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GPS Buy - Eton FR300 Emergency Crank Radio Metallic Silver

Eton FR300 Emergency Crank Radio Metallic Silver
Retail Price: $70.00
Deal Price: Too low to display
Stock: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Eton
Average Evaluation: Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5

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Batteries Included: 1
Batteries: 3
Binding: Electronics
Brand: Eton
Color: Silver
EAN: 0750254412707
Feature: Emergency Hand-Crank Power Generator
Label: Eton
Manufacturer: Eton
Model: FR300-Silver
Publisher: Eton
Special Features: V1 and TV2 - VHF channels 2-13, NOAA weather - all 7 channels plus "Alert", Siren, cell phone charger, 3 LED light system
Studio: Eton
Variation Description: Silver
Warranty: 1 year warranty

Features
Emergency Hand-Crank Power Generator
Built-in Cell Phone Charger, Flashlight, and Emergency Siren
AM/FM/TV-VHF/NOAA
Rechargeable battery pack provides reliable, renewable, internal power for everyday use Uses 3 AA batteries (NOT INCLUDED) or AC adapter(not included)
Stereo Headphone Jack

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Editorial Reviews:

Whether you need to track emergency news, are curious about the weather forecast, or merely want to listen to the audio tracks of your favorite TV program, the Eton FR300 is a perfect fit. The crank-powered radio includes an AM/FM tuner a host of other audio options. The radio also offers such features as a built-in LED light for illumination, a flashing red emergency light, an emergency siren, as well as cell phone charger--all perfect for roadside crises. In addition, because the radio includes a wind-up generator, it'll never run out of power or batteries.


Reviews :



Evaluation: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5

Conclusion: Works Great


Review: This product works great! Twice this summer we were alerted of tornadoes in our area and we had time to get to the basement for safety. The product is easy to use but I wish it would come with the AC adapter instead of having to order it seperately. I just bought one for my parents who just went through the hurricane in Texas and had no way to get emergency reports once the power went down.

Evaluation: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5

Conclusion: A quirky variant on the Grundig FR-200


Review: This is the Eton FR-300, which is actually a slightly modified variant of the Grundig FR-200. The only reason I bought the 300 is because my local Radio Shack was out of the FR-200 (aside: I wanted to get a 2nd one for my garage - the other being in the laundry room). Anyway, I decided to roll the dice and see if the it was significantly better. Unfortunately, it isn't.

THE GOOD:

* Sound quality: Although mono, it's adequate.

* Battery life: The unit uses three AA batteries, plus a small plasti-sealed NiCad pack (about the size of an olive) for the recharge crank. I've been able to run the radio for an hour or two each day, for several weeks, before having to change the AA's. {BTW, I use Tenergy 2600 miliamphr NiMHi AA's in this, and they work great}. I rarely use the crank-driven NiCad, but it's runtime is rather modest - 90 sec of cranking yeilds around 60-75 mins of listening ... at a very modest volume.

* Portability is good.

THE MEDIOCRE:

* TUNING: {minus 1 star) The pre-printed plastic frequency indicator on mine is better aligned than the one on the Grundig FR-200 I own, but it's still rather innacurate, and the tuner's performance is underwhelming - unable to tune in all but the most powerful of my local stations, and unable to prevent nearby station frequencys to bleed into each other. I'd happily have paid 2-3x as much for a comparable radio with a digital tuner and a minimal LCD readout ... which would have only a modest impact to total battery runtime.

* CHARGING: (minus 1 star) The smallish handcrank generator, although slightly better than the Grundig FR-200, is still rather clumsy to use, and having to spend 1 second out of every 45-60 cranking like a crazed chimp, charging a dinky little NiCad mini-cell, is irritating. One minor improvement over the Grundig is a round jack that allows charging of certain models of cell phones ... HOWEVER, only a small minority of phones are compatible with it, so the feature will be all but useless to the majority of people. Also, I would have liked an additional feature that'd allow you to directly charge instead the three AA's via a built-in smart charger connected to a universal power input ... thus enabling recharging (or direct play) from things like you're car's cigarette lighter, a portable generator, a PC, a portable roll-up solar pad, etc. I'm pretty sure there are newer versions of this sort of radio that have a larger & more ergonomic crank mounted to the rear, as well as solar recharge capability/compatibility. This model, as of this writing, has fallen behind the latest technology trends.

* OTHER FEATURES: Other added features over the Grundig are VHF TV reception (how obsolete), several weather channels (useful), and a small siren (why ?).

All in all, this model is just a slightly more expensive variant on the Grundig FR-200, with a few extra, but mostly useless, tweaks and additions. I found it underwhelming, and not worth the extra cost over the FR-200.

Evaluation: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5

Conclusion: It does the job


Review: There are already some great reviews here, so I will keep this relatively short.

Bottom line: The radio works well and does what it says it does. This being the case, I'm giving it 5 stars.

I have read and appreciate some of the more negative reviews. Some of the points made are valid while others are misinformed as some commentators have noted.

For me, all I can say is that the day after I received the radio from Amazon, our power went out for the first time in four years. Now, living in southern California, this is not what I would consider an emergency. However, the power was out for a few hours, it was late in the evening, eery, and boring. After setting up my emergency lighting, I basically got to sit around until I remembered I had this radio. I say THIS radio because, I have others, but I never use them because where I live, in the midst of canyons and hills, I have yet to find a radio that got any channels worth listening to.

Anyways, I turned it on and tuned it in and, to my surprise, I was getting virtually every channel that I listen to in my car, on this radio. That was exciting for me, not least because now I can listen to my Angel's game on the radio in the house. : )

Suffice it to say that I was pleased. As for the other features, here is my two cents.

The light works fine, but you should have other lights in your kit anyways. the strobe is probably useless, but you should have another strobe in your kit anyway. The siren may never be needed, but it works and could come in handy (not worth marking the radio down for). The alert feature combined with the weather stations is nice if you live in certain areas. The crank feature works well and does what it claims. Still, if you are stocking up on emergency supplies, stock up on batteries too. It only makes sense.

As I mentioned, the stations came in better than any other radio I have used where I live. The was truly surprising.



Evaluation: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5

Conclusion: Very handy during Hurricane Ike and after


Review: I'm so happy I got this before the hurricane, and it came through like a trouper. After losing power at the height of the storm (in Houston), this little baby has been our lifeline to the outside world. Great reception and lasting power. I'm buying another one for the hurricane kit.

Evaluation: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5

Conclusion: POSITIVE REVIEW


Review: So far, we are happy with this radio and thank goodness we haven't had to use it yet! I really appreciate that there is a button that just puts the radio on the NATIONAL EMERGENCY & WEATHER SERVICE. You don't have to rememeber what chanel it's on which would be hard to do in an emergency.


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