I Made a MISTAKE When I Bought My Emergency Radio.. 

My mom got a hand crank radio/flashlight from Marlboro miles back in like 1999. That thing is still kicking! They just don’t make things the same anymore unfortunately

A removable battery is a MUST in these. I have had my weather radio for years, and I am finally to the point where the battery won't hold a charge and needs too be replaced. Another plus is that you can add a piece of paper between the battery and terminal so that it does not self discharge. This makes the battery last waaaay longer over the years.

I've used one of these units for two years on a daily basis with great satisfaction. Using solar charge mostly but also USB and hand crank. If you think anything you buy will never fail forget it. If your life hangs in the balance maybe you need to remember "two is one and one is none". I'd tell your viewers that I think you are way too hard on this product.

I built one of those pedal-power chargers that college students talk about! It won't power the 110V TV, but it has a dynamo with a USB port, so I can charge the smaller devices, or a 6V power bank, so I can have lighting in any room- which I also built. It gives you a little exercise in the winter 😁

I bought one exactly like that, specifically to hand crank. It's been working great for years.

As a two time F5 survivor, I can tell you this should be number ONE in any emergency weather event kit. You can flee INTO danger without storm location data provided by forecasters live on the radio. Lithium batteries are trash, don't even bother. best case, no battery power once it dies, worst case (that WILL happen) is you have a shiny paperweight when the battery won't hold a charge. Always go for replaceable batteries and pack 20 with the kit, AA and AAA can be bought literally anywhere on the fly. Larger batteries like 18650 and so on while they need to be charged, have a LONG life for something like this, I prefer the standards though because of availability. Also you might get a cheaper price without all the secondary power sources, because lets be real here, if you can burn through 20 batteries on a radio without a chance to refill? You are in bigger trouble than needing a radio.

I think this is also a good argument for having a couple of small power banks available that can repower any of your devices during bad times.

He gives GOOD advice in this review. Don't believe the sales hype, "review videos" giving only a total approval, or the packaging. 5-way charging only complicates the wiring & electronics inside. The "better" idea regarding what you buy is fine, but you still need to learn how to use it properly, including changing the battery or charging! Practice, practice. He is very correct about selecting a flashlight or radio that actually gives you EASY access to the battery inside, and an efficient way to charge it. Having quality disposable cells, like RayOvac, are better than "5-way charging."

I have the same exact radio and have used it at my off grid place......1-2 minutes of cranking will get me all evening listening to one of the two stations I can pick up......but yes the battery could be an issue!! I bought it knowing it was cheap but it's now 5 years old and still going!! But in a long term event anything with a battery could be an issue!! Can only be charged so many times...will run out of batteries eventually plus age.....it you have owned for a few years before the event ...it's life during an event is all ready shortened!!

You buy a portable cb radio. They are useless nowadays ... most truckers no longer use them, but they plug into a 12v outlet on your car have rechargeable batteries, can be used like a walkie tally, and best of all.... they have emergency weather broadcasts. And other emergency channels for road. You can buy them from 40 dollars to a few 100. They work very well. Not to mention the magnetic antenna you put on your vehicle can pop right off and be used any where.

Keep it on a windowsill. It will NEVER be dead. I have an Eton just like that and it's always full power. Leaving in the sun is like keeping on a trickle charge. Like you said, the hand crank sucks, BUT it works fine to check the information you need. Those tiny radios have their place. I don't always want a big radio.

Agree , thanks for your advices . I consider buying an emergency radio with a dry cells compartment ( AAA or better , AA ) , so when the buil-in recharcheable battery dies later , the radio is still usable . I don't expect anything from the crank and the solar cells , they require very long time of charging for very little power .

Thank you for this. I have two of these, one at work, in my get home bag, and one at home. I'll make sure to upgrade.

I have an Eton with the carabiner hook. It doesn't have removable batteries which is a downside but that would make the whole unit bigger. I can recharge it using my power bank. Best thing is to just leave it sitting in the window all year long. I have an old one that I used to keep in my toolbox it must be at least 15 to 20 years old. It doesn't have solar power but it has a built-in battery I can put it in double-a batteries so between the two of them something should work. Glad you reminded me I'm going to check my radio today

i have a similar one and it comes in very handy. i actually found it while hiking, was buried under debris cleaned it up and worked. yes it does charge my phone half way when i charged it on the wall and used crank while plugged to phone. just crank slow no need for speed crank. mine has AA battery option.

