Dynamo Radios a

langston302

langston302

Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
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I used one of the Life Gear Dynamo Hand crank Radios last night. Man that was nice to have. It lasted about 15 minutes on 30 seconds of cranking. It was great for helping with the time and my morale. Bonus is that it weighs nothing and has great reception AND no batteries...

it is really cheap too...10 bucks at wal mart.


who else has something like this???
 
I have something similar I picked up at Cheaper than Dirt, going to grab a dynamo cell charger next....
 
I recently bought an Eton FR150 radio for camping.
It is a "Solar-Powered, Self-Powered AM/FM/Weatherband Portable Radio with Flashlight and Cell Phone Charger".
Great little radio and (triple LED) light. Sturdy, good sound and very bright clear led light. Its 5x1.75x2.5 inches, around 9 ounces, has a lanyard.

Its about the same size as those handcrank flashlights you can get at most department stores.
The Eton cost me $20-$30 Canadian.
For the Canuck forumites i got mine at Canadian Tire!
 
I use a Grundig FR-200 daily. Awesome little package...solid crank, LED light, light but tough...I think I paid $40 a while back. Oh, and SHORTWAVE...that's a crap shoot, lots of foregin, domestic, and just plain weird stuff going on there.

It's out of production and has been replaced by what Trace mentioned, the Eton FR-300 (and one or two others that vary slightly..there's a Red Cross one also)
 
I have a dynamo Grundig FR200 and LOVE it. It is our official tornado radio. It jumps into the closet with the water jugs, blankets, LED lights, and other asst. weather gear. I can get plenty of listen time with a small bit of cranking, and on a long night with no juice, even listen to Portuguese sports news, or the like. Not having the LED light sucks though, as the standard bulb really eats the juice fast.
All in all a solid performer, and was a Christmas gift from my Grandmother in law, so didn't cost me a penny.

BKRHD
 
I've found the SW function on most of the eton/grundigs to be less than satifying. The receivers pull in signal well, very well, but the dial is so out of whack with frequency that it's pointless.

Kato has one digital dynamo model that seems to work well.

The FR-150 is top notch for a non SW capable dynamo radio. And the solar functions works well. The light is useful- I got my son one as an excuse to try it out and it's a winner.
 
Eton FR300 also gets weather alerts, and will pick up UHF VHF audio.. I have one in the bathroom thats been knocked around pretty good, dropped on a tile floor etc and rarely has batteries so it gets cranked alot;) Still working fine. I have another one like new I keep in my go bag..
 
the 150 gets the standard wx as well, just no shortwave. REALLY compact, though
 
I've been meaning to get one of these crank radios. Maybe I'll elf one up myself...
 
How long do you expect those moving parts to last? I think I'd rather have a radio that runs on rechargeables.
 
lets see....Arnie, i have had this one a year and use it often for hours on end...still kicking hard.:D
 
DocArnie said:
How long do you expect those moving parts to last? I think I'd rather have a radio that runs on rechargeables.
Click to expand...
Technically the handcrankers have a rechargeable battery that gets charged by the crank.
I don't know if they are replaceable though.
I've been using one of those handcrank flashlights for 2 or 3 years without any problems.They seem pretty reliable.
I still have a couple or three old maglites in the house and a fenix LOD on my keychain but mostly i use the handcrank in the house and the fenix when i'm away from home (non-camping situations).
Not having to worry about batteries (dieing and running out) is a major plus!
One less thing to have to buy for sure.
And the light in my Eton FR150 handcrank light/radio is really bright and clear. Its one of the best beams i've seen in a LED.
 
DocArnie said:
How long do you expect those moving parts to last? I think I'd rather have a radio that runs on rechargeables.
Click to expand...

They ARE radios that run on rechargeables. They just happen to have a hand crank generator in addition to a wall wart for charging.

They should last for years. The generator is a generator- no reason it shouldn't last nearly indefinitely. The rechargeable batteries- at least in all the grundig/eton models are replacable. The solar cells can last for decades. On most of the grundig/eton and Kato models, the cranks and generator systems are very well built and solid.
 
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