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Reviews For: SONY ICF-2010

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : SONY ICF-2010
Reviews: 70MSRP: 449.95
Description:
SW/AM/FM/AIR Portable Communications Receiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/ss5/home/radiowalkmanrtm/w
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00704.7
WDM11A Rating: 2005-02-01
Simply the "BEST" Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Sony ICF-2010, what else can I say that already hasn't been said??? I am a portable SW radio "nut" (listener and collector) and I am group leader of a Grundig Satellit internet chat forum of VERY serious SW radio "nuts". And while I love Grundig Satellit radios, the portable SW radio is USE the most often is the SONY 2010. It simply PERFORMS!!! The "synch" detector is excellent. About the only thing I don't like about the radio is that it has NO HANDLE. Other than that...it's almost PERFECT in all respects. EXTREMELY sensitive on SW...will keep up with pretty much ANY portable worldband radio radio ever made, including other Sony worldbands costing MUCH more $$$. If you can believe,it works even better with the Sony AN-LP1 amplified SW antenna. I have TWO 2010's, one purchased brand new from Universal and the other bought USED off ebay. Both work PERFECTLY!!! Never a problem. I can't recommend this radio strongly enough. If I had to have just ONE portable SW radio, this would be it!!! In production for almost 20 YEARS....I think that tells you just how good it is. A GREAT value. SW performance/per dollar ... NUMBER ONE!!!

Mike P (Satellit600)
CLYDEMCCLARAN Rating: 2004-12-28
Simply Excellent! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought mine on E-bay almost a year ago for about $260. My unit was not mint in the box by any means, but a nice used early SN in the series (mine dated to 1988). I received no instructions, but it was still very easy to use and tune.

Summary: This is a fantastic receiver on ALL bands. I do not use a outdoor antennae or have modified filters, but sensitivity and selectivity is excellent! I receive all international broadcasters with a high SWL meter (LED) reading of at least 7+, Sideband on 41 meters is flawless. CBC and RCI (Canada) comes in at a full ten. FM and AM is a DX machine. Only shortcoming is 32 memories, but this is hardly worth mentioning.

New ones are difficult to impossible to find, as Sony discontinued the model about two years ago; but nice examples exist on E-bay for around 300 to 350 dollars. As stated from other sources "this is the Cadillac of portable receivers" can be verified as true.
CBET Rating: 2004-09-19
The Best Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned two of these fine sets over 10 years.I have compared the 2010 next to my Kenwood R 5000. The 5000 had the optional AM filters installed. The 2010 did just as well as the 5000 except a few circumstances. Strong signal selectivity is better on the 5000 (of course). Easy to use with the best frequency input pad I have seen. I understand that the later production units have improvements. Wish I knew where the cutoff point is by serial number. Mine is over 347000. Battery life with Duracells is
excellent!
WA2TCE Rating: 2004-07-08
Fantastic Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I love this radio. I use it with the built-in whip to monitor local nets on 75 and 40 meter SSB, and WWV, SW and broadcast band frequencies. Sensitivity and selectivity are good, and when using external antennas it does not readily overload. The FM (mono) sounds surprisingly good, and the reception on the aircraft band is a plus. You have to use the AM synchronous detector to realize just what an asset it is -- it takes distorted AM signals and cleans them to armchair copy. It makes a huge difference in long distance/night-time AM reception.

A button temporarily illuminates the clock and the LCD frequency indicator. Red LEDs are used for signal strength and battery checking.

I really appreciate the direct entry tuning and simple straight-forward controls. Standard operation is breeze.

By today's standards it may be "large", but I guess that's the tradeoff for good quality sound.

A small downside is that unless you have the Kiwa capacitor mod, when you replace the 3 AA batteries every few years you need to reprogram the 4 rows of frequency selection buttons.
KC0LTV Rating: 2003-11-23
An Excellent Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is definitely a wonderful receiver. I've owned mine since September 2002 (got it off E-Bay). The sync detector works great, sensitivity seems very good, the 32 buttons used for individual memories are convenient, etc. I've used this radio, along with the random wire (I think) antenna that I received with it, to hear and decode SSTV, utility, broadcast, etc. signals with much satisfaction. Altogether, an excellent product and great for a portable DX rig, I'd think! (Although a bit big).
W1FIL Rating: 2003-07-18
All around, it's hard to top it! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
More modern radios have more memory but harder to access. The radio was well thought out, especially when you consider that it began production in the early to mid 80s. Different from the yb400Pe, or Sangean ats803 where it remembers not only the frequency, but lower or upper sideband position or whether sinc was employed or not. I don't live in an area where the radio would suffer from front end overload. I have heard that has been a complaint. Many radios suffer from that problem though. I don't mind the wide filter for mw or swling, but i could see the advantage of narrower filters. Maybe as A Christmas present, I'll have them installed...
EXZL2TWC Rating: 2003-07-11
Lasted how long? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A nuisance from day one. The memory batteries tended to disconnect with even a minor knock. Soldered in a 3v lithium cell, solved that! Chewed through batteries, ouch! Vey sensitive receiver, stable and the syc detector worked. Bought it to the tropics (bad mistake)it lasted 2 years, rusted ic's etc. Has anyone else had this problem in high humidity?
K3SUI Rating: 2003-07-10
Still the best ... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this radio for almost 2 years. My first was a used one I bought off of e-bay. It was awesome. It had the Toyo filter in the high filter position. This is a necessary upgrade. I bought a NEW 2010 almost a year ago because I was so impressed with the used one. This radio is also great, but I really miss the Toyo filter. This radio is the most sensitive portable receiver I've ever used ... and I've used a few. I been ham/swl for almost 50 years. I've collected old/antique receivers for 20 years. I still fire up the Sony when I want to just sit back and listen. I really enjoy the sound of the old tube receivers, but then you need AC, antenna and some space. Sony has tried to kill production on this receiver for YEARS, but whenever that happens there is such an outcry that they produce it for another year. Great receiver. You would not be dissappointed if you owned one!
DX4NZ Rating: 2003-03-29
Industry Standard! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This IS the portable to judge all others by! No wonder it has remained in production for so long. The name 2001D or 2010 was prophetic when Sony released this receiver back in 1984, it surely was way ahead of its time back then. The very fact it remained in production for so long essentially unchanged demonstrates Sony got so much right when they made this receiver. Even now other manufacturers are only catching up with the features Sony introduced with the 2001D/2010. This portable is the yardstick to measure all the others by. As for reliability, 3 pages of positive reviews with only one dissenter speaks for itself. Buy one while you still can, you won't be sorry.
KB9WRY Rating: 2003-01-18
DURABLE AND SENSITIVE Time Owned: more than 12 months.
THIS IS A GREAT RADIO. DURABILITY AND SENSITIVITY ARE BOTH WELL ABOVE AVERAGE. I HAVE HAD MANY RADIOS. THIS IS THE BEST (GRUNDIG SATILITE 700 IS SECOND). GREAT FOR LISTENING TO ALL TYPES OF SIGNALS. I USE THIS RADIO AT HOME. ITS A LITTLE HEAVY TO TOTE AROUND IF YOU TRAVEL FREQUENTLY. IN THAT CASE, I WOULD RECOMMEND THE LIGHTER SONY 7600G OR 7600GR(NEW VERSION). FOR HOME AND LIGHT TRAVEL, THE 2010 CANT BE BEAT. I HEAR THAT IT WILL BE DISCONTINED IN 2003. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN.