Etón E1XM AM/FM Shortwave XM-Ready Radio
By: Eton Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 17
More Information
 On: 2008-05-09
There must be something wrong with this radio. I own three other shortwave receivers; a Panasonic RF-B65 which I purchased in 1989, a Zenith Trans-Oceanic 3000 from the early 1960s, and a Zenith Trans-Oceanic G500 tube set which was built in 1950, and is about the size of a small suitcase, and uses tubes instead of transistors. Either one of these radios, in shortwave mode, will completely blow the Eton E1 out of the room. As I said, there must be something wrong with the Eton E1.
 On: 2008-03-03
This Eton E1 shortwave radio is nothing short of fabulous. Every conceivable option is built into this midsized portable radio. The sensitivity is great and the selectivity is easily changable from the panel buttons. I always wanted a good shortwave radio, and now I have one! Im a ham radio operator and my transceiver has a built-in shortwave radio. This Eton is almost a sensitive as my transceiver.
 On: 2008-02-27
After a year mine had to go get fixed, Im very glad that I paid for a 3 year extended service. The sw, and fm are good, but listening to am is terrible. While my E1 is at the factory being repaired I took out a Sangean 818 that cost me 10.00 dolars used at a swap meet, and has never had any problem after many years of use, I am also using a Sony 2010 that is about 10 years old and never given trouble.
On: 2008-01-08
If it worked, it would be one of the best radios around.
The features are fantastic.
Unfortunately, there have been BIG reliability problems, I returned mine as many have.
If you want this radio, I would wait until it becomes clear if the problems have been fixed.
On: 2007-12-27
Great radio combineing the best aspects of portable (though no carry handle unfortunatly) and table top. Circuit City (where I got mine) is selling these for half of Amazons price currently. It comes with a pretty steep learning curve compared to your average radio but if you fully read the manual all things are made quite clear. This is the next generation of Grundigs after the Satellite 800 of the mid 80s but with a new brand name and a product recall for about 2k of them. Me Ive had no problems with mine so I guess I got lucky with the manufacture of it, made in India as it is (cheap labor can be taken for what its worth).
Expect to shell out another $50 or so plus the price of subscription to XM satellite commercial free airplay, maybe if I fell so motivated Ill spring for that but at present Im safisfied with all the entertainment and news thats available free of charge.
Please read the manual before judging this device, the paper one is well printed and they also include a cd disk with some additional facts and so forth.
On the whole Im thrilled with it as its without a doubt the best radio Ive ever owned and Ive had any number of portables and table tops over the past 30 years.
On: 2007-12-26
Great radio combineing the best aspects of portable (though no carry handle unfortunatly) and table top. Circuit City (where I got mine) is selling these for half of Amazons price currently. It comes with a pretty steep learning curve compared to your average radio but if you fully read the manual all things are made quite clear. This is the next generation of Grundigs after the Satellite 800 of the mid 80s but with a new brand name and a product recall for about 2k of them. Me Ive had no problems with mine so I guess I got lucky with the manufacture of it, made in India as it is (cheap labor can be taken for what its worth).
Expect to shell out another $50 or so plus the price of subscription to XM satellite commercial free airplay, maybe if I fell so motivated Ill spring for that but at present Im safisfied with all the entertainment and news thats available free of charge.
Please read the manual before judging this device, the paper one is well printed and they also include a cd disk with some additional facts and so forth.
On the whole Im thrilled with it as its without a doubt the best radio Ive ever owned and Ive had any number of portables and table tops over the past 30 years.
On: 2007-09-28
With nearly all portable SW radios made in China now, you can expect some quality control issues. But in a $500 portable radio? I bought mine to use during power outages in hurricane season. I didnt even take it out of the box until the first hurricane of the season, and the display was defective (a problem that is rampant in these radios). After spending another $250 to get a new display, I had a bad taste in my mouth. This radio is a combination of excellent engineering and design (with the help of Drake Radio) and absolutely horrid materials and quality control. The era of the high quality SW portable radio is fading faster than this radios display screen. Grundig should have built it in the Western World for $200 more. It could be a marvelous $700 radio with high quality parts. Instead, it is a Rolls Royce built with Yugo parts. I would rather have a Yugo built with Rolls Royce parts.
On: 2007-09-27
With nearly all portable SW radios made in China now, you can expect some quality control issues. But in a $500 portable radio? I bought mine to use during power outages in hurricane season. I didnt even take it out of the box until the first hurricane of the season, and the display was defective (a problem that is rampant in these radios). After spending another $250 to get a new display, I had a bad taste in my mouth. This radio is a combination of excellent engineering and design (with the help of Drake Radio) and absolutely horrid materials and quality control. The era of the high quality SW portable radio is fading faster than this radios display screen. Grundig should have built it in the Western World for $200 more. It could be a marvelous $700 radio with high quality parts. Instead, it is a Rolls Royce built with Yugo parts. I would rather have a Yugo built with Rolls Royce parts.
On: 2007-09-15
As some reviewers have pointed out, these radios seem to have a higher than average failure rate of the LCD display, among other problems. I returned two for this very reason. The design is quite good and performance outstanding, but numerous complaints suggest that the build components may not be top quality.
Also, should the radio need repair, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find out the manufacturer will not honor their own factory warranty, -unless- the radio was purchased from an approved vendor. Im not criticizing that policy, just stating a fact.
