Links to others reviews of this radio:
Radios I Have Known
Tivdio V115 mini radio - Zacharias Liangas radio & receiver page
First Impressions:
I recently ordered the Retekess V-115 FMAMSW Radio off eBay, for under $30 it seemed like good value and the built-in recorder to an SD card seemed like a feature I could make use of.
Physical – The radio is fairly small / light and seems to be built as well as you would expect for a radio at this price point.
Usage – from my testing so far, it seems to work as I would expect and pulls in signals “barefoot” as well as my Teac PR130. I feel so far that my Digitech AR-1733 still has the edge in RF performance.
Issues – So far, I have found a few issues. The tuning modes are that you either manually enter a frequency via the keypad or you use the auto tune modes, you can’t scroll from frequency to frequency, say from 531kHz to 540kHz, you need to either enter each frequency or use the auto tune modes, these only work on the strongest signals so for serious DXing, this is a huge disadvantage. The display backlight is VERY bright which means it is not easy to use in bed, it lights up the whole room, this reduces the “wife approval factor” as it looks like aliens are in the room. I have also noticed that the buttons are hard to press and have a noise with them, this also makes bedtime use less than ideal. The recorder works well but names the files RAD001, RAD002, this means I need to keep a record of what frequency each recording relates to.
Overall, I am on the fence with this so far, while it has some good features, the tuning mode is going to be harder to use and the file name for the recordings is a pain.
Five Days In:
- Sound quality from the internal speaker and ear phones is good.
- Tuning method while not easy to start with is making more sense as I use it.
- Excellent battery life, I have only just needed to recharge it after 4-5 days of heavy usage.
- I have grown to like the backlight. While it is bright, I have managed to get use to it.
- DX performance so far is solid without being amazing. I am yet to test it with my 3" FSL.
Six Days In:
Yesterday I focused on the FM band. Running some side by side comparisons showed that this has the edge over the AR-1733 for audio quality but the AR-1733 was able to pick up more stations. I used a couple of the CBD translators as the test signals for this. The AR-1733 was able to hear these with a much stronger signal, compared to the V-115.
I have also been using the recorder more and am getting the hang of this and the functions to delete recordings. I have also attempted copying some recordings off and playing these on my laptop, that has worked very well.
Seven Days In:
The issue I raised above with the earphones has been tracked down to the earphones I was using and not the radio itself. I have tried it with a different set of earphones and the internal speaker stopped working when I plugged them in. I have tested some more and found with the ones I use the most, if I pull them out a small way (see attached photo) it works. Not sure what I will do as I prefer to use these ones.
Twelve Days In:
Over the weekend I was able to spend some more time using my Retekess V-115 and found a couple of interesting things:
- The battery meter shows "full" for a decent period of time and then drops off quickly, this caught me out as I took it out and thought it had more charge than it really did.
- The "automatic search and store" works well but requires a good signal level to log a station, the ATS on the AR-1733 works much better and does not need the signal to be as strong.
- I have been unable to get auto power off to work, it shows the right icons but does not actually turn off after the desired time period.
As I update this, more details will be posted here: Retekess V-115 FM/AM/SW Radio Review – July 2021
If you only want to listen to AM signals and not SSB as well, your selection for radios with sensitivity and selectivity narrow quite a bit. If price is no option, of current offerings it would be hands down the Sangean ATS-909X. This radio also gives you multiple ways to tune which makes it the "best" portable for DXing.
