PRUNUS J168 Portable Radio Bluetooth Speaker

Rafe Soto

May 5, 2026

Great portable radio!

Great portable radio, AM FM and bluetooth. Perfect size, rechargable.

Retro radio

Very cool retro-looking radio. The radio part itself works well and gets great reception. Aesthetically it looks fantastic, and fits in well with other retro-styled devices. It's fairly easy to use once you get the hang of it, though the UI isn't super intuitive at first. Takes a bit of playing around with and digging through the instructions to first learn it. Battery life is pretty decent, and the Bluetooth functionality is a nice touch. For $20, it isn't a bad value, though there are plenty of cheaper options available.

n00dle

December 31, 2025

Radio is still alive!

This is a nice pocket radio. The quality of the speaker is surprisingly good for the price it beats my phone, and typically pocket radios sound thin, and tinny. This is an exception. The build quality is as expected for the price, very plastic; it feels fairly light but firm. I would feel fairly confident that it could survive a handful of drops. The buttons feel solid, rubber membrane with a tactile switch under. The operation of switching modes and punching in stations is easy, but saving stations and browsing shortwave is a bit confusing without consulting the manual. The battery life is acceptable, though the unit does take a while to charge. The radio can be used to playback FLAC, which is interesting for sure. I don't think you will be powering any audiophile headphones with it, but it's a nice option for the few who will utilize it. The screen is a nice amber color, it is easy on the eyes, this has been a nice little device for the bedside. It has helped me get off the phone before sleep, and takes me back to the days before smart phones were around. It's been quite nice.

Mike

December 28, 2025

AM/FM receptions Is Strong

This radio is well‑built and feels solid in the hand. It delivers clear audio, offers easy digital channel tuning, and can play MP3 files from a memory card. I really like the option to load content onto a micro SD card for listening on the go. It’s rechargeable, the battery lasts a long time, and the compact size is very convenient.

For its size, the sound quality is impressive. The backlight is a nice touch, and it includes all the major bands with an intuitive layout. The controls are smooth and precise, and AM/FM reception is strong. Stations come in clearly once you tune to the exact spot, though the tuner is very sensitive—you often need to fine‑tune because even a tiny adjustment can pick up another station.

Its ability to receive distant signals with just the telescopic antenna is excellent, and FM stereo sounds great through earbuds or headphones. SW reception isn’t very strong in my area, but overall, this is a great radio that checks all the boxes.

PRUNUS J168 Portable Radio AM FM SW with Bluetooth, Excellent Reception, Preset, TF Card Playback

I like the small size, and the amount of channels you can save as presets, but for a radio that claims to pickup AM/FM/SW/NOAA this thing has a very hard time picking up AM stations, even with the antenna fully extended, which even the most basic of radios should have no problem picking up a station like AM640.

The battery life is not bad.

I can easily get around 4-6 hours at mid-to-low volume.

The display is bright and easy to read.

The TF (microSD) seems to have issues with larger cards, but it works, the bluetooth is also decent.

I had to knock off two stars though because of the inability to pick up what should be very easy to tune in stations on AM, and FM as well (although more so on AM).

Awesome little radio! Great for camping!

This is an awesome little radio! It picks up channels easily. It’s simple to understand. My husband and I took it camping and it helped us keep our phones charged. I love the Bluetooth capabilities! This is a great product at a fair price. It would make a great gift for anyone. I like the nostalgia of having a physical radio. Great buy!

Mighty radio and Bluetooth speaker and micro sd card player!

This radio is fantastic! Definitely worth the value of $20ish. Has am and fm and shortwave, plays micro sd cards, has bluetooth connectivity, headphone jack capability, and you can input using aux connection. I keep finding more features on it every time I use it! Directions are understandable, it has a backlight, extendable antenna, loud and decent speaker, and it's about the size of a small paperback book. My kids were playing with it and love the included songs on the memory card and then when they switched to the radio they asked was it broadcast live. Lol.

