Kaito Voyager KA500 Emergency Radio | Comm Review 

It's very smart and wise to have a good emergency radio while drinking bourbon..... I always say.

Ordered this radio yesterday, will arrive today. Very satisfied with the purchase, based on the reviews I’ve seen and my perceived needs. I consider myself a mild prepper. Thank you for your review.

I just bought this very same radio (in red) at our local thrift shop for only 10 bucks! Works perfectly!

This Solar Radio is the best!!! I bought mine about 15 years ago and you can tell how great it is because it still is the best selling and they haven’t had to change anything about it!!! Comes in Red and Yellow only.

Yeah I did a review on these for $40.00 they are awesome, mine been 3 years use still running strong.

I just bought myself one and I'm going to buy some more as Christmas gifts. Thanks for the review.

I bought 3 @ garage sale for $30 they are worth it! They also came with different adapters for charging many cellphone types I love it!

Thanks. I just ordered one today for tornado warnings. I'm in Alabama.

wish you had mentioned it also has two different LED lights for lighting as well as a Noha ALERT setting where the radio turns on to your weather station when activated by the National Weather Service. Great video and you are so right about this being great for emergency or camping.

Excellent. Great info. As a side note: “National Yellow Radio Day “ has been established-and coincides with the first day of Hurricane Season. It is a reminder to bee prepaired for emergency situations. 📻🙂

Thanks for the review. I bought a different brand hand-crank radio/light a few years back, and it was a piece of junk.

You showed the flash light in the beginning but not as you showed the features. But overall very good review.

I like buying hand crank shortwave weather radios because I think they are novelty and it's just calming to listen to them play hours upon hours of sometimes boring music and sometimes pertinent world news.

Just ordered for here in Ireland. I am an ornithologist and spend a lot of time on site doing surveys. A radio in the background charging up my mobile as I do my thing should be well good.

Random fact: Buffalo trace was the only liquor company legally able to sell alcohol during prohibition! It's also the oldest continually running distillery. Love the video I always look forward to them! Going to have to pick one of these up!

I would recommend you have a 6V battery or 6V panel with a coax plug to power this radio, if you have no mains electricity. The USB charge connection doesn't charge the internal battery properly, and the dynamo makes a loud noise. The solar panel will not charge the internal battery. It's only supposed to maintain a full charge in the battery after you fully charge it using a 6V source.

I bought a Kaito KA500L AM/FM/SW/WX emergency radio (looks just like this one) after seeing reviews and you won`t believe this. I thought what I ordered was the version todderbert reviewed on his channel that can also use AA batteries and was very disappointed because it only uses a replaceable lithium cell. But guess what? Even with the lithium battery removed the radio runs just fine off just the solar panel. Amazing! I would suspect that it also charges within about 8 hours in the sun and that it will charge a phone faster. On fm the volume would distort at medium volume using just solar but AM and the weather band did fine.

Every time he cranks that yellow radio I think cats are fighting outside 😭

Excellent video! I see Kaito also has added a KA 500L and KA550. Any thoughts on those radios?

Hey, that’s the model I got this winter to replace only cranky radios. Decided to get the yellow 500 one because of the USB connections, & that light that folds out under the solar panel for table top reading/ writing. It is on top of our emergency kit for house. So far, have only used it for power outages. My old radios had come from some public radio fundraisers post 1989 SF Bay Area Earthquake. After testing ALL 3 of our crank radios 📻. One was some cheapie that only worked by cranking, but still worked (lasted only 10 min in the free pile down stairs). 2 were Eton models that still worked fine cranking it up & spinning the dial 30 years later, but none of the charging adaptors worked with modern day gizmos or phones (I guess USB wasn’t standard back then). Sent to free pile the Eton that the rubberized sides that had become very sticky. The oldest Eton worked the best, with a very nice case with a pouch for spare batteries & carrying strap, it was redeployed to my car emergency kit.

can you use it to send ou a sos signal so people know where your are. And can you also some kind of communicate with this radio.

I didn't see you turning the crank! ha Ha... I power my KA600 with my USB power bank. Otherwise, I use disposable cells for short sessions, and I'll plug in the NiMH pack if I need it for an emergency. The only thing I didn't like about the KA500 is the poor antenna. I can't get NOAA stations in the house, nor most SW stations, without a long wire out the window. Then I bought the digital KA600...

I love that radio too.

great review. thanks for the vids

I’m very new to this. I just got this radio in…just in time for tornado season. If I have the Power knob set to NOAA Alert, will the radio only come on to broadcast alerts? Or for severe weather, let’s say overnight hours, do I have to keep the Weather Band option on. Thanks!

Can you explain the NOAA function on the smaller right knob above the word kaito? How does it work or what does it do.

What’s the water resistance of this? What’s the IPX rating?

Very nice

1 more thing solar panel works to charge cellphone also if cranking is tiresome in sunlight

thanks, would you mind answering a couple questions please... will it work after an emp? also will the rechargable batteries recharge with the dc adapter? What watt dc adapter? you mentioned NOAH alert, is there a setting for that?

Does the radio have a built in whiskey flask?

This won't receiver the WWV time station on 5MHz, and you need an antenna wire to get the weather report- inside a house or vehicle.

Won't digital radio replace, am, fm, like transistors 

Good info.

Can you suggest to the non-experts howto improve the reception on SW and AM? I tried the trick of wrapping wire around the radio, but I presume I didn't get it right.

Nice video

640 AM? Conelrad anyone?

Damn straight. People that don't know about SW. Smdh.

My original comment is MIA or I messed it up. Anyway, I would really like to get one of those but I am forcing myself not to spend money ATM. To many unexpected expenses lately.

Does the plastic on this radio gets sticky after awhile?

What? first comment?

I still cannot charge radio by sun.

I got a question and can’t seem to find the answer. You’re the first person I figured would know. I was testing out the KA500 and when scrolling something clicked and it doesn’t scroll past the 1200am 98fm. How do I fix it?