Midland WR-300: my positive review

The many previous reviews for the Midland WR-300 are all extremely consistant with each other.  It is easy for me to agree with all that has been said right down to the minute details both pro and con.  But lets go beyond what has already been stated and offer some new information.

Having used it for three years, I can offer the opinion that the Midland WR-300 is a durable product.  There has been no loss of functionality over time and use.  It is breakable if dropped, but if treated well, it seems to be able to last.

Not only is the Midland WR-300 popular here at Epinions, but is has proved popular with weather enthusiasts.  The good thing about this fact is that there is ample owner support for the Midland WR-300 available on the net.  Different sites have the entire users manual available for view and download.  There are owner tips and tricks to help with the complex set-up.  What this means is that this weather alert radio can be set and reset long after the box and owner's manual have been thrown away.  This allows the Midland WR-300 to be a more secure purchase than less famous weather alert radios.

The Midland WR-300 is plug in play in that if you simply plug it in, set the antenna, and set the volume, it will begin to give you weather alerts.  However, if this is all the set-up you do, you will be receiving each and every weather alarm and message for a very large region.  In periods of unsettled weather, the Midland WR-300's alarm blasts seemingly every minute as it covers every weather issue for places near and far.  Unless you are a complete weather geek, it is best to set the location code for your county.

As a bedroom clock, the alarm has worked perfectly for years.  There is no constant time light to keep you awake.  The two big weakness of the Midland WR-300 as a bedroom radio are 1) it emits a beep with each press of a button as you set up a new wake-up time.  If your partner is already sleeping when you need to make an adjustment, it is annoying.  2) during times of unsettled weather the weather alarm can blast late at night with weather watches and updates that are not weather emergencies.  To be fair, there is said to be disable modes for non-emergency alert types to prevent the weather alert alarm from going off, but it is deep in the menus and I have never attempted to go through each catagory to pick and choose.

As a music radio, the sound is not hi-fi.  There is no base sound.  However, there is no static or annoying audio defects when strong music stations are tuned in.  It is a radio alarm clock, not a music boombox.

The Midland WR-300 is a weather alert radio that is easy to recommend.  To explain price paid, I bought mine as an open box store clearance model for pennies at a giant retail store.  It was the only one, and it was untagged on the back of a bottom shelf -- a once in a lifetime find.