06.23.04
Coby Cell Phone Earbud & Mic with FM Radio
The other month, Fry’s had the Coby “HANDS-FREE” EAR/MICROPHONE with FM SCANNER RADIO on sale for 87% off. It’s usually $20, but they were clearing them out for $2.50.
I don’t own a cell phone. I know, it must seem odd: a web producer who talks nothing but technology all day long but eschews cell phones (for the most part). Anyways I really wanted this because it’s the smallest, cheapest FM radio I’ve seen. It’s smaller than your average cigarette lighter, runs on a couple of watch batteries.
Stereo is Overrated – The best thing is that, since it’s supposed to be used for a cell phone, it only has one ear bud. Stereo is great if you’re really listening to music, but if you simply want the music to provide you with a beat that you can work to, and you don’t want to have an ‘outloud’ radio playing and you’re switching between computers all day long… or you’ve got a convertible car that doesn’t lock up very well and someone’s already tried to steal the cd player out of it once so you’ve got an old broken deck in there but that’s okay because you haven’t re-installed the speakers that you disconnected when you took the door panels out to fix and clean the window lifting mechanism and you just want something small, simple and not worth worrying about like an MP3 player that might cost more than $40, then this little FM radio is perfect. Even without the cell phone.
Does the radio have Incredible crystal clear reception that picks up the merest hint of a radio signal? No, of course not. Does it pick up my favorite stations on a regular basis? Yes.
For my own future reference, this is the Coby CV-FM70 and it runs on two watch batteries. The two that came with are “G13-A” also known as AG13 but Energizer’s 357 1.55v work too.
It’s telling that the $2.50 radio cost me $7 in replacement batteries. Next time around I’ll pick up the 8 pack.