Crank Radio/Lanterns - What's good?

[DoggyDaddy]

I am thinking of picking up a crank, or battery/solar/crank radio-lantern combo for emergencies. I'd prefer one that also has NOAA weather radio capabilities in addition to AM/FM. Anyone have any recommendations? I've only just started looking and have found a few with some mixed reviews. Then I thought to myself, "Self, I bet there are some guys (or gals) on that might be able to steer me toward a good choice." So here I am...

 

[Dave A]

I have a Eton FRX3 and it's OK for FM and Weather band reception but AM band has a lot of static for weaker stations. I left it out in the rain once and it still works (after it dried out for a couple days).

 

[findingZzero]

I thought this was gonna be about Rush Limbaugh....

 

[pudly]

I have a small Eton (smaller than a paperback book) and it is excellent for the multitude of features. AM/FM/Weather with multiple sources of power (batteries, solar, crank), flashlight, USB outlet to recharge cell phones/etc. It has a place in my bug out bag.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I saw the Etons and they looked good. I wound up going with this (I'm impatient! ):

Emergency Solar Hand Crank Dynamo Am FM WB Weather Radio LED Flashlight Charger | eBay

I bought 2, one for me, and one for a buddy for Christmas, so got the extra 5% savings. Looked like it had a lot of the same features as the Etons.

 

[BugI02]

Pudly. I've been interested in the usb charging capabilities. Have you ever tried charging your cell with it and can you ballpark how long to put significant charge in a cell - say from 30% up to 60% via handcrank?

 

[pudly]

I've tried it a couple of times. It is fairly slow to charge as the outlet on mine is 0.8amps, while most powered USB hubs are 1.0-3.0amps. Sorry, I don't have a time for you. I was more interested in verifying that it would work for emergency charging rather than timing it. It isn't a system that I would use for normal recharging of your cell phone.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Pudly. I've been interested in the usb charging capabilities. Have you ever tried charging your cell with it and can you ballpark how long to put significant charge in a cell - say from 30% up to 60% via handcrank?

I've tried it a couple of times. It is fairly slow to charge as the outlet on mine is 0.8amps, while most powered USB hubs are 1.0-3.0amps. Sorry, I don't have a time for you. I was more interested in verifying that it would work for emergency charging rather than timing it.

Some that I looked at said that 1 minute of cranking would give you 3 minutes of talk time. I'm sure that's just a ball park figure though. Sounds like running it off the AAA batteries or solar works better for cell phone charging. When I'm camping, I take an extra deep cycle marine battery with a power inverter so I won't be relying on mine for charging the phone but at least it's there for emergency use.

 

[spencer rifle]

Eton FTW. Though I have had several of these for many years and they have never failed:

No light, though. They didn't have those back then.