I just changed the lithium battery in my GPS. If these things are cheap enough, it’s often worth buying a replacement battery which often can be larger and installing it yourself. It’s a case of splicing two coloured wires.

I got the Kaito KA500 last year and very happy with it.

I love using solar powered radios in my backyard while doing yard work. I also have several solar panels that recharge my radio when I let it run down. Thanks for the video. I think it's time to get another one as a back up.

Many battery hand tools also have radios, fans, lights, even power inverters to 120v. Batteries can even be recharged from solar. Ryobi, dewalt, & Milwaukee to name just a few. Then you add any “power tools that you might need (want).

Bought my E+Ready Emergency crank radio (Midland brand), during the civil unrest about 18 months ago. Never used, so I took it out of the box today and it still had 2 bars on the battery. Crank works, radio works, and I've got it stuck in the windowsill right now, powering up by solar. Has a AA battery option, but I just have the lithium in there, to avoid battery corrosion.

I've been designing (in my head, the only place I can afford to right now lol) a much better dynamo and just better backup battery in general. Something that could charge anything OR be charged *by* anything. Imagine charging your backup battery on a roadside car battery during SHTF xD With the way a dynamo works, gears aren't really necessary *at all* - the handle could just rotate inside a bearing cup and have its magnet inside the stationary coil winding and et voila!

Thank you! Yes, I bought one. You are right! I am looking for an emergency radio that I can count on in an emergency.

So glad you made this vid. I ran to check what I had and was relieved that I had a good one. Thanks for the great infor.

Great video Justin, I couldn't agree with you more . A backup radio is a must. I'm not sure but , the red cross use to give you that same radio for filling out one of there an app on there web site. In my case I made the once in a lifetime investment and upgraded to an Electracraft mode 1 . Crazy expensive portable ham radio made in the USA . If you can get over the sticker shock you will never need another radio. OK till the next one Stay safe and be well

I just spent last week poring over the reviews of the different companies emergency radio/ battery/ charger for car, camping, emergency bag. Plus, I would like to give them as gifts. Thanks! I did narrow down to a few companies that different reviewers and professional reviewers recommended. I'll look forward to you next video!

For years and years, my "survival" radio was just a Sony Walkman. It worked great, and took AA cells that I had in abundance. Today I have a Zurio brand radio that uses a standard 18650 cell. I can charge it with USB, just like yours, or I can swap in a freshly charged 18650 cell. I now have a lot of those too! There's also the option of using standard AA cells, solar and a crank.

Honest and practical advice. Thank you.

Good points...yes having removable rechargeable batteries is critical.. because I seen some batteries leak and corrode and damage the radio or other electronics...always keep batteries out of device for long term storage until needed

You can cut the battery off at the wires and glue a 18650 battery holder on. That way you can swap the battery and charge via a device with a better charge controller or BMS (whichever one it is or both, I'm not a professional). I bought a $60CDN one and it seems that was a good price point, 5000mah battery, solar panel is tiny but manages in direct sunlight. And the hand crank dynamo is a must. Good video, I see most folks cheap out on these.

only thing i dont like about those running snails is the plastic gets sticky/tacky over time. i just swapped mine for the midland with a much larger antenna, and replaceable lithium battery. Also dont solely rely on NOAA weather radio for notices. Here in KY, the Dec 10, 2021 tornado took out the weather radio system from NOAA. So make sure you can reach multiple FM stations that will give weather updates when the local weather radios go out. Also the Midland GXT GMRS radios have a really good noaa radio receiver.

Thank you so much for pointing out about the battery, you have saved us all a lot of money, I follow you now.🙏

I have several radios similar to yours that I also bought from Amazon but mine came with a full size 18650 2000mAh battery. Swapped that one out with a better and larger 3200mAh capacity. These are mainly for Go bags or Car Kits. But for the home I have a more expensive Eton and Kaito Voyager. Thanks for your video and insights.

I've been searching for a radio.. I keep switching things out because I really was not sure on them.. this clip helped me.

The Midland ER200/ER210 check every one of these boxes. Not only does it have all the features of this radio, but once fully charged it holds the charge in it's replaceable battery for months and months on end. I have fully charged mine and left it sitting for six months and found it still full. It's super reliable and rugged, too. I lucked out and found my er200 for $20 because they were swapping it out for the almost identical, newer er210 model. But after living with it for two years, I would buy it at $50 with no hesitation.

yep, I had a radio that looked just like that one die on me and like you said, I didn't know how to solder a new battery or replace the one it came with. I used it when I first bought it and then it never worked after that. Great advice. Thank you.

I have the same one going on 8 year's. I have a cheap anker battery for it. I've even spilled pop on it and it still works. It's actually not bad for the price. I have one in my truck. If you crank it about 30 times you get about 10 minutes of play time

Luckily mine has all three... Chargeable battery, space for AA back up batteries, and a handcrank as well as solar panel for charging.. I had to pay a bit more for it but it is worth it. I am now making a faraday cage to put it in for safekeeping.

Thank you for your advice and review, it helped out a lot.

I got one of these. I was impressed with the efficiency. 50mW. It will go for a couple of days non stop on a charge. My variant of this doesn't appear to lose its charge but that highlights the main problem here... variations. You never know whether you're going to get a good or bad version when you buy it. I was lucky but it seems althat many others aren't.

Great advice and key points

Great information Thank you

Thank you for the valuable information!!!

This is the reason to have multiple usb power bricks. I designed my electronic preps around usb power. I have about a dozen usb power bricks that run or recharge lights, fans, radios and other 5 volt gadgets like handheld gps devices. And the next step in the chain are a couple of 12 batteries that I recharge the power bricks with or whatever. The 12v batteries are usually being trickle charged by house current, but should the power go out, and i depleat one of the 12 volt batteries, I can start using the second one while I recharge the depleted one with either my gas generator, automobile, or 200 watt solar panels. I have been out of power for a week after a major hurricane. I was able to juggle my devices and charging with plenty of breathing room. I am now confident that I can go a month or more without power. The solar panels are on the roof ov my van, so if I have to bug out, the solar solution comes with my.

Yes I agree totally. I bought a Kaito KA600, which has all the features you explained, plus you can put store bought batteries in it which have a shelf life of 10 years. I'm returning this radio KA600 because I also want to use it as an alarm clock or perhaps the listen to it, but it sounds so awful that I can't wait to turn it off. But it does work. A better choice and the one that I'm buying is the Kaito KA700, no store-bought battery but it does have an easily removable lithium ion, so you can have backup batteries or keep it charged on the one that it has, though I would prefer standard store bought batteries. Haven't received it yet, but the reviews are pretty good and it has many other features that I can you use. Just a comment about transistor radios in general. What happened, I've looked into many of them and to tell you the truth they don't sound very good. If my second choice of the Kaito KA700 sounds even 20% better, I'll keep it, but I may not be completely satisfied. It'll probably rarely be used, but at $80, it's highway robbery. Thanks for listening.

In a global catastrophe you need more than AM/FM, your emergency radio needs to also receive shortwave. The fact that the featured radio is not shortwave capable is an even more glaring flaw in an emergency radio than the lack or a replaceable battery port.

My 16 year old Freeplay Summit Radio still working OK. I've also got the Freeplay FreeCharge 12V hand crank, which still works. But this is all old technology. Just get a decent radio. Even SDR radio receivers are around $100-150 now. A 26800 mAhr USB-C PD Power Bank with Power usage Displays ($40) and Solar Panel with USB-C PD are available to provide much more reliable power. If all else fails just have Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA Batteries L91 1.5V Bulk Pack of 10 on hand for your AA powered radio. Fresh ones will have an expiry date around 2040.

I'll agree, You should get the best You can afford when available, I just so happen to have that exact same Radio You're showing there, bought it over 2 Years ago, used it a couple Seasons Camping and still works perfectly and still looks new. I also have one My Wife bought Me 5-6 years ago, a bit beat up but I can still get it to work, another good option is buy a Charging Bank like for charging a Phone, it can hook up and give almost unlimited Power with the Solar Features, good Video and Good Advice, My Advice, keep it Simple .. 👍🤠

thanks for putting the links for other radios

Thanks! I have that type and I've misplaced it in a move, but have been wondering if it could be dead by now and what to replace it with. XD

Bingo! You are so right. I bought one of those crank emergency POS’s many years ago and it’s trash. A Boafeng radio is better only thing is it doesn’t has AM radio but if you buy more than one boafeng then you have the walkie-talkie use.

Thanks for pointing out.

Kudos... Thanks for the small insight

I make a huge effort in avoiding anything with non replaceable batteries. If I can't avoid it, I make sure I know what type of battery it is so I can treat it properly and make it last the most I can.

Have had one many years ago living off grid on a mountain via financially homeless. Winter weather often rendered solar charging as not always the greatest option as I was in an rv with lots of trees on my south window on the days I could get sun. And the radio had to be moved the other part of a sun day if I was lucky enough to get one..to help out with the charge. The winter days shorter. At someone's request, when I got housed, I reluctantly but ended up happy giving it to that person. Am going to order two maybe three of these radios. While two are charging in maybe extreme low light conditions, I can listen to a fully charged radio with more solar power charge time on it. When I did purchase the AA (one or two)batteries, I could not tell if my solar was being used first or the battery. No indicator lights. The handcrank reviews alerted me to a breakage possibility. As careful as I was, a whole lot of energy put forth to garner only a few week minutes of radio power...as for me solar deck lights. They charge faster in the Off position. But again, never sure if it is the battery or solar power the unit is relying on. I noe live in an apartment and charging anything solar is limited. Am limited mostly charges through tinted afternoon yet stronger sunny afternoon windows. And the biggest experiment my former homeless campers decided to take out the AAs out of my solar deck lights to run their gadgets then to see if putting back in the solar deck lights would recharge. It does not. Valuable lessons of curiosity learn. Being stuck homeless a few years(financial and not an addict) had many mixed blessings and valuable lessons learned at any given moment. Am geared up physically again for me and my pet with first an at home designated kitchen pantry...going again off grid not much problems anticipated. If needed, have a granny ER cart(might switch out to a rolling duffle bag and window shopping right now to check durability of wheels). And just a few more supplies and if needed, am ready to go. Advised both of my daughters with several kids each, they live in different states with constant fire danger zones, to have the prepacked backpacks and supplies like dispers on wheels. Carries extra loads than by hand and can end up saving valuable precious time even if it ends up the $25 carts might not fit in their vans and then ditched, at least they saved time in extra loading up trips back and forth to their vans.

I have that exact model of radio. It charges all 3 ways and has a charger, it works everytime. I've had it for 6 years.. It was $14.99 on Amazon. Don't know why you're knocking it.

Like the idea of this video but few things need perspective... I have a 2000mAh emergency radio, very highly rated on Amazon and via non-amazon reviews. After testing = on an iphone 6 with the radio’s battery charged to full it could only charge the iphone battery from 25% to 75% (not charge it twice as you indicated), and the solar charger feature getting direct sun for 6 hours in an almost ideal setting might take a month to recharge the battery (not just this radio - its fairly common issue).

Is there a decent noaa weather radio with the capability to play mp3 files? What would you recommend?

Thanks for the info

So true and while I agree, admittedly when I first decided to move from a passive semi prep'r to a serious commited prep'r it quickly became apparent that I couldn't afford so many of the thing's necessary to give my family peace of mind. So in the line of thinking as you stated anything is better than nothing I reached for all the off the rack bargains I could find with just such item's. Then after having a foundation as shoddy as it was I gradually started upgrading in quality two or three item's each year. That was several year's ago and now most of the time in adding to the tool's and supplies necessary for survival cost is no longer such a hindrance. While now I have more financial flexibility and seek out quality as the main stay I still pick up some of the cheap stuff and refere to it as disposable. The reason being I still like the dollar stuff is because it's cheap I can get a lot of it, throw it into a little emergency bag and throw it in the kid's and grand kid's car trunks aswell as friend's that give no thought to what if scenarios. That cheap hand crank radio might only work once then break, but that once it did work could very well save somebody's life some day.

This is why i like the Tecsun GR-88P. Its battery can be replaced just by removing a little plug. No soldering necessary. It can also be powered by 3x AA batteries. Sadly it has no solar charge option. But you can hook up a little USB Solar panel for charging phones, as it comes with an USB-AC adapter cable. So it can be even powered by a Powerbank too or the USB port of a computer. I just wish they would still produce the normal GR88 model again, instead of the GR88P with DSP radiochip with that choppy band scanning.

I've also got UV-5Rs with AA battery adapters.

One thing you could do is reuse a vaporizer pen battery to replace the lithium battery and stuff it in where the bad one was. The best ones have a USB charger built in, have a solar battery maintainer, a crank and a place to put in 3 AAs or AAAs for emergency. The output of the crank is enough to power it, but you should add a caoacitor to smooth the voltage. The best ones have a 3 phase generator rather than a toy motor inside. So far i got 3 of these. One of wich has short wave and TV bands as well as simple AM FM weather.

Hi, Justin. I have this very same radio in green. I watched a couple reviews on the Kaito Voyager KA900 and decided I would take a chance on it. I am very disappointed. Reception is terrible on all bands and I’m returning the unit. I even deployed the external long wire antenna included with the radio. I expected FM to improve exponentially but that did not happen. I hate to return something, but this is not worth $100. Even the weather band is sketchy and I live very close to the NOAA antenna. It appears you posted this video one year ago to the day. Can you recommend a moderately priced alternative? I’ve looked at all the radios in your links.

I have that same radio and when I charge it up after approximately 3 weeks of sitting idle. It doesn't take long to charge up to Max again which means it loses very little power.. you can probably leave this thing for close to a year without going completely dead

Thank you very much 🥰

Interesting. We dont really have a need or have the same issues regarding weather in the UK. We are also a very small country compared to others in the world. Things I have are candles, camping stoves, heaters run on paraffin, but no emergency dedicated radios. Power outages. I am 66 years of age and have only experienced power cuts 3 times in my lifetime so far. Maybe I am a preper but didn't realise. Good common sense video thanks for sharing. Cheers from old George

When i went through the tornado outbreak in alabama in 2011. No power for 2 weeks. My little hand crank radio was my best buddy.

That’s a Eton FR150 with a different name on it. I have owned one for years with no problem at all. However I did try to replace it with an Eton FRX2 and right out of the box, the battery would not hold a charge. I ordered a replacement battery and that lasted about 3 days and would also not hold a charge afterwards. It makes me not trust an Eton radio at all anymore.

Kaito and some others have emergency radios that have a rechargeable battery that can be replaced if necessary and they also are able to be powered by regular use once batteries. I noticed that Kaito does have radios that are only powered by a rechargeable batter but you can replace it. I bought a replacement rechargeable battery and charged it and keep it handy.

Try this one, I run maintenance on all my gear and electronics twice a year. I've had great luck with this radio "Service Survival Battery Powered Radio - 2000mAh Shortwave Radio - NOAA Weather Radio - Radios Portable AM FM - Wind Radio Emergency with USB Phone Charger - Camping Gear - Hand Crank Radio " 39.99. Has never died when needed.

I reviewed the running snail brand and they seem to be good. Option of replacement batteries. Good choice. Hand crank usually arent great on any radio thou

Great video. I just bought one from amazon $38 rechargeable lithium bat., hand crank, solar power, usb power and AA battery. Yes we all know all batteries die at some point but I also bought rechargeable batteries and a usb powered battery charger which I can power from my solar usb power bank.

Thanks for giving us things to look for in an emergency radio. So, far many reviewers of radios you provided link to have found the radios not too good.

Critical thinking; I like it. Thanks for sharing this. Enjoy your channel.

Price point is an important consideration with most people not only they don't want to spend a lot of money for something they rarely would use... They may want to buy multiple radios for multiple locations perhaps keep one even inside their vehicle or perhaps in every vehicle they own multiple vehicles.. so they really don't want to spend a lot of money on a top quality radio when something like this will serve them fine...

I had the crank powered Red Cross radio/LED & quality was good.

Which model did you go with in the end, please?

I've got a 5 way powered one. My issue is when I first got it , I could get the weather broadcast station. Now I can't get it on the 5 way or my 3 way.

Just love this

Thank you for this precious video !

I have this radio in the video. I must be an improved version. It has a 3-cell Lithium ion battery that you could easily change. It works fine, but you need to manually tune everything, including the weather stations. The small 600 mAh battery is fine for listening for a short time, but I prefer to connect a power bank for longer periods (besides listening to the weather for a minute, or using the LED light.) If you think you want to listen to radio for a long time, get a radio with a bigger battery, or a USB power/charging connection. This radio would be fine to use, until you get your emergency gear bag or some stuff set up.

