Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It's unclear when it all began - somewhere in the last couple of decades, the quality worldband radio receiver slowly faded away. The great names on the shortwave units of yesteryear are now either slapping their badges on drugstore-discount South Asian made devices, or have stopped making radios altogether. The solid metal, the dials and switches, the detailed engineering, all drifted away and replaced with toy-grade plastic, fewer features, and "let's see how cheap we can build it" design. With the exception of one - At first glance, you know right away that the made-in-Japan Sony ICF-SW7600GR is definitely not available at your corner shoppe, much less your local electronics store - the interface consists of 27 buttons, 5 switches, and 3 knobs. There are two clocks and two alarms. There's two output jacks (headphone, line out) right next to the antenna jack. The whip antenna is nearly a full yard in length. Serious, indeed. But as intimidating as it all seems at first, the flowchart-logical layout is very efficient, and anyone who's ever wished their radio had something more than just a Stereo-Mono switch to get a weak signal is accommodated in more ways than one. The seriousness continues when you pick up the 7600GR. Though it's considered a "coat pocket" portable, it feels as though it's filled with concrete or perhaps lead shot. If weight is a sign of quality, the 7600GR makes itself unabashedly clear, weighing in at just over 15 iPod Nanos (1 and 1/3 pounds). The positive-click buttons would be at home in a luxury car, the knobs turn smoothly, and switches move confidently into position. Nothing is loose or rattles, everything is buttoned-down and solid. You could say it feels German, but they stopped making portable radios long ago... Yet all the forethought and engineering that went into the exterior is just the prelude to what's on the inside. This would still be a top-tier portable just on it's receiver components alone, but Sony goes a step further, piling on the professional tuning features (one of which, the Synchronous Detector, is not found on portables from any other manufacturer). The 7600GR is a veritable box of solutions to the all-too-common radio reception problems; the "This weak station is being drowned out by a powerful station" problem, the "This station is almost clear except for a weak station in the background" problem, the "How can I get rid of this high-pitched interference" problem, etc. Without getting too technical, this is a very sensitive receiver on its own, and should reception fall short, there's a barrage of trick electronic tuning tools to try out. Of course no radio is perfect, and the 7600GR isn't immune. There's no knob for tuning, which is all done by buttons. The case is too small for high-fidelity sound from the speaker. The backlight is for the display only, not the buttons. But this is all nitpicking in light of pure tuner power; You won't miss the tuning knob when you get that one near-impossible station that no other radio you've tried can get. If you browse around the internet for 7600GR reviews from experienced radio technicians, you'll find that they essentially come in two categories: the first is "I kept having problem x with radio y, so I just went and got a 7600GR" and the second is "I spent more on my radio rig than I did my car, so when I needed a portable I got a 7600GR." There aren't any lengthy tirades about technical issues or design failures, just page after page of happy owners, sharing their techniques and experiences. Another Amazon reviewer noted that the Sony is the "Best shortwave radio under $200", but this is really selling it short - portable shortwave radios only go up to about $200, and (not counting used units) there aren't any more until you reach the very technical world of tabletop receivers starting at $500. So in reality, *This is the best shortwave radio under $500.* The key to the 7600GR's success is time. The original ICF-SW7600 was introduced way back in 1977, and since then has gone through a miasma of subtle design changes and technical innovations. So as other manufacturers try to find cheaper ways to produce their all-new models, Sony has been slowly honing and refining this single design all along for over 25 years. You can be confident when you hold the 7600GR that it's the time-tested culmination of over a quarter century of engineering and design. Five stars for Sony's instant classic.