Non-warranty repairs are currently refered to the R.L. Drake company. Their quoted service fees are $20 per quarter-hour (1 hour average repair time), plus the cost of any parts. Getting a bad display fixed will run you $200-350 out of pocket depending on parts/time required.
Bottom line, I cant recommend the E1XM radio at this time. Perhaps in the future after Eton sorts out the quality issues. If you decide to get one, make sure it comes from an Eton-approved vendor so you get the factory warranty. Vendors are listed on the bottom of the E1XM product page at Etons website. Spring for an extended warranty too, if available, because you may need it.
On: 2007-07-18
The Eton E1 is the BEST SW receiver Ive ever owned. After 15 years of enjoying the Radio Shack DX-380 and DX-398 (Sangean ATS-909) models and the Grundig Yacht Boy 400 PE (now sold as the G4000A,) I was unprepared for the huge leap in listening quality and quantity the E1 would offer. Its one amazing machine.
For starters, its VERY sensitive even off the whip (which is beefy and extends about three and a half feet.) My 398 was and is quite hard of hearing, but the E1 excels and impresses. True, it uses the whip antenna for MW reception (since the display generated too much noise to include a traditional ferrite bar) but performance there is also impressive. When using even a 60-foot non-engineered do-it-yourself antenna, theres no overloading, and an external antenna improves both SW reception (as it should) and MW reception alike. The FM reception is also impressive. The external antenna jack is non-standard for the US, using a European PAL television cable jack. My E1 did NOT come with an adapter to get from PAL to standard coax, but I found an inexpensive one at Radio Shack. There are handy switches for choosing between the internal and your external antenna, one for SW/MW and another for FM. Further, there is a preamp available for SW/MW and FM, which also functions very well. It actually seems to increase the signal to noise ratio, rather than just increasing the noise floor along with the signal.
The sound through the speaker is very good, with continuous adjustment knobs for both treble and bass. Yes, just the one speaker as on most SW radios, so thats just mono for FM and XM (but there are stereo headphone and line-out jacks for stereo listening.) The speaker sound is a bit flat, however. It is certainly outclassed by the E1s analog brother, the S350DL. The E1 has a bigger sound than a small portable, but not all the dynamic range you could hope for (but not bad, either.)
The synchronous detection is absolutely SUPERB, and is selectable for USB, LSB and DSB (dual sideband.) Its fantastically effective at eliminating or greatly reducing fading distortion and usually completely negates adjacent-channel interference as well. The feature really makes an unlistenably distorted SW station sound enjoyable, and as such, it greatly increases the number of stations youll find you want to listen to. This AM Sync also locks onto incredibly weak stations nearly totally buried in noise, and it holds the lock permanently in every case Ive tried. EVERY SW listener should seek out synchronous detection (available much more cheaply in the Sony ICF-SW7600GR as well) as its truly the difference between night and day.
The SSB reception is PERFECT. With 10 Hz tuning, you can zero-beat every SSB transmission you find, and the stability is also perfect. SSB also works perfectly for AM stations in SW and MW, if you want to use ECSS instead of AM Sync. Sometimes a scratchy SW station will sound much cleaner in SSB than the AM Sync will give you, so there are numerous tuning options at your disposal. Tuning in general can be done at 10 Hz, which is very fine indeed (though the tuning knob is also a bit touchy; its harder than it should be to land on the exact frequency you want - a little like trying to land on an exact-dollar amount without going over by a penny when the gas prices are too high - though the up/down slew button allows you to tune exactly in 5 kHz steps on SW.) Further, theres continuous Passband Tuning, so you can slew up and down within a sideband, to get away from interference and maximize the audio quality. The performance of this PBT is superb as well. Theres also a selectable 30 dB boost for rejecting the unwanted sideband.
The station memories are MASSIVE and nicely laid out with 1700 memory slots for your use. 500 have the ability for individual 14-character labels and the other 1200 are in pages of 10 stations each (for 120 pages total) with page labels for each of up to 39 characters over three lines (good for subdividing the page for different stations.) These page labels are factory-set with 111 country names (the others being blank,) all of which can be changed to your liking. The 500 can include any band except XM and are accessible via a button called MEMORY, while the 1200 are only for SW and are accessed through a button called COUNTRY. Scanning is available for both banks, and for the bands in general. Theres even a squelch knob, which you can set at the background noise level, so scanning will instantly find the next signal above the noise. This is a great help for band-scanning and using the memories, though for stronger stations of course. You can also tag any of the 1700 memories and scan only through the tagged stations.
Also, each of the memories recalls several modes, calling up not just the exact tuning, but also the sideband, the AGC setting (which is available in Slow, Fast or Auto,) the Passband Tuning offset, and the filter size. There are three filter sizes (7 kHz, 4 kHz and 2.5 kHz) and all are excellent (sadly, theres no 12 kHz filter, which would enable DRM reception.) Being able to scan so many memories using the squelch means theres always something on you want to listen to, with no trouble finding it. The squelch can be set either to mute or not. I prefer hearing the noise to discern what might be lurking there.
Again, theres NO DRM RECEPTION, but at this time, only a few stations are even experimenting with digital shortwave, so youre not missing much (Deutsche Welles European service is now DRM, but their African service is still analog.) It should be possible to mod the E1 to pick up the 455 kHz signal prior to the IF, feed it into a 455 to 12 kHz mixer (which youll have to buy online separately,) and then run that signal into your computers audio input jack (to decode with the appropriate software,) but thats only for those comfortable with fairly detailed soldering work. I havent personally seen any mods for the E1 yet.
