Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat little weather radio, but keep a supply of 'AAA' batteries!
Reviewed in Canada on July 20, 2020
This is a useful radio. It has an LED flashlight, an LED reading light, a very loud alarm, radio on FM, AM, shortwave and weather bands, a compass, and can be powered either by AAA batteries or a built-in rechargeable Li-Ion battery that can also be used as a power bank. The latter has many different ways to recharge. If possible, use the micro-USB port (cord included, power adapter not), but in an emergency you can charge the radio using a solar panel or a hand crank.
I thoroughly tested this radio and I'm quite impressed with it. The lights are very bright. The flashlight projects a good enough distance to see your way, or by flipping up the solar panel, you'll find a bar light to use for reading. Both lights have two brightness modes controlled by repeatedly pressing the button for each. The emergency alarm is very loud--comparable to a house or car alarm, so it should be loud enough to get anyone's attention. It also has a red LED that lights when the alarm sounds, but it's a single LED, and not very bright, so I doubt it'll be seen at an adequate distance.
The radio works well. I needed the antenna for the weather band, but not for FM (I'm in the city). Volume controls provides good volume, the tuner dial is a bit stiff but shouldn't be much trouble. To be honest, I had no idea there was a weather band in my area. But thanks to this radio, I found it on channel 7.
I discharged the Li-Ion battery by leaving both flashlight and reading light on overnight. Then I tested the alternate methods of charging. I found that leaving it out in the sun one afternoon was enough to get the radio working, but the low-battery light was lit. The lights were still quite bright, but they dimmed fairly quickly. Both the radio and alarm only worked for under ten seconds, then turned off. The radio would work for another 5-10 seconds by turning it off and back on.
Same result with the hand crank. It will take a lot of elbow grease to get enough of a charge to be useful. If you need the radio while the battery is dead, you'd need to continually turn the crank while the radio is on.
So if you're out in the wilderness, make sure you get there with a full charge on the Li-Ion battery, and take extra sets of 'AAA' batteries (the radio takes three at a time). The solar panel and hand crank are last-resort options.
Finally, if you're going to use this radio as a power bank, it comes with a micro-USB cable, so if you're an iPhone user or you have a newer Android phone with a USB-C port, you'll need the cables that fit your phone.
Despite using the solar panel and hand crank only for as a last-resort, this is a great little radio. I had another one in my car that has fewer functions, this one will replace it. Thanks for a great device Mesqool!