After much deliberating, I've finally decided to get a portable DAB radio for the bathroom (I'm fed up of the reception I get with my dodgy old FM/AM philips radio!).

Can anyone recommend a good set for £100 or so? BTW it *must* be able to run off batteries as obvioulsy there's no plug socket in there!

Cheers

Many choices here:

http://www.simplyradios.com/acatalog/Home_Mains_Battery_radios_137.html

I'm not sure what these kind of sets are like in terms of battery dranage though, anybody got any ideas?

BTW I realise they claim around 30 hours on the link I provided, but does this stand up in practise?

Cheers for the response. Quite like the look of the PURE Digital EVOKE-2, but it doesn't mention battery life anywhere. anyone know this?? 30 hours wouldn't be too bad I suppose, but more would be welcome!

Bad news Nick the Pure website quotes 'up to 10 hours' which is not great:

http://www.pure-digital.com/Products/Product.asp?Product=VL-60657

Shame because it is a nice looking radio

Any luck finding a DAB with decent battery life?

A word of warning if you are thinking of buying the PURE Elan. I had one for a short while. It kept "freezing". I reported this to PURE and they said it was a hardware fault. I took it back to the shop for a refund and invested the extra in a PURE Evoke XT - no problems and great sound!

Can the PURE Evoke XT be run on batteries? If so how long does it last for?

Looking into a bathroom DAB radio myself, but the PURE Evoke is mains powered only. If the PURE Elan is not reliable, can anyone suggest a decent battery run DAB in the <£100 bracket?

Hi Christian, my folks have got a Pure Evoke 2 in their bathroom and its definitely running off batteries. It's a great little radio, but they're forever complaining about
it eating batteries - i don't think its really designed to be used without mains power for long periods...

Sorry Dan, I stand corrected! In the meantime though, I discovered the Roberts RD15 Gemini 15, its a portable DAB. Very cheap at £60.... perhaps too cheap? Anyone shed any light? I get the feeling it may be worth splashing out an extra £20 for quality's sake?

Well as it's just gonna be for use in the bathroom I'm sure the quality would be acceptable. You're only gonna have to use it for about 15mins a day when having a shower and shave, so brilliant audio quality isn't a necessity. I think the most important thing for you to consider in this purchase is the battery life. Of course the best thing to do is just to ask to hear the robert's and make your own mind up.

I hardly use normal batteries nowadays, only rechargable ones because they're cheaper. The only time I use the normal batteries is when I forgot to charge them up and I need them straight away.

Are they producing rechargeable batteries that can be used on all products now? In the AAA size for instance?

Yes, you can buy a multicharger from Maplin for £29.99. That allows you to recharge 8 AA and 4 AAA batteries at the same time. £29.99 might sound a lot for batteries, but it's still good for the long term.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=-9340&doy=28m6D

Yes I see what you mean Louise. If you use the batteries enough you'll save an absolute fortune in the long term! Thanks for your advice.

Hi Christian, the RD15 looks pretty good, although to me it doesn't have the much-loved Roberts retro 'look' to it. Also, you can only store up to 5 presets on it, which is a bit stingy - might want to spend another £10 or so on the RD20 as you'll get 10 presets and, IMO, it's a cooler looking player.

Cheers for the advice Al, but you caught me too late! Came home last night after a few cheeky shandys, jumped on the internet, and the next thing I know I've ordered a £120 Pure Digital Sonus DAB and two novelty ash trays.

What kind of novelty ash trays did you go for? Possibly the worst novelty ashtrays are the cannabis/jamaica style ones :o)

One was a miniature toilet, and the other one a fish with its mouth open. And I have absolutely no regrets about buying either of them.