Buy Grundig Emergency Radio

Review by Mike K:

At first glance the FR 300 (sold under several names including Grundig and Eton) appears to be a modification of the very successful FR 200. It seems to use the same case and it has similar looking controls including a hand crank generator. However, with close inspection it really is quite a different radio. The FR 300 eliminates the 2 shortwave bands of the FR 200. It their place it adds the VHF TV reception (audio only) and the weather band. In addition it adds a number of gizmos.

I love the older FR 200. No one would say that the FR 200 was the height of radio engineering and it certainly has a few electronic warts. With that said its pleasant sound, sensitive receiver and cool hand crank generator makes it a winner in my book (see my review in epinions). When the FR 300 came out I was anxious to give it a try so it was off to Circuit City to pick one up.

The Box: The radio appears to be housed in a case very similar to the FR 200. The box is approximately 5.5 inches square and around 2 inches thick. Like the FR 200 it has a nice handle and it some with a nifty nylon case. One side of the radio has a hand crank to charge the rechargeable battery pack. This pack appears to be of the common cordless phone variety if you ever need to change it. The other side of the radio has a volume control and a ganged course/fine tuning control, which operates the analog slide rule dial. Instead of using the primary color theme of the FR 200, the ABS plastic is a classy silver and the speaker grill also has a more polished look. Because the FR 300 has more gizmos than the FR 200 it has a few more controls on the face of the radio. This may add a little more confusion to the technically challenged. With that said, the controls and operation are very simple. Instead of using the flush controls of the FR 200, The FR 300 has a number of raised controls. These may be easier to grasp but they also add some additional thickness to the radio. The addition of all of this spit and polish makes the radio look like a baby version of the popular Grundig S350 rather than a twin of the FR 200.

Power Source: Like the FR 200, the FR 300 can be powered up in a number of ways. You can use 3 AA batteries, which should give you a very long playtime in this energy sipping radio. In addition you can charge the separate battery pack by vigorously turning the dynamo (generator) handle. 90 seconds at two turns per second should give you over an hour of playtime at low volume. You can also use an optional adaptor. Circuit City did not have the Grundig adaptor when I bought the radio. You can use a third party adaptor, but this must be done with caution. If the adaptor is under 200 milliamps it will power the radio and trickle change the battery pack. You can leave the adaptor permantetly connected. If the adaptor is over 200 mg , leaving it connected can overcharge the battery pack and damage the radio. You can remove or disconnect the battery pack and leave a larger adaptor plugged in, but this defeats the “emergency radio” concept.

Gizmos: The FR 300 is decked out in a variety of cool sounding gizmos. Let’s take a look at some them to see if they have merit.

Flashlight: Like the FR 200 you have an LED flashlight built in. LEDs are great because they are very durable and use less power than a traditional flashlight bulb. The FR 300 has a 2 LED system providing somewhat better illumination than the FR 200. Think of it as a penlight. It would be OK to change a fuse or even read a newspaper. It won’t light up a room. All in all, a useful feature.

Strobe: There is also a bright, flashing red LED. It is very cool, but I was wondering what you would use it for. A warning for a disabled car? A cheap reflective banner would work better. A beacon to attract airplanes if you are stranded on a deserted island? Sorry no trips planed. How about an emergency signal to attract the Good Humor Man? Hmmm…. Anyways, I would rate the strobe as a gimmick.

Siren: The FR 300 has a very loud siren. This seems to be a popular (cheap?) addition to a number of emergency radios. This is another feature that leaves me scratching my head. Let’s say you were hiking and got lost. A simple whistle around your neck would do the job nicely. Let’s say you were trapped under a building that collapsed. Well maybe, but you would have to have the radio at your side, which seems sort of unlikely. The Siren would preclude giving this radio to most pre-adolescent boys, unless, of course, his parents gave your kid a drum set for Christmas. Another gimmick.

Cell Phone Charger: The FR 300 comes with a number of adaptors that could allow you the ability to charge your cell phone by turning the radios dynamo. Pretty cool. You could also use a AC power adaptor (not supplied) to charge you phone through the radio. Frankly, in the later case you should use the charging set up supplied with the phone. The question is, can you charge your phone using the dynamo? As mentioned above, The FR 300 is designed to sip at the energy bar. My LG cell phone has two separate LCD displays, one in color. It also has a keypad that lights up and (being a cell phone) a transmitter. The FR 300 manual wisely omits crank times for cell phones, but you can assume that it would be a bicep building experience. I can image that there may be very rare times when this feature could have some utility, but not often and probably a means of last resort. Likely a gimmick.

All radio testing was done with fresh AA batteries.

Sound: Like the FR 200 the FR 300 has a 2.5 inch speaker. There isn’t much base but the sound is pleasant and clear. Plug in some headphones and you get wonderful sound out of both earpieces. The sound is mono, however. It is clear that the FR 300 amplifier section is of a higher quality then what you would find in a cheap pocket radio.

AM (medium wave): Like the FR 200 the FR 300 has a very nice AM tuner. You can hear some weak images of stronger stations on the dial but they aren’t too objectionable. Tuning accuracy is approximate, but it does the job. Sensitivity is very good and I was able to hear a number of out-of-state stations with ease. AGC was average. Reception was similar to the FR 200. All in all a nice little AM radio.

Weather Band: The FR 300 picks up the 7 channel weather band which is used in the US and Canada. I was able to pick up 3 channels on the radio, two very clearly. My car radio was able to pick up 4 weather channels (as a comparison). As a bonus, a nice, big knob controls the channels. In addition you can use an alert function. You leave the radio turned on and this function keeps it mutes the audio until the radio picks up a special signal for the weather service. Sounds nice, but don’t forget this radio does not come with an AC adaptor. Leaving the radio on and then cranking it or changing the batteries doesn’t make a lot of sense. Overall, I would rate the weather band as very good.

