Product Review: Insignia Portable Tabletop HD Radio

This is a review of the Insignia HD Portable Tabletop Radio, from Best Buy.
Like it's small predecessors, it too costs $49, but doesn't have the higher-quality display of those, to keep the price low.
Setting up the radio is very easy, and the tuning is self-explanatory. The regular seek buttons scan the dial as normal, and the HD Seek one just hits stations carrying HD content. While a tad temperamental, putting channels into the 20 presets are pretty easy, but the temperamental behavior sometimes results in either a fail in storing, or when simply selecting a station, might go into preset setup mode. You can still navigate as normal, it's just a visual annoyance.
Radio runs on both AC power, or on 4 AA batteries, which you might want inside reguardless, as they act as a stabilizer, for when the dipole antenna is extended fully behind the unit. The unit will fall over otherwise. I would not place it on a high surface in this manner, because the radio is too lightweight to support it.
What isn't good about the HD reception is, there's no hint of HD content, until it buffers. Most HD radios will signal HD content before the buffered content plays. Not here. Sound quality either way, is decent for a radio this small. Don't expect high-end sound here, but it's good for it's size.
The bad portion comes with reception, as it's a bit inferior, compared to other regular and HD radios. Many HD stations do not come in, which where I live, isn't surprising, but the strength of the regular or RDS (or RBDS, as this radio calls it) signals have static on them, even the stronger ones. The included pigtail helps a little bit, but not a lot. It, too, is temperamental, as it can ruin reception, just as much as it can help. By itself, the pigtail is terrible. If you're really close to a station, it's good for attenuation.

SUMMARY: If you're farther than 10 to 15 miles from your HD stations, this purchase is a gamble. Otherwise, it works well, stays locked in, too. If you're not finicky about high-end sound, and want portability, this is a definite get.

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-LEGAL CRAP-
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Audio content within falls under "Fair Use", for product demonstration. Short bursts of audio used to prevent copyright issues.

[skinnyblinddude]

I have this exact model myself, and I wonder if there may be quality-control issues with its production resulting in unit-to-unit variations in performance. Here in Palm Coast, with careful positioning of its internal whip, the radio locks onto most HD signals originating from Jacksonville about 60 miles distant. Additionally, while the audio is typical of a radio its size, plugging in a quality set of headphones result in very pleasing sound! One last thing, the review were referred to its telescopic antenna as a "dipole." It is actually a monopole.

[georgef]

I never noticed it. Found it after reading your reply.
Thanks for the info!

[randomdude]

Just got one of these for my mom while she's at work, I work at BB, so she asked me to get her a radio, and I got this one, had better reviews than all of the other Insignias and most other brands as well. So far, audio is A LOT better than anything I have heard from any radio i've had. This seems to eliminate the static you hear, even slightly, from a regular radio with good reception. The speakers are decent, it's a tabletop player, so it's not meant to go up to 11. However, I like it...there is no clock, so if you want a clock radio, it's not for you. If you want a radio, however, i'd say this is a good choice. + has an aux option to plug in your own music

[vwestlife]

FYI: YouTube's Content ID system does not detect anything shorter than 30 seconds, so there's no need to worry about including any music samples shorter than that in your videos. I frequently include audio samples of up to 29 seconds of music in my videos and have never had any copyright trouble because of it.

[kyllod]

I just bought one of these radios and I think the reception is great. I can get HD from stations 50 miles away. One thing you mentioned is that the radio easily tips over backwards. You probably didn't notice (like me at first) that the foot under the left side (under the Memory button or under the external antenna jack) slides out to help stabilize it.

Thank you for the review! It encouraged me to buy the radio.

[ccdogpark]

I LOVE this radio and I am considering buying 2 more.  It sits on a windowsill above the kitchen sink and there is never any static.  I don't even use the antennas.  My radio has 20 pre-sets instead of the 10 advertised and I can get all of the stations in metro Philly.

Bill Z
Delaware County, PA

[vwestlife]

The AdSense staff only checks the first minute or so of the video, since that is where the ad is going to be placed.

[georgef]

AM travels quite far. WBZ can actually be received fairly well in Canada.
What doesn't help me either, is that I live in an old plaster/lath home, with tons of it, and other buildings, between myself, and Boston.
I'm about 35 miles, line-of-sight, of the Boston stations.

[anomalousclouds]

Agreed. I think "HD" radio just isn't pitched as it should be, but I assume it will become standard fair in the near future. I love listening to some of my local college and public stations and forget getting them on Sat. radio. A little criticism of the format though, I think the name "HD radio" is silly... it causes confusion and I think they used it as an excuse to tout the hyped up "HD" acronym. I'd have called it "AM/FM+" or something a little different. Either way, enjoy the radio.

[georgef]

Totally missed the support bar that slides out.
Reception on the little radio is a LOT better. If you're about 20 miles from stations, you'll see where the weak reception hinders it's performance. The little one could get HD signals from 35 miles away. This one, about 20 is the cut-off.

[georgef]

That's what Google says, but ContentID has locked onto clips of 5 seconds or greater before. 30 may be the norm, but I've seen freakish hits much shorter.

[georgef]

I always heard it stood for "High Definition", when the technology came out, and the commercials promoting it called it such.

[Akyla]

What radios would you recommend that are better than this one?

[georgef]

Surprised the stations stopped HD broadcasting. I think one one here did, and others got into it.
Weird.

[georgef]

As you said: 99.9% of the time, anything under 30 seconds will not get hit. There is the .1% as well, and I, and others, got hit by that, one as little as 5 seconds.

[vwestlife]

I've uploaded hundreds of videos containing copyrighted music, and only a handful of exceptions have ever triggered Content ID on music clips shorter than 30 seconds. So, I don't let it cramp my style. <30 seconds is my rule and it works 99.9% of the time. I just get a little annoyed when I hear people complaining about the "YouTube copyright police" or saying that they "can't play any music because that's not allowed", because that's just not true, and is a needless distraction to the viewer.

[georgef]

I think they (iBiquity) did play on the "HD" Hype of TV.
It does sound better than the analog counterpart (depending on how the stations handle it, some sound worse).

[georgef]

Depends on the station. 99% of them do play crappy pop stuff (any station genre). There are some sub-channels, and regular stations, that don't, but are rare, regular, or not.

[jngai]

The pigtail antenna does not work with the dipole antenna, it replaces it when plugged in. In my area, they perform about the same, although I had to move the pigtail around until I got the signal from the stations that I want. It definitely is not as visually distracting as the old school dipole antenna.

[georgef]

It's still better than some reviews that don't play them at all (any radio).
It is enough to get a jist.
I aggree 100% the amount is minimal, but the way AdSense people are witch-hunting accounts nowadays, I won't chance it.
(Search: YouTube partnership adsense scam)