Radio

[barber oregon]

After the "great blackout" that happened a few months ago, I purchased a small portable radio that I carry in my daily BOB.

It was one of those 'sport' jogging radios that have buttons where you could pre-program stations into. I felt that this was a good feature to have in case I was on the move or in low lighting conditions--I needn't have to tune into certain stations with a manual dial.

However, I'm finding that the radio uses a constant trickle of energy from the 'AAA' battery in order to keep these stations in memory. The battery is drained within a fews weeks; leaving me with no preset stations and no battery (Homer Simpson moment here--Doh!).

Is there anything I can do about this? Has anyone have any experience with these types of radios? Should the drain be that quick?

I'm using an off-brand battery right now--would switching to lithiums or a brand name battery make any difference? Or do I just go the manual-dial route?

 

[abo4ster]

You could buy a Free-Play radio and flash light which does not require batteries. It works by charging the batteries with a wall charger, OR it has a hand crank. 30 seconds with the hand crank gives you like 10 minutes on air time. I think I just one advertised in a Bass Pro Shops catalog.

 

[Citori]

This is a good, inexpensive, dial reading radio. I haven't had mine long but it doesn't have any memory settings of any type so I don't believe it is using the batteries when it is off.

Lithiums would give you more time between battery changes, and more shelf life, but you will still run the liklihood of finding the batteries drained when you need them most.