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Product Reviews
Proven bad reception (FIXED!), July 6, 2004
Reviewer: W. White III "ww111"
New-----
I Read the reveiw about the new antenna and ordered the
unit. It's well worth the price. And now reception is as
good as any other radio out there. It's playing CD's and
MP-3's as I type. and I get all the stations I need on the
radio. Kudo's to Bosch for the quick fix. I wish I could
increase the actual rating, 5 Stars, no question.
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I saw the radio in the store and had it in my cart. I
thought I should read the reviews prior to purchase and
put it back. After reading the reviews I went back to home
depot and with the Dewalt on one side and the Milwaukee on
the other I performed the reception test. Don't buy the
Bosch. I'm a great fan of their tools but the Bosch would
not pick up ANY FM stations while the others would tune
clearly to 8-10 local and not so local stations.
The Good- The MP3 function puts 11 hours of music on a
disk, and with 12vdc and 4 outlets of GFCI It's still a
good tool. I may need to take it apart to put an external
antenna on it tho'
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Updated: After much use, I'm not satisfied..., July 5,
2004
Reviewer: lee280zx "lee280zx" (San Diego, CA) - See all my
reviews
****FINAL UPDATE
I finally quit trying to believe there was anything
redeeming about this radio. The FM tuner reception, even
with the new antenna fix, is quite simply so bad that it
ruins the radio. I was lucky if I could tune in one
station clearly at any given site.
ONLY BUY THIS UNIT IF YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT FM RECEPTION.
After letting my Powerbox sit unused for several months, I
called Bosch and asked for a refund. It took some doing,
but they agreed to take the radio back and refund my
money. They acknowledged its problems; they know it is a
piece of junk. To Bosch's credit, they did take it back.
Maybe they'll come out with a new design some day and get
it right.
****UPDATE
This is the second time I've updated my review. I've had
my power box for months, and I've had the improved unit
with the added wire antenna (see below) for over a
month.The FM radio reception on this unit is simply
horrible. In my opinion, the wire antenna Bosch has added
does nothing to improve reception, and even seems to make
it worse in some cases. Adding the wire antenna was simply
slapping a band-aid on a serious problem. It didn't work,
and I'd like my money back. Do not buy this unit if you
want to listen to FM radio with it.
****UPDATE (original review below):
Bosch finally acknowledged the FM reception problem with
these Power Boxes and is willing to replace them. They
added an external antenna at the rear of the cicular,
silver Bosch handle on the top of the unit.
The antenna consists of a thin wire that is about one foot
long. At one end of the wire there is a threaded connector
that screws onto a small connector that Bosch has added at
the back of the connector. At the other end there is a
velcro strap that you can use to attact that end of the
wire to something to keep the wire extended.
Of course, there usually isn't anything to attach that
wire to, and I find it only modestly improves the Power
Box's reception. I would have much rather seen a "rubber
whip" style antenna.
If you have the old Power Box, you can call Bosch and they
will send you a new one with the antenna. You then send
yours back to them in the box the new one was sent in.
They take your credit card number for security (in case
you don't send them the old Power Box). Bosch pays for all
shipping, and they even sent me a free gift separately for
my trouble (a case of drill driver bits).****
I've owned my Power Box for a couple of months now. I read
the other reviews and my comments relate to them.
I don't think this radio is too heavy or too big. I would
have never thought of that as a possible compaint.
I have been wondering about the FM reception. I get many
stations fine, but the PBS station, which is usually the
easiest to get, is hard to get on the Power Box. But AM
reception seems surprisingly good.
The one thing I really wish this thing had is a headphone
jack. I have a small radio transmitter that I use at sites
to transmit to my Peltor Alert hearing protection AM/FM
headphones (I put them on when I'm using power equipment).
I'd really like to be able to transmit whatever I'm
listening to or playing to my headphones, but I can't with
no jack. But, I'm sure I'm about the only person out there
with this complaint.
One thing I have noticed is that once I charge a battery
pack, it goes dead within a day or two even if the radio
is not on. I really don't understand why this is, but it
has happened several times with a fairly new battery pack.
I think the sound is good. But I wouldn't expect amazing
sound from a jobsite radio, and I listen mainly to talk
programming.
So, in the end, I guess I don't know if I like my Power
Box. I wouldn't return it tomorrow for what I paid for it.
But I'd sure like to keep that option open.
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don't buy this radio, March 12, 2006
Reviewer: Frank G. Nicita "stugots"
not only does it not get reception but it doesn't even
power up in cold weather! no matter what they say about
new and improved i don't care don't waste your good money
on this radio its crap.
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Bosch "rocks" again!, February 27, 2006
Reviewer: Sawdust
I purchased the Bosch PB10-CD, and this unit has some
awesome sound! I drag this radio around with me all over,
and it holds up to anything. I have accidently kicked, and
dropped it a few times. Naturally, the radio took it like
a champ. The CD that was playing didn't even skip when I
dropped it. The best feature on this radio is the battery
charger. I originally purchased the Milwaukee, and the
Milwaukee can't shine the shoes of this radio. The sound
of the Bosch is worlds ahead of its competition.
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New Version! Ignore old ratings. Old problems resolved
+ new features!, February 13, 2006
Reviewer: S. Lewis
First off: If you are considering this, buy it! It's a
beautiful thing. One question: Why on earth did Bosch not
use a new model number for their 'advanced' Power Box? All
the negative reviews are about the old version and keep
people from realizing how great this product is. This
'running change' is definitely worthy of a new model
number, and deserves many more stars.
I looked at the Power Box a hundred times- on Amazon, and
at my local HD store... and almost bought one a dozen
times, but the reviews on Amazon made it clear that this
was a near miss with some glaring problems. Well, I've had
the new 'Advanced Model'that came out around Christmas for
about a month now, and LOVE IT!
Reception is crystal clear, which is what everyone
complained about before. Also, Sound quality is great, and
the remote is very cool. My only complaint: the Remote is
IR, so you have to point it directly at the front of the
box. If you are too far off-angle, the IR-remote is fairly
useless. WHY WHY WHY didn't they use an RF remote on this
rather than IR. Line of site remotes don't make much sense
on a job site!!
It would also be nice if there was a way to actually
control IPOD playback via the iPOD dock & remote. Alas,
the dock is simply power, and audio connection- no
control. That said, it is a slick 'add-on' designed
specifically for the powerbox.
So, two items for the wishlist, but overall, a great,
great design, with super sound, and none of the gotchas of
the previous versions.
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POWER BOX with CD Player, January 21, 2006
Reviewer: R. Holler
I purchased the Power Box Advanced at the end of December
05. When the unit arrived I unpacked it in my house and
tried it for a week. It would not play a CD without
stopping, even a new unwrapped CD. I contacted Bosch and
received a replacement unit. The replacement unit played
CD's every day for 2 weeks then repeated the problems of
the first unit. I purchased the unit for the CD function,
but have been unable to get a unit that will play CD's
without failing. The unit keeps spinning the CD, but will
not play sound. Both units will not recognize a CD in the
drive after this failure. I will try one more time to get
a unit that plays CD's.
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