VHF TV Reception: Chicagoland has 5 VHF TV outlets (channels 2,5,7,9,11). The FR 300 allows VHF TV reception via two separate bands. One for channels 2-6 and the other for channels 7 and above. Using the FR 300 to pick up TV was a painful experience. As I would turn down the TV band I would encounter image after image of blaring distorted FM stations. On the lower VHF this garbage obliterated band channel 5. This problem was also present on the upper VHF band, but less so. Channel 9 was obliterated here. Changing rooms or reducing the length of the antenna did not help this problem. I also tried the radio at my office (further away from local FM broadcasters and more shielded from RF). It was still horrible. I exchanged the radio and the second one was slightly better, I now could get channel 9 but not channel 5. There was still tons of garbage from FM on these bands. TV performance was not acceptable.

FM performance: The FR 200 had a flawed but quite useable FM section (see my epinion on the FR 200). I thought that the FR 300 would offer similar performance, but I was very wrong. First off, the FM section occupies only one part of the tuning dial with the low VHF TV channels occupying the rest. I was estimate that the FM portion is only about 1/3 of the dial making any tuning difficult. When I first tried FM I was shocked at the incredibly poor reception. Our two local FM broadcasters were imaged all over the dial, and I mean everywhere. Even a flea-powered local college station was imaged up and down the dial. Every once in a while I could tease another station out of the mess. It was truly horrible. Reducing the antenna length, etc did not help. I took the radio to my office, which is much farther from our local broadcasters. In addition, the building shields lot of RF. Here I still heard the local broadcaster smeared over the dial. The flea-powered college station was absent but now the local junior college’s station was popping up everywhere. FM was unusable. I saw one user report on the FR 300 noting good FM reception (Circuit City web page) so I thought I might have a defective radio. I exchanged it hoping that radio #2 would redeem the Grundig name. This radio had it own set of problems on FM. The dial wasn’t totally dominated by images from the local broadcasters, but they were present. The local college station at 89.1 obliterated the FM spectrum below and all the way up to 92 MHz. Similarly, the local oldies station at 95.9 smeared itself to WMFT at 98.7. It also smeared downward, but it was such a mess I couldn’t tell what was what. It was clear that the way that this particular radio “fix” the multiple image problem was to turn down the sensitivity on FM, so even when I could get a Chicago station the reception was poor. Even more bizarre was what happened when I tuned around 100 MHz. There, I started to receive VHF aircraft traffic, I don’t live near any commercial airport.

I love radios, I collect them and play around with them. The FR 300 has, by far, the worst FM reception of any radio that I have ever used, including cheapo pocket radios. This appears to be partly due to poor quality control (two radios with two different problems) but I also suspect design flaws.

As a radio collector I’m about to do something that I never do, I’m going to return this radio for a refund. All the bells and whistles and gizmos are useless if you can’t use a major portion of a radio (the FM band). As more people review this radio I will be curious with the results. If lots of people like the FM portion of the radio it is likely that this is a QC issue that will eventually get resolved (and I just happened to get two bad radios). I addition, I have to wonder about the logic of including functions, like the weather alert option, but not including an AC adaptor as standard equipment. With the myriad of portable radios available, including the nice FR 200, I can’t image why anyone would buy this radio. Definitely, not recommended.

Review by Jen:

I got this specifically for emergencies. In the big fires we had here a couple years ago, radio was pretty much useless on the first day – several stations were off the air due to power failures and the press conferences with the police and fire chief were all on TV. Eventually, the radio stations advised people to watch their TVs. This unit gets good audio reception on three local broadcast TV stations plus a whack of AM and FM stations. Another reviewer indicated that the FM tuning isn’t great. They’re right – it isn’t. That’s the missing star in my rating. The NOAA weather stations come in well too. Once there’s no more free broadcast TV signals, I guess this will be an expensive hand-cranked AM radio.

Review by S. R. W.:

On newsgroups and message boards, this handy and compact little radio is being touted as a good choice for beginning shortwave listeners: but I would disagree. As usual for the current line of low-end Grundig products, the “single conversion” intermediate frequency design has resulted in serious image problems: in other words, you pick up a single strong station at two, or sometimes three, places on the dial: in the correct location at the intended frequency, plus one or two spurious images above and below it. In the crowded shortwave bands, this makes listening extremely difficult, as the images cause wobbling whistles and lots of interference (and make it hard to even know WHERE the radio is tuned.) In addition, the planetary tuning mechanism has really dreadful backlash: to tune in a shortwave station, you have to go past it, then back up and tune around until you *finally* get it centered. Then, the radio drifts and a few minutes later you are forced to do it all over again: maddening.
AM (called mediumwave in Europe and much of the world) is more satisfying as the stations are not crowded together as much as shortwave, and the band is shorter so there is more spread from one end to the other: the tuning isn’t nearly as critical. Selectivity is pretty good, and sensitivity is excellent. I have not noticed image problems that are as troublesome as in the SW bands.
FM reception was disappointing; selectivity seems poor, and sensitivity rather low. Stations “mush” together — if they can be picked up at all. Expect only the strongest signals in your reception area.
The generator system works very well though a trio of new AA cells gives more output and slightly better sensitivity.
I tried six units and found that performance varied slightly. One brand new radio had a weak set of batteries that would not charge correctly; another had extremely tinny sound that lacked fullness (surprising to me but probably due to a poor speaker or bad audio capacitor.) A couple of the sets weren’t as sensitive as others. So quality control apparently varies somewhat.
The unit I purchased is very satisfactory as a simple emergency and/or AM broadcast receiver, though not much useful for FM or shortwave. But it sounds a bit better than pocket sets, and definitely outperforms most of them in terms of AM sensitivity. (I am a retired broadcast station chief engineer in the SF bay area, with fifty years experience as a shortwave listener.)

Review by clickz4:

From reading the other reviews, I see most people love this radio, but some dog it. They’re both right. Your level of satisfaction with this radio will have more to do with your buying motivations than the product.

Grundig has a well established reputation for making fine products. If you are a shortwave enthusiast who is looking for a good shortwave radio, sadly I must admit that you need to keep looking. The tuner is iffy (by your standards) and it does not have the ‘Grundig Feel’ of their more expensive products.

