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Reviews For: Midland WR-300 S.A.M.E. Weather/All Hazard Radio

Category: Receivers: Weather Alert

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Review Summary For : Midland WR-300 S.A.M.E. Weather/All Hazard Radio
Reviews: 20MSRP: 89.95
Description:
All Weather/Hazards alert radio
- Digital PLL tuning
- S.A.M.E. localized reception
- 30 programmable county codes
- Date, Time & Alarm clock.
- Built in AM/FM Digital Radio
- Auto Switch from AM/FM to All Hazard Alerts
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Product is in production
More Info: http://www.midlandradio.com/details.asp?pid=298&cat=Weather/All%20Hazard%20Radio
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00204
KK4OHF Rating: 2022-02-07
Check Reception Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio for about 4-5 years now and it's always been a pain. I have programmed it with 2 SAME codes reflecting the counties that I want alerts from and no matter where I place it in the house, it reported "Check Reception". I finally got it working for weekly alerts. I am only 8 miles away (as signals fly) from their 1000 Watt transmitter tower.
It plays the broadcast perfectly but now no alerts. We had a thunderstorm warning and got nothing and its back to no weekly tests. Nothing changed on my end. Planning on resetting the whole thing but it's not dependable. Time to think about another brand WR.
KD7CAO Rating: 2014-02-26
Great SAME with ext. Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This unit is great for receiving NWS SAME messages in the North Texas Area. However, with one caveat. The built in antenna is pathetic. Connected to any kind of external antenna improves the quality drastically. I am also using a strobe light attached to aid my deaf wife. Easy to use and has been very reliable. Plus, battery backup has lasted about a month without wall wart plugged in and can sit for about a year when plugged in.
K4RDH Rating: 2012-04-24
Works Great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've got 3 of this model (WR-300), 1 in the shack, 1 in the front room and 1 in the bedroom. They have worked great for over 2 years now. Their programmability is wonderful—especially the ability to include JUST the counties directly surrounding you as well as your own lets you know what’s coming your way. They are easy to use, program (quite simple to add what you want and excluded what you don’t want or need—like tsunami warnings, not normally needed here in Kentucky) and give you the info you need exactly when it’s needed. They have been especially useful this year (2012) by warning us about unexpectedly early tornados here in Kentucky, including an F1 just 2 miles north of my location that damaged my cousin’s home as well as neighbor’s barns. I see others have not rated these alert radios well, but they have been fine for us.
N9TRZ Rating: 2011-08-23
Not Working Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had for just over a year and didn't like the fact that it didn't recognize the EOM after an announcment and now it doesn't recieve NOAA at all. I've looked for a total reset and haven't found that so I gave up on it and bought a new Sangean.
N3ZC Rating: 2011-05-24
Work OK.. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had a bunch of NOAA WeatherRadios over the years. I have weatheradios in several rooms of the house, including one mounted on the bedroom wall next to the bed. I traditionally bought Radio Shack weather radios, even before the NWS used the SAME system. I read the reviews on this one, & grabbed one on Amazon.com. It works as described. The only thing I do not care for is that it does not shut down the audio after the warning alert is fiinished (the NWS sends a data burst to turn these on..and off) but keeps the audio on for another 5 minutes. My Radio Shack WeatherRadios DO have the ability to return themselves to standby after the alert message. (Thus the #4 rating). A great little desktop weather radio, but I still prefer the Radio Shack ones..
KE5TGG Rating: 2011-05-23
Great, but... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the Midland WR-300 radio for over 3 1/2 yrs. It has been put to the test thoroughly, at times vigorously, and has worked almost flawlessly. I like the flexibility it gives you that most lesser-priced radios don't give. You can program which kinds of hazardous conditions you want to receive alerts about (severe weather, Amber alert, etc.), and which counties you want to receive this info about. For instance, I don't need to know about a severe thunderstorm that's in a county 250 miles away. But I definitely want to know about one in the county next to mine that's approaching my own county. Because many of these thunderstorms have hail, high winds, or even tornadoes with them.

There are some negatives though: some of the letters on the read-out are so faint and tiny, I literally have to use a magnifying glass to read them, such as the "A.M." or "P.M." next to the time setting. And somebody please correct me if I'm wrong about this, but this radio does NOT store alerts for later retrieval. To me, those are significant things that need to be corrected. Some people rate the radio by the performance of the AM/FM part of it, or how well the sleep alarm function works. But I couldn't care less about those things. I bought this radio only for one purpose and it fulfills it with flying colors. So my opinion is that the Midland WR-300 is WELL WORTH its price, and if you need more proof of that, here it is:

In another review I read, not on this forum, a guy said that he and his family were in their home in Oklahoma one day, when the siren on this radio started blaring out. He said he looked out the window, grabbed his wife and kids and ran to the storm cellar. Only seconds after they had shut the door, they heard the roar of the tornado directly overhead. Later, when they came out and looked, their house was demolished... but their lives were saved because of this radio. What else need be said?
KB0HAE Rating: 2011-02-06
great WX alert radio! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I “inherited” this radio when a roommate moved out and left it here. He never tried to program it. I like very much that I am able to program which alerts I want to hear, and which counties I want to hear alerts from. This was never meant to be an alarm clock or clock radio. In an emergency I would only be listening to local stations. Those who low rated this radio are missing the point. The radio performs its main function of alerting its users of threatening weather flawlessly. It also allows you to tune in local radio stations in emergency situations. Oh, and mine runs from a 12 volt 7 amp gel cell battery that is float charged by a small power supply.
K8CHK Rating: 2008-06-28
Good WX - VERY BAD AM Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Good thing I bought this for the WX. This weather radio has great weather radio features and the FM is good. However the AM reception is deaf as a doorknob unless you are right in the city. I am only 30 miles from Columbus Ohio and can barely get their strongest station and it is the ONLY station that comes in. I think it is a problem with Midland AM circuits in general as the AM on my XT-511 GMRS Base camp radio is also deaf. Yet I get great AM reception with several pocket transistor radios of other brands Do not consider this as a bedside radio - it is good for WX only.
WN9E Rating: 2008-05-29
Does What I Bought it For Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio for well over a year now. It goes off when it's supposed to and I'm thankful for that. I liked it so much I bought three more to give to family members for Christmas last year.
W6LBV Rating: 2007-06-15
SAME Old Stuff! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In southern California true weather emergencies are thankfully rare, but they do occasionally happen. Considering the small cost involved, an operational NOAA Radio SAME Alert receiver in the house is well justified.

I've owned and operated a Midland WR-300 for three months. I demand only one thing of it: whenever NOAA releases a SAME alert, I want to know about it immediately! The 300 does this flawlessly. All other capabilities that it has are "candy sprinkles on the ice cream cone." There is no other function that it can perform, including basic reception of NOAA Radio channels, that I can't do at least two or three other ways independently of the WR-300. The SAME alerts are everything.

I've tried its other functions, however. The reception of AM and FM broadcast stations is about average for a table top consumer receiver. It's best at coverage of metropolitan stations. The key-press beep tones, while noticeable, are not unnerving. The digital clock keeps accurate time.

I had no expectation that I was buying an NIST-certified instrument, and the WR-300 fulfilled my modest expectations for it. For the price paid, I've received good value.

And, by the way, if you aren't permanently powering your SAME Alert receiver (as well as other critical station receivers and low-powered transmitters) directly from a rechargable 12 volt storage battery plant...then you aren't yet serious about emergency preparations!