The display screen is the LOW POINT of the radio. Not only does it have an unattractive blue/grey glow that some have likened to an Etch-a-Sketch, but it is only visible from a few angles, and the dark graphics on the display tend to streak while tuning (apparently due to "state-change noise" as the microprocessor redraws the screen.) This is unacceptable in a radio at this price. I find the streaking to be very distracting and it continually gives me the impression of a junk component having been soldered on to an otherwise fabulous radio. Eton really dropped the ball on this aspect. Further, there are many reports of complete screen failures, both out-of-the box and after one year of use. The radio is nonfunctional after the display dies, and youll have to mail it to a third party for repairs. Most units seem to have no display failures, but an unacceptable number do (about 20% in one unscientific sample from a Yahoo group.) However, for all its drawbacks, the display screen does offer an UNPRECEDENTED amount of useful information in a SW radio. Great idea - bad component construction.
**************************************************************************
Eton is finicky about their warranty policy. Check ahead of time that you are buying from an Eton Authorized Seller to make sure you get the one-year warranty.
**************************************************************************
All in all, the radio performance is absolutely fabulous. Theres also XM for those of you wanting to buy the antenna and the XM subscription (which I havent been inclined to do, being primarily interested in shortwave.) And for some reason LW is included as well (though no one uses that outside of Europe and Africa - it certainly isnt used in North America, which is the only place one can get XM.) Theres also no RDS info for FM, but I never cared for that. My 398 gets RDS and most of the time the info wasnt too useful (just station ID which I knew anyway.) There are two clocks, with an auto Daylight Savings Time option, and the time sets itself atomic-clock style from the SW time beacons in Colorado when the E1 is turned off. Subsequently, it keeps very exact time.
The radio itself is quite large and HEAVY (especially after inserting four D batteries,) yet theres NO carrying handle (still, I consider this one a tabletop radio rather than a portable; I wouldnt want it bouncing around in the trunk of my car!) The buttons, switches, and knobs are nicely laid out and have a good feel (though my tuning knob had some slight off-center chafing upon first use, though that went away after a few minutes.) The brown color is pleasant (nice to have a radio that isnt silver or black) and the rubberized coating feels great (though it does tend to drink up dust and oil more than youd want.) I found the overall ergonomics to be excellent and the radio easy to use, even with all the options. Also, Ive noticed no ghosting of stations, either from strong stations within the SW bands or intruding from MW or FM (which happens all the time on my cheap analog radio.)
I live in the Midwest, and thanks to the superior sensitivity and synchronous detection of the E1 I can now regularly ENJOY music from Greece, Egypt, Tunisia, Israel, Kuwait, Ukraine, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, to name a few (and enjoy isnt a word I could use to describe SW audio quality until now - for me, thats HUGE.)
If youre a serious SW listener who doesnt mind spending four or five bills on your hobby, this ones for you.
On: 2007-07-18
Best SW receiver Ive ever owned. VERY sensitive even off the whip, excellent with your own external antenna. Speaker sound is great, synchronous detection is SUPERB at making those unlistenably distorted SW stations sound really enjoyable, perfect SSB reception, MASSIVE and nicely laid out station memories, squelch feature is great for muting the noise while autoscanning for stronger stations.
Couldnt be happier, except theres NO DRM RECEPTION. Should be possible to mod radio to connect to your home computer to decode DRM with approprite software, but only if youre comfortable soldering electronics.
Also, after using the radio for a few months, the graphics on the display tend to streak while tuning. Apparently, it is due to "state-change noise" as the microprocessor redraws the screen. This is unacceptable in a radio at this price. Also, the display has an unattractive blue/grey glow that looks like an Etch-a-Sketch.
Eton is finicky about their warranty policy. Check ahead of time that you are buying from an Eton Authorized Seller to make sure you get the one-year warranty.
Fabulous radio performance. Inferior junk for the display. Eton/Drake/Grundig/Tecsun really dropped the ball on that component.
On: 2007-07-18
Best SW receiver Ive ever owned. VERY sensitive even off the whip, excellent with your own external antenna. Speaker sound is great, synchronous detection is SUPERB at making those unlistenably distorted SW stations sound really enjoyable, perfect SSB reception, MASSIVE and nicely laid out station memories, squelch feature is great for muting the noise while autoscanning for stronger stations.
Couldnt be happier, except theres NO DRM RECEPTION. Should be possible to mod radio to connect to your home computer to decode DRM with approprite software, but only if youre comfortable soldering electronics.
Eton is finicky about their warranty policy. Check ahead of time that you are buying from an Eton Authorized Seller to make sure you get the one-year warranty.
On: 2007-07-18
*** UPDATE, nearly one year later: While Im still impressed with the radios design and performance, two issues have now degraded my ability to enjoy it. First, the unit is going deaf on its external antenna jack and second, its now allowing ghosting of a strong local FM station across the entire SW spectrum. I will not be sending the unit in for repair as there is no guarantee it will be repaired properly and I dont feel like spending $200 to fix a radio that is ten months old. I will also never buy another Eton product. While the design is excellent, the component construction is unreliable. My next radio will be a Ten-Tec. I will buy another E1 if I see one for less than $100 new. ***
The Eton E1 is the BEST SW receiver Ive ever owned. After 15 years of enjoying the Radio Shack DX-380 and DX-398 (Sangean ATS-909) models and the Grundig Yacht Boy 400 PE (now sold as the G4000A,) I was unprepared for the huge leap in listening quality and quantity the E1 would offer. Its one amazing machine.
