I continue to be puzzled by the unavailability of DAB radios. To buy, I mean.Thursday evening I thought I'd bought a Pure Siesta 2 from the Pure online shop but something made the payment fail. In the morning my wife said "Which model were you going to buy, because I've been reading some reviews about their alarmclock radios being total rubbish"
A bit of googling confirmed that though the basic radio bit is ok, all the addon features, the controls, the display, the instructions and even the sound have been universally panned. "Phew" I thought, "a narrow escape". Many clock radio reviews praised the VQ range. Currys offer an upmarket model, a monster of a bedside radio, reduced from £130 to £110. "A high price for a bit of peace" I thought and went to add it to the basket, whereupon it turns out it is not available to collect from any store nor for delivery. So it's gone. Never mind, a better and less pricey model is available direct from myvq.com,
The Lark. Ok, add it to basket - "We will email you when it is next available"
Who else might sell these? John Lewis has them, so add to basket > email when next available.
John Lewis has (has?) a good range of DAB clock radios, including one for audiophools at a bit short of a Grand. Better still, they have their own brand including one that looks so like the Lark that I reckon they must both come from the same maker. Cheaper too, so let's add to basket > you guessed it
eBay doesn't have any VQ alarm models - but blow me, they have plenty of John Lewis models, so I immediately bought the
Prelude bnib for 2/3 the price.
What does this all mean? I should think trade with China has a lot to do with it. I also suspect that the retailers are becoming tired of all the returns from the good folk who plug it in, turn it on, and nothing immediately happens, and they can't understand the 80-page instructions that have the usual helpful advice in 40 languages.