Rebecca Fowler

December 11, 2025

Small but powerful

Works very well. A lot of people don’t understand the importance of a radio. You just never know. I’ve seen waaaay too many zombie movies, lol. Seriously though, this thing works great and it’s nice and compact. Will work great for camping. Great reception, and good sound quality for how small an compact it is. It’s small, but it’s powerful.

Really nice little radio/ speaker

I'm really enjoying this little radio/ speaker.

It's got an AM/FM radio , it's a Bluetooth speaker, you've got a slot for a TF card, aux plug, headphone jack and it's rechargeable with the included USB C plug..!!.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I have got to have my tunes..!!. and it's nice to have all these different ways of listening to music all packed into 1 small package.

I would say the speaker is a little louder when you're listening to the AM/FM radio, as opposed to when you're connected thru Bluetooth, but just a little and definitely nothing that affects my opinion of this awesome little radio.

I pulled the antenna out and walked thru my house with the radio on one of the local stations, I didn't get any static at all, which is something I do get from time to time with another radio that we use mainly for our downstairs.

I'm an older guy, and I really like anything that has that sort of retro vibe to it, and tho you do have push buttons for volume and for searching for stations, they've also added a dial that you can turn to dial in your favorite radio stations.

Now it's not super loud and you're not making the windows shake or anything like that, but it's plenty loud enough to hear and no buzzing coming from the speaker, just real clean sounds.

There's a small stand in the back of the radio that pops out so you can tilt the radio back a tad bit so the speaker is aimed a little higher up. They've also added a convenient wrist strap so you can carry your radio around without accidently dropping it. I've got big hands and there's plenty of room for me to get my hand thru the strap, no squeezing or wrestling to get your hand back out when you want to.

I can't yet speak to exactly how long the battery lasts but it does say it has a 2000mAH rechargeable battery so I imagine it'll last for quite a while before needing be charged again.

In my opinion this AM/FM Bluetooth radio is a great value, it's a pleasure to listen to and would absolutely make a wonderful gift as well.

Fantastic little radio!

When they say "excellent reception", they mean it! I have a metal roof and live in a bit of a valley, and get terrible radio reception. My $2000 stereo receiver with an external antennae barely gets a few local channels. This tiny little radio picks up every channel in the area without even opening the antennae. The sound is very clear and good from the built in speaker. This has many great features like the Bluetooth and TF card, making it very functional. This charged up quickly and has very good battery life. I am very happy with this radio.

Great, portable rechargeable radio AM FM short wave a must to have for emergencies

This portable AM/FM short wave radio is really nice to have. I keep it in the car for emergencies it’s rechargeable all the other ones I have used batteries and sometimes you just forget the batteries in there and then it gets bad. Anyhow, it’s a great value for what you’re getting. It seems very solid and well built. I like that you can connect to it through Bluetooth and the reception on. It is very clear you can dial it digitally one digit at a time when you’re on the short wave so you’re not to miss any station or broadcasting.

A great choice for radio and much more

This compact radio is thoughtfully designed and includes a wide range of useful features. It supports Bluetooth and memory-card playback, and the built-in battery charges easily with a standard USB-C cable. The unit also includes an equalizer with several listening options, and the instructions are straightforward. The LCD panel has a temporary backlight and clearly displays the current mode and status.

One feature I especially appreciated is that when playing music from a memory card, the radio resumes at the same place in the track list after powering back on. The sound quality and volume are impressive for a device of this size, and the reception was strong, with clear tuning to nearby stations.

If there were anything I would improve, it would be the ability to replace the rechargeable battery and perhaps add a bit of water resistance. Overall, it has performed very well and offers a lot of capability in a small package.

Great radio, but does not have a user replaceable battery.

Pros:

+Receives FM, AM and SW.

+Has very good FM reception.

+Has a good quality, good sounding, powerful and clear speaker that is not tinny for its small size.

+Supports audio playback from MicroSD/TF card.

+Supports not only MP3 playback, but also supports WAV, FLAC and APE files.