But notice Grudig calls it an ‘Emergency Radio,’ not a shortwave radio.

If you want something for peace of mind -that you will never be caught without a radio because of dead batteries- then this is a great product. I live in a hurricane zone and every time there is a storm approaching, all my friends wait in long lines to buy batteries. I know I’m ready 24/7. As an added bonus I’ll always have a flashlight with me. (which is more handy than I would have guessed)

(Here is the kicker-) If you want an emergency radio AND you like to listen to the BBC or Radio Canada every once in a while, then this is definitely the product for you.

I’ve had mine for a year and a half and I use it at least 3 times per week. The best way to describe the tuner is “credible.” It can pick up all the big name stations, even indoors, but it is not stunning. The tonal quality is acceptable but I’m usually listening to the spoken word and not music. (I have an iPod for that

I bought it because I wanted a cheap shortwave. The fact it had a crank and a flashlight was gravy at first, but it is more and more important as I use it.

Some notes about the battery:

You’ll never turn the hand crank enough to fully charge the internal battery. I have a fancy NiCad charger so I charged the battery fully and it lasted 6 weeks of near daily use during Gulf War II. (I’d guess 120+ hours, I was amazed) Problem is, your arm would fall off before you got there. Even if you don’t give it a full charge, I find the cranking to listening ratio pretty good.

But do what I do- I run it on NIMH AA’s and it lasts for weeks. I never pay for batteries but I never have to crank it either. (unless the batteries die)

And a final thought on durability which some people discuss.

I’ve dropped mine several times even once from about 6 feet up while I was painting. I have one scratch on it but other than that, it really does look much like the day I bought it. The case is still tight and the controls firm. I give it to my 6 year old nephew and he cranks for hours with no ill effect. I’d say durability is quite good.

I hope this review helps you get a feel for the radio. If your needs come even close to matching what this radio was designed to do, then I feel confident it will exceed your expectations in the long run.

=====Update=======

Well, 2 years -and Hurricane Katrina later- I’ll never be without this radio. We left town 2 days before the storm and I brought it with me. At night I could pick up WWL radio (50,000 watt clear channel) from Memphis.

My nephew (who I mentioned above) broke the antenna off for me so no shortwave for me any more but AM/FM works fine… That was homicide, don’t blame the radio. It’s now approaching 4 years old, I still use it weekly and it is still in good shape otherwise.

BTW- I came back in town just a few days after the storm to rescue some friends’ pets and help get some people out of town. I brought extra gas, extra water, 5 days of food and this radio. That probably say it all.

Review by Gus:

I was given this radio as a gift, and had absolutely no expectations. I have owned it for almost two years and have never put a single battery in it, I have never plugged it in (it doesn’t come with an A/C adapter) and it still runs well (though I can tell it’s days are numbered since I need to crank it more to get the same radio time). It has the best reception of the four radios I have tried in my apartment, and all without any electricity. I live in Cincinnati and can pick up Cleveland stations (about 250 miles away) at night.

I have used it as a flashlight in emergency situations and the light is surprisingly effective for the size. The only problem with the light is it will dim after a minute of use. You have to crank it for a few seconds every 2 or 3 minutes to keep it bright.

The cell phone charger says that you have to crank it for about 15 minutes to get one minute of phone time. That’s so awful that I never even bothered to turn in the card they give you to get the free adapter.

Overall I love this radio because it gets great reception and I don’t have to use any electricity or waste batteries. It’s very helpful in that during an emergency it does exactly what you need it to do and nothing more. I have recommended this radio to many people and will continue to do so.

Review by Kate:

I’m wondering if anyone else has really tested the hand crank power on this radio. I let the rechargeable battery run down completely (not intentionally, but a good test for emergency preparedness), and I found that after cranking for a full 90 seconds, the radio only worked for a couple minutes. I was very disappointed and returned it, since I felt that in an emergency, this would be more frustrating than helpful.

Review by Mike K:

At first glance the FR 300 (sold under several names including Grundig and Eton) appears to be a modification of the very successful FR 200. It seems to use the same case and it has similar looking controls including a hand crank generator. However, with close inspection it really is quite a different radio. The FR 300 eliminates the 2 shortwave bands of the FR 200. It their place it adds the VHF TV reception (audio only) and the weather band. In addition it adds a number of gizmos.

I love the older FR 200. No one would say that the FR 200 was the height of radio engineering and it certainly has a few electronic warts. With that said its pleasant sound, sensitive receiver and cool hand crank generator makes it a winner in my book (see my review in epinions). When the FR 300 came out I was anxious to give it a try so it was off to Circuit City to pick one up.

The Box: The radio appears to be housed in a case very similar to the FR 200. The box is approximately 5.5 inches square and around 2 inches thick. Like the FR 200 it has a nice handle and it some with a nifty nylon case. One side of the radio has a hand crank to charge the rechargeable battery pack. This pack appears to be of the common cordless phone variety if you ever need to change it. The other side of the radio has a volume control and a ganged course/fine tuning control, which operates the analog slide rule dial. Instead of using the primary color theme of the FR 200, the ABS plastic is a classy silver and the speaker grill also has a more polished look. Because the FR 300 has more gizmos than the FR 200 it has a few more controls on the face of the radio. This may add a little more confusion to the technically challenged. With that said, the controls and operation are very simple. Instead of using the flush controls of the FR 200, The FR 300 has a number of raised controls. These may be easier to grasp but they also add some additional thickness to the radio. The addition of all of this spit and polish makes the radio look like a baby version of the popular Grundig S350 rather than a twin of the FR 200.