For starters, its VERY sensitive even off the whip (which is beefy and extends about three and a half feet.) My 398 was and is quite hard of hearing, but the E1 excels and impresses. True, it uses the whip antenna for MW reception (since the display generated too much noise to include a traditional ferrite bar) but performance there is also impressive. When using even a 60-foot non-engineered do-it-yourself antenna, theres no overloading, and an external antenna improves both SW reception (as it should) and MW reception alike. The FM reception is also impressive. The external antenna jack is non-standard for the US, using a European PAL television cable jack. My E1 did NOT come with an adapter to get from PAL to standard coax, but I found an inexpensive one at Radio Shack. There are handy switches for choosing between the internal and your external antenna, one for SW/MW and another for FM. Further, there is a preamp available for SW/MW and FM, which also functions very well. It actually seems to increase the signal to noise ratio, rather than just increasing the noise floor along with the signal.
The sound through the speaker is very good, with continuous adjustment knobs for both treble and bass. Yes, just the one speaker as on most SW radios, so thats just mono for FM and XM (but there are stereo headphone and line-out jacks for stereo listening.) The speaker sound is a bit flat, however. It is certainly outclassed by the E1s analog brother, the S350DL. The E1 has a bigger sound than a small portable, but not all the dynamic range you could hope for (but not bad, either.)
The synchronous detection is absolutely SUPERB, and is selectable for USB, LSB and DSB (dual sideband.) Its fantastically effective at eliminating or greatly reducing fading distortion and usually completely negates adjacent-channel interference as well. The feature really makes an unlistenably distorted SW station sound enjoyable, and as such, it greatly increases the number of stations youll find you want to listen to. This AM Sync also locks onto incredibly weak stations nearly totally buried in noise, and it holds the lock permanently in every case Ive tried. EVERY SW listener should seek out synchronous detection (available much more cheaply in the Sony ICF-SW7600GR as well) as its truly the difference between night and day.
The SSB reception is PERFECT. With 10 Hz tuning, you can zero-beat every SSB transmission you find, and the stability is also perfect. SSB also works perfectly for AM stations in SW and MW, if you want to use ECSS instead of AM Sync. Sometimes a scratchy SW station will sound much cleaner in SSB than the AM Sync will give you, so there are numerous tuning options at your disposal. Tuning in general can be done at 10 Hz, which is very fine indeed (though the tuning knob is also a bit touchy; its harder than it should be to land on the exact frequency you want - a little like trying to land on an exact-dollar amount without going over by a penny when the gas prices are too high - though the up/down slew button allows you to tune exactly in 5 kHz steps on SW.) Further, theres continuous Passband Tuning, so you can slew up and down within a sideband, to get away from interference and maximize the audio quality. The performance of this PBT is superb as well. Theres also a selectable 30 dB boost for rejecting the unwanted sideband.
The station memories are MASSIVE and nicely laid out with 1700 memory slots for your use. 500 have the ability for individual 14-character labels and the other 1200 are in pages of 10 stations each (for 120 pages total) with page labels for each of up to 39 characters over three lines (good for subdividing the page for different stations.) These page labels are factory-set with 111 country names (the others being blank,) all of which can be changed to your liking. The 500 can include any band except XM and are accessible via a button called MEMORY, while the 1200 are only for SW and are accessed through a button called COUNTRY. Scanning is available for both banks, and for the bands in general. Theres even a squelch knob, which you can set at the background noise level, so scanning will instantly find the next signal above the noise. This is a great help for band-scanning and using the memories, though for stronger stations of course. You can also tag any of the 1700 memories and scan only through the tagged stations.
Also, each of the memories recalls several modes, calling up not just the exact tuning, but also the sideband, the AGC setting (which is available in Slow, Fast or Auto,) the Passband Tuning offset, and the filter size. There are three filter sizes (7 kHz, 4 kHz and 2.3 kHz) and all are excellent (sadly, theres no 12 kHz filter, which would enable DRM reception.) Being able to scan so many memories using the squelch means theres always something on you want to listen to, with no trouble finding it. The squelch can be set either to mute or not. I prefer hearing the noise to discern what might be lurking there.
Again, theres NO DRM RECEPTION, but at this time, only a few stations are even experimenting with digital shortwave, so youre not missing much (Deutsche Welles European service is now DRM, but their African service is still analog.) It should be possible to mod the E1 to pick up the 455 kHz signal prior to the IF, feed it into a 455 to 12 kHz mixer (which youll have to buy online separately,) and then run that signal into your computers audio input jack (to decode with the appropriate software,) but thats only for those comfortable with fairly detailed soldering work. I havent personally seen any mods for the E1 yet.
The display screen is the LOW POINT of the radio. Not only does it have an unattractive blue/grey glow that some have likened to an Etch-a-Sketch, but it is only visible from a few angles, and the dark graphics on the display tend to streak while tuning (apparently due to "state-change noise" as the microprocessor redraws the screen.) Sometimes, chunks of the graphics disappear and reappear even when not tuning. This is unacceptable in a radio at this price. I find the streaking to be very distracting and it continually gives me the impression of a junk component having been soldered on to an otherwise fabulous radio. Eton really dropped the ball on this aspect. Further, there are many reports of complete screen failures, both out-of-the box and after one year of use. The radio is nonfunctional after the display dies, and youll have to mail it to a third party for repairs. Most units seem to have no display failures, but an unacceptable number do (about 20% in one unscientific sample from a Yahoo group.) However, for all its drawbacks, the display screen does offer an UNPRECEDENTED amount of useful information in a SW radio. Great idea - bad component construction.
