Emergency AM/FM/WX Crank Radio 20-576

This feels rather strange: being the first person to post a 5-star review who is also a Verified Purchaser. In any event, Eton used to be the name in emergency radios. Unfortunately Eton's quality has plummeted in the past few years and the last three units I purchased have all literally quickly fallen apart, Two of them had miserable reception. Emergency radios, of course, are purchased primarily with emergency use in mind. In the Chicago Metro area that would be mostly power outages which can last, believe it or not, for several days. A couple of years ago on the street where I live, the north side of the block lost power for only a few hours. But the south side was without power for almost two weeks because of a hard-to-replace transformer of some kind. In any event, I just want a radio that will be ready to go when the power goes. This unit fills the bill nicely and very inexpensively. Construction is much better than I expected. What feels like a substantial plastic shell, tight fitting door over the battery compartment,crisp push button switches, smooth knobs for volume and tuning. Hand-cranking will deliver a charge, but it takes a lot of cranking to build up a charge. I intend to use AAA batteries, of which I always have an ample supply.I will not be purchasing an external power adapter. Again, aside from casual listening which is a rarity in this era of internet streaming, this unit will be used only when the power is out. AM, FM and WX reception are all excellent. AM and FM stations are nicely separated. The antenna does help with FM and WX stations. Volume is good, but certainly not deafening.The digital display is a very nice finishing touch. In many ways, the need for a radio like this is past. I have my smartphone and several high capcity external batteries that I keep charged. As long as the cellular network is up, that's really all I need. But, for the price, I certainly don't mind having this unit as a backup. Nice buy for the money.Jerry

It's a nice little radio. Options for battery or crank, with AM/FM and all the weather bands. Reception is very clear even with the antenna down, and even better with it up. I tested the USB charger and it seems to work well. The flashlight is pretty weak but will do for a little light in an emergency. You would probably want a separate flashlight, though, with a broader beam and more power. The case feels a little cheap, but at this price point it's actually sturdier than I expected. Cranking doesn't give you much juice but five minutes of cranking got me about the same amount of time of radio playback. I think it's probably much more practical to use the battery option instead until/unless you run out of batteries, but it's certainly good to have the crank for back-up.I'd been waffling on buying a crank radio/charger for awhile to keep around in case of an extended power outage, and for the price I couldn't turn this one down. I wish it had solar, but for less than a third of the price of its cheapest competitors, it's a very nice radio.

Purchased on Jan 1st, arrived 4-7 days before I thought it would. Very nice for me as I like have cool tech/items that gives me lots of options.Does everything perfectly:- Color, size and handle is perfect. Not too large, easily can go into a bag or just carried. Nice colors that don't hurt the eyes nor drawn attention away from it- FM comes in great, sometimes you don't need the antenna, or if you are me with big ears (portable satellite dishes) it enhances the quality even more!- AM did well, checked a few stations for Sports, clear as the FM stations- Weather stations or I should say station for my area, very good reception, can easily understand and so far has been helpful with knowing how long people should be out or pets- Light works good, not overly bright, nor too dim. Be nice if walking around at night in the house/outside/tent/etc- Crank/Dynamo working well, 90 seconds at about 2 turns or so as it says has so far given 10 minutes and 34 seconds, still have energy to use.- Have rechargeable batteries also in, so having both options available is nice, Light, Radio works about 10-20% better with batteries use (signal a bit better, light is a bit brighter)Havent used the USB charger, Headphones or DC IN yet but with everything else working at 100% it wouldn't be a huge blow if these don't work.Definitely getting another one or several here this coming year!

Great sound and portable. Nice looking and useful. However, after cranking the unit several minutes to store power in the rechargeable batteries, there is a minute or two of power and then it dies.You will NEED to carry (3) AA batteries if you hope to use this radio or seek out a replacement of the rechargeable internal battery. I doubt that it can be used for very long as a flashlight or a USB charger for your phone. That was the reason I ordered these. Frustrating!

I got the item Sept. 2014 and only used it twice on camping trips.It is now July 2015, I took it on another camping trip. But this time, the battery portion stopped working. I put in multiple sets of new batteries and it's completely dead. I never got it wet or anything either. The crank part still works, but who wants to sit there and crank their radio? Can't even hear anything with the loud cranking.