C. Crane CCRadio 3 Long Range Reception AM, FM, NOAA Weather Plus Alert and 2-Meter Ham Band Portable Digital Radio with Bluetooth

This would be the one radio I would have if allowed to only have one radio. First, let me mention a couple things I like about the company. One, I like the fact I can go to the C. Crane website and actually order radios and parts from them; no having to mess around with third-party sellers. Second, I like the fact that I got quick responses from C. Crane when i asked them questions.My impressions regarding the radio. I can't speak to lasting quality because I have had this radio two months only. But, i was so impressed with the first one I bought that I bought a second one before the price increased. The radio is easy to use, has best reception (both AM and FM) of any radio I have, especially if I use it with the TERK loop antenna for AM. At night, with the radio sitting on a table in the living room) I am able to get AM stations from Cleveland, Boston, etc (and I am in northern Michigan). For FM the radio brings in two stations I like to listen to but am unable to bring in using other radios. I feel the CC Radio 3 brings in these hard to capture FM stations on a par with Qodosen DX-286.Sound quality is good, especially when taking into consideration this is still a portable radio. Sometimes hard rock/heavy metal songs sound "bunched" or the instrumentation sounds "squished together", but that could be a result of the station or the song's original recording because Jazz sounds very good. Classical sounds very good. Pop sounds very good too. Talk radio is excellent with no "ear fatigue" after listening for several hours. This is my best sounding radio after my Sangean WR-55 tabletop radio.Build quality, although is made of plastic, feels like a "good plastic", not a cheap, brittle feeling plastic. All the buttons on the radio are clearly labelled as to function and easy to figure out even without consulting the manual. Other things I like: the fact the AC power input isn't a wall wart; that I can use battery power if there is a power outage; that I can listen to weather radio (because if there is a power outage, that probably means bad weather). I feel at this point in my purchase, that buying this radio was money well-spent.

Excellent radio

For those of you thinking of using this as a Bluetooth speaker, forget it!!! Audio output is only 900mw on battery and 1.8 watts on A/C. You're probably thinking, "hey, that's not so bad". Well, those are with 10% THD. Yes!!! 10% total harmonic distortion. Distortion is very audible on Bluetooth music, so keep that in mind. The radio is tuned for voice, not music. For low listening environments, its fine, but don't expect it to be room filling loud.There is also a delay on Bluetooth as well. Watching streaming and/or YouTube, so expect audio to be at least 100-200ms behind.I'm still working on the AM band, but at this time, it's not as good as a vintage Panasonic RF-2200. It's nice having a twin-coil 200mm antenna, but I'm not sure if this radio can dig out the distant stations, like it's little brother ( CC radio EP pro ). The AGC can be a bit finicky, and so some stations might be hard to hear. Slightly tuning off frequency and tuning back can resolve this in most cases. I still prefer the manual control of the CC radio EP pro.FM is quite good. Still, the KING is the Eton field, but the CC radio 3 can hear distant stations. One issue I have is how short (@22") the FM antenna is. This radio might hear better with a longer dipole, like the Eton field (@46"). It's nice that it tucks away, but I bought this radio for DXing all the bands, and we like big antennas. Even the little brother (EP pro) has a longer FM antenna (@36"). Come on C Crane, give the next CC radio 4 a longer FM antenna. For those looking for good FM, this radio is very sensitive and selective, but it needs a longer antenna.Battery usage is quite good, so no complaints there. If I had to nit pick, drop the D cell battery's and move to C cells, to reduce weight. Better yet, add the feature of running on a single 18650 batteryThis brings me to my next minor gripe. No built in handle. You get a notch in the back, for carrying the radio. A dedicated handle would help and be more secure in moving this portable unit around. It's not light with battery's (over 4 lb's)Weather channels are nice. A+ in this department.The 5" speaker is very nice. It is rated at 4 Ohm, 6 watts. Unfortunately, it is tuned for voice (not music), and the amplifier that drives this speaker is very weak. C Crane, this is area that needs attention.2 meter band is nice to have, but not really required on such a radio. Keep in mind, this is not a shortwave radio. 2 meter band only covers Ham/VHF in the 144 to 148 MHz.For the price ( $210 as of this writing ) is a bit hard to swallow. I have many radios, and this is a 4 out 5 stars for me, but the price is just to high. Even at $169.99, this might be still a bit overpriced, but more reasonable. The EP pro is $90, and well worth it, but you give up Bluetooth (so what), weather, ham/2 meter band, sleep, radio presets, and digital tuning display. Are these worth $120 extra? That depends on your needs. If "all" you're looking for an AM/FM radio for DXing, then the EP pro is perfect.I hope this helps some of you sitting on the fence of which CC radio to get. This isn't a bad radio, but minor improvements need to be made to justify the price.

I wasn’t expecting this radio to be as big as it is. I also have the smaller version(AA batteries) I’ve had forever. With my recent power outage, my Ccrane was pretty much my lifeline until I had to evacuate because of the fires.This one is built just as strong(D Batteries so now I stock up on AA & D batteries)Also, when my power went out, my radio worked perfect without all the interference of all my other electronics on.Definitely recommend this radio. Now I keep my mini in the kitchen and this bad boy in my room.** Also, from almost losing $1.5k of food in my back up freezer I bought the Ecoflow delta pro 3 battery charger. When I save up a little more $$ I will get the back up smart battery.A solid investment ✌🏻

One of the world’s best radios of its type.

I’ve had the CC radio 2 for years and love it. Other than Bluetooth, there is no discernible difference in sound or performance. It’s great to be able to stream music. And the weather alert has several different alert settings so you can be prepared. The radio has separate bass and treble knobs but the overall tone of it favors upper midrange to make talk radio sound good. It does ok with music. It has a large speaker but the bass is a little weak. There aren’t many manufacturers making high end radios anymore so there is not a direct comparison. If you want a well made radio that sounds good and will last a lifetime this might be a good choice. I would not consider it a rugged radio so you might look elsewhere if you plan on taking it to a job site or camping. Maybe consider the Sangean Bluebox.