Freeplay EyeMax AM/FM LED Radio

• Am/FM Wind-up radio
• 30 seconds of winding for 35 minutes of radio
• Stereo headphone socket
• Built-in LED flashlight
• Solar panel

Purchased for emergencies by this is the radio I use daily.:
My Freeplay radio usually teams up with a satellite radio. The only static has been when the solar cell is hit by direct sunlight while the radio is already running on windup or electric power. Otherwise the sound is clear. Winding up is easy. The radio is compact. You can look through the plastic to see the inner mechanics. I am out in the desert. Two other radios get halfway decent reception from one commercial radio station. The Freeplay picks up five commercial stations, one with no static, so this little radio is a mighty mouse. No complaints with it.

No Compromises:
I have been a user of self powered radios for several years now. Living in the middle west, we get all kinds of extreme weather, from tornadoes to ice storms. The power grid seems to go down at least once per year, and having access to information and radio entertainment is vital. Aside from the safety value, having a good portable AM/FM radio for listening to baseball games during the summer is a must. I've had the Grundig FR 200 self powered radio for a number of years now. Check my amazon review for that product. The Grundig has been a disappointment; the battery no longer holds a charge, and it's falling apart after a few years. So I was looking around for a good portable radio when the Freeplay EyeMax radio came up during a search. Frankly in the online photos it looks rather chintzy. But I had a Target.com gift certificate and needed a replacement for the crumbling Grundig. At less than 50 bucks I figured the Freeplay would be a safe bet. When it arrived I was impressed with the build quality right away. This little radio is well built! Very solid. I fiddled with the dials, and was very impressed with the power crank. It's a heavy, smoothly geared wind up. The handle has a nice texture to keep your hand from slipping. I cranked it for about 5 minutes vigorously to test radio reception. Well, that was almost two hours ago and this thing is still playing!! I believe the Freeplay claim of 25 hours from a full charge will be accurate. Moreover, the tuning knobs are well damped for finding the narrow bands of AM radio. The Grundig radio feels cheap compared to the Freeplay. The knobs on the Grundig have a lot of slop and it's difficult to tune. Not with this Freeplay! The volume knob is just as good, with just enough resistance to make minute adjustments accurate. The sound from the small speaker is very rich and warm;it's particularly well suited to voice resonance. Pulls in distant AM stations well, and all local broadcasters are static free loud and clear. This is equally true of AM and FM stations. I can't say enough good things about this little radio. Can't wait to try out the solar cell tomorrow. I have a feeling this radio is going to see a lot of use this summer, out in the yard, on picnics and fishing trips with the kids. If you're looking for an affordable small radio with a hand crank or solar powered battery this is it!

Great emergency crank-up am/fm radio:
I think very highly of the quality craftsmanship as well as the technological achievements present in this emergency AM/FM radio. It has the most efficient crank mechanism on the market and comes complete with an AC/DC adapter charger, a telescoping antenna, a large and good quality speaker, a single and bright LED flashlight, a separate LED for indicating the optimal charging crank-rate (that also makes a decent night-light and also shows that external AC power is being supplied to the unit) as well as a solar panel for both charging the internal batteries and also providing sufficient power to still operate the radio normally. The crank operates equally well using either a clockwise (cw) or a ccw rotation too so even if you forget, you can't damage it by turning the crank the wrong way! As advertised, 30 seconds of cranking gives 35 minutes of medium volume listening (or 25 minutes of loud volume levels) and the listening time increases proportionally if you crank it even longer. The system is totally analog, lacks weatherband, shortwave, aircraft as well as TV bands. but is nonetheless quite useful as well as readily affordable if you wait for a sale. Freeplay also makes a much more expensive digital model with shortwave bands as well, but it is very hard to build all these as quality features including a digital PLL (Phase locked loop) synthesized radio for a reasonable price that people will also buy. My advice is too stick with a much simpler, quality made device that you know will work reliably in a pinch when it is really needed. One really nice feature for example is that the FM antenna can be simply stored in the radio when not being used, but when it is needed it can easily be fully extended. This also greatly reduces the chances of it being broken off inadvertently in an emergency situation in my opinion. The analog vernier dial is very easy to tune for both AM/FM and allows an extra large amount of turning to easily and precisely tune the am/fm bands. The volume control on the side controls all available bands. It also has a jack for a earphone/headphone during quiet times. Finally the provided charger can also be left plugged in indefinitely because after the first 24 hours of preconditioning the battery pack (sealed internal Nickel Metal Hydride batteries), it will continue to keep them fully charged until the advent of an emergency by trickle charging (by applying only very small amounts of current). In the meantime you can feel completely free to use it as an everyday quality and very enjoyable listening device. Most of all I like how totally reliable and redundant the many independent systems are on this radio. For camping and roughing it, it would have been better if Freeplay had provided a carrying strap for the radio (to attach to the provided eyelet) just for something to grab quickly, but for general household emergency purposes it is just fine. Of course you can always add your own strap if you feel that you require it for camping, etc. In a real emergency however you will be very glad to have purchased this quality instrument in my opinion. Finally I intend to buy several more of these units for my immediate and extended family members who really need this device.

Sturdy, Great Size, and Reliable:
I have the smaller Red Cross Eaton hand crank radio in my car at all times, for portable emergency usage. I figure if I'm at home, so is my car :) But for actual main home use, it's the Freeplay Hand Crank Radio I rely on for its size and sturdiness. This radio is about the size of a paperback book - so about 7" long by 4" tall. It has solar power for when it's sunny as well as hand crankability for when it's dark. It has AM and FM radio - no weather band - but really during any problem the regular radio is going to be telling you everything you need to know :) The radio signals come in loud and clear, with no problem at all, after hardly any cranking. The tuning knobs are large and easy to use. There's a DC input if you really do want to run this on electricity, but of course the whole benefit of having this is that it will work ANY time no matter what. Between the hand crank and the solar power, you have a guaranteed source of news. It also has a built in flashlight! Just press in the actual flashlight "lamp" and it turns on! So not only do you have a guaranteed source of information, you can see what you're doing too :) I also like that it's see through. You can see all the cool internals of the system! Just an added geeky-cool factor. There's a headphone plug too, if you want to keep the emergency news all to yourself. Definitely highly recommended. This is sturdy, has a large speaker, is easy to tune in stations with, and is very easy to use. Every home should definitely have one of these. If there's an emergency, you don't want to have to worry about dead batteries, or a TV that won't work. You want radio - and you want a radio that only needs the sun or a few cranks of the arm to give you the information you need.

Meets my needs:
The Freeplay works simply and elegantly, is user friendly, and is better than previous competitors.