Cyclist best friend...

For a cyclist like me, who travels back and forth from home to work on a daily basis on a 20 miles round trip, this is a blessing. People like to listen to MP3s, CDs, and some recreational musics, me, I like to listen to the talk radios, musics when there's nothing to listen to, and the occasional weather reports on the local TV stations, as well as the Nation Weather Broadcast channels.

First Impression:
When I first look at the unit Sony SRF-M80V, my eyes perked up. Slimline, colorful, and conventional when it comes to a mobile radio unit. After reading the mix information about the Sony SRF-M80V, and some on the Sony SRF-M85V, I was quite discouraged at first. But, taking a strong leap of faith, I headed to Walmart, and grab this unit for the test drive. The results were, and still are, exemplary.

Size and design
Cycling/running/sport activities involve in quite a bit of sweats, moistures, and occasional splashes of water for cooling down. The design incorporated the proper protection for the entire external area of the unit, BUT ONE! The headphone jack. Although the headphone jack prevent the water from entering the internal area from a splash, the protection is not 100%. Some water did get in from my cooling splashes. But that was my mistake. I turn the unit headphone jack upward, rather than downward. The arm band is quite convenience, and also bad. Convenience because I can place the unit near the location where I can control the settings. The arm band also cut your blood circulation off when you attempt to affixed the unit around your arm during the intense gravitational jolting. If you loosely attach the arm band around your arm, it will fall off quite easily. Thank goodness for the belt buckle attachment.

Some people like the volume control to be push buttons. To me, the small rotating wheel works just as well. How many time would you touch the volume control during a workout? The only thing is the channel changing buttons. For a small unit like this, the less the buttons, the better. Too many buttons to fumble through can be a pain.

Functionality:
Radio Reception
Depending where you live, if you have a problem in getting s signal with your car radio, don't expect this unit to do any better. Where I travel, I have have both dead and good spots where I can get radio signals with a car. With this unit, the dead spots are lessen for some reason, both for all channels and bands. I got good AM/FM receptions, but a bit less on the Weather/TV bands. The only time there are dead spots or major noises in the frequencies would be near cell towers. There's not a lot of difference between the "Local" and the "DX" setting to boost the signal. If you can't get the signal with Local, you can't get it with DX.

Volume
Max volume is no greater than 100db. I believe this is to prevent hearing damages, and also to conserve power. But max volume with the MegaBass on, bad mistake. Don't try it. If you're travelling in a noisy environment, such as near trucking routes, or a subway, the volume is max out at a perfect level. Quite audible even when I cycle next to a roar engine of an 18 wheeler.

Timers
I don't know how many people are using the Split timers, or even the countdown timers, but the timers are well built in for usages. I rather have a built in alarms and audible sound chimes as extra options.

Reception Channels
Depending on the local broadcast stations broadcasting strength, such as TV/Weather/Radio, the unit will grab them all if the signals are available. All my TV pretuned channels came through when I'm near buildings. In open areas, the signal strength weakened. Weather channels only come up when I'm within the broadcasting range of those channels. So far, only 4. AM/FM, all came through strongly.

Battery Duration
If you're running the unit about 3 hours a day, 7 days a week, the battery will be drained in two weeks. You will notice a drop of signal strength on the second week. If you happen to hear static noise in the background, that means the unit works extra hard and use extra power to get the signal. When that happens, the battery dies roughly about 5 days. I use both Duracel Industrial Strength, and the NiMH rechargeable from Duracel, 900mAH. Both have the same outcome.

Overall Impression:
I'm quite happy with this unit. I have quite a few mobile radio devices, and so far, I'm most pleased with this unit. It may not be the greatest radio receiver unit for the on-the-goers. But the size, functionalities, and the reliability are more than what I've expected for the price. Too bad it couldn't be a bit cheaper.