Kaito KA009 Emergency Radio

• Dynamo Power - The hand crank generator charges the internal NI-MH Batteries
• Solar Power - You can play this Radio with the direct Sun or charge the NI-MH batteries
• Batteries - 3 AA batteries allow you to play the Radio the old fashioned way
• Electric - With the included adapter, you can play or charge with 110V electricity
• AC/DC adapter, Earphone and Soft Antenna included

Don't Bother:
The Kaito KA006 appears to do it all - AM, FM, shortwave, TV audio, weather and aircrafts bands - plus mulitple power sources: AA batteries, AC adaptor, solar power and hand-crank dynamo. Just the radio you'd want to have around for any situation, right? Wrong. As a radio, it's totally inadequate. Like most radio that cover many bands, it doesn't do any of them well. Dial resolution (the ability to see where you are tuning) is dismal, and reception quality is horrible. You'll hear stations everywhere they shouldn't be, and the shortwave, weather and TV audio bands will be full of mulitple "ghosts" of local FM stations. The audio is rather tinny, to boot. The hand-crank dynamo is unwieldy, and the internal battery doesn't hold a charge very well. Three or four minutes of steady cranking gives you maybe fifteen minutes of radio play, which is substandard for this type of radio. The radio will play in direct sunlight via the solar panel, but you have to prop the radio so the panel is directly facing the sun, which means the speaker is facing away from you. Horribly overpriced. This is probably the worst performing of the crank/solar radio models. If you are going to rely on this thing in an emergency, you are going to die. If you have to have a hand-crank radio, look to the Grundig FR-200 instead. Better yet, buy yourself a decent AM/FM/TV audio portable and a big package of AA batteries.

Great radio:
This is one great little radio. Good reception, lots of power options. You won't be dissapointed.