**************************************************************************
Eton is finicky about their warranty policy. Check ahead of time that you are buying from an Eton Authorized Seller to make sure you get the one-year warranty.
**************************************************************************
All in all, the radio performance is absolutely fabulous. Theres also XM for those of you wanting to buy the antenna and the XM subscription (which I havent been inclined to do, being primarily interested in shortwave.) And for some reason LW is included as well (though no one uses that outside of Europe and Africa - it certainly isnt used in North America, which is the only place one can get XM.) Theres also no RDS info for FM, but I never cared for that. My 398 gets RDS and most of the time the info wasnt too useful (just station ID which I knew anyway.) There are two clocks, with an auto Daylight Savings Time option, and the time sets itself atomic-clock style from the SW time beacons in Colorado when the E1 is turned off. Subsequently, it keeps very exact time.
The radio itself is quite large and HEAVY (especially after inserting four D batteries,) yet theres NO carrying handle (still, I consider this one a tabletop radio rather than a portable; I wouldnt want it bouncing around in the trunk of my car!) The buttons, switches, and knobs are nicely laid out and have a good feel (though my tuning knob had some slight off-center chafing upon first use, though that went away after a few minutes.) The brown color is pleasant (nice to have a radio that isnt silver or black) and the rubberized coating feels great (though it does tend to drink up dust and oil more than youd want.) I found the overall ergonomics to be excellent and the radio easy to use, even with all the options. Also, Ive noticed no ghosting of stations, either from strong stations within the SW bands or intruding from MW or FM (which happens all the time on my cheap analog radio.)
I live in the Midwest, and thanks to the superior sensitivity and synchronous detection of the E1 I can now regularly ENJOY music from Greece, Egypt, Tunisia, Israel, Kuwait, Ukraine, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, to name a few (and enjoy isnt a word I could use to describe SW audio quality until now - for me, thats HUGE.)
If youre a serious SW listener who doesnt mind spending four or five bills on your hobby, this ones for you. I just wish the display quality was on par with the rest of the radio.
On: 2007-07-14
Ive had the radio for exactly a year and the display just went south on me. Its completely unreadable and useless. In searching the archives on the E1XM Yahoo group, this seems to be a common problem. Some have had to return theirs for the display problem four times! Something tells me I have a $500 lemon now.
On: 2007-07-13
Ive had the radio for exactly a year and the display just went south on me. Its completely unreadable and useless. In searching the archives on the E1XM Yahoo group, this seems to be a common problem. Some have had to return theirs for the display problem four times! Something tells me I have a $500 lemon now.
November 2007 update: Eton decided to repair the display in July (it actually went to RL Drake) and from the date I sent it out to the date I got it back was less than a week. I let the radio run non-stop, first on batteries until they died, then on the AC power for about 4 weeks total. The radio performed flawlessly and has since then. My advice, as others have stated, is to pay slightly more and buy it from an authorized dealer (make sure you check with Eton as to who is and who isnt an authorized dealer). Once you get it, use the heck out of it for the whole year. Any fault should present itself within the warranty time
On: 2007-02-28
Physically this radio is fairly large, (13.1" x 7.1" x 2.3"), and at around 5lbs with batteries, surprisingly heavy for a portable. I tend to keep it on a Universal Radio plexiglas stand next to me rather than in my lap. Its an attractive, very modern looking receiver, yet very reminiscent of older Grudig Satellit portables. The radio features an interesting rubberized gray finish that seems to attract dust, but would probably be handy if you move your receiver around a lot and dont want to drop it. The monitor is cool blue in color, and quite large at 4 ½" x 3 ½". With three levels of illumination, its easy to view in a darkened room, but not quite bright enough for my taste in moderate light. Similarly, the contrast is good, but fades dramatically when viewed from an angle. One thing that Eton did get 100% right in my opinion is the control layout. Unless you change your antenna source often, every function you need is right where you need it on the front of the radio, (including the battery compartment!). Sound quality is represented by four knobs on the left, (Squelch, Treble, Bass, and Volume), while major tuning functions are located on the right, (buttons for XM, FM, SW, MW/LW, VFO, two types of memory, customized and by country, tuning step, plus knobs for Tuning and Passband Tuning). Finer tuning function are accessed by more buttons located below the monitor from left to right and include AGC, 3 filters, PBT, Sync lock, and SSB/USB/LSB. All of this, plus a large step tune toggle button, make band scanning a breeze. You just choose your band, scan by whatever method your prefer, then drill down on any frequency you want to improve. To this affect it should be noted that the Passband Tuning function on the E1 works exceptionally well, as does the Sync Lock. All of the E1s tuning functions used in conjunction will yield useable frequencies that you might never hear on lesser enabled receivers. Once youve zeroed in on your frequency, you have an extensive memory system within which to store it. With a little creativity, the 14 character alpha tag lets you create your own classifications, or just enter them into the preinstalled memory organized by country. The only memory feature lacking is a program time setting that allows one to set the start and end time of individual broadcasts, paired up with the timer system, etc., as was beautifully implemented on the Sony ICF-SW77. This is not a problem if you happen to carry around a copy of Passport to World Band Radio, but Id still like to see it on a $500 radio for those frequencies that carry multiple stations depending on the time of the day. Once your memories are programmed, operation of the E1 is VERY slick. The main tuning knob glides through memories with very little dead air and no chuffing. Scanning these same memories is as sensitive as your squelch setting. The speaker audio on the E1 is pleasant for a portable, but not outstanding. This is partially compensated for by the separate Bass and Treble controls, but not to the extent of filling the room with rich sound.
