Midland 1001LWX review, July 23, 2011

I recently purchased the Midland 1001LWX through Amazon and, as expected and per usual, the item arrived in great condition and very quickly. I have only just begun to use it and find it to be quite capable.

It is small, comparable in size to the Cobra 19 Ultra III, maybe 1/2″ longer (front to back) than the Cobra and just slightly narrower. For all intents and purpose they are the same size despite the listed dimensions for both suggesting that they are not as close in footprint. It is almost impossible to find a CB radio with as many features as the Midland 1001LWX in such a small case.

The display is a very clear LCD display with a very bright red backlight that is not adjustable for brightness. I am probably going to get a piece of repositionable window tint to see if I can tone it down a little bit since in my installation, it is very near to my head. This is my only real complaint with the Midland 1001LWX; lack of backlight adjustment.

As noted in others’ reviews the Automatic Weather Scan feature can be a little finicky but I think it depends on, as always when dealing with radio systems, where you are in relation to the transmitting antenna and terrain. So far I have not had that much trouble with the feature and not enough to lower my overall rating of the unit.

I decided to use an Astatic 636L Noise Canceling Microphone as I did on my other installed CB radios. The 636L comes pre-wired in a “standard 4-pin configuration” suitable for Cobra, Uniden, Maxon and some others. I ordered one re-wired for a Midland radio and found it did not work with the Midland 1001LWX. I tried using the included Midland microphone with my new Midland radio and it worked, proving the radio was fine. I tried the re-wired Astatic microphone in a Cobra radio, thinking that the company I ordered from messed up the Midland re-wire but I received the same symptoms as I had when trying the Astatic microphone with the Midland: no transmit and a tone whenever I pressed the PTT button.

Rather than wait for a new Astatic 636L, I went to a local truck stop and found that they had the standard Astatic 636L on the shelf. I bought it and immediately tried it out with the Midland 1001LWX and it worked. It appears that this Midland radio, at least, is wired for the standard 4-pin microphone configuration, NOT the typical Midland microphone configuration. I have an older Midland 79-290 that I hope will work with my re-wired Astatic. If not I will rewire it back to standard and have a spare, I guess.

EDIT:

I have been operating my radio with 18′ of RG-213 coax and a 5′ Wilson FGT-5 antenna. The radio is mounted in the overhead center console of a four-door sedan and the antenna is mounted on a rear bumper mount. Most of the use has been while driving up and down the East Coast over the past few months. I still say that this is a really good radio, ESPECIALLY for the price. I have found it to be as capable as my Cobra 29’s that I have used for so long. The initial antenna adjustment took some time but after some work and a Vanco SWR meter, SWR is between 1.5:1 and 1.8:1.

The display backlighting is not that distracting at all, even while driving at night. My initial gripe about the lack of backlight adjustment has proven to be a non-issue.

Unlike others, I have found that the NOAA weather channel feature to operate very well. It does scan but if you depress the PTT button on the mic while in the “Wx” mode, you can manually cycle through the weather channels. Each press of the PTT button increments the channel selection by one channel. After that, the radio does not scan anymore. Reception is clear and strong most of the time.

After using the Midland 1001LWX, I am convinced that Midland has released an great product. I feel that I got a good deal and that the radio is an overall excellent value. I believe that it is a good choice for someone like me that is looking for a full-featured CB radio in a small form factor.

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Best CB Radio for the price, July 26, 2011

I returned a Cobra CB radio to purchase this radio. The quality and sound are far superior to the Cobra with the same features.

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