I’ve owned a number of radios over the years, but never one from Roberts. I’m aware of their reputation, however, for producing quality, but often pricey, radios.

Anyway, I like a radio in the bathroom. Not to look at but, having said that, not really to listen to. I just find the silence in a bathroom whilst getting ready in the morning a bit too, well, silent. So I stick the radio on. My little portable Sony FM radio has done me a great service for many years but, after much battering, it’s time for retirement (probably to my shed). With the switch-off of analogue radio potentially only a few years away it doesn’t make sense to buy anything but DAB. However, DAB radios are power hungry and, those that do come with battery options often require expensive specialist battery packs (yes, I’m looking at you Pure!) or needs lots of C size batteries.

After a bit of a search, I came across the Roberts ecologic 1. It’s a compact portable DAB radio which runs on just 4 x AA batteries. “ecologic” is in the name because it will also charge rechargable batteries – simply use NiMH batteries and plug in the mains when you need to recharge them – so need need for an extra charger.

The one I bought is white (black is also available). It’s a glossy plastic and the silver buttons are a soft plastic with the silver painted onto them (I can imagine this will wear off over time). There are 5 presets on the front for easy station access and a button lock switch on the side. The screen is relatively small but has a back-light. On the other side you have the mains and headphone sockets. It measures just 160(w) x 105(h) x 35(d) (mm) and weighs only 365g.

As well as DAB you also get RDS FM, which is a nice extra to have.

Switching it on for the first time, the ecologic 1 will automatically search and store all the available stations – within a matter of minutes you’re ready to go.

The box contains the radio, mains charger and manual and not much else. None-the-less, there’s quite a lot of packaging – most of it recyclable I’ll admit.

And there’s not a huge amount else to say.

So, let’s get the bad points out of the way…

• The speaker is quite small and the volume doesn’t go up very high. I would have preferred a little more bulk to the radio to have fitted in a larger speaker. However, sound quality is still good.
• There’s no easy way to see signal quality – you have to scroll around the display options to find it. On other DAB radios that I have there’s a permanent display at the top.
• The underside feet are moulded in the same hard plastic as the rest of the radio – some softer and more “non-slip” would have been preferable
• I had problems with the built-in charging facility. A flashing light becomes solid once the batteries are charged – I put in a set of flat rechargeable batteries and the light flashed for only a few minutes before displaying solidly. They certainly weren’t charged and the radio turned itself off after only a minute or so of use. In the end, I used my separate battery charger – it may be that they were charging but merely that the lights were indicating incorrectly.

However, let’s lighten this by pointing out this is a compact, good quality DAB radio at a good price. And it runs on rechargable AA batteries which is a real bonus.

Summary of Roberts ecologic 1

Compact, rechargeable, uses AA batteries, good quality and a good price. Just a few bug-bears reduces the score.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 6th September 2011.

Anyone over a certain age will remember Bush – founded in 1932 as Bush Radio, and manufacturer of many of the most classic radios of the past, they branched into all sorts of home electronics. These days they are more known as budget brand and in 2008 they were bought by Home Retail Group, the owners of Argos.

Although Argos now sell a LOT of Bush products, they are still available elsewhere.

I have a retro remake of a classic Bush radio as well as a more modern DAB radio. However, I’ve recently found a problem with the latter – the display, although lit, will not show anything. I’ve read the manual and it makes no mention of why this might happen. Although the radio is a good few years old (and well out of warranty) I’m loath to get rid of what is otherwise a perfectly good radio (and was quite expensive when I bought it). Maybe it’s a simple button press that will restore the screen?

Unfortunately, probably because of the buy-out by Home Retail Group none of Bush’s contact details (including website) work. So, I contacted Home Retail Group. They gave me the number of  their customer services, but they told me I needed to speak to Argos customer services. Speaking to them, I came across the following problems…

1. Unless it’s an Argos product (this may be, may not be) they’re not interested
2. They don’t support radios, even if it was bought from them
3. They don’t appear to realise that Bush is their own exclusive brand

As a result I got no-where.

Now, bearing in mind that Bush still sell radios, this begs the question as to where you get technical support? I certainly don’t know.

I contacted Home Retail Group about this last week but have yet to receive a reply.

The one problem with not owning an iPod or iPhone is the lack of peripherals specifically available for your phone. Android is humongously popular, but each phone manufacturer seems to do things differently and, hence, its difficult to produce “one size fit alls” solutions.

Philips, however, have announced a number of new docking stations which a special 3D pivoting connector so that, wherever your USB connector is, it will work.

Philips Fidelio for Android are based on the same speaker systems as the Fidelio for Apple range. There are 3 products in the range, one of which is a bedside alarm clock. Accompanying the range is an Android App that does more than let you control the speaker’s functions – for example, it will stream internet radio and provide a multi-function alarm clock with weather alert.

Due in the UK in November, prices have not yet been announced.

Check out the images below or watch the video.

Gallery