds great. now let me say this for the most part it works great .Like any portable radio reception depends on the weather and where you are with it at the time. Signal will go out from time to time thats expected.all in all it is a great product for the money im very happy with it!

This is a great portable HD radio, that really does exceed my high expectations. To begin with, this product came with great value- an HD radio for $50, I wish I got it on sale for $39! The sound quality isn't completely comparable to the HD radio in my car, or satellite radio (claimed to be CD quality), but it's great for something so portable. The accessories (earphones, armband) aren't the best, and the fact that there is no AM HD, can be disappointing, but overall it is worth it. The buttons don't seem they are capable of being "roughed-up" but there are okay if you don't take this camping or hiking or something similar. The reception seems great! There is a radio station broadcasting in HD about 85 miles from where I live, and the signals have to pass through many tall buildings and urban and sub-urban areas to get to my house. My car HD radio won't pick up HD until about we are in Coral Springs, FL, 25 miles north from Fort Lauderdale, FL, which is around where I live. This radio is just about the same in performance. It captures local HD stations (about 20-40 miles away) clearly, with very few, if any, very short temporary signal losses.

GREAT RECEPTION AND SOUND. EASY TO USE. RECHARGES USING A THREE DOLLAR WALL ADAPTER

I like this radio alot. I think the quality is better than the Table Top version. It is takes a little time to learn how use. It is the best portable radio I have ever had. The reception and quality is excellent. It is the first portable radio that I have liked. Excellent reception quality for the music.

"Close but no cigar", as they say. I cannot recommend the unit as it is - BUT - it could be 'fixed' to get my recommendation. The Insignia Portable HD Radio does receive HD-FM broadcast stations that are LOCAL and have at least 50KW of power; suburban stations won't lock the HD signal. There is no AM band, no HD-AM; I would expect at least analog AM and even analog AM Stereo (C-Quam) on a tuner like this. I wouldn't mind having special headphones with the AM antenna built into it if that's what it would take to have AM on this radio. I like the RDS feature on the radio but the FONT SIZE for the text on the radio is 6 point or 8 point, and you can't read the small text at the bottom of the screen! They need a "large font" menu option. They should add a 'sleep timer' to shut the radio off after 1 hour of no button presses so you don't run the rechargeable battery down to nothing shortening its lifespan. Any Mini-USB charger works to recharge it, which is good. Audio quality is average at best - you need to add your own earbuds to appreciate HD radio sound. I would like the signal strength meter to be "on" all the time when I move around to find the 'sweet spot' where I can receive the station in HD. RDS info on other FM stations is average, but again, text is too small. If you want 5 stars, update this radio with AM analog, analog stereo or AM-HD, then allow for an external antenna connection, add the sleep timer, allow for larger text font size and increase tuner sensitivity, and keep the price under $50 and I'll be back to buy a dozen as Christmas gifts!

I live near a radio tower thats 100,000 watts it comes in on the station i listen to but the HD comes Works. I even use it on a school bus i can pick up the hd signals to so thats why i rate it a 5 but analog signal is sometime not good and i've also used it around a whole room full of computers and still can get hd. Oh one other thing it should come with a non armband case to.

I've only had this for a couple days so I'm still getting used to it, But so far its a very nice little radio! Standard FM is what you would expect from this or any other FM radio. HD Radio is MUCH BETTER! no hiss, pop, or crackle at all, very good separation and detail. The lack of more presets is a drawback though. I don't use mine for portable audio, I have it patched into my Fisher 400 All Tube Receiver, sounds B.E.A.UTIFUL!!! Worth the money!!