E1 distinguishes itself from other portables with its arsenal of diverse and very effective fine tuning aids. The E1 is quite adept at flushing out weak signals. In this respect it performs more like a tabletop than a portable, at a fraction of the price. If you are considering a tabletop for DXing, the E1 is a tempting, relatively inexpensive option loaded with meaningful features. If you are considering a portable shortwave that also offers high performance, the E1 is light years ahead of anything currently in production and embodies best of some of the great receivers from the past. The E1 is not the best at everything, but in my opinion, it offers the best combination of function, features, and aesthetics of any portable weve seen so far. Hopefully it wont mark the end of an era.
On: 2007-02-27
Physically this radio is fairly large, (13.1" x 7.1" x 2.3"), and at around 5lbs with batteries, surprisingly heavy for a portable. I tend to keep it on a Universal Radio plexiglas stand next to me rather than in my lap. Its an attractive, very modern looking receiver, yet very reminiscent of older Grudig Satellit portables. The radio features an interesting rubberized gray finish that seems to attract dust, but would probably be handy if you move your receiver around a lot and dont want to drop it. The monitor is cool blue in color, and quite large at 4 ½" x 3 ½". With three levels of illumination, its easy to view in a darkened room, but not quite bright enough for my taste in moderate light. Similarly, the contrast is good, but fades dramatically when viewed from an angle. One thing that Eton did get 100% right in my opinion is the control layout. Unless you change your antenna source often, every function you need is right where you need it on the front of the radio, (including the battery compartment!). Sound quality is represented by four knobs on the left, (Squelch, Treble, Bass, and Volume), while major tuning functions are located on the right, (buttons for XM, FM, SW, MW/LW, VFO, two types of memory, customized and by country, tuning step, plus knobs for Tuning and Passband Tuning). Finer tuning function are accessed by more buttons located below the monitor from left to right and include AGC, 3 filters, PBT, Sync lock, and SSB/USB/LSB. All of this, plus a large step tune toggle button, make band scanning a breeze. You just choose your band, scan by whatever method your prefer, then drill down on any frequency you want to improve. To this affect it should be noted that the Passband Tuning function on the E1 works exceptionally well, as does the Sync Lock. All of the E1s tuning functions used in conjunction will yield useable frequencies that you might never hear on lesser enabled receivers. Once youve zeroed in on your frequency, you have an extensive memory system within which to store it. With a little creativity, the 14 character alpha tag lets you create your own classifications, or just enter them into the preinstalled memory organized by country. The only memory feature lacking is a program time setting that allows one to set the start and end time of individual broadcasts, paired up with the timer system, etc., as was beautifully implemented on the Sony ICF-SW77. This is not a problem if you happen to carry around a copy of Passport to World Band Radio, but Id still like to see it on a $500 radio for those frequencies that carry multiple stations depending on the time of the day. Once your memories are programmed, operation of the E1 is VERY slick. The main tuning knob glides through memories with very little dead air and no chuffing. Scanning these same memories is as sensitive as your squelch setting. The speaker audio on the E1 is pleasant for a portable, but not outstanding. This is partially compensated for by the separate Bass and Treble controls, but not to the extent of filling the room with rich sound.
E1 distinguishes itself from other portables with its arsenal of diverse and very effective fine tuning aids. The E1 is quite adept at flushing out weak signals. In this respect it performs more like a tabletop than a portable, at a fraction of the price. If you are considering a tabletop for DXing, the E1 is a tempting, relatively inexpensive option loaded with meaningful features. If you are considering a portable shortwave that also offers high performance, the E1 is light years ahead of anything currently in production and embodies best of some of the great receivers from the past. The E1 is not the best at everything, but in my opinion, it offers the best combination of function, features, and aesthetics of any portable weve seen so far. Hopefully it wont mark the end of an era.
On: 2006-03-21
NOTE: Watch out - the batteries blow up, when used with the AC adaptor !
So, what is the point of plopping down $500 for this radio - there is not much of interest on shortwave anymore, one can buy a $25 Radio Shack model 12-898 digital PLL AM/FM radio for AM DXing (THE E1 DOESNT EVEN HAVE AN INTERNAL FERRITE-BAR ANTENNA, OR COME WITH A SATELLITE ANTENNA !), and one can buy a satellite radio for $50, now. Also, after getting $500 in-the-hole, one gets to shell out a monthly fee for satellite radio, plus an activation fee - a bigger ripoff than cable T.V. ! Evidentually, there are major technical problems with the actual satellites, so its future is in question !
So, what is the bottom-line ? Well lets see, $500 for the radio, probably another $100 - $200 for the AM and satellite external antennas, $9 - $12 monthly fee, and the activation fee. Is this another blunder by Grundig/Eton/Tecsun, or a total ripoff - I suspect a bit of both ! So, $500 for a receiver that does not even receive/process IBOC for AM/FM, or DRM for SW !
