Forum Discussion

Blanco1's avatar
Blanco1
Explorer
Aug 26, 2013

Car stereo? WeatherBand?

I just ordered this radio.

http://www.heavydutyradios.com/jhd_1130.html

My current stereo in the rig has not worked since the day I got it.

& since I'm planning a 5 state trip soon out side of my state, I figured I'm not doing that again without a working stereo in the cab.

I plan to visit every state in the country in time & so I was thinking the Weather Band might be a good idea.


Wondering what your thoughts were?
I probably should of posted this before my order vs after the fact, you might of had some suggestions on good models.. Ooops!

10 Replies

  • Blanco1 wrote:
    Gdetrailer wrote:
    Its an overpriced door stop. Jensen = GARBAGE

    For that price you could have bought an VERY NICE Alpine, JVC, Pioneer just to name a few.



    With weatherband?


    Are you kidding me that you would be willing to pay $178 plus shipping to get weather band?

    You can get a Weather radio WITH alerts for $26 that runs off three AAA batteries or 9V input (you can get a 12V to 9V adapter to run it from vehicle 12V accessory power).

    PORTABLE WEATHER RADIO

    I recently bought a Clarion car stereo with CD PLUS USB input along with analog input PLUS it has built in Blue Tooth for phone or Pandora streaming for $170. That radio WILL be better than ANY Jensen.

    If you don't want CD there are MANY HIGH QUALITY name brand car stereos which have USB inputs and no CD starting at $100...

    Jensen is nothing more than a old time name slapped on a $10 Chinese import. There is no quality nor care put into it.
  • The car actually had an amp & big bass speaker in it when I bought it & I took it out from the back seat about 4 months after I bought it.
    Sure it did sound better with that installed, but, thats just not my field of interest & mostly listen to talk radio, so solid music quality is not a big deal to me, As long as long as i can understand the news & talk, I'll be happy.
  • LOL!

    Being I've never cared much about car audio I'm sure I'll be fine, if it plays as a basic stereo.
    I've always been a gear head car guy that loves hot rodding cars & yet have never cared to modify the stereo systems, as long as it works as well as a basic stock factory stereo I'll be a happy man with the addition of WB.
  • I have no idea about that particular radio, nor do I have a clue about what "heavy duty" means for a car radio, since most are on all the time anyway.

    What I do know is:

    The DVD/Cassette/AM/FM/Weatherband "RV Radio" in my C is a POS, unstable with cassettes and CDs, warbling interference with those devices and radio stations, but I do use the weather band. That's the only reason I turn it on. It is from Jensen/Audiovox/... the conglomerate of brands used for medium price, cheaply made replacement mobile audio.

    Every CD changer radio I've had, factory or aftermarket, has had trouble handling CDs, one even keeping a couple CDs permanently. If they played audio cassettes, they did not play them well. I am so through feeding CDs to mobile audio equipment, what survives of my collection is in my iTunes library.

    I would look for something from Pioneer, Alpine, or JVC (the only Japanese consumer electronics brand I trust for mobile), and it needs to have weather band, an auxiliary audio input, and I would like it to know how to manage an iPod. You get those capabilities (except weather) now in the standard equipment radios of economy subcompact cars, like my base level Fit. An aftermarket radio has to be at least as good as what comes with a Fit.

    How well an aftermarket radio works depends a lot on how well it is installed. I once trusted myself to install my own radios, 30 years ago. Today it seems there are interference problems I can't begin to understand, let alone fix, and neither can the installation guys at the big box electronic store, so I'll pay my local auto electronics specialty store to do the job right, on a good piece of equipment bought from them. No point in spending a couple hundred to a couple thousand on auto electronics and not have the system work.

    You probably shouldn't have asked the question after the fact.
  • Here are a couple of things to consider. First a weather radio in a truck only serves a purpose when you are in the truck and it most likely needs to be tuned to the local weather station. A smart phone will do the job and because it it's with you any alerts Willbe heard. Also it knows your location and will only send alerts that will be helpful. Any radio in the truck wil do. JMO
  • Gdetrailer wrote:
    Its an overpriced door stop. Jensen = GARBAGE

    For that price you could have bought an VERY NICE Alpine, JVC, Pioneer just to name a few.



    With weatherband?
  • RoyB wrote:
    I got my NOAH WX ALERT RADIO from Radio Shack. Wouldn't leave home without one.

    Being in our off-road POPUP trailer having a WX ALERT RADIO is a must have option...

    Roy Ken


    Yeah thats what I figured.
    Basic stereo price & has WB Seemed fair to me.

    & being I plan to drive this rig all over the country at various times a year, seemed like a good idea.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    I got my NOAH WX ALERT RADIO from Radio Shack. Wouldn't leave home without one.

    Being in our off-road POPUP trailer having a WX ALERT RADIO is a must have option...

    Roy Ken
  • Its an overpriced door stop. Jensen = GARBAGE

    For that price you could have bought an VERY NICE Alpine, JVC, Pioneer just to name a few.

    Return it and get your money back.

    For weather radio, do yourself a favor, buy a separate portable with weather alert. The weather alert will automatically turn on the radio when ever there is a weather bulletin issued in your area. Comes in very handy to have.
  • Oh & I don't own CD's or things like that So I ordered the one without that & yet it does have the aux plug in front for the I-Pod so I'm good to go I figure.

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