Before you read, please know that I do not own the picture featured in the piece, but Midland USA does.

I know I am several months late with it, but finally, I’m writing my review on the Midland WR-120EZ Standby Tabletop Weather Radio.

I’ve been planning and wanting to write this positively since August 16, 2018, but have had several distractions.

I guess I am better late than never.

Anyway…

I purchased this awesome device at my local grocer, Rouse’s, on December 26, 2017, and have been using it on and off since.

I say on and off because back then I lived with my wife, now ex-wife, I kept it on a table next to the sofa in our living room.

However, I left her a few weeks later on January 18, 2018, and thankfully was able to keep it and most of my other valuables.

I moved in with an older friend that same day and I applied for a new apartment a little over a week later.

While living with this friend, the radio was pretty much picked up.

I moved into my apartment on May 1, 2018, and this weather radio has been a bedside companion ever since.

My divorce was finalized on October 11, 2018.

Okay, enough about the details of my divorce and other personal details, I’m just thankful that all of it is behind me and now.

Now, let’s focus on the product review at hand once again.

This awesome radio cost me $29.99+tax, when I purchased it. By the way, that is cheaper than Wal Mart, who sells it for $32.99+tax and not every Wal Mart carries it either.

By the way, the MSRP of this radio is $39.99 according to Midland’s website, so I got it for roughly $10 off the MSRP.

Especially in the South and the Midwest, many grocers frequently sell Weather Radios and usually for very good prices.

Case in point, earlier in 2017, I got several of the portable standby Midland Weather Radios, the HH54VP2, on clearance for either $5 or $10 apiece at another location of my local and favorite grocer, Rouse’s. I gave a few as gifts that year.

The Midland WR-120EZ is Public Alert certified, which means it will only activate alert when the emergency occurs specifically in the area it is set for. Not only that though, it can also be connected to adaptive devices so people with various disabilities can still be successfully alerted to an impending emergency.

The Midland WR-120EZ is a slight variant of the WR-120.

The main difference is that the EZ model doesn’t neccessisarily require one to know the FIPS code, rather it comes preset for every Parish, County, Borough or other administrative division pre-programmed in it.

All one must do is select his or her geographic and administrative location and be done with it.

Also, alert selections are customizable, meaning that the user can turn off alerts for most emergency events that do not pertain to them except for a Tornado Warning.

The alert siren is very loud and distinct and will indeed get every the attention of every user on the floor of a residential unit.

The speaker has a very clear and crisp audio provided the signal reception is on par.

The blue backlight on the LCD display is bright which is great for low light conditions, but thankfully can be turned off to conserve energy and make sleep more peaceful.

The buttons are easy to press and are quite sturdy, plus the button beep feature can indeed be disabled.

The telescoping antenna pulls in signals from about forty miles away, but does need adjusting from time to time, especially at greater distances from a weather radio transmitter.

The radio is powered by line current but also can be run on 3 AA batteries as a backup or to take the radio into a safe room for monitoring the progress of severe weather.

There is also a switch to turn the radio off for leaving on vacation or conserving the batteries during an extended power failure without messing up the clock.

This radio has a very loud alarm clock which wakes me up on most days.

The clock keeps time pretty accurately but is a little difficult to synchronize properly.

There are three LED indicator lights on the unit to allow the user to determine if the bulletin being issued was a Warning (Red), Watch (Orange) or Advisory (Yellow.)

The cabinet is made of no nonsense white.

My one complaint about this radio is that it should have a better signal amplification circuit to pull in weather broadcasts easier. And maybe better noise limiting circuits for those who live in close quarters with their neighbors. One of these, either the noise limiter or amplifier doesn’t work well enough and that frequently gives me problems with reception every now and then and I have to move the radio around the room to correct the problem. If I had to guess, I would say it’s the noise limiting circuits, because I do live in an apartment complex and yes, myself and all my neighbors have WiFi and other stuff that generates significant amounts of electrical noise.

Other than that, I would recommend this radio to be used in every single residence, business and institution that is located within range of a weather broadcast, yes I do believe that weather radios should be equally common as smoke detectors.

By the way, I give this product a rating of 4.8 out of 5!

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