PANASONIC RF-562D AM FM SW Shortwave Transistor Radio - Retro Design (Battery operated)

Follow-Up/UpDate - 09-02-2022 Now, after 17 months of usage, I will 're-evaluate' this purchase. First off, this is not, NOT a marketed N. American product [check your "MW" listing for "AM", is your indicator]. AND should you need 'parts', you'll find yourself quickly being directed to Europe and/or the Middle East... I needed an antenna [knocked over and bent this one]; after doing so, I soon discovered this model of radio is not covered with PANASONIC N. America, and henceforth no parts... Since having it, the volume/0ff-on knob has began to fail... Now, it has little to no volume control at the lower end of the range and when 'turned-up', it soon grows annoying at the higher-output. This to me, is indicative of low /or poor quality materials used in the control [I'll use two of my radios, both portables, which are over 38+ yrs old and still function like the day purchased - One has a 'rotary-styled' potentiometer; the other a 'slide-style' AND I can still lower the volume to a whisper]. My other 'big' complaint, with this radio is the quality [or lack thereof], of a decent working receiver portion and its ability to 'tune-in' to a radio station... It is weak, as is the sound-tonal quality from its speaker! Normally, I am an AM listener AND this radio has a hard time gathering that particular signal and locking on it strongly. This radio does not have a worthwhile tuner, plain-n-simple. I am located in suburbia-Americana and my other portables receive AM signals wonderfully, and with little to no issue - Especially when it comes to 'signal-fade'. This radio fails in this area. I finally grew tired of this particular PANASONIC, recently purchased a PANASONIC RF2400D Am/FM and absolutely love it! Great reception and great tuner dial - AND great volume. Do yourself a favor - Pass on this one and think of the purchasing another model, especially if you want decent sounds and reception... It's your money. As for this one, it is going 'out' and it won't be missed. It's everything I expected of an AM [MW... now]/FM radio. It's has decent sound quality - Good volume - Great reception - Looks 'old school', and I am 'old school'. Bought this for a replacement, for a multi-band 35+ yr old portable radio, used out in my garage [tuner was getting weak and I was losing tuner capabilities and reception integrity]. Once unpacked and set up, I have no complaints regarding this radio. Batteries replaced after nearly a full-month of it being left on, nearly 10-12 hrs a day - Yes, I like listening to the radio, out in my garage. And if you don't want to run it on batteries, pick up a power-pack and run it that way [Panasonic will give you the 'battery-eliminator-power-pack' info by just checking their website or the 'owners manual' has that info. About my biggest and only real complaint, is there is no dial-illumination light/lamp, one can reference when 'dialing-in' your radio station, in low-light conditions...My old one had that luxury. Overall, it is a good radio and I'd buy another without hesitation.

On FM this is every bit as good as another radio I have which cost many times more. On AM once you get used to tuning more slowly because of the dsp it is highly capable and the nice audio was a real surprise and better than I expected. On shortwave the reception is decent and its easier to tune on SW if you are careful and tune slowly. The audio recovery on SW is surprisingly good and the dsp makes for decent selectivity which is true on MW as well. Construction quality is good and I happen to like the case. I have military grade gear and many portables and this rig is, to me, definitely worth the price. Older guys like me might like the old style tuning dial just to remind them of days gone by. This inexpensive radio is, in its own way, a gem. I am 73, did military comms and am an Extra class amateur operator. Got my radio licenses when one still had to study and work hard for them, especially the Advanced Class license which doesn't exist anymore thanks to the ARRL and the FCC. Panasonic did a decent job and this radio is very fairly priced. Anyone who denies this doesn't know what they are talking about!

I mainly listen to talk radio. This is the second Panasonic RF-562D I bought. I returned the first one because the sound sucks. It sounds just like two 1960s Japanese transistor radios that my dad gave me. It's hard to describe the sound which seems to have a bit of distortion. I love the way the radio looks and I like the faux leather case like 1960's radios had although the old ones had real leather. I searched all over Amazon and couldn't find another radio that looked like these retro radios except the Crosley CR3040A-SI Rambler. The Crosley had too much static and popping noises which was just too much like the old 1960s radios and this model didn't come with a case. I ended up returning that one because I couldn't take the constant popping noises. After a while I just had to buy the Panasonic RF-562D again because I missed that retro style and case. The second one still has the slight speaker distortion. When I compare to my Panasonic RF-2400D, the RF-2400D is so much clearer and sounds much better and works fine with rechargeable AA batteries that put out 1.2 volts per battery. The RF-562D doesn't do well with rechargeables and I had to use alkaline batteries (I used AA batteries inside D cell adapters) which made the sound much better. When I plugged in an external power adapter, it cut out the batteries automatically. However, I kept hearing an annoying hum so I went back to batteries. Overall, the radio isn't all that great. But I love the 1960's styling so much and I love that faux leather case that reminds me of the old transistor radios my dad gave me.

I've always like Panasonic products but they are sometimes not easy to find. Amazon does now have a selection of Panasonic radios. This little radio has great sound. Fast shipping reasonable price.

