Midland WR400 Review

Love the backdrop!! Nice place.

Great review...recently purchased one, and love it. As odd as this may sound, some products fail, as the result of infrequent use! Thank you.

Greetings from north Texas. Like BaconHairFabFur, below I have a Midland 74-210, as well, which was one of their early S.A.M.E. radios that broke from its more boxy S.A.M.E. predecessor, the 74-200. It wasn't on the market too long, due to a tendency not to process statements, but I didn't know this until a few years ago, when I was looking for another weather radio that wouldn't shock dear old Mother, when the alert signal sounded. The 74-210 was our first S.A.M.E. unit, which relegated our older traditional Midland weather radios to various bedrooms, for anyone who wanted access to a weather-radio forecast or other weather-related information, but who also knew the near uselessness of such weather-alert radios during busy weather evenings, because of their lack of specificity and resulting near-incessant alerting that usually resulted in our turning the sirens off and just having the darn things alert via voice. The 74-210 did its job, over the past twenty or so years, and only seemed to stop alerting to signals, a year or so after I relegated it to a bedroom that could use a S.A.M.E. radio for overnight warnings (while filtering out less-necessary watch alerts). Perhaps the grounded outlet into which it was plugged, all these many years, protected it from whatever evils it might have confronted from the non-grounded outlets to which it was eventually relegated. Alas, it doesn't seem to process alert signals, now. The actual point of this message was to import to you the knowledge that, like the 74-210, the Midland WR-300 weather radio allowed users two volumes for the alert siren (I think), and even stopped talking (I think), when the unit received the end of text (or whatever) signal that follows the verbal description of the watch or warning. This latter feature was not on the 74-210. Nor was it or two-volume-level siren available on the WR-400. The only volume-level "choice" on the 400 was LOUD. After reading through a few other Midland weather-radio models' owner's manuals, I moved over to the Sangean CL-100 and its owner's manual, because I noticed that some of the storm chasers whose judgement I respected (most notably "Pecos Hank") would have this model, if not the WR-300. The CL-100 aligned more with how I thought a weather radio should behave, with adherence to the end-of-text signal being one of the most important. When a new alert is issued, unless it is issued on a day when we were not expecting severe weather, I want to hear the alert, its duration, its approximate geographic coverage, and whatever the scientists at NWS think is pertinent to that alert, and that's about it. On most days on which severe weather is expected, most thoughtful folks have likely already flipped on the radio for a detailed explanation of what is to be expected, when, and why, or they have already had the Weather Channel droning on in the bedrooms or living areas, and will have likely gathered enough preliminary info so that when watches and warnings are issued, we will have already formulated an idea of the potential severity of the situation, and will appreciate the new information that the watch or warning provides us (which is increasingly quite detailed, thankfully), and in most cases is quite sufficient as an update to the info that I have acquired earlier through previous alerts or discussions on radio or TV. In other words, I appreciate the updated info that is given to us by each watch or warning, and will be grateful that the radio shuts off after imparting the most pertinent of information to us. If I wish to have the radio continue after the alert info has been disseminated, then I will make the decision to flip the radio back on for further information. The foregoing, and the fact that the alert siren fades in from a low volume (like some car radios seem to do), and has three (loud) volume levels from which to choose, were the most important factors in my choosing the CL-100. Fantastic tone control was also welcome by those who actually wish to use the radio as a general table radio. Further, unless you've been around long enough to remember when shortwave was THE best mode of delivery of international broadcasting, you might not have even heard of Sangean or known that it went through its growing-up days long ago (well, at least since the early seventies for us here in the U.S.), and has set a reputation for having dependably-high-quality workmanship and quality control. They weren't always the fanciest or most avant garde in the radio arena, but, especially in the mid-eighties, and much of the nineties, being "the best" in the shortwave-radio business also often meant being nearly the most expensive (which usually meant that the top-of-the-line shortwave portables were usually Sony) So, if you didn't need some of the gee whiz tech that Sony dazzled us with, at the time, then you were usually going to look at a Panasonic, a Philips/Magnavox or a Sangean. And Panasonic and Philips are good company to be with. Okay, that's it. I'm about to click "buy" on Amazon for another CL-100 to replace my dear old Midland. I think that there's one more bedroom that doesn't have a weather radio in it, so I won't have to anguish over throwing away one of our old faithfuls that still -- kinda -- work. Cheers!

Nice review, thanks!

Excellent review!

Can this be set to alert on Tornado Warnings only and not "Watches"?

Can you set the alarm - weather or otherwise - volume?

I think the white midland one is louder according to a review.

I hope that midland piece of junk still works for you 3 years later. Mine failed within a week. That garbage is 1970s tech that's manufactured for $2 and sold for entirely too much money. After I returned mine I started looking at reviews. Every single bad review, which was what I found more of, said it doesn't last more than 2 years and isn't worth buying. I should've looked at reviews first, could've saved myself some disappointment.