Revo iblik Radio Station review

Blik Radio Station gets the spit and shine treatment and adds an iPod dock to its list of tricks

We loved the Blik Radio Station. It could tune into the lunchtime hour on Lionpaw radio, let us unashamedly enjoy Birdsong on DAB and chuckle with Terry every morning on Radio 2. What more could we ask from the little tyke? The ipod connector adorned iBlik stormed our desks and yes, we can now listen to non stop Elvis Costello from our 'pods.

The iBlik Radio Station, look exactly the same as its non-pod predecessor. Slim black casing and the strange wiggly holed (technical term) designed speakers on the top. Set up is simple, plug the station in and it'll automatically tune in to the DAB stations within range. We managed to pick up around 30 stations, which isn't too shabby.

Internet stations-wise it claims to access 11,000 stations from salsa stations in Sao Paulo to yodelling in Salzburg. No stereotypes here. Connect through the LAN cable at the rear, or it'll link up to any public Wi-Fi. We hooked it up to ours, and we were doing the electric boogaloo to the latest Czech trance faster than we could grab our day glo whistles.

If the 11,000 internet stations or DAB stations don't cater for your audio indulgences, whack in an ipod or stream music direct from your PC or Mac. You just can't get the stations that play the Great London Mouse Orchestra these days. Again the simplicity of the iBlik means that even those with the tech knowledge of a newt will be streaming music for their audio pleasure. Simply enable your Windows Player, and the radio will instantly access your library.

Sound isn't as beefy, or impressive as other docks on the market but it's surprisingly loud for a dock that's the same size as a loaf of bread. The LCD screen is a tad on the small side but scrolling through the various modes and stations is a breeze either using the controls on the station or the credit card sized remote for the lard arses amongst us.

When we saw the Blik radio station we thought that it couldn't get any better, internet radio stations, DAB and FM for a smidge of a price. Stick on an iPod connector for an extra £20 and we traded in for the younger iBlik model, Abramovich-style.

Posted by Rhiain Morgan on 2008-08-14

User Comments

By tjdewalt

10|12|2008 18:53

I purchased this unit, because it is supposed to have all the functions you wish for: ipod docking station, FM receiver, DAB radio, WiFi, plays music from your home network and it has an alarm.

Nice features, but when it comes to usability it simply doesn't do what it is supposed to. Too many of the features don't work properly. Here are the things i don't like about the Revo iblik radiostation:

- Clock: Setting clock has to be done manually. It should be working automatically by synching to your network. When you unplug it for any reason, you have to reset everything. The clock has no extra battery or anything.

- Alarm: Doens't go off when you set the function to anything else but the funciton you want your alarm to use to wake you up. e.g. you want the WiFi radio to wake you but you have set it to ipod before going to sleep. It simply doesn't wake you in the morning! And since the clock has no extra battery, you'd have to use a back up alarm, just in case of a power failure over night or anything like that.

- Sleep: function simply doesn't work!

- Remote: you have to point right at the receiver from very close by! you might as well not have it.

- Play music for network: doesn't support 4ma files (apple's itunes). They said it might do so with the next software update...

- Display: too bright to have it on at night. I have to shove the unit under my bed to avoid my room to be too bright at night. It's also not quite as user friendly as you'd like.

- Support: Revo support team hasn't been able to help me with any of the above problems. Unfortunately...

Bottom line: don't buy this unit if you are looking for a combination of all the features. It simply isn't good enough to spent your money on.