I usually talk about radios I’ve used or intend to buy. This is is different, mostly about radios I didn’t and won’t buy.
Retekess V115
The Retekess V115 radio has been a very popular “starter radio” because of its low price. On “Prime Day” in 2015, Amazon sold it for a mere $16.09. It’s a basic MW/FM/SW radio with ATS, that adds an MP3 Play/Record capability. It’s powered by a BL-5C battery. The price today (9/20/2025) is $22.99 on Amazon.
Zhiwhis ZWS-603
The V115 is a radio I never bought, primarily because I believe I have a better version, the Zhiwhis ZWS-603 that I bought in April of 2022. I didn’t think the V115 brought any value to the table.
The button labels are a little different, but there are remarkable similarities between the V115 and the ZWS-603. I like the green display compared to the white one on the V115. The big advance in the ZWS-603 is its Bluetooth support, including the ability to record from Bluetooth. For a while I used this radio solely as a recorder through the AUX jack connection. It also has what I consider an good speaker for its size. I invite the reader to listen to the audio sample in my article: Zhiwhis ZWS-603 vs Kaito KA29.
I dug mine out and scanned through shortwave. It got a number of stations, but not weaker ones that my DX-286 handled well. Also the frequency range is only 4.75 – 21.85 MHz. Performance on FM seemed good.
One disappointment is the lack of a clock. The photo above gives a hint of how dim the button labels are, but unless the room is well lit, they are invisible. If you just have a lamp, there will be glare off the shiny black case that hides the gray numbers.
It’s branded alternately as the HanRongDa K-603. The price today is $24.77 at Amazon.
Retekess V115P
YouTube is abuzz with a new entry from Retekess, the V115P. Influencers have gotten their freebies and now that the the radio is on sale, the videos are posted. At first glance one might think it’s the same as the V115, but closer examination reveals many more buttons.
Added features over the V115 include:
- Weather Band
- Longwave
- Flashlight
- External antenna jack
- Higher capacity BL-10C battery (really hard to find)
- Clock w/alarm
- Support for large MicroSD cards
Amazon’s price is $29.99.
Buy?
I’m presuming that the V115P has the same shortwave performance as the V115 (with the noted fact that there is an added antenna jack) and that the speaker is as good. Given that the V115P is only $7 more than the V115 and about $5 more than the ZWS-603, it hardly makes sense to buy the cheaper radios when adding the cost of a burger adds so many features. But if you want a demonstration or information about shortwave performance don’t look at Blog Or Die! because I won’t be buying one; rather check out YouTube. It doesn’t add anything for me and I have more radios than I know what to do with already.
Addenda
My ZWS-603 is an older model with version 1.6 firmware. The current firmware is 2.4. I sent Zhiwhis an email asking if an update is possible. The main benefit is a setting for FM range. Mine starts at 64 MHz, making the ATS scan and tuning with the arrow keys rather slow.