This baby, I believe, is assembled in India, while the rest of the Grundig/Eton/Tecsun junk is made in China. I wonder, if the E1 is as cheap as, the Grundig S350 ?
This is a copy of a post from gearlog.com (the BBC and "Voice of the Andes" are now gone, too):
Shortwave Eton E1
Posted by: Larry N.
Monday, October 31, 2005 8:03 PM
David,
I am shocked your would recommend this new radio from Eton.
Honest?, DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT? It does not have Digital Radio Mondale! Who in 2005/2006 would spend $500.00 for a top of the line portable without it? In few years the shortwave part of this radio will be useless. DW is leaving analog shortwave by June 2006. Radio New Zealand by the end of December 2006.
I would hope you would admit your mistake and if not withdrawing your recommendation at least make note of the lack of Digital Radio Mondale and why that is important!
73
Larry
On: 2006-03-20
NOTE: Watch out - the batteries blow up, when used with the AC adaptor !
So, what is the point of plopping down $500 for this radio - there is not much of interest on shortwave anymore, one can buy a $25 Radio Shack model 12-898 digital PLL AM/FM radio for AM DXing (THE E1 DOESNT EVEN HAVE AN INTERNAL FERRITE-BAR ANTENNA, OR COME WITH A SATELLITE ANTENNA !), and one can buy a satellite radio for $50, now. Also, after getting $500 in-the-hole, one gets to shell out a monthly fee for satellite radio, plus an activation fee - a bigger ripoff than cable T.V. ! Evidentually, there are major technical problems with the actual satellites, so its future is in question !
So, what is the bottom-line ? Well lets see, $500 for the radio, probably another $100 - $200 for the AM and satellite external antennas, $9 - $12 monthly fee, and the activation fee. Is this another blunder by Grundig/Eton/Tecsun, or a total ripoff - I suspect a bit of both ! So, $500 for a receiver that does not even receive/process IBOC for AM/FM, or DRM for SW !
This baby, I believe, is assembled in India, while the rest of the Grundig/Eton/Tecsun junk is made in China. I wonder, if the E1 is as cheap as, the Grundig S350 ?
This is a copy of a post from gearlog.com (the BBC and "Voice of the Andes" are now gone, too):
Shortwave Eton E1
Posted by: Larry N.
Monday, October 31, 2005 8:03 PM
David,
I am shocked your would recommend this new radio from Eton.
Honest?, DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT? It does not have Digital Radio Mondale! Who in 2005/2006 would spend $500.00 for a top of the line portable without it? In few years the shortwave part of this radio will be useless. DW is leaving analog shortwave by June 2006. Radio New Zealand by the end of December 2006.
I would hope you would admit your mistake and if not withdrawing your recommendation at least make note of the lack of Digital Radio Mondale and why that is important!
73
Larry
by: joerevolver8 On: 2006-01-24
mine blew up the batteries, what a mess. called eton, they said never heard of this happening. took it back for a refund. now i hear a recall is in place.
On: 2006-01-05
Hi folks , Im Vince the radioman . I have a large collection of radios and I love to do compares and share my thoughts . The long , long awaited E 1 ( Satellite 900) is finally here and I waited awhile to do this review so I really could explore this radio. Basically its wonderful but there are a few knocks.
The wonderful part comes with its outstanding FM and SW reception. When compared to my Sony SW77 or 2010 they are equal on SW and the FM is best on the E 1 . The memory set up and functionality is very friendly and a pleasure to use. The XM satellite section is really well done and will be the standard for all satellite radios for years to come ( Im personally not big on Satellite radio, but I know the general public will LOVE it). There is a 3 position bandwith and 3 AM syncs...nice!There is separate bass and treble with a pretty nice sound from the built in speaker .There is a Squelch control which is very handy for scanning.Its a beautiful cosemetic design and has a nice display screen.
Now for the knocks...at this price you can be picky. The biggest flaw to me is that the AM section also uses the whip antenna.There is NO built in ferrite antenna! For local listenning this is ok but for distant stations and DXing its useless!! The whip antenna on AM just picks up static and noise on the weak frequencies. You need to use an external antenna , not included . When I hooked up my CCrane antenna it was fine for DXing , not as good as my Sangean 909 and about as good as my Sony SW77 and 2010 with the internal antenna.This is a design compromise that is puzzling and to me knocks the radio down a half star. There is no RDS , what a shame with the beautiful display screen provided it would have been nice AND no handle . This is a delicate expensive radio that is narrow an heavey . It tilts over easily and could be damaged . The satellite antenna is not included and is 50 bucks!
Ok , so why five stars ...its a great FM/SW/XM radio with a nice memory section,full functionality and great looks ...it could have been a little better , my real rating is 4 and a half.I would certainly recommend it but beware of the knocks ...if AM is not important to you ( lots of folks these days are not big on AM)and you are not clumsey its the best radio on the market !!! Save up your pennies.
On: 2005-12-31
The Eton [ex-Grundig] E1 portable radio is one of the very few if not the only shortwave portable available on the market today for the serious listener. It offers full coverage of long wave, medium wave and shortwave frequencies to 30 megaHertz. Also the European and North American FM band. [User selectable].
It also will receive XM Satellite Radio with an optional adapter.
