The poor sound quality makes it impossible to listen to this radio

* Please note that the above ratings of durability and battery life are rated as "average" only because I have no way to accuratly assess these features. We are returning this radio and cannot judge all of the features.

My husband spends a lot of time in our detached garage. He does carpentry out there and works on job estimates. He keeps a radio in the garage to listen to music and talk shows.  Recently he told me the old radio he has out there hasn't been working well and that he would like a new radio. So when my mother mentioned she wanted to get him another gift for Christmas, I told her to get an inexpensive radio. She was apprehensive about buying a cheap radio. I pointed out the $30 Memorex radio/CD player in my children's room. It works well and sounds good. I reminded her that it would be in the garage, out in the cold, and getting covered in sawdust. She ended up purchasing the GPX Radio/CD player from Sears for $30.

When my husband opened up the box on Christmas Day, we thought the radio looked sleek and modern. It looks compact and a nice size to put on a shelf in the garage. The picture on the box shows that there is an input and cord for an MP3 player.  My husband was already scheming to use my iPod.  The box claims that this radio has "dynamic speakers". The box also shows that there is a remote control. He liked the idea that the radio has a remote control so that he could control the volume from across the room while he is using his tools.

Once we were home we took the radio out of the box to get a closer look.  This gray radio/CD player is not heavy and can be moved around easily.  The buttons are an adequate size. Upon looking at the remote control it turns out that the remote is only for controlling the CD player, and will not change the volume or radio stations.  This was a slight disappointment for my husband.

Next we plugged in the GPX Radio/CD player. It took a lot of playing around with the tuner dial and the antenna to get a station in clearly.  And once we got a station in, we were shocked by the incredibly poor sound quality. It was very tinny sounding.  We took out a CD and put it into the player. The CD sounded just as bad.  My husband laughed and said it sounds like a transistor radio. It sounded like a very bad recording. Before testing out any other features, my husband put the radio back into the box.

Overall
My husband got very frustrated trying to tune in a station, and the sound quality of this radio is terrible. As a result of this, we decided to pack the radio back into the box, and it will be returned to Sears.  After all, what good are any other features if a radio does not produce a nice sound? I can not recommend this poor sounding radio/CD player.