Eton FR300 Emergency Crank Radio Metallic Red
by Eton
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Eton FR300 Emergency Crank Radio Metallic Red
Customer Review: For "72 HOUR EMERGENCY KIT"
Summary: 5 Stars
I am getting the "72 Hour Emergency Kit" together and this is one of the items.
I have checked out all the features and they work very well.
The TV stations came in clear, including a PBS station! It is good to have a radio that has the TV. Sometimes it is needed in an emergency. Radio stations might be down, TV stations might be down... Gives you more options.
Radio stations are clear.
Weather stations are clear.
The reception will be different in your area.
Even though the light, flashing red light, siren and alert setting may never be used... one never knows!
I could see me sitting there unable to blow a whistle or... because I am busy building a fire or looking for shelter -or something...
with the siren doing the "flagging someone down" work for me.
I am planning to use this for emergencies only, though if I wanted to I could use it at the beach. So, I checked out all
the features and now it is going into the Emergency Kit.
It is a small and powerful radio, perfect for the kit.
You have to remove the piece of paper in the battery compartment the first time you use the radio. It is there for shipping.
To open the battery compartment you put your thumb on the round indentation that says OPEN and has traction on it (I use my thumb nail on the traction bits) pull with your thumb towards the bottom of the radio, that releases the "lock" like cover. Then you plug in the rechargeable battery.
I am buying more of these for other family members.
I think it is a good idea to have more than one and AT THIS PRICE
you can.
I got red for the brightness, in an emergency or camping,
having a bright color can help Emergency Crews find you.
Also, if you are looking for your radio... you can find it.
I would not want Emergency Equipment in camouflage colors!
This radio does not come with the AC adapter. That is all right for the emergency (or at the beach) use. I prefer not to have it, it would be yet another adapter to store...
I really like the internal power only idea!
It seems that every color of the FR300 radio has it's own review
and number of review stars.
Funny. Same radio different colors -different ratings for each color. Here is one for Metallic RED!
Customer Review: It does the job
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Much Better Choices For The Money
Summary: 2 Stars
I own seven weather radios that represent 5 different brands. Of the portable units I own I would have to rate this the lowest for value. Its not a poorly made radio or cheap in any way as far as its hardware. However with its usual price of around $45, it is greatly overpriced without anything added to it to make it worth the extra money. In fact, its inferior in my opinion to all other radios I have in its reception of weather broadcasts. Though the AM and FM is very loud and clear, switching the radio to the weather mode has the speaker sounding extremely muffled, and of much lower volume. Like an old radio that has its TONE knob turned all the way down to LOW. It has by far the worst sounding weather voice of any weather radio I own, even the cheapest ones. Switching from FM to the weather one hears a dramatic drop in volume, as well as quality. Very dramatic! Since NOAA weather broadcasts are not a medium well known for their fidelity in any event, any interference by a substandard radio only makes it far worse. This radio may be solid and well made. however with its tonal quality being greatly diminished in the weather selection, I would not recommend this unit for even the discounted price of $27 which I paid for it. A much