Arbury DAB FM Portable Radio Review

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Summary:
The Arbury isn’t perfect, but it really over-delivers for the price.

Buy it online:
See on Amazon.co.uk

The Arbury DAB FM Portable Radio is part of the Majority line of radios designed in Cambridge, England. It was released in 2016 as an upgrade from the earlier Majority Chesterton radio. The Arbury Radio is one of the cheapest portable FM/DAB radios available in the UK, and has an impressive list of features for the price. Let’s take a closer look.

Features

Large LCD screen that displays the radio station name, time and other information
8-12 hours of battery life using the built-in rechargeable battery
Can be recharged using a micro USB cable or via mains power
Save up to 20 preset stations (10 for FM and 10 for DAB)
Designed with rubberised soft-touch buttons
Automatic time set—no need to set the clock yourself
Alarm clock
Sleep function
3.5 mm headphone socket
Telescopic aerial
Auto-scan feature for finding DAB stations

Dimensions: 14 cm wide x 13 cm tall x 4.5 cm deep
Weight: 540 g

Pros

Good value for money
Small and compact
Speaker is quite powerful, and doesn’t distort when the volume is turned up
Quick and easy to set up
Portable and easy to carry

Cons

Setting preset stations is a bit awkward until you get used to it
The buttons are all the same size, making it harder to find the right button
Speakers are quite tinny

Performance and use

The Arbury DAB FM Portable Radio should arrive charged, so you can use it right away. Once you turn it on, you simply need to ask it to scan for DAB stations and it will find all the stations available in your area.

This radio sounds fine for the kitchen, bathroom or bedroom, but don’t expect amazing sound quality from this budget-priced product. The sound is a bit tinny, so it’s better for speech programmes than music. Nevertheless, the sound isn’t bad for a radio of the Arbury’s size and price.

It doesn’t take long to charge, after which you can expect 8-12 hours of playback. The radio is small so it’s easy to carry around and use in different rooms of the house or in the garden.

Verdict

While it isn’t perfect, the Arbury DAB FM Portable Radio offers good value for money and can compete with several higher-priced radios. The Arbury offers a good range of features for the price: it’s portable, offers both FM and DAB radio, comes with an alarm and has a 12-month warranty.

The sound quality could be improved, and it’s certainly not the most attractive DAB radio. Nevertheless, this radio really over-delivers for the price.

Similar radios

If you’re not convinced by the Arbury, you might want to consider the 1byone Portable DAB Radio. It has similar features for a similar price, with the additional bonus of Bluetooth, allowing you to stream music from a smartphone. You can also consider one of the radios in this roundup of the best portable DAB radios.