My dudes, I have found my new favorite jobsite radio! Ridgid sent me their 18-volt battery charging jobsite radio that, as the name indicates, both works as a battery charger and as a radio. I listen to music constantly so I consider anything that plays music as an important tool to have with me everyday. Lets see how it performs onsite.
I mention some recommended music selections on this review. If you’re interested in hearing some excellently produced musical genius checkout my YouTube “Music” Playlist
The Radio
Upon opening the box I noticed this speaker is larger than I was expecting. Most bluetooth speakers you find these days are small enough to fit in your back pocket, but this is not just a speaker. It’s the size of a boombox, and produces the amount of sound you’d expect from a boombox. I plugged it in and turned on the digital display to find that there are several different inputs for sources. It takes a USB cord, an AUX cord, AM/FM stereo, and syncs up to bluetooth devices.
Once I saw bluetooth I was sold. I normally jam Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube through headphones everyday so really I’ve been treating this stereo as a bluetooth speaker. I rarely use the AM/FM options, and don’t really have a need for USB or AUX since all of my music is on my phone. The stereo has a 110-volt power cable built in, so this is designed to be plugged in - however it is mostly for the use of the battery charger on the back side of the speaker. This stereo is fully operable from a standard 18v Li-Ion battery, so you don’t need to use the cord if you have charged batteries. If not, you can keep this thing plugged in and bumping tunes all day long.
One thing that frustrates me about bluetooth speakers is that the battery life is generally very short-lived. You may get 3 or 4 hours of battery on, for example, the JBL Flip 4 if you’re playing music at full volume. If you’re not competing with air compressors, saws, nails, drills, etc then you may be alright for a full day of use at a low volume with one of these, but in construction let’s be honest…that’s rare. The other downside of bluetooth speakers is they take quite awhile to charge because most of them use a 12-volt mini-usb to charge. This Ridgid Jobsite Radio never needs charging. You plug it in and it works, or you can throw in an 18v battery and run it til the battery dies. The amount of time it takes to run through a battery varies widely with the type of battery you’re using. (How many amp-hours the battery is)
The specific radio I was sent had a messed up display and was scratched out of the box, so I believe (since it was free) that I was given a used stereo. This really didn’t bother me since I use it for bluetooth only, so I really don’t need to see what the time or radio station is. I just need the volume knob and the bluetooth button.
I found out through a little research that this stereo can charge every generation of Ridgid 18v batteries, AND that if you register the product you get free parts and service for life!
In Summary
I am a huge fan of this jobsite stereo. I give this thing a definite 5-stars across the board. I use it everyday, it is very reliable, and puts out enough sound to hear it across a jobsite, but not enough to piss off all of the neighbors. I recommend, if you listen to music on your construction sites, going to Home Depot and buying one of these badboys. Link below if you’re interested:
