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26 Comments

  1. Thanks for the evaluations on the hand crank radios. I’ve had two and was disappointed in both. They did not have the ability to pick up stations in the same state I lived in at the time. I could get [a 50,000-watt] Chicago station at night, but nothing in the four-county area where I lived. That was probably due to the radio station output, but when you’re crouched in a basement or storm shelter, you want info on what is happening near you. Other battery SW/AM/FM radios are able to get local info. I now just keep batteries taped to the outside of the radio and rotate them.

      1. Rusty. Thanks for the link. My other 2 radios were quite expensive, I agree in emergency life depends on quality items. I think it may have had to do with storm shelter.

  3. My luck with “survival” gear has not been good. For an example I find a good Collins axe better suited for long term survival than any of the higher priced alternative easy to carry emergency axes. I have had better luck at thrift stores, yard sales, etc, than the survival sources. The one area that has been weak in that system is water purification. The survival types are much better.

    God grant all of you a Merry Christmas.

  6. Excellent subject matter. Determining what radio to purchase has always been dicey. I am referring to quality/reliability more than cost. I’m interested in more reader comments.

    I still have a new-in-box FREEPLAY radio that I purchased years ago. I would like to know what the long term reliability others have experienced with that model.

    1. I have two of the original Baygen AM/FM/SW Freeplay radios that I’ve used a lot for 10+ years. They are very sturdy and reliable. In my experience, the only part that is fragile is the external FM whip antenna, and that is replaceable.

      1. JWR,

        Thank you! That is good to know. Years ago, I went Baygen crazy and also bought several smaller Baygen radios w/ lights; they reside in my homemade Faraday box. (You know, the box that your friends/relatives thought was crazy but, NOT NOW).

    2. I’ve had a Freeplay hand crank AM/FM SW radio for nearly 20 years. It has worked great, the crank will run the radio for nearly an hour and it will operate solely on the solar panels in the sun (great for fishing). I did have to replace the antenna, and recently replaced the rechargeable battery pack. But, for almost 20 years I’ve never had to buy batteries for it and it still works.

  7. This tender-hearted jarhead was doing the dishes this morning when this came on: https://www.wnyc.org/story/tinsel-tales-more-npr-christmas-favorites-2020

    Like my blubbering brother, St Funogas, I was weeping while scrubbing the stove.

    Even though it is NPR, there is no lefty BS here. I am just now listening to a man who made it back from Vietnam wounded and alive telling his story of Christmas Eve, 1968.

    Carry on in grace, dear friends.

  8. I purchased the Midland ER310 as one of my first “prepper” purchases about 5-6 years ago. MSRP 69.99. It was important for me to have multiple power sources: crank, solar, internal re-charge batt, replaceable AA batt and this has all those, plus it can provide a basic charge to cell phones and other devices. Quality is decent and the functions are ok, not the best in class necessarily, but not the worst. The Eton reviews were too inconsistent so I stayed away from that brand entirely. My only issue is that it is tippy when standing the tall way, and the cheap antenna broke (but i can use any piece of metal with tinfoil if needed! lol). I like the CREE flashlight feature, digital tuner and the sound quality and ability to pull in a signal in my area. There is a cheaper version for 49.99. At this level, i managed my expectations…these are consumer-grade cheaper devices. I also use my BF UV-5R. Those work and most on this site probably have a few…

  9. We’ve got an older Red Cross hand-crank emergency radio, an Eton FX2 (the older version). Believe it originally cost around $30. It works okay, but there’s only one radio station where we live that broadcasts locally and it’s on the far outer edge of range so it’s always broken up and fuzzy (even with a “regular” radio). Most “radio stations” these days are pre-programmed McMusic out of Chicago with computerized breaks for “local” ads, so you won’t hear the DJ ever mention the local crisis because there’s no DJ, just prerecorded messages.

    The batteries don’t last long, but with three bored kids when the power goes out, there’s lots of people to keep the batteries charged 🙂

  10. I currently use a Midland weather radio with a 3.7v lithium ion rechargeable- battery which I picked up at Wal- Mart for 39.95 cash. It works great here in Kansas where i can get national weather service(Tulsa) and we have an excellent local AM station for weather emergencies, which occur fairly frequently around here. It has served me well for the last couple of years, and I have given them to my adult children as Christmas gifts.

  12. Great article! I had looked at emergency radios for a long time but for the same reasons could never justify them. Expensive junk or cheap, dependable, but fragile radios just didn’t seem to cut it for me. I went middle ground and got a hand held ham that also has FM RX – Baofeng radio. Got an extra antenna too. I like that I can communicate (with license – or dire emergency) but listen to local radio, some emergency channels and also local talk around our redoubt geography. The LED light is gimmicky but better than nothing. I’m hunting for an adapter to take standard AA or AAA so recommendations are welcome. It’s the BFF8HP with the larger battery pack which is also a plus. I have a separate solar panel and battery storage (for backpacking so very portable) so I can charge it back up. It’s just slow. It’s probably a bit more durable than a cheap emergency radio but not anything super robust. Just another option to consider.

  14. Amazon pricing, supply and demand, & inventory observations…

    I have found that if you don’t immediately buy an item that an influencer has recommended, the price can fluctuate upward very quickly.

    The $17 radio mentioned above is now over $40, just in a matter of an hour.

    Sometimes the initial supplier sells out, and other suppliers have higher prices.

    Sometimes, the Demand AI kicks in, raising the price, to profit from the demand… I can’t tell if it is Amazon, or the supplier doing that???

    If you are wanting to wait to complete an order, or until the next personal budget cycle begins, the item has either changed price upward, or is now unavailable.

    I have found that if I save the item to my wish list, it strips off the influencer’s info, so they probably don’t get credit for a later purchase???

    If I put the item in the shopping cart, and save for later, I can’t tell if it strips off the influencer’s info or not???

    Sometimes you can wait a week or two, the demand decreases, and the price goes back down…

  16. I got a TECSUN PL-380 shortwave radio that can be charged with with a micro USB cable. Then I got a solar charger and some USB backup batteries like you use for your phone that can be used to charge it. I change the rechargeable batteries in the radio about every 2 years. This is a better system as Shortwave can be really useful after you figure out you need a 20-40 foot wire antenna strung up high and away from metal. I can pick up radio in a dozen countries if something happens to US stations. It also has a great AM-FM tuner. Some people will say get a single sideband shortwave radio so you can listen to HF ham bands but that is hard to do in my experience. I would stay away from the crank up “survival radios” as this is just a marketing gimmick.

  17. Sorry if this seems obvious but some of the crank radios that don’t stay charged for long with 1 minute of cranking work for a much longer time if you listen to them with headphones. The loudspeaker uses up a lot more juice.

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