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| Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5) |
| Review | Rating | Last Updated | Mostly Good: One Problem
FR300 Eton Radio - I use it daily for the morning news and weather. I had occasion three nights ago to use the Weather Alert function; that worked very well.
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<br />One disappointment - I find I must rely primarily upon batteries for power. The hand-crank feature does not perform nearly as well as advertised. It takes a close to a full minute of cranking to get 4-5 minutes of operation. This clearly is not sufficient to use the hand-crank power feature to depend upon weather alert broadcasts throughout a stormy night. | 3 | 798 days ago | Exactly what I Wanted
I don't see what the griping is about. I live in tornado ravaged SW Missouri, and I wanted a radio that could run on battteries and yet still be used if the batteries were old; would tune radio and our local TV stations and emergency weather stations, was small and didn't cost an arm and a leg, as it would only be used rarely. This radio really fits the bill. During tornado alerts, our local TV stations seem to have the best real time information on the tracks of approaching twisters, but we don't have a TV in our "hidey hole". So a radio that will tune in Channel 3 was a must. This unit gives crisp, clear reception of our stations, no static or "ghost" problems, and it's just as good below ground level as in the kitchen. FM reception was also excellent with stations fairly close to where they should be on the dial. The hand charger works well. The sound is what you would expect from a small speaker - pleasant, but not much bass. My only criticism, as others have mentioned, is that an external charger is not supplied. I would highly recomment this radio. Chris S. | 4 | 785 days ago | A practical review...
Let me start by stating that I live in/on Miami Beach, Florida and, in addition to that, spend a great deal of time at my house in the Keys and in the tropics. Last hurricane season, when we blew through every letter of the alphabet, and became so very familiar with the Greek system of naming hurricanes, as well as had a few hurricanes do quite a number on us here in Miami-Dade, Monroe and even Broward counties (though I generally avoid Broward at all costs), this baby (and its forefathers) came in as God-sends. When power was out for days and weeks at a time, radio was all we had. And, since I had evacuated my house in the Keys in many instances, I could no longer rely on VHF very easily. So crank up this baby, and my wife and I knew what was going on. At the time, I did not have this one with a cell phone charger, though that would have been a blessing. For a while, even cell phone lines were down, but after they came up, my battery was effectively dead with the only remedy to attempt to go make sporadic calls from my vehicle with it plugged into the lighter. I only wish I had had the charger feature here.
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<br />Bottom line, this radio was our peace of mind, our informant, our life-saver in many senses of the word. When we were in pitch black conditions, with freight-trains wind blowing out our windows and we were locked in a bathroom with a mattress over us, we had this with us. No lie. We then cranked it up (and a good crank provided well over 30 minutes of radio and light time) and we knew exactly what was going on and where we stood with regards to the monsters that were falling upon us. It was, as the commerical goes, priceless for us. So much so, that we bought one for each member of our family.
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<br />You really can't go wrong with this baby. Get one and you will thank yourself should you ever need it. You will also simply enjoy its use should you never need it in an emergency, something I hope is the case for you. But, if not, yo | 5 | 785 days ago | One of the most useful things in my house
Living in South Florida, I have been (as most South Floridians) relatively lucky until last year. Last year, most of us went for extended periods without power, some in excess of three weeks.
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<br />The Eton radio is just what every single South Floridan needs, period. The device is compact, has a high-quality feel to it and the sound quality is surprisingly good considering it is a monaural single speaker unit. It does not sound tinny or weak, but rather has depth and volume. The controls are easily laid out and simple to operate. Having TV channels in South Florida is good during a hurricane (albeit depressing, as anyone who has watched or listened to TV during a hurricane down here can attest to). Television and FM/AM radio keeps you up up to date as well as the Weather Band channels. There are 7 of them to choose from, and if you have NOAA broadcasts in your locality (which we do here, and it is Channel 7 on the FR300), you will receive 24-hour broadcasts from the NOAA and even emergency alerts, if the radio is set to receive them via the "Alert" knob.
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<br />The other options of the radio are very useful, such as the bright 2-LED lamp built in. They are VERY VERY useful for navigating the pitch black furniture-filled rooms of your house during a power outage. LED's are very bright and use an extremely small amount of power. Other features include a red strobe LED and a siren, for emergency use.
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<br />The radio's most unique feature is a hand-crankable power generator. The radio itself will run on three AA batteries, but it has a 3.6V rechargeable battery (such as those used in most cordless telephone handsets) which is charged when you crank the generator crank on the side of the radio. Cranking it for a few minutes gives you a considerable amount of time to listen to the radio or use the flashlight feature. This is VERY useful if you haven't planned ahead and stocked up on AA batteries, OR if you have been without power f | 5 | 785 days ago | Reliable, easy to use, worth the money.
I first bought the FR200 with shortwave band. It worked great, but I realized that when the power was out, I wanted local TV. The FR300 is just what I needed. I got over 5 minutes out of a minute of cranking time when I tested it. Chances are, I will never use the crank as we have batteries around, but if it was an extended power outage, I would be thrilled to be able to access weather band, radio and TV without worry of running out of batteries. The phone charger also would be handy in certain situations. I get good reception on 3 of the 4 major local TV stations. This came in handy when our power went out during the season finale of Lost last month! I really like the fact that the FR300 can be set up as a weather alert radio. I have purchased one for my son to have in his new home, and also one for my father. These make great gifts, especially during the storm season. | 5 | 785 days ago | Eton FR300 Emer Radio - quit working
I purchased this radio in March of 2005. It worked fine for about 6 months. Then it quit working. It no longer received the broadcast of the test emergency signals in my area every week. I found an internet site and contacted the company via email. They helpfully told me how to return the unit and gave me a return authorization number. I returned the unit at my own expense. After two months and no word I emailed again and asked the status. No one answered, but the radio was returned to me about 2 weeks later. It still does not receive the test alerts and the reception is now filled with static. Since I assume I have to pay to mail the unit back to the company each time, I do not believe this is a cost effective transaction. I would not recommend this unit. | 1 | 785 days ago |
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