But the BT aviator DAB radio has a chance to take all the best elements from previous DAB models and combine them into a stylish radio and from first glances it certainly looks the part. The 23 cm x 10 cm x 22 cm black and silver unit is quite large and definitely a home dab system, its cylindrical shape certainly makes it stand out form the regular black box design of so many consumer gadgets.

Controlled from a good sized LCD screen mounted mid unit the aviator is both a DAB and FM radio, this gives access to the widest possible range of stations plus access to the hiss free quality of DAB, set-up is very easy indeed, just select auto scan and the unit trawls through all the available DAB stations.

The controls are large and simple to use, the main 4 way pad on the top of the unit gives access to the menu system, while there is also access to 5 presets and a range of playback controls. There in lies the secret weapon of the BT aviator and possibly the reason that waiting will prove worthwhile the aviator has sky+ like replay capabilities, in fact 10 minutes of recording capability which means you can pause live radio.

So when a call of nature occurs during the top 40 or even an episode of the archers you can just pause the radio stream and then hit replay upon your return assuming you make it back inside the 10 minutes storage limit. This feature works well and also bring a bonus of having the BT aviator equipped to replay MP3 files, these can be stored on external SD or MMC cards up to 1gigabyte (not supplied) thus turning the DAB radio into an MP3 player.

This all sounds great and the Aviator can either be mains powered or from 4 D cell batteries, plus it has an inbuilt alarm clock which is kept in sync using the DAB time lock feature and has a powerful buzzer to waken even the most determined sleeper.

None of this would be of any use if the BT unit sounded poor, but we can happily report it actually gives a good audio performance, there are a pair of stereo speakers contained within the main housing plus a subwoofer which gives the sound a more warm and powerful feel.

Downsides? well we'd have liked the ability to use the SD/MMC slot to record from the DAB tuner but sadly this isn't possible and if that were possible to then be able to set a timed recording, neither of these features made it to the aviator which does limit some of the possible uses. However it is a good all round performer, easy to operate, great sounding and having that record and MP3 replay facility.

It's priced at around £114 which seems a bit expensive but when you consider the extra capabilities beyond DAB and FM reception its actually a good deal.

Published - 21/03/2005

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