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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
VE3RPF Rating: 2001-06-09
FANTABULOUS VE3RPF Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
An excellent radio with more buttons and features than I need but always nice to have the option. I own two. One with the Kiwa filters and one without. They are both excellent performers. There is some PLL noise but I hear there is a mod to eliminate it. Very sensitive and a low noise makes for a great receiver. Unfortunately SONY store in CANADA has discontinued. At least that's what I was told by my local Sony store. An impressive radio!
KG6GLN Rating: 2001-06-05
Still the best in its class Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought mine used in '94 with the narrow Kiwa filter already installed. Added the wide Kiwa filter a few years later and it sounds great. For many years it was my only non-local AM/FM broadcast receiver and if I had to choose only one radio to have and take anywhere it would be the 2010. It is fine for SW broadcasts, FM stereo via headphones, and casual ham listening. The 100Hz tuning is a little too coarse for serious ham listening and the narrow filter is too wide for crowded CW, but this was not designed to be a ham receiver. The sync detection works great. If you have an older 2010, be sure to put lightning/static protection onto your external antenna circuit or disconnect it after you finish listening EVERY TIME. In most cases, an external antenna will not really improve on the matched whip that comes with the radio so try it out with just the stock antenna. I think you'll be amazed at how well it performs by itself. It's easy to fix a 2010 that has gone "deaf" due to static damage, but it's easier to prevent it.
There's a reason it is still in production after 16+ years and that used 2010's fetch such high prices even when new ones are around.
N4FO Rating: 2001-04-19
Outstanding Portable Receiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I too read the reviews here and did alot of research before I purchased a shortwave receiver. I have been in ham radio for 22 years and have had various HF transceivers over the years but not a shortwave receiver. I did find a nice used one on Yahoo auctions and have been pleasantly surprised at the excellent selectivity. Yes, it doesn't have all of the "whiz bang" bells and whistles that the SW77 and the new Grundig 800 does, but it still fits the bill. I am glad that I read the reviews here and am very pleased with the ICF-2010 and am looking forward to many hours of pleasurable listening. An outstanding value in receivers, new or used! Get one if you can!
WP3HW Rating: 2001-02-08
Great with Kiwa Filters Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Good radio for general listenig and becomes a great SW Receiver with the Kiwa filters installed. Broad filter eliminates whistles and the narrow filter is better than the stock one as it offers clearer sound and maintains excellent rejection characteristics. Speaker audio is good and becomes excellent with good earphones. Sync detection helps and is sideband selectable which helps a lot. Sensitivity is about as good as it gets. Can't figure out why SONY didn't put this receiver in the ICF-77 which has all the bells and whistles but lacks a good radio.
AA1UY Rating: 2001-01-26
Best of the bunch but not perfect ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Personally, I wouldn't use a SW portable for serious ham band listening (as I have a ham rig for that) so I'll restrict this review to BC band listening.

The standard Murata wide (9.4 ?) KHz filter is way too wide for short wave BC listening in most cases; virtually every station whistles on this radio here in East Coast (USA). The standard narrow filter is way too muffled for my liking so I never used it. I replaced the wide one with the Kiwa 6 KHz wide filter (which is perfect). I think the ideal would be to put the Kiwa wide (6Khz) filter into the Narrow filter slot on this radio, that way you could retain the added fidelity of the Murata (very) wide filter on SW (conditions permitting) and (especially) on AM. Any narrower than 6 KHz for SW BC listening isn't worth the earache IMHO. FM on this radio is on the good side of mediocre in terms of fidelity.

Where this radio excells for me, is in the selectable sideband synchronous detection circuit; it is simply the best (and that *is* a big deal) ! Fading distortion is greatly reduced (much better than on the SW-7600G) and the selectable sideband is great for minimizing QRM. Has a nice smooth, no mute, no chug tuning knob too (a big plus in my book).

The Lowe HF-150 is a close rival as a SW receiver (but no FM and quirky ergonomics !). The Grundig Satellit 700 is a better all-rounder mainly due to the far superior FM (stereo) fidelity (although the sync detector is not nearly so good as the 2010).

Also, it's kinda big for travel and I never quite got used to a strap instead of a handle !

Other than that, it's a very good radio and still probably the best of the bunch after all these years.
KG8KO Rating: 2001-01-07
Wish I still had mine! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been an SWL for about 26 years... went from a Realistic DX-160 to this honey in 1990. I was just amazed at the sheer quality built into this RX! Sure, the built-in speaker bites, but I was able to get useful audio from tropical band stations from just a modest long-wire antenna. The AM sync circuit is still the best available after all these years... may God bless that man from Sony! I traded it in for some ham equipment and regret it to this day... GET ONE before Sony discontinues it! I have a DX-390 now... anyone want to buy it?
K2JX Rating: 2000-09-09
Great portable sw rcvr Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For years I wanted a small portable AM/FM/SW receiver. Of course it had to have CW/SSB and the Am aviation bands. After careful consideration and reading the reviews here on eHam I purchased the Sony ICF-2010 from AES ($359). I have to say this is one great radio that far exceeded my expectations. I carry it everywhere my XYL says!
I use Ten-Tec and Yaesu gear here in the shack and I must say the rx in the Sony seems to be just as sensitive as they are. Selectivity is good to excellent and the audio is wonderful. I can't believe how many stations it will "pull" in on Long Wave with just the built in ferrite antenna. There are only a couple of minor complaints I have with the radio but these are operator prefrence so I won't mention them here.
Overall I love it, its rock stabile and easy to use.
W5XTC Rating: 2000-07-14
The All-Time Favorite Worldband Portable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I only had a 2010 briefly, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway. This model is an absolute classic still being produced since the mid-80's and giving it anything less than a 5 would be blasphemy. It has a very interesting history - it stems from Sony's failed attempt to make a go of AM stereo. The audio is about the only agreed upon weak point, but for actually getting a readable signal, portables don't get any better. This was perhaps the first portable with really good sync detection, and many would say still the best. There's an array of 32 buttons on the front for one-touch access of your favorite frequencies - it's a remarkably convenient form of tuning. There's no way any company would design a radio like this today - it would be too expensive. It's the closest you can come to tabletop receiver performance in a portable. If you don't mind the small, weak speaker too much, this is an excellent choice. It's not just
"a classic" - it's "the classic".
WP3GN Rating: 2000-07-12
Best for the Money !!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
For your every day monitoring and to take out on trips. If you want ham gear perfomance on a small package, this is the way to go.
WB9YCJ Rating: 2000-05-30
The world's best selling radio of all time-Period. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A World Classic!
Made even better with Kiwa filters.
Sangean 909 eat your heart out!
Several improvement mods available.