Power Source: Like the FR 200, the FR 300 can be powered up in a number of ways. You can use 3 AA batteries, which should give you a very long playtime in this energy sipping radio. In addition you can charge the separate battery pack by vigorously turning the dynamo (generator) handle. 90 seconds at two turns per second should give you over an hour of playtime at low volume. You can also use an optional adaptor. Circuit City did not have the Grundig adaptor when I bought the radio. You can use a third party adaptor, but this must be done with caution. If the adaptor is under 200 milliamps it will power the radio and trickle change the battery pack. You can leave the adaptor permantetly connected. If the adaptor is over 200 mg , leaving it connected can overcharge the battery pack and damage the radio. You can remove or disconnect the battery pack and leave a larger adaptor plugged in, but this defeats the “emergency radio” concept.

Gizmos: The FR 300 is decked out in a variety of cool sounding gizmos. Let’s take a look at some them to see if they have merit.

Flashlight: Like the FR 200 you have an LED flashlight built in. LEDs are great because they are very durable and use less power than a traditional flashlight bulb. The FR 300 has a 2 LED system providing somewhat better illumination than the FR 200. Think of it as a penlight. It would be OK to change a fuse or even read a newspaper. It won’t light up a room. All in all, a useful feature.

Strobe: There is also a bright, flashing red LED. It is very cool, but I was wondering what you would use it for. A warning for a disabled car? A cheap reflective banner would work better. A beacon to attract airplanes if you are stranded on a deserted island? Sorry no trips planed. How about an emergency signal to attract the Good Humor Man? Hmmm…. Anyways, I would rate the strobe as a gimmick.

Siren: The FR 300 has a very loud siren. This seems to be a popular (cheap?) addition to a number of emergency radios. This is another feature that leaves me scratching my head. Let’s say you were hiking and got lost. A simple whistle around your neck would do the job nicely. Let’s say you were trapped under a building that collapsed. Well maybe, but you would have to have the radio at your side, which seems sort of unlikely. The Siren would preclude giving this radio to most pre-adolescent boys, unless, of course, his parents gave your kid a drum set for Christmas. Another gimmick.

Cell Phone Charger: The FR 300 comes with a number of adaptors that could allow you the ability to charge your cell phone by turning the radios dynamo. Pretty cool. You could also use a AC power adaptor (not supplied) to charge you phone through the radio. Frankly, in the later case you should use the charging set up supplied with the phone. The question is, can you charge your phone using the dynamo? As mentioned above, The FR 300 is designed to sip at the energy bar. My LG cell phone has two separate LCD displays, one in color. It also has a keypad that lights up and (being a cell phone) a transmitter. The FR 300 manual wisely omits crank times for cell phones, but you can assume that it would be a bicep building experience. I can image that there may be very rare times when this feature could have some utility, but not often and probably a means of last resort. Likely a gimmick.

All radio testing was done with fresh AA batteries.

Sound: Like the FR 200 the FR 300 has a 2.5 inch speaker. There isn’t much base but the sound is pleasant and clear. Plug in some headphones and you get wonderful sound out of both earpieces. The sound is mono, however. It is clear that the FR 300 amplifier section is of a higher quality then what you would find in a cheap pocket radio.

AM (medium wave): Like the FR 200 the FR 300 has a very nice AM tuner. You can hear some weak images of stronger stations on the dial but they aren’t too objectionable. Tuning accuracy is approximate, but it does the job. Sensitivity is very good and I was able to hear a number of out-of-state stations with ease. AGC was average. Reception was similar to the FR 200. All in all a nice little AM radio.

Weather Band: The FR 300 picks up the 7 channel weather band which is used in the US and Canada. I was able to pick up 3 channels on the radio, two very clearly. My car radio was able to pick up 4 weather channels (as a comparison). As a bonus, a nice, big knob controls the channels. In addition you can use an alert function. You leave the radio turned on and this function keeps it mutes the audio until the radio picks up a special signal for the weather service. Sounds nice, but don’t forget this radio does not come with an AC adaptor. Leaving the radio on and then cranking it or changing the batteries doesn’t make a lot of sense. Overall, I would rate the weather band as very good.

VHF TV Reception: Chicagoland has 5 VHF TV outlets (channels 2,5,7,9,11). The FR 300 allows VHF TV reception via two separate bands. One for channels 2-6 and the other for channels 7 and above. Using the FR 300 to pick up TV was a painful experience. As I would turn down the TV band I would encounter image after image of blaring distorted FM stations. On the lower VHF this garbage obliterated band channel 5. This problem was also present on the upper VHF band, but less so. Channel 9 was obliterated here. Changing rooms or reducing the length of the antenna did not help this problem. I also tried the radio at my office (further away from local FM broadcasters and more shielded from RF). It was still horrible. I exchanged the radio and the second one was slightly better, I now could get channel 9 but not channel 5. There was still tons of garbage from FM on these bands. TV performance was not acceptable.

FM performance: The FR 200 had a flawed but quite useable FM section (see my epinion on the FR 200). I thought that the FR 300 would offer similar performance, but I was very wrong. First off, the FM section occupies only one part of the tuning dial with the low VHF TV channels occupying the rest. I was estimate that the FM portion is only about 1/3 of the dial making any tuning difficult. When I first tried FM I was shocked at the incredibly poor reception. Our two local FM broadcasters were imaged all over the dial, and I mean everywhere. Even a flea-powered local college station was imaged up and down the dial. Every once in a while I could tease another station out of the mess. It was truly horrible. Reducing the antenna length, etc did not help. I took the radio to my office, which is much farther from our local broadcasters. In addition, the building shields lot of RF. Here I still heard the local broadcaster smeared over the dial. The flea-powered college station was absent but now the local junior college’s station was popping up everywhere. FM was unusable. I saw one user report on the FR 300 noting good FM reception (Circuit City web page) so I thought I might have a defective radio. I exchanged it hoping that radio #2 would redeem the Grundig name. This radio had it own set of problems on FM. The dial wasn’t totally dominated by images from the local broadcasters, but they were present. The local college station at 89.1 obliterated the FM spectrum below and all the way up to 92 MHz. Similarly, the local oldies station at 95.9 smeared itself to WMFT at 98.7. It also smeared downward, but it was such a mess I couldn’t tell what was what. It was clear that the way that this particular radio “fix” the multiple image problem was to turn down the sensitivity on FM, so even when I could get a Chicago station the reception was poor. Even more bizarre was what happened when I tuned around 100 MHz. There, I started to receive VHF aircraft traffic, I don’t live near any commercial airport.

