Roberts Radio Sports DAB5 Review

The Roberts Radio Sports DAB5 is a stylish pocket radio that would be good for listening to while running, walking or whenever you’re out and about. It has a keylock feature so you can keep it in your pocket without worrying about knocking it and changing the station or volume by mistake. Let’s see what else it can do…

Features

Dimensions: 6.2 cm wide x 10.5 cm high x 2 cm deep
Weight: 68 g

Design and performance

The Roberts Radio Sports DAB5 has a very clean, elegant design, a bit like an Apple product. It has 5 buttons on the top of the radio for accessing your saved presets (5 for FM and 5 for DAB). This is much more convenient than on most pocket DAB radios where you would have to scroll through your presets.

The radio takes two AA batteries which is very convenient as you can carry around a spare pair for when it runs out of juice. Batteries only last about 5 hours after a full charge, which is quite disappointing compared to some other pocket DAB radios that can last closer to 10 hours. However, battery life will depend on the particular brand of batteries you use, so a longer battery life might be possible.

If you get this radio, you should buy some high quality rechargeable batteries and a battery charger if you don’t already have one. It would have been nice if Roberts could have designed this radio to charge batteries itself like the larger Roberts Play radio does.

Changing the volume and the station is done via the jog control, which might seem a bit fiddle at first but should be fine once you get used to it. This control feels a bit flimsy, so you will have to be careful with it to avoid damaging it.

Verdict

The Roberts Radio Sports DAB5 is an attractive pocket radio that’s easy to use and feels high quality. It’s a reliable radio that offers good value for money. You can also buy a leather case for it on Amazon which will help keep it safe if you’re planning to use the radio for jogging or other sports.

Similar radios

For a roundup of the best pocket DAB radios, see this article. One very popular pocket radio is the Majority Petersfield. It’s a good deal cheaper than the Roberts Radio Sports DAB5 at the time of writing, so it might appeal if you want to save money.

Another good pocket radio for sports and running is the AZATOM Pro Sports S1, which unlike the Roberts Sports DAB5 includes a built-in speaker.