Product Review
He Gadget: I bought one of these radios to have around the house in case the power goes out, which it does at least twice a year during the winter where we live. The radio has AM, FM,SW1, SW2, Flashlight, Cell Phone Charger/Adaptor. It has several power sources:
- Charging the included Lithium Ion battery via the crank handle.
- Three(3) AA batteries, not included.
- DC Adapter, not included.
- AC Adapter, not included.
So there are lots of power options for home and car, although if the power's out the AC option is too.
Right out of the box I started turning the crank to see what kind of usage I could get out of it. With less than a couple minutes of turning the radio worked fine and consistently for more than 15 minutes. The instructions indicate it should work for 40-60 minutes after 90 seconds of cranking.
For those of you who don't know, like me, SW1 and SW2 are for Short Wave radio stations. I was able to get a few without too much trouble, a couple in English, a couple in Spanish.
Unfortunately, the flashlight lasted only about 20 seconds on my initial cranking. I have a feeling that if you intend to use the flashlight extensively you are going to want to have some AA batteries on hand.
It provides a switch for setting whether to use the AA batteries or the Dynamo (Charged Lithium Ion battery).
It includes a slot on the back and adaptors for charging your cell phone. However it lists only Samsung, Siemens, Sony Ericcson and Nokia phones which does not include my LG phone with Verizon. So if the cell phone charging feature is important to you, you will want to determine compatability before buying.
Bottom line, I like the assurance of having a radio that will work without alkaline batteries. Not only does it ensure you will have access to radio broadcasts in case of an emergency but it's nice to listen to a little music during those times when it's nothing more than a simple power outage. I would say this is a must have in any household.
You can buy the Dynamo Emergency Crank AM/FM/SW Radio from RadioShack for $39.99.
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