I love radios, I collect them and play around with them. The FR 300 has, by far, the worst FM reception of any radio that I have ever used, including cheapo pocket radios. This appears to be partly due to poor quality control (two radios with two different problems) but I also suspect design flaws.

As a radio collector I’m about to do something that I never do, I’m going to return this radio for a refund. All the bells and whistles and gizmos are useless if you can’t use a major portion of a radio (the FM band). As more people review this radio I will be curious with the results. If lots of people like the FM portion of the radio it is likely that this is a QC issue that will eventually get resolved (and I just happened to get two bad radios). I addition, I have to wonder about the logic of including functions, like the weather alert option, but not including an AC adaptor as standard equipment. With the myriad of portable radios available, including the nice FR 200, I can’t image why anyone would buy this radio. Definitely, not recommended.

Review by Jen:

I got this specifically for emergencies. In the big fires we had here a couple years ago, radio was pretty much useless on the first day – several stations were off the air due to power failures and the press conferences with the police and fire chief were all on TV. Eventually, the radio stations advised people to watch their TVs. This unit gets good audio reception on three local broadcast TV stations plus a whack of AM and FM stations. Another reviewer indicated that the FM tuning isn’t great. They’re right – it isn’t. That’s the missing star in my rating. The NOAA weather stations come in well too. Once there’s no more free broadcast TV signals, I guess this will be an expensive hand-cranked AM radio.

Review by S. J. Northrip:

After noting some less than satisfactory reviews by others on similar Eaton products , I decided to go ahead and buy this product. I found that the FR400 meets all my criteria in a weather radio. First, the crank system covers our communications need should we have an extended power outage.This past week, over 100,000 people were without power in our area. The crank generating system works excellent. It actually works easier than I thought that it would. I also find the Alert function very important. You simple turn a Selector Knob to Alert, and when the National Weather Service issues an alert, the radio comes on automatically. This alert gives you advance warning of dangerous weather, and can save your life in case a tornado is about to happen near you.It also warns you of other bad weather conditions such as extreme straight line winds and hail. Flood Warnings are also covered in these alerts.

Yes we have tornado sirens for impending tornados. Since we have satellite TV reception, we usually lose our TV signal just as the bad storms get close to us. With the FR400, we easily can slide the selection bar and tune in any of several TV stations, and pick up the sound portion of the broadcast. We can also access our local FM and AM radio channels.The reception is excellent on both AM and FM bands. I have mine set to Channel ll the CBS TV affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth. The tuning bar reads TV2. Channel 5, a lower number would be set on TV1. We consider this product an excellent value, and recommend this model due to the included AC Adapter. The included cell phone adapters fit both my wife’s cell phone and my own. Hers is an ancient Motorola and mine is a recent LG. There are excellent set up instructions should you need them from the Eton website. It’s actually very simple to set up. Lights, Sirens, Radio, Crank and Auto settings are clearly marked. Dialing is no problem, and the TV and Weather Service reception is excellent. This product has it all, and is a must for having a dependable weather warning or disaster communication radio.

Review by J. A. Trombetta:

This radio is reviewed on Amazon several times, but most are under the Red Cross version’s listing, even though this is exactly the same radio. I read several negative reviews prior to buying this item. Well, as it turns out I think this is a nice little unit. I would describe the sound overall as good. Maybe I’ll amend this review in the future, but I’m happy with the features, design & performance.

Opening the battery cover and connecting the battery was just that simple, and it has remained securely closed. Maybe the design has been modified because that procedure has gotten a lot of negative feedback, but I can’t see any reason there would be a problem. The cellphone charging cord & several connectors (let’s be honest…we’re never going to use this) were included, and my Sanyo phone is covered.

This is a light, inexpensive case. The tuner seems fine. Here in NYC I’ve had no trouble tuning in the various AM & FM stations that I like. This is not a high-end indestructable radio. I think this is a good, relatively solidly built & designed radio that can be used every day. I charged it over night with the included adapter. It’s brought me a few ballgames over the past few days without needing a charge (I’m just going to let it drain completely once to complete a battery cycle). I like this little radio very much.

Review by Arthur Niederfringer:

I love the Kaito KA1107 analog portable radio. This is the best paperback-size radio I have ever owned.

This radio is most stellar on the FM band. I get stations loud and clear 65 miles away using the internal whip antenna. The reception exceeds any of my radios. Sensitivity and selectivity rival that of a good FM receiver. The antenna rotates and angles down for optimum reception of vertically, horizontally and mixed polarized FM antennas, allowing more stations to be heard clearly. This radio is rated at less than 5 MV FM sensitivity, and i do believe it.

SW and MW sensitivity and selectivity rival that of larger radios on the market. MW stations during the day come in loud and clear. Nighttime reception is sensitive across the band, though AM suffers from selective fading and man-made interference. I cannot honestly rate reception on the individual SW bands. I rarely use SW any more, due to man-made interference, selective fading and the low sunspot count.

The sound quality of the Kaito 1107 is a big surprise, with the two-step tone control offering room-filling audio. The two-step tone control logically selects between music and voice reception.

The side-mounted knob provides velvet tuning which a joy to turn, unlike many of the cheap Chinese-made radios on the market today.The three-step sensitivity control is useless except on SW. The large band-switch knob on the side of the radio is a joy. The volume control is recessed, protecting the radio in case of a fall, and is a good feature.

The clock, power, tone, and sensitivity buttons are poorly laid out and not suited for the less dexterous. The buttons are small and the labels are hard see for anybody with a visual impairment. I’ve placed masking tape with large-print writing to remedy reading some of the controls on the face of the radio.

You may buy this radio with confidence. The price is right for the value.- Arthur.