UPDATE AS OF 23 OCTOBER 2020- Took off one star. Felt it necessary to log back in to update my experience with this radio. After approximately three months of near daily use (@four hours a day of run time) I am finding that the volume control is failing a bit. I use this radio at my desk at work and like to keep the volume low. The volume control has lost the ability to provide low volume, it goes from silent to medium high-ish with a bit of a crackle. It's clearly a mechanical failure and a disappointment as I otherwise like the radio. On another note, the battery life has been excellent; haven't had to change them yet Like most of the reviews of this radio, mine is positive. I purchased two Panasonic radios, this one and ASIN B072KLXG5M https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KLXG5M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I actually like the other radio better, but this one is also quite good (so far). The carrying case is not leather, nor of particularly high quality (pleather vinyl type "fabric") and interferes with my ability to turn the knobs (which otherwise have a good feel to them), so it's gone. The radio looks and sounds better without it on anyway, but it is nice that they included it for those folks who have a need for such setup. Reception on "major" FM stations is clear in the Puget Sound area which due to topography has craptastic signal range. I don't get great AM reception on this radio but I didn't expect to without a different antenna. Haven't tried shortwave. As mentioned in other reviews, this radio is true analog tuning. That's unfortunately getting to be rare because it enables "finer" tuning. I do wish that at this price it would have included the AC adapter; the other radio that I referenced above did come with one and is a tad less expensive. I'm not motivated enough to log exactly how many hours of play time I get on a set of batteries, sorry.

I love this radio! It’s so cool and retro with great old/new school tech. I am straight up old. At 57 it seems like yesterday that this style of portable radio was the only one you needed for years. Today I have so many choices for radio and streaming music that it’s seemingly a sentimental type thing to buy. And there is nostalgia for certain in the mix. But Panasonic was (and is still) so iconic to the ‘70s and during the days of huge stereo systems with precise turntable diamond pointed needles reading vinyl records and producing awesome powerful sound and depth. Now this is not ‘a huge powerful.... it is instead; a great way to listen to radio stations when not in your car. Plus for people like myself who need to find new music for my iPhone and.... it’s very cool. The antenna is made to work well; the speaker is strong (but not the way new technology has increased the level and stereo+ quality). So while I am doing a million things on my iPhone iPad and need to turn off the television... I turn this cool radio on and (endure) the long commercial breaks in order to hear new songs from new artists that I have been missing out on because I no longer make long traffic filled drives to work. I work in an office next to my other office in my home. The earphone and EarPods are great; but I enjoy speakers when alone. So in summary; this is not actually an older (made in 1970....) stock radio that has been found in original box and design then sold for this ‘collector or iconic tech’. It’s just a small boom box that has no CD player nor cassette player... just one strong speaker and long antenna that is very easy to tune. I love it.

I have owned many short wave radios in my long life time . I have some that are supposed to be very good. This simple radio is able to capture short wave radio signals that I thought were unattainable. It is a simple short wave radio but it is built so well that I am actually able to find and receive sw stations that are faint than on my far more expensive sw radios. I liked it so much that now I ordered the 800 model that is the higher end model of this original design. It is a retro design like this one, which just proves that the old analog radios are still superior to the digital. Yes the digital readout will show you exactly what frequency you are on, but if you are channel surfing like a true sw aficionado, you will find it superior. If you are serious about short wave, buy the 800. It is made like the old and reliable sw radios used to be like. Panasonic has always been a company of good quality. And I believe you will be happy with this radio. Bear in mind that now a days there are fewer sw radio stations left on the arewaves,, because of the internet, but you cannot do much better than with this wonderful radio.

I like radio, especially shortwave and regretfully this is the worst radio that I've over purchased or used. When opening the box for Christmas I was hit with a cheap plastic order from the imitation leather. Then it got worse. The AM/FM/Shortwaqve button was nearly stuck. I could barely move it. Even after some loosening up it's like pushing through bubble gum and there is no detent at all to actually chose the band by eye. I had to listen with the radio on to guess what band that I'm on. As a radiophile I can tell you this radio has every fault there are. The radio has an obvious distortion at quiet, medium and loud volume on AM and FM, no matter how well I tune. Tuning is difficult. The tuning knob only has 2 turns for the whole band, so a tiny tap of the dial changes the audio significantly. The knobs have a weak plastic feeling like the wrist on a Barbie doll. The backlash of tuning makes the shortwave tuning nearly impossible. First it tunes so quickly that you need to move the dial in paper thin amounts to just find a station. Then as you fine-tune if you over shoot, the spongy tuning means you have to move backwards in a large amount and you need to settle on the best tune without stopping or certainly turning around. To me this sounds like the worst radio that you can buy for $20. This was very dissapointing. The idea of a well built retro radio was great. The "Big Speaker" is obviously very thin and porely seated in the light plastic grille. It runs on 2 D cells which is a good idea for battery life, but the product is not worth using and much better radios are out there. I expected more from Panasonic. This was a Christmas gift and I just discovered that since I ordered it 2 months ago, Amizon says it is not returnable. I will push back on this on also try going through my credit card. I'm surprised that reviews were fairly positive, but I can't believe that anybody could be very happy with this product.