Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, you're sitting there viewing this page in your browser, perhaps with a look of doubt in your face. That's why you've scrolled down here to the reviews. You're thinking to yourself "A $30 CB? It can't be worth a flip, right?". I tell ya what, I was thinking the same thing. But I gave it a shot and installed it in my wife's little '97 Corolla a few days ago, and so far I've been pretty impressed. When I pulled it out of its box, my first thought was "Wow, cheap". And indeed it is. Its plastic case has almost no weight to it. The knobs and switches have the tactile feedback of a dirt-cheap appliance from Wal-Mart. Being the ham radio geek that I am, the first thing I did was pull out my trusty phillips screwdriver and open the case. More cheapness on the inside, all of the components no doubt obtained from the lowest bidder somewhere in Asia. However, I didn't see any sign of shoddy manufacturing that I've seen in other super-cheap products. No solder marbles shaking around inside, no apparent bad solder joints, components all in good shape, and everything seems to fit and function well. I put it back together. Time to install. I spent an hour measuring and cutting a hole in the plastic tray beneath the stereo in our little Corolla to accommodate the length of the unit ; slid it in and secured it with 3M double sided tape. It looks pretty good, non obtrusive, black case matching the rest of the plastic in the car. It will no doubt fit will in other small cars too. After some snipping and soldering, I had power from the backside of the cigarette lighter. I temporarily attached my antenna (more on antennas later) and turned it on. My main gripe is the channel knob. The flimsiness of the channel knob is really the only giveaway as to just how cheap of a radio this is. It "clacks" when you turn it, and feels like a child's toy when you do so. The channel doesn't change with every "clack", it could be 2 clacks or one clack before it actually changes. But, it works. And it doesn't feel like it's about to fall off or fly apart, so I'll let it slide. I go to channel 19 and key the mic to ask for a radio check. A trucker on I-20 about 5 miles away tells me it's working fine and sounds OK. I mention that it cost $30, and we share a laugh. That's when I notice my huge metal garage door is still closed. Nice, the radio works pretty well. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hear the speaker since I mounted it flush with the plastic in the dash, speaker covered. I had even bought a $10 cheapo extension speaker from Amazon with the radio. But it's still pretty loud! And it doesn't sound too bad when I crank up the volume. Not bad! I declined to install my extension speaker...for now at least. So I install my mag mount antenna on the truck, tuck the wires in, and put everything back together. Let me give you some radio nerd advice about antennas, because there seems to be lots of confusion about this in CB world. A -LEGAL- CB radio puts out 4 watts AM. That's it. All of them, expensive or inexpensive, doesn't matter...4 watts AM if it's legal. And if you want it to "get out", then you need to squeeze out each of those 4 watts as best as possible. The CB band is around 27 MHZ, or around 12 meters. Boring technicalities aside, it basically means you need a "large" antenna for best efficiency. The absolute best CB antenna ever made is the good ol' 102" whip. You can order them from Radio Shack for about $20. But 102" is huge, and unless you're driving a big truck, it will probably look bad. The second-best antenna you can get, in my opinion, is the Wilson 1000. It has a 62" whip, which is pretty long but doesn't look too bad on a car. They come in mag mount or permanent mount. I'm using a mag mount. Now once you've got the antenna installed, you're not finished. You need to tune it for a good SWR. Go buy a cheapo SWR meter and a small piece of coax from your local CB shop or truck stop, read some directions on the internet, and tune that thing as best as you can get it. The local CB shop might even do it for you if they're nice. It WILL make a difference, and you need all the help you can get when you're only running 4 watts. So, now I have everything installed, antenna tuned, and it looks nice. I start up the car out and cruise around town. I chat with a few other locals in town, as well as truckers passing by on I-20. This little radio is working just as well as my "big" CB in my other car, which cost almost 3 times as much. It doesn't look fancy or have all the features that one does, but when it comes to just plain talking, this cheap guy gets the job done admirably. Someone in another review mentioned how well the squelch works and I can confirm that. This radio may be cheap, but function-wise it works great. The only "dumb" design decision I've noticed is that the speaker shuts off if you unplug the mic. But that doesn't effect you really, you need a mic to use a CB anyway. Wow, this got pretty long, but hopefully it'll help someone out there. If you want a basic CB to do basic CB stuff and don't want to spend a lot of money; go ahead and buy this one. I'll give it 4 stars, deducting only for the flimsy feeling of the channel knob and switches. It's one of the best values I've ever come across in all my years of goofing around with radio. Just remember though, it's all about the antenna. Get a nice long one and tune it as best as you can, and this radio will serve you well.