Review by Hal9000:

For the price you can’t do better than this nice little portable radio. I was initially looking for a portable to fulfill an interest I had for a “ultralight DX” radio, but felt the current crop of highly-rated high performance ultralights wouldn’t be a very good choice since most were never intended to be exported out of China (i.e. 240V power supplies, Chinese instructions, hard-to-decipher controls, etc.). I was about to give up & wait for awhile, when I stumbled across this little gem. For the price it can’t be beat. AM mediumwave sensitivity is phenomenal, which is exactly what I was looking for. Tuning is very sharp, with no overload problems detected, and even though I occasionally hear a strong local 50kw AM station over my telephone lines it doesn’t seem to bother this radio. FM sensitivity is equally good, although the FM band is somewhat compressed since the scale covers both US and foreign FM bandplans. Shortwave seems very good as well, with amazingly good audio received from some AM amateur radio operators on both 80m and 40m with the built-in whip antenna (note though that these are the only two ham bands this radio covers, since they lie near two commercial shortwave bands). The bass response from the small speaker is exceptional when the appropriate switch is placed in the “bass” mode. And finally, a dial light that will stay on until you turn it off! (You can even turn in on while the radio is off). Battery life also seems to be very long even when using the light all the time (it imparts a very nice warm glow to the dial). Are there any shortcomings? Sure – after all, it is analog, so frequency determination will just be a guesstimate, but after all isn’t that what makes it fun? The tuning is a little “spongy”, with some dial backlash, so you tend to need to “rock the dial” back & forth to center in on the signal, but at least the dial moves very smoothly so this is quite easy. The numbers on the dial could be a little bigger, and the green numbers could be a brighter color, but some of that is probably my 50 year old eyes. And SSB reception would certainly be nice for the ham bands, but would probably add considerably to the price. Overall, it just can’t be beat for price vs. performance, and easily beats all of my vintage transistor radios for ultralight portable AM DX, and blows away my Sony ICF-SW100 in the same arena (although the Sony can do much more, it isn’t nearly the mediumwave AM DX machine that this is).

Review by M. D. Rorick:

Eton’s FR350 emergency radio provides a solid solution for folks who want to stock their emergency kits with a waterproof, feature-packed unit. Given that I use mine primarily for listening to baseball while doing yardwork, I haven’t gotten much use out of the shortwave receiver, siren, flashlight, and cell phone charger, but it’s nice to know they’re there.

Radio reception on this unit is solid, and while the dial is not rigorously gradated by frequency the signals from individual stations tend to be so clear that finding the one you’re after is usually no problem.

My only two complaints about the unit are the following: First, the hand-crank dynamo seems to give inconsistent charge to the batteries. Sometimes after the recommended 90 second crank I could listen to a whole game without recharging the unit, but other times, for no clear reason, the volume would die down and after just a couple of innings it would require another hand-cranking.

Second, the position of the flashlight switch is situated such that it can be easily turned on inadvertently, particularly when the unit is being cranked for a charge. The power drain from using the flashlight is significant, and while this only requires another round of hand-cranking (and subsequent turning off of the light), it is an annoying design feature that could have easily been moved elsewhere on the casing.

Those two flaws, though, are minor considering the overall performance I’ve experienced with the FR350, and based on my happiness with the unit, I can recommend it without hesitation.

Review by Peri Winkle:

Great concept and probably pretty good otherwise, but antenna is stiff and broke at base almost right out of the box. Our old plug in radio’s antenna has held up close to 30 years. No excuse for one like this. Technology is not new; poor execution, weak materials, something.

Review by Chris Compton:

When the G6 arrived I must say I was a little shocked as I was expecting a larger package, but as the old expression goes “Size Makes no Difference”,and that applies to the G6!

The build quality was extremely good, the rubberized coating and the “just right” weight make for a very good, solid feel.

After a brief scan of the operating manual I placed 2 AA Alkaline batteries in the G6 (you can also use NI-MH batteries and charge them in the G6) but I was very excited and did not want to wait one minute longer, I wanted to play now!

I powered the G6 up and selected the MW AM Broadcast Band, my favorite

for chasing weak, distant signals. I then thought to myself, I need a “Standard” in which to compare the G6. Being an avid radio collector I selected a Tough Act to Follow” radio from my collection for the AM MW Blue Ribbon. I chose my Panasonic RF2900.

Both radios had brand new alkaline batteries installed, as I did not want to deal with AC power line noise, induced into the units by operating from the AC Mains.

It was in middle of the day so I selected a station on 1360 KHz, KWDJ, 1000 watts day, in Ridgecrest, CA, about 100 miles from my location in Lancaster, Ca. At that distance the measured signal strength of KWDJ was less than 100 Micro volts/Meter (Measured on Potomac FIM 22 AM field strength meter)

I placed both radios on the same table ,and rotated the units so their loopsticks were optimized for reception from the direction of Ridgecrest, Ca.

Also note, that in Lancaster, there is a 1000-watt AM station on 1380 KHZ

Its transmitter, less than 3 miles from my location, and in the same heading as

Ridgecrest!

As I tuned the RF2900 to 1360 I heard Dr. Laura, pretty clear along with a fair amount of background noise.

I listened for about 2 minutes to make sure that the signal was steady, which it was.

Now it was “ShowTime” I powered the G6 up, and using the Jog Wheel, I tuned the G6 to 1360…and with the volume set about halfway….I heard Dr. Laura, with about the same amount of noise as the RF2900!

Needless to say, I was impressed.

OK I said, lets take a listen to the low side of the band.

How about a lowly 100 watt AM station XSURF on 540 KHZ in Mexico, over 100 miles away.

I rotated the radios toward Mexico, tuned the RF2900 to 540 ,and there in the noise was XSURF on 540.

I should call the G6, the “Little Engine that Could” because when I tuned it to 540 KHZ, there was XSURF with just slightly more noise than the RF2900, WOW!

The G6 had no trouble in pulling in most all of the Los Angeles radio AM signals which ranged from 75 to 100 miles away with only one 50,000 Watt signal.

