The tiny V112 is another interesting model from Retekess who has offered many models of widely varying quality over the past few years. I will admit that I have been less than impressed by some of their offerings but the V112 may be may be the best model for the money ($20 as of November 2022) I have so far evaluated. (I also just reviewed their PR15 which I also found to be a good value in a tiny $20 radio).

Description: The V112 is a no-frills earbud-style radio (we used to call them Walkmen) available in Red or Gold colors offering AM and FM stereo in a very small package. It does offer all the important amenities however, such as a bright LCD display, Up/Down Tuning keys for Manual or Auto Scan and Storage of AM and FM stations with 58 presets – 29 each for AM and FM, , 9/10 KHz AM Tuning Steps, Mute function, Keyboard Lock mode, adjustable Sleep Timer and a built-in USB Li-ion rechargeable battery with charging indicator. The radio is supplied with a large lanyard, a short USB Micro charging cable, stereo earbuds and an instruction manual. It covers AM from 522-1710 and FM from 64 or 87 MHz – 108 MHz. There is no clock.

Checking It Out: The first thing that struck me was how small this radio is. Measuring a mere 3.3” x 1.9” x .47”/ 84 mm x 48 mm x 12 mm it is dwarfed next to my reference earbud radios and is so small and light you won’t even notice it in your pocket. Its performance is best on FM where it almost competes with the more deluxe models shown. It is not quite as sensitive to faint FM signals and there was one image of a strong signal on another part of the band but overall, for listening to my usual FM stations I cannot fault it for the price. Sound is also very good using decent earbuds…the ones supplied with the radio, while not the worst I’ve heard, are necessarily basic as you would expect.

Below: The Retekess is hiding between the reference radios!

Above: Sangean DT-800 – Retekess V112 – C.Crane CC Pocket

AM is less impressive compared with the reference radios…clearly the internal ferrite rod is under 2” long and that alone limits what is possible. Stronger stations come in well but for AM reception forget about weaker signals. 

Conclusion: The Retekess V112 is amazing considering its size and price. Of course, the reference C. Crane CC Pocket and Sangean DT-800 radios I compared it to outperform it by every measure of both features and performance, plus they both offer the advantage of built-in speakers which I sometimes find very handy, but the V112 is approximately one third their cost and on FM it is not bad by comparison, although I would not recommend its AM for anything other than local reception. Add a better pair of earbuds and its FM is surprisingly good and its tiny size makes it easy to live with.

Recommended!

Jay Allen