I recently had the pleasure of having my car decluttered by a member of the local community. What I mean by that is someone lobbed a can of beer through my passenger window and stole my DAB radio, pot of change and sunglasses. Though funnily enough they left my thermal and waterproof boots which were more valuable than the other items put together. Slightly peeved that all I had to listen to on my travels was the noisy exhaust and the general rattling of my ancient car, I realised I still had the original radio (complete with tape deck), so after installing that, I connected the Nextbase DAB Radio Adapt.

The DAB250 is a simple plug in and play device to upgrade old radios into a digital radio, it uses an inbuilt signal stabilisation system which wireless sends the signal to the current car radio, via the FM transmitter. It comes with an active film antenna which is fitted into the windscreen, both a windscreen and dashboard mounting system and it also has a 2.4” LCD screen that displays the radio station and other information with four buttons for simple menu selection and playback. It automatically selects the best vacant FM car frequency and the DAB+ channels are stored automatically, you can lock your favourite radio station onto the screen. The DAB250 also displays a clock and date, it supports 10-30V power for use in all vehicles and includes an inbuilt battery, when the car’s engine if off.

The DAB250 is small and discreet, straightforward to install and has an intuitive interface, the sound quality is fine and I had a strong signal everywhere except for the dead zone that is where my parents live; but that was to be expected. The display on the screen is difficult to read due to the small size you can only see part of the station name at a time, however this didn’t present much of an issue after the initial set up. Perhaps slightly overpriced for its limited capabilities, but it does what it says it will. RRP £99

Buy now

4 out of 5

Pros

Plug and Play digital DAB+ radio

Windscreen and dashboard mounting system

Inbuilt signal stabilisation system

Good signal

Active film antenna

4 easy to use buttons

Supports 10V to 30V for all vehicles

DAB+ channels stored automatically

RDS with programme type, clock, date, channel name & radio text

Cons

Small screen

Expensive