+Supports up to 128GB MicroSD card, if formatted properly.

+Supports folder navigation on the MicroSD card.

+Supports fast forward and rewind of audio files.

+Remembers track position on audio files.

+Supports track name display, as well as lyrics file display.

+Supports Line In.

+Supports 100 presets on FM, 100 on AM and 200 presets on SW.

+Supports auto channel scan on all 3 bands.

+Allows to manually add and subtract memory presets.

+Supports direct input of radio channels from the keypad.

+Supports charging using modern USB C.

+Has an amber backlight that is pleasant on the eyes when using in total darkness.

+Has a stereo headphone jack, and the headphone listening experience is very good.

+Has a sleep timer - 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 Minutes.

+Has a kick stand.

+Has a lanyard.

+Very lightweight.

Cons:

-Uses a non user replaceable rechargeable battery pack.

-Does not support standard, user replaceable batteries such as AA, 14500 or 18650.

-Has a relatively short run-time of only 9 hours before needing to be recharged, and recharges very slowly.

-Must be recharged using a slow USB charger of 5V, 1A max, can't use a fast charger.

-Slow charge time of 5 to 6 hours for full charge.

-Can not be left on the charger for extended periods of time without damaging the internal battery, per the manual.

-Has poor AM reception.

-Does not support audio playback from a USB drive.

-The MicroSD card slot is located on top of the radio where it will get contaminated with dust.

-The kick stand is difficult to release and is easily broken if pressure is applied to the radio while in use.

-Lacks a volume wheel and the digital volume control is not very granular.

-Lacks support for Weather band.

-Lacks emergency LED light.

There is a lot I really like about this little radio, but there are a few things that I don't like about it as well.

I was very pleased to discover that the internals in this radio seem to be an upgraded version of the internals that are used in one of my favorite radios, the venerable Retekess V115. Since there are so many similarities between these two radios, I will be comparing and contrasting the changes and upgrades made in the Prunus J-168 version of this radio.

One of my favorite upgrades to the Prunus J-168 is the inclusion of an amber backlight instead of the blindingly blue backlight that is used in the V115. This is an upgrade that I've wanted for years now and finally someone from Prunus listened to our feedback. Thank you for listening Prunus. Now I can listen to this radio in total darkness without being temporarily blinded by the backlight every time it turns on.

Another big upgrade is the ability to finally be able to play FLAC and APE files instead of only MP3s and WAV files. This, and they increased the MicroSD maximum capacity support up to 128GB now, which is also a nice improvement over the previous generation.

Another upgrade is the inclusion of a tuning wheel, but I would have much preferred the inclusion of a volume wheel instead, because I really hate controlling the volume from push buttons. When you need to quickly turn up or down the volume, a volume wheel works much better than push buttons, and can be found much more easily in total darkness.

The speaker could also be viewed by some as an upgrade, because it is more powerful than the one on the V115, but it also has the drawback that certain high pitch frequencies can be just a little bit shrill on this new speaker on the Prunus. That said, the speaker on the Prunus is still very good, and well above average for a radio in this size and price range.

Now that the good stuff is out of the way, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the greatest flaw with the design of the Prunus J-168, and that is the total lack of any user replaceable battery, which the V115 doesn't suffer from. This size radio could have easily been designed to run on either standard AAs, or better yet, 14500 button top rechargeable lithium batteries. If they had used 2 14500 batteries, not only would you get longer run times, but you could also quickly swap out the batteries when they run down, rather than having to spend 5 to 6 hours recharging the slow to recharge internal battery pack that is in the current iteration of this radio.

With all of that said, I would still highly recommend the Prunus J-168, even with all of its flaws, because it is still a very good radio, and is one of the very few radios available in this price range that allows folder navigation for audio files. It also remembers the track position of audio files, so this makes this a great radio to use to listen to audiobooks, which most other radios don't handle very well.

This radio is a good value at its current selling price of around 20 dollars, but if the price goes much beyond this, there are other options worth consideration that do have user replaceable batteries.