Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: C.Crane Skywave

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : C.Crane Skywave
Reviews: 4MSRP: 89.95
Description:
Multi-band ultralight portable featuring AM/FM/SW/WX/Air
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ccrane.com/CC-Skywave-AM-FM-Shortwave-Weather-and-Airband-Portable-Travel-Radio
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0043.5
VE3LNY Rating: 2017-07-03
Great little radio, I quite like it Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This radio satisfied my need for a decent, small portable radio.

Pros:
1. Battery lasts a long time. After 3 months it is still running on my original NiMH batteries and shows full charge.
2. Small, light, flexible, easy to use.
3. Decent reception on SW (but no SSB).
4. Bonus: WX and Air bands.

Cons:
1. Speaker sound quality is so-so. The earbuds are decent.
2. Occasionally the tuning rotary encoder skips backwards for one step.
3. The thumbwheel volume control is a pain, I would have liked another knob.
4. Changing frequency manually is slow, you have to wait for 1/2 second to hear the new frequency.

Overall I like this radio, and I have had my share of dogs.
W5NG Rating: 2017-04-16
Excellent! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought one of these about 6 months ago, and use it almost every day. Incredible battery life. Excellent overall performance, much better than I expected. For such a small radio, surprisingly good audio as well.

No complaints at all.
KF2YD Rating: 2017-01-24
C.Crane Skywave Review Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I regret that I previously rated this radio as good.

1) First one I received had very poor sensitivity and I had to return it.
2) Second one came all scratched up and I also had to return it.
3) Third one that I received had very good sensitivity but then I found out that one of the function buttons for the Voice / Music bandwidth does not work and I also had to return it.

Lately I have been getting many things that are either defective or all scratched up which were manufactured in China. I guess that the main problem is that many of the Chinese manufacturers have either very "POOR QUALITY CONTROL" or "NO QUALITY CONTROL".
MARTESQUE Rating: 2016-08-05
Great Interface / Strong Performer Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I researched this radio perhaps more than any other. I guess when you own a few, you need to justify another! Read both professional shootouts / reviews on Swling and consumer opinions on Amazon & C Crane. This radio was exactly what I was looking for, but I had concerns. More on those later.

I've had this radio for 6+ months and have run it through all the paces, from fringe areas in the middle of nowhere to midtown Manhattan. Inside, outside and all atmospheric conditions. It's held up well so far.

First, the radio's interface and ergonomics are perfect. It's very easy to use. I like the fact you have multiple ways to tune in signals. There's the rotating knob, fast or slow. There's up and down slew keys with scan, and the scan function is fast. You have memories and direct entry. That's more options than available on most radios.

Let me say, I prefer page memories, it's easier to organize stations / locations and the Skywave offers 10 pages of 10 memories on each band. Unlike the Tecsun ETS, I pick the stations I want in my presets. Sometimes I like the ETS feature, but most times I know what's available.

Buttons are well labeled and those hidden features can be incorporated into each station memory. Want 3k bandwidth on one station and 1k on another, voice or music setting, mono or stereo? Save as is and it will call up those settings each time. Very cool.

AM is awesome. Very sensitive and no hets anywhere. Bandwidth selector will push out most offending adjacent signals. DSP chip holds onto signals very well. FM is as good as my G5, G8, PL-390, and better than G6, PL-360 & Sony 7600GR.

SW is as good as other portables, it gets what's out there. Using a clip-on wire won't overload the unit. Air seems to work fairly well. I've plugged in a few local signals and they were received easily. I've been impressed by the WX band, with at least 3 signals depending on my location. One evening, I captured 4 signals from the 23rd floor in downtown Manhattan.

My two concerns were speaker audio and dial contrast. My CC Pocket has some fading issues on the dial face, but the Skywave is sharp and good from most angles. It doesn't show current time and frequency together and instead of the full signal info found on Tecsun models, it simply shows a strength bar. But it is the most accurate signal meter I've seen to date.

CCrane boasts that it's audio is tailored for voice. I say it's a little brighter than it has to be, but audio can be adjusted a number of ways. And if you're really into digging out tough captures on AM / SW, that bright speaker gives you much more clarity, right down to 1k bandwidth. I've gotten used to it and in many environs, it sounds quite good. My only real beef is speaker volume and that's where I might take off 1/4 star. Most times there's plenty of amp to drive the speaker, but on some weaker signals, you have to rotate that knob quite a ways. The CC Pocket has the same characteristic. On the other hand, there's plenty of volume on the headphones, and IMHO, those CCrane buds are excellent, better than the Voz buds that are available.

Cost? If you consider the headphones would add $15 to the package, it's a very nice deal. For the daily use I've given it these past 6 months, it's held up very well. Very pleased with this purchase