What I ordered:
These are both S.A.M.E. enabled. S.A.M.E. stands for "Specific Area Message Encoding" and allows you to program your S.A.M.E. enabled weather radio to raise alerts only for emergencies in your area. If considering purchasing a weather radio, I'd highly recommend you get one that is S.A.M.E. enabled.
Programming is kind of a pain for both of them, and needlessly so. Cumbersome interfaces and lack of any sequence reinforcement leave you wondering where you are in the process and what you have left to do. I think both companies would be well served to look at the human interface issues for their next product revisions.
In short, programming involves selecting the best NOAA radio station for your area, and then entering the appropriate S.A.M.E. codes for your location. You can lookup the S.A.M.E. code for your location here.
Experience:
They both served their purpose well. The Midland WR-300 AM/FM Weather Radio gave a Tornado Warning for us a good 20 seconds before the local sirens went off. We were in the bedroom at the time and made our way to the basement. On the way downstairs, I grabbed the Oregon Scientific WR 103 Hand-held Weather Radio from it's power-cradle. I noticed that it had not gone off yet, which wasn't much of a surprise since it was located in a spot in the house that doesn't get good radio reception.
Once settled in the basement, the WR 103 was able to lock on to the NOAA radio station (providing I held it just so) and we were able to listen in on all the warnings and alerts. This was essential, as when we went to the basement I had assumed that this would be another storm like all the others: a whole lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. How wrong I was.
Soon we were hearing reports of funnel clouds being spotted all around us. I'm not talking about miles away, but blocks away. It's a strange feeling, sitting in the darkness (we had lost power) listening to a computer generated voice tell you that a Tornado is on the ground and headed for your specific street. I'm thankful for the information, of course...but it is strange.
The little radio stayed operating on its batteries for a good three hours while we were in the basement. Aside from it's weak reception, the WR 103 revealed a rather frustrating shortcoming during the experience: Lack of AM/FM reception.
We spent the entire time in the basement, aware that tornados had touched down, but completely incapable of tuning into a local radio station to find out about damage or other important information that isn't broadcast on the NOAA channels.
When we did come out of the basement a few hours later, we were still without power. The moon was out and the sky had cleared. Hungry for information, my wife and I went back upstairs to our bedroom and tuned the Midland WR-300 (the Weather Radio we keep in our bedroom) to a local news station and heard about the destruction in town and only then did we realize how close we had come to disaster (4 blocks).
After using these little radios, I'm glad we had them. To be honest, I felt a little sheepish about buying one (much less two) of these...and my wife looked at them with some skepticism. But for us, they quickly proved their worth.
If you don't have one, I'd highly recommend you get one (or more) for your home.
Purchasing Criteria
When shopping for a weather radio, I'd recommend choosing a model that meets at least the following criteria:
- Can use AC and batteries
- Is S.A.M.E. enabled
- Can tune AM/FM stations in addition to NOAA Radio
Recommendations
Based on the above criteria and my experience with the two weather radio models, I'd recommend the Midland WR-300. In fact, I'd get multiples: One for the bedroom (especially if you live in tornado country and sleep on the second (or higher) floor of your house or building and one for the basement (or other shelter area).
That's not to say that the WR 103 is a waste...its portability is a major asset, but for us, in our situation, the lack of an AM/FM tuner makes it less than ideal. We'll still use it, of course... It's just that now I have to look for a good AM/FM portable radio to keep in our basement for these emergencies also.
Buying
Each radio listed above can be purchased for well below their list price. I think I paid around $50 for each of mine. I'm sure you can do better with a little searching, but I was comfortable with the price I paid from vendors I trust.
