Roberts SolarDAB2 DAB Radio / Red

I have both this radio, and the 'mark 1' version.
The older version is still working happily on solar power alone after nearly two years. I've never had to charge it from the mains. I love it.
And happily, I love this newer version too. I have recharged this one from the mains once, but maybe I didn't have to. A red LED glows when the battery needs recharging, and during a very gloomy part of the winter, it glowed. But I haven't seen it since.
A yellow LED glows when the sun shines and the battery is charging.
I keep mine in a south-facing window and use it mostly at weekends, but often for several hours at a time.
It uses standard rechargeable batteries (AA size) so you could always get a second set. Or you can use standard AAs if you're living in the dark for a while. Or you can plug it into the mains.
You have to set a switch in the battery compartment if you use a different power souce.
Anyway, the radio itself is very small and neat (it was smaller than I expected from the photograph). It seems nicely made and all the controls work smoothly (the volume control is silky). All the buttons are rubberised, even the silver ones.
The display is large, but not as good as it could be. There is a backlight that lights whenever you touch a control but goes out after a couple of seconds. Scrolling text is very hard to read because it blurs so much.
I guess reception will epend where you live, but I tuned mine without extending the aerial and it found a wide range of stations. There's a very handy 'favourite' button you can set with your most listened to station, so you can return there instantly. You get to presets in a rather convoluted way though. I'd like to see preset buttons on the next version.
The sound is very good for talk radio like Radio 4, and has the slightly 'plummy' sound Roberts is known for. I think music sounds a bit dull and flat though, and since there's no tone control of any sort, you can't change it. This makes the 'audio in' socket less useful, but you can plug your iPod in and it automatically switches to that input and back to radio when you unplug.
There's a stereo headphone socket too, and a USB socket for software updates only (don't think there have been any of those so far).
Set up, by the way, and general operation, is extremely easy - much better than some DAB radios I've tried.
So all in all, this is a really good radio, perfect if you listen to Radio 4 a lot, less good for music. It looks really neat and the solar panel has given me months of listening with no need to resort to mains charging. But I reckon this depends a lot on where you place the radio and how often, long and loud you listen to it. But the multiple power sources make it as useful as any other DAB radio, and you don't need to buy a separate battery pack like you do with Pure portables.
The next model could do with a better display, a few direct access preset buttons, and a crisper treble sound with a tone control. But this one's well worth getting now at the right price.