Aves Digital Radio

I purchased an Aves Dab radio E2 and it didn't work out of the box. The station change button didn't work, the auto time update didn't work and the manual said it took C type batteries when in fact it took AAA!

On contacting Aves by phone an answer machine advised that there was no one to take my call and to leave a message. No one got back to me.

The radio is cheap and nasty and the customer support is rubbish.

I saw the Aves Classic digital radio and couldn't resist the price (I paid £30 and the label said "RRP £90") as I have always wanted one.

The Classic looks very nice, a blend of modern & classic with a wood-effect box and buttons designed by someone with severe OCD. The speaker sound is nice and that's where the niceties end.

The buttons are horrible rubber pads that have to be pushed-in quite hard for them to work, which means you have to use two hands every time, one to hold down the box and the other to press the button. The writing on the buttons is so tiny and faint that you need a magnifying glass to read them and a torch in dim lighting is a must.

The preset stations, alarm and sleep functions take a depressingly long amount of button pushing to set and a very short time-out time. Much frustration is guaranteed.

The scan mode is fairly quick, but you do end up with a lot of strange 'stations' on the list. I had 6 stations in a row all called 'Capital', and when I switched to the first one (stupidly expecting Capital Radio) the box display went mental and it froze, so I had to unplug it. (It's a good job the power cord plugs into the back as you will end up unplugging it to unfreeze it on a daily basis). Each time I unfroze it and turned it on it kept returning to the phantom Capital station and froze, giving me no opportunity to tune to anything else. So I left it unplugged for one hour and managed to get onto another station.

EVERY TIME, (no exaggeration), EVERY TIME I switch on, it 'searches' and then says that there is No DAB signal, I switch off and then straight back on and it works. I check the info and the signal strength is maximum! This also means that the alarm never switches the radio on because of 'no DAB signal' - so that is useless too.

The display is quite dim during the day and not easy to read and yet at night it lights up the whole bedroom and keeps me awake! I have to cover the display screen at night to get any sleep.

All-in-all a very disappointing product that resembles a Thai Lady-boy, initially it looks good but after fumbling about for a while will leave you shocked and frustrated. The programming obviously needs to be updated to remove the bugs and the buttons need changing.

I would never buy an Aves product again (I had the same problem with a Cello LED TV) and would advise people to go elsewhere to a more reputable company.