Posted: 12/14/2011 9:03:57 PM EDT
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need some helping picking out a radio.
The old man wants a hand crack/solar emergency radio for Christmas. http://www.basspro.com/Et%C3%B3n-Scorpion-MultiPurpose-SolarPowered-Weather-Radio/product/10221702/111348 This is the one he found, what are better options? |
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I bought a Midland at Academy that has been a decent radio. There is a port on the back that allows you to hook up a cell phone for crank charging. The light sucks on it but thats not what I bought it for. It is 3 years old and I think I paid around $40 bucks for it. |
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Plastic crank + plastic gears + spinning dynamo = sure-fire recipe for mechanical failure.
Also, the rechargeable batteries used in crank radios tend to have a short shelf life - which means that they may not be usable after several years in storage. Most ordinary portable radios will run several hundred hours on a set of batteries - the very same batteries that you should already be stockpiling for flashlights and other devices. So - Why would you want the extra expense, mechanical complexity, size and weight of a crank radio? |