Ok, I was convinced that the G6 had great performance on MW AM, but how about FM?

I went back to my radio collection looking for a portable radio to make the comparison, a unit with better than average FM reception, my Eton E5.

On FM a good test would be pulling in KGZO, 90.9 in Shafter, CA

Operating with only 1.9 KW of power, over 100 miles away.

This is a good test of sensitivity and selectivity as my location in Lancaster, Ca, is within the 1MV contour of Superpower 110,000 Watt KPFK at 90.7.

In the past the Eton E5 had no problem in pulling in the KGZO signal in full stereo, with only a slight intrusion from KPFK.

The Eton E5 repeated this task as expected.

After tuning the G6 to 90.9 and with a little playing with the rod antenna, there was KGZO in stereo with just a slightly more amount of intrusion by KPFK, but still listenable!

The G6 had no trouble in pulling in signals from all the Los Angeles FM signals from Mount Wilson, the location of 99% of Los Angeles FM Signals.

On more thing…. do not let the small speaker size fool you, this little baby can fill a small room with pretty good volume.

On Shortwave the G6 is comparable in selectivity and sensitivity to several of my Shortwave rigs including my Eton E5, my Sony 6500 ,and my Sangean 909. The BFO makes copy of SSB a breeze as well.

On VHF I can hear signals from Aircraft and from LAX and Lancaster’s Fox Airfield.

On a scale of 1 through 10 the Buzz Aldrin Edition Grundig G6 gets a

BIG 10!

Chris Compton

Professional Broadcast Engineer, and Avid Radio Collector for over 35 Years

Lancaster, CA

Review by Ann E. Revelle:

This Buzz Aldrin edition of the G6 aviator radio is indeed an excellent new product. Identical in all aspects (except for some printing on the front of the unit) to the standard G6 aviator radio, it seems very well made and should last a long time if treated with care. The radio is both extremely small (almost the same size as the Kaito KA11!) and readily transportable yet the reception is still excellent on all available bands. It is certainly not as fine a radio as the Kaito KA1103 by any means, but for its size and weight it is quite exceptional, plus it has the aircraft band frequencies (see below for further details and limitations, etc.).

I like being able to change the news/music switch in order to slightly improve AM and SW signal audio fidelity (on my unit it is certainly NOT a deep bass boost switch however with little tonal changes being evident as the switch changes its position). Unfortunately this is also NOT a narrow/wide bandwidth filter switch which is not available on this radio at all. Using the SSB (single sideband) BFO (beat frequency oscillator) tuner is also very easy and straight forward with a key press on the front of the radio and in fine increments using the tuning dial as well. Unlike some other radios, SSB tuning is also available on the G6 on the AM band as well as on SW which is a very useful feature. The separate ability to step tune in very small increments with the jog dial setting is also excellent in my opinion once a signal of interest has been located. The unit also has an attached 20 inch telescopic antenna as well as an external antenna jack which is especially nice for receiving the weaker FM/SW/Aircraft band stations as well as an earphone jack for private listening (including FM stereo). LW and MW (AM) stations are tuned using the internal ferrite antenna coil.

I rather like the digital volume controls as well. The steps between each setting are sufficiently small that quite precise control of the volume levels can be attained, especially when using earphones which is my most common mode of operating this radio given the smallness of its speaker (but still adequate).

In addition, the Grundig manual for the G6 although too brief and lacking in some important technical details is just fine to read with no English translation problems as with the Degen (Kaito) radio manuals for the KA1102/KA1103. Degen now makes the G3, G4, G5 and G6 for Grundig (whose designs originated from the Degen engineering brainpower from some 6 years ago now). These radios are now advertised as designed in California (by the Eton Corporation) and made in China, but to be fair Grundig has capitalized on a proven Degen/Kaito design and greatly improved on the ergonomics for using these fine radios.

The availability of the complete LW spectrum (formally from 153-279 KHz), but continuous on this radio from 150 KHz all the way to the start of the AM (MW) band at 520 KHz and of the Aircraft bands (117-137 MHz) and of the complete SW spectrum (1.711 to 29.999 MHz) on this unit is also true of the G5 as well (with the exception of the aircraft band that is available on the new G3 which should be available in th3e middle of April this year). The Eton Corporation will soon start to advertise the availability of the complete LW band features on these new Grundig branded radios since it was originally and inadvertently overlooked by the marketers. (If you still have any doubts read the back of the radio in zoom mode on this website). The Sony ICF-SW7600GR also has the full spectrum of LW/AM(MW) and SW bands too and has advertised it all along, but that radio also lacks the aircraft band that is available on the new G6 Aviator radio. Especially for international travelers, the 10 KHz AM tuning step for N. America can also be changed to the 9 KHz step that is standard in Europe and Asia too.

One negative item is that the airband can not be automatically scanned like all of the other available bands on this radio. Another very negative item (see also below for those of you who live in heavily urban areas with lots of simultaneous interfering signals possible), is that there is no RF gain switch (DX/normal/local, etc.) on this radio at all either. Considering just how sensitive the front end of this radio is to weak signals, this is a very surprising error of omission in my humble opinion and one that should be rectified by Grundig (PUN intended!).

The G6 even has alarms and time zone capabilities and 700 memories that can be labeled along with with multiple and very useful ways I might add to tune and store information in this very versatile, dual conversion PLL (phase locked loop) synthesized, diminutive “micro-receiver style” radio. These memories are arranged for all of the 100 pages with 7 memories to a page. Each of these 100 pages can be labeled alphanumerically in groupings to boot. The presets can also be chosen on each page randomly regardless of the band. In addition, numerous pre-stored time zones (~30) from all around the globe can also be easily chosen while traveling in order to make changing your local time setting with respect to UTC world time very convenient.

On another website there is a discussion of some occasional small microprocessor problems when loading two adjacent presets on a single page. The radio apparently can lock up, but it is easy to unlock and simply reload the page once again with no further preset storage problems.

