Eton FR300 Emergency Crank Radio Metallic Red by Eton
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List Price: Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Eton FR300 Emergency Crank Radio Metallic Red
Digital camera Review: Mistake in manual
Summary: 3 Stars
My biggest complaint with the radio is that the manual mistakenly promises over an hour of listening time for 60-90 seconds of cranking. You only get 10 minutes of listening time which would be fine for emergencies but you'll definitely need to run this on batteries for regular listenting. I called customer service three times to ask about this and never recieved a call back. Otherwise, a nice radio with very good reception.Digital camera Review: Much Better Choices For The Money
Summary: 2 Stars
I own seven weather radios that represent 5 different brands. Of the portable units I own I would have to rate this the lowest for value. Its not a poorly made radio or cheap in any way as far as its hardware. However with its usual price of around $45, it is greatly overpriced without anything added to it to make it worth the extra money. In fact, its inferior in my opinion to all other radios I have in its reception of weather broadcasts. Though the AM and FM is very loud and clear, switching the radio to the weather mode has the speaker sounding extremely muffled, and of much lower volume. Like an old radio that has its TONE knob turned all the way down to LOW. It has by far the worst sounding weather voice of any weather radio I own, even the cheapest ones. Switching from FM to the weather one hears a dramatic drop in volume, as well as quality. Very dramatic! Since NOAA weather broadcasts are not a medium well known for their fidelity in any event, any interference by a substandard radio only makes it far worse. This radio may be solid and well made. however with its tonal quality being greatly diminished in the weather selection, I would not recommend this unit for even the discounted price of $27 which I paid for it. A much better selection in a portable unit is the Midland ER102 also available on Amazon and reviewed by me. Its price is very close to this one, (and even cheaper than this radios usual price), but has excellent sound quality and reception in both AM, FM, AND weather.
Midland ER102 Emergency Radio
Digital camera Review: NOT GREAT, but good for what it's for...
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this radio thinking it would be a little bit better quality than it turned out to be. However, I bought it for emergencies (I live in So. Cal) and use it occasionally to listen to the weather and surf reports (I live 100 feet from the ocean). It works great when hand-cranked and the cell phone charger works very well- my daughters have put it use on their tired cellies. I've taken it camping and have enjoyed listening to local high school sports radio stations and talk shows...and tide, weather, and ocean conditions reports on NOAA.
Anywho, the FR300 could stand to be better quality for $50.00, but it does the job as intended and it's kinda fun and my kids love it.
Digital camera Review: Nice features; but missing some things...
Summary: 3 Stars
On the surface, this radio seems to have everything: compact size, am/fm radio bands, tv and weather bands, and the ability to crank it for power and charge your cell phone in a pinch. It does have those things, however, it does not come with a ac/dc cord to plug it up (which is not mentioned) or a converter to plug a cell phone charger into. So now we are trying to find both and not having much success. A great emergency radio, but don't count on being able to charge your cell phone or plug it in during non-emergency times.Digital camera Review: Nice little emergency radio
Summary: 4 Stars
I got this radio as a gift. I haven't had to use it in an emergency, but I have tried it out to make sure it works. Cranking the handle around about twenty times gives you approximately 10 minutes of listening to the radio at a moderate volume. The weather band is pretty neat to listen to. I tried the TV bands but didn't get much because of my rural location. Overall this is a nice radio to have tucked away in case we are without electricity for an extended period of time. Oh, by the way, the radio comes with several adaptors to fit various cell phones so that they can be recharged by cranking the handle around. Unfortunately, none of them fit my particular phone. I looked on the internet to see if I could buy one but haven't had any luck yet.