AM RECEPTION:
As many other reviews state, the AM reception is lacking; however, it is okay for my needs. Poor AM reception seems to be common with all the small size radios I have tried. I believe this is inherent with the design of currently available products. I bought these primarily as a replacement for a pair of SONY radio headphones that I "wore out" and the AM reception on the SONY pair was not much better, if it was different at all. The hearing protection is welcome bonus as I use these when running power tools in my garage and when using my treadmill.

All this said, these headpones do receive the one AM station I listen to and it's better when I'm outside. When reading these reviews, it's difficult to separate reactionary reviews from really useful ones. Hopefully this one will helpful in this regard.

FM RECEPTION:
The FM reception is good and what I would expect from a product like this.

HEARING PROTECTION:
Seems to be adequate, although I have nothing to compare it to.

DIGITAL TUNING:
Works as expected. Digital tuning was one of the requirements I had for selecting this product. Five AM and Five FM pre-sets are adequate for my needs.

MP3 PERFORMANCE:
I haven't tried an MP3 player with these. It does come with the appropriate cable to connect to an MP3 player.

VOLUME CONTROL:
Volume does not get as loud as I might like but these are for hearing protection so maybe this is intentional. Considering this and that my hearing is starting to fade anyway, it does get loud enough and I think it would be okay for most. The volume knob is also the on/off switch. It sticks out, making it easier to find while wearing, but be careful when putting the headphones down; you can inadvertently cause the knob to rotate, turning them back on and killing the batteries. This is not a significant issue but it deserved mention.

COMFORT:
As some reviews have mentioned, these fit a bit tight on my larger than average head. This is easily remedied by bending the wire head band in the opposite direction of its curvature. When doing this, be careful to hold the band only, otherwise you may break the plastic parts that hold the ear pieces. Once adjusted, the soft padding makes it very comfortable.

In warm weather, these headphones do cause additional persperation and the foam pads will become wet. This may be uncomfortable but I found I can get used to it. Also, this will likely happen with any padded headphones. When this happens, I always I wipe off the headphone pads because I don't want to let any moisture get into the speakers. I does seem that the foam pads might wear out prematurely from too much wiping so I tend to dab, rather than wipe, when I dry them off.

BOTTOM LINE:
These work for me. I live in a large city and AM reception is not great but it's enough for my purposes. There really is no similar product available with better AM reception so you may dismiss this as a reason not to buy these. I suspect that the foam pads might wear out prematurely so I try to be careful with them. I would buy them again and I would recommend them to others as well.

To make my weekly 2-hour grass-mowing tractor ride more tolerable, I've tried to listen to audio-books. The problem was that my iPod Touch just couldn't drive any of my ear-buds or ear-phones to a volume sufficient to get through the tractor noise. These phones are the first I've found that do the job. They block the noise so effectively that I can even listen at lower-than-max iPod volume.
I have no interest in the radio - - I just want to play audio-books and MP3 files - - and it's a good thing, as the radio is useless (at least in my reception-challenged area). So, no need for batteries.
The phones are very comfortable, and, being "industrial-strength", they're rugged. Grass-cutting is now almost fun!

I knew from previous reviews that the radio station reception was, at best, hit or miss. This wasn't a huge concern for me, as I was primarily using it to listen to my ipod while doing lawn work. Unfortunately, it played for about 5 minutes and then the headphones just went to dead air. No sound at all. By the way, the radio stations really do get as poor a reception as the reviews say - and this is coming from someone with a radio tower less than a mile from their house. Not a good product at all.

I purchased this headset radio through Amazon, when I could not find one in any store where I live. I gave it to my husband for Father's Day; he uses it outdoors and at the Penn State football games. He absolutely loves it; can hardly hear the tractor running.

This is the third pair and third design of these headphones. The first one lasted 3 years and was great. The second one lasted a little over a year. This pair, not only has a much shorter battery life, has only fair reception. I will not purchase
this product line again. I thought you were supposed to improve the quality, not the other direction