There is even an on-screen clock as well as the day of the week and a battery level indicator, a hold switch for locking all of the buttons as well as a separate lock switch chosen through the jog dial for the tuned frequency. There is also a very nice on screen and very detailed signal strength meter and a nice orange back-light system. The radio can also charge batteries inside the radio (sounds like the KA1102/KA1103 proven technology once again- eh?) and it even comes with a one year warranty, a slip case as well as a AC/DC adapter charger. It runs on 2 AA batteries normally while in its portable state. It even has a nice carrying strap permanently attached to the radio as well which is a nice touch given its very small size.

UPDATE: May 27, 2008:

I am in Alabama on travel and I too have now experienced very significant bleeding of apparently high power am stations directly on to the aircraft band at several frequencies. As a heads up, this just goes to show that to adequately test any radio it should be done at several locations. However, I have experienced none of this am frequency bleeding at my home location in the high mountains of New Mexico for example. This suggests that the dual conversion available at two IF (intermerdiate frequencies) in this radio are not adequate in some locations to adequately block unwanted noise from the aircraft bands.

June 18, 2008 UPDATE:

Yes, as I had previously indicated above, the G6 Aviator is a PLL (Phase locked loop) dual conversion receiver with a digital display and 700 presetable memories (Information recently confirmed by Walter Hess, Technical Support Manager, Etón Corporation, 1015 Corporation Way. Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA)

Finally, I look forward very much to having the fun of using this radio for the high quality sounds of music, news and just general LW/AM(MW) broadcast band, shortwave and aircraft band listening from all over the globe for a very long time.

September 8, 2008: UPDATE

For those of you who really really like this radio (and there is a lot to like), in order to compensate for its extremely good sensitivity (except perhaps in the am band), a trick that I learned about by reading other web reviews is to actually shorten the whip antenna length significantly when bleeding and other interference occurs. This allows the arriving radio signals to not overload the system and be received with very significant improvement. Ironically, usually we are always interested in lengthening the radio antenna (especially outdoors if it is not too noisy at the radio frequencies of interest). I hope that this may help you to continue to enjoy your new Grundig radio! Out in the open countryside this bleeding is NOT a problem at all, so only the big city radio listeners (or travelers to big cities) need to be beware of this potential problem for the G6.

April 3, 2009: UPDATE

Amazon currently has a great sale on the Buzz Aldrin G6 aviator radio for about including shipping or about 2 including shipping with the Kaito passive wire, reel antenna (AN-03L) that makes this an even greater bargain item!

April 11, 2009: UPDATE

One very nice feature of the 24 hour clock system is that it is fully adjustable for traveling including a GMT (Zulu or UTC) setting. With the radio off you simply press and hold the #8 key until a long list of coded city names appears. Next, you simply choose the time zone code closest to the one that you are currently within using the tuning knob and wait 8 seconds and you are all set (it is then automatically stored until you change it again). If you desire to know the Universal (UTC) time separately, you simply choose the “GMT” choice briefly to find the time in Greenwich, England and then repeat the above procedure and go right back to your current timezone location. (Unfortunately there is no provision in the G6 for entering the date or activating daylight savings time so at certain times of the year your indicated GMT time could be up to 1 hour off unless you live in Arizona, etc.) As you continue to travel this process is easily repeated as often as may be needed.

Review by Dr. Goode:

Besides being great for EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, I found the AccuManager 27 to be something that most crank units are NOT – that is, PRACTICAL, RELIABLE and USEFUL for everyday AND emergency needs.

I’ve found most crank units to be clumsy and boxy, making them portable in theory only. The AccuPower is the right shape and size (resembling a walkie-talkie) for the hand, holster, pocket, glove box, knapsack, whatever. The unit is very easy to use, the radio sounds nice enough for music (with/without ear phones, the LED light is powerful and designed for use as a good flashlight, and it has a reliable clock alarm feature which is handy for travel, camping and emergencies. The inputs/outputs (dc in, dc out, 3 voltage levels,headphones, cell phone charging, etc) are impressive. The siren is piercing – I hope I never need it. To me, cell phone charging is a huge plus.

Unlike many units, this one uses removeable AAA batteries rather than a quirky built-in battery pac, making it easy to charge the batteries externally with a regular charger. That done, the unit stays charged for a long time without cranking. However, I use the crank for charging my cell phone (as well as the unit and other things) when the need arises. This unit is tough and the crank seems very sturdy and well made. I emphasize this because the other units I’ve seen seem flimsy – especially the crank. One last thing: I like the idea of solar and tested several units with a built-in solar cell. Frankly, it takes way too much time (and daylight)for a solar cell to accomplish what a crank can do in a minute.

There seems to be an abundance of junky, not-so-practical emergency units on the market today (some pricy, some very inexpensive). I would not call the AccuManager 27 a high-end unit, but if you want something very practical and reliable – this would be a great choice.

Review by Leonard Elliott:

just like the first review,this is one cool emergency radio.it has every thing you need.everything works great.very nice product.shipping was fast and on time to.good job bearwobble. r.elliott

Review by Mark E. Lacy:

The features of this radio made it sound like it would be a good thing to have handy in case of an emergency, particularly the ability to recharge a cell phone from it. But I was very disappointed to learn that this radio was made so poorly, and so many things were wrong with it that I’m having to send it back for a refund. The backlight for the display did not work. The alert button would not operate. I could run it on crank power but the button to switch to battery power would not operate. I could get AM stations only (not even static on FM or shortwave) and it would not stay on a single station for long. The instructions were minimal. The overall design is poor. It’s made of cheap plastic and everything feels like it might break if you bumped it. I won’t be buying another one of these, that’s for sure.

Review by Jabbo:

I am sorry that I didnt read the reviews before I bought this piece of junk. This thing goes through batteries so fast that I cant keep up with it. I’ve had better service with a transistor radio. If you like to crank your arm off then buy one. In case of an emergency they’ll find your body with your hand wrapped around the crank handle because you probably used up your batteries in about 1 hour.