With the discontinuance of the famous SONY ICF-2010 several years ago, there was nothing to replace it. The Eton E1 not only replaces the 2010 but has superior features. The shortwave
listener can select several filter bandwith modes, the choice
of three AM modes in the "synch" condition which helps eliminate
interference from neighboring signals. The tuning rate is fine enough to tune in those tough SSB signals as well.
For a good review of the set, see the 2006 edition of the Passport To Worldband Radio.
On: 2005-08-24
I have had my E1 for almost two weeks now and have found it to be a remarkable radio, worth waiting for since Eaton took such a long time to get it in the stores.
The XM Ready Satellite feature is a plus and truly makes this performer a state of the art portable radio. XM operation in battery mode discharges the batteries ( four "D" cells) rather swiftly. It is recommended to use the included AC adapter when in the XM mode of operation.
The optional XM Connect & Play CNP-1000 antenna is actually a satellite receiver in itself, and provides the E1 with the serial number to register your radio with XM Satellite for a subscription. Audiovox (Terk) the manufacturer of the CNP-1000 antenna states in its literature that the XM Connect & Play antenna is not useable fo mobile operation.
It would have been nice if Eaton included RDS in FM operation and a handle to carry the radio. The gray rubberized coating on the radio case makes it easy to grasp, but a handle would have been nice. Also missing is a digital audio output that would have been nice to have in XM operation to feed your home theatre receiver for 5.1 dolby digital audio.
Sensitivity is equal to or better than that of most of the popular world band radios. (...).
Another strong feature is the audio out. You get 3 watts of output when using the AC adapter. The audio is crisp and clear and you have seperate bass and treble controls with a center detent.
When the radio is turned off their is a big clock display in the display. The time is automatically set by WWV and there is also a nice dual alarm feature. The default setting for the sleep timer is 15 minutes, and you can increase that time.
The radio does not come equipped with an AM ferrite antenna, but that doesnt seem to bother AM operation at all.
I believe Eaton E1 will be setting the standard for all other porable radio manufacturers to follow for many years.
It is not cheap at $499.95, but like your granddaddy told you, "you get what you pay for".
On: 2005-08-18
Well, not much more I can say about the new Eton E1 (that hasnt already been said by my radio club friend Ray B) other than I am a Grundig (GERMANY) Satellit "nut" and I have been waiting for the Satellit 900 to come out for (10) YEARS and in a nutshell....ITS FINALLY HERE!!! Max Grundig would be PROUD!!! This is a GREAT radio. Im not "into" XM...I like SHORTWAVE radio and the Eton E1 *DELIVERS" when it comes to SW!!! (AM, FM and XM arent too bad either!!!) Best "lap size" portable SW radio to be introduced (to me) since the Grundig Satellit 700. Worth every penny and the (10) year wait!!!
On: 2005-08-14
Ive had mine for two weeks and it is joy to use. Right out of the box I knew it was something special. Too many neat features to list... XM radio option is a real treat. Menus are easy to navigate and LCD is full of information. Eton had a lot to atone for with their Satellit 800 debacle... They were listening. A big thumbs up for this baby!
On: 2005-08-12
Many Radio Fans are familiar with the Legendary Grundig Satellit Line of Shortwave Radios, dating to the early Sixties...The E1 WAS to be the Satellit 900, even had it advertised in magazines and had 10 Prototypes...Eton took over and finally released it early August 2005...After the Satellit 800 mess, I wasnt expecting much, but after a couple days...its a Winner, just ordered a second one from Sharper Image as they seem to be the only one to have them...Here are a few Observations...
E1 arrived almost an hour ago, have been playing with it ever since...If you are a Radio Enthusiast, stop whatever you are doing, and order one before the Stores Run out...This is one Very Special Radio...I now understand why P&C has TWO already...Whatever shortcomings Eton has in the Marketing Dept is CERTAINLY made up for in the Engineering and Production Depts...Most of you already know the "Features", so Ill comment on my impressions of things Ive Noticed...
- Fit & Finish...Beautifully Detailed, and Operating Radio...I see no Fit & Finish issues at all!
- Sound...Full Treble and Bass do not distort sound at Normal Listening Levels...Would describe it as "Crisp with a Punch".
- Display...Awesome! (Sorry Jay, nothing to compare THIS one to!). Very Clear BOLD and DARK readable Digits that are evenly backlit light gray background, dark gray digits--Unlike the Tiny Scrawny Faded V21 Digits. When off, there is a Clock that has well over 1.5" Tall Digits...Turning it on puts a tiny Clock in the upper right corner, and the station number shrinks to 3/4". I should mention that there is a continuously variable contrast knob located under the Battery Door...Station is Visible across the Room!
- Tuning...Smooooooth Tuning (no notches! :) that depending on the band, has 3 different "speeds"--the slower speeds add digits after the decimal point, for greater accuracy.
- DX switch boosts by 10Db--enough to bring in one of my favorite low power Big Band FM stations...Really makes a Noticeable Difference!
- All Jacks are on the Left Side except for the XM antenna jack which is all by itself on the right side...Interestingly, the XM Jack is located in what appears to be a removable section of the radio with two visible screws on the backside--Maybe for Future Upgrades???
- Almost EVERY feature has some type of adjustment via the screens...For example, you can adjust the amount of time of the Snooze/Sleep Switch, as well as so many more Features.
Im sure I will discover much more tonite when I get more time to play...Who knows what I will find in the Owner Manual (VERY Clearly laid out I might add) or DVD...Can hardly wait for the XM antenna to see what other tricks this radio has up its sleeve! Ray
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