Get a Tucson multi band for 20 bucks and rechargeable batteries then get an antenna extender , you can pick up way more stuff than that POS . I picked up a Romanian channel from the US . Plus the radio has all the emergency channels.

I stumbled upon your video while doing a search on wind up radios in general. I bought one of those radios but it's a bit different than the one you have. The one I got is called a Grey Ghost. The body looks similar in style and color but the buttons and knobs are different. Mine has the same 18650 lithium ion battery but it has a connector on it. My daughter had a Bluetooth speaker and one of the kids threw and wrecked it and I noticed it used the same battery as this radio and the same connector. So I have a second battery I can swap out. I have listened to this radio for several hours while sleeping and it will play I know for about 14 hours straight before it's down to one LED (25% charge I'm assuming) out of four indicator lights. That is with the volume less than halfway, not cranked up. Yes I like to sleep listening to music so I thought I'd test it out to see how long it would actually play on a full charge. Mine has four small blue LED lights below the display that repeat as it's charging. And I assume each LED indicates 25%. isn't What's odd is that lithium battery should hold a charge at least a year if not longer. I've pulled lithium batteries out of vapes and after a year they are still above 3.7 nominal voltage. I'm going to get mine out and see if it still has a charge to it.

Great advice

I have to crank mine every 3-5 minutes. Same radio. I’m getting into electronics, and I just might upgrade this little radio as a learning project.

These solar crank radio flashlight usb battery banks also need a non detachable but yet pull outable arc lighter in it. Gives a reliable source of firestarter. Preferably double ark type on a pull outable rod.

I have that exact one...no issues

My crank radio (same model, different version) stopped working after 1 year non-use because the slide switch oxidizes (made no reception anymore, only noise). After failed resoldering (didn't help) I poured Isopropanol into the switch and played Decathlon on it (slide it quickly 20 times) and now the radio works again! My version has only AM/FM (no NOAA), round power-out jack and the battery pack is made of (if I remember correctly) 3x tiny NiMH cells in green shrinksleeve that has a plugged cable but is still no standard part at all. Regard that the plastic may decompose by sunlight, thus do not keep it on the window sill for recharging by solar. (Mine waits in the dark of an EMP shielding cookie can for the soon approaching nuclear war.)

I have the exact same radio and it works just fine. .

I have an old school Walkman... AM, FM, tv channels 2-13.... audio only... uses 1 AA battery... lasts several days when using it... I use it all the time when hiking... being careful , using it sparingly , I could get a month, maybe couple months on a battery... downside - no speaker... need earbuds, or a small speaker to plug in

My little red e-radio finally died just yesteday, but that gave me the excuse to replace it with an upgraded unit that I like much better. The red one is indeed pretty cheap. Hard to use dials. Finally bricked, and like you I discovered the battery is not (easily) replaceable, and just not worth the effort. Spend a bit more, folks.

Good thing I know what I'm doing.... And talk about going cheap... I got one very similar to that for free by clicking on an offer that included the radio and then cancelling the subscription before they charged me a month later.

I got it to and its awsome. Love it

I saw an article on these piece of junk radios. It said to fully charge the battery with the hand crank it takes roughly 15 hours of cranking. Maybe you can attach it to a Hamster wheel somehow to keep it charged. I will stick with Quality that I can see and touch at my local Hardware Store or Lowes/Home Depot!!! I DO MISS RADIO SHACK!

What's a good emergency or ham radio for 2023 in case a power grid happens? Cuz am thinking of buying one or 2 to have..

Hell yeah, that´s actually my biggest issue with emergency radios; is there some radio runnig with rechargeable AAA batteries, that can be rechared inside the radio itself?

Lol, that was my first NUB radio! Live and Learn. Are those false backing/ secret room/ compartment cabinets that you have behind you??

Great info.

You said you are not suppose to overcharge rechargeable batteries, but maybe to around 60%. But I never saw a battery charger that tells you how charged up they are, they usually just change from red to green - meaning done. So how do you know when they are at 60%?

I've just had a powercut, I remembered i bought that exact radio a few years ago so I found it. It doesn't switch on except when I plug it into a powerbank. It doesn't retain charge. Its a great idea but I agree its poorly manufactured due to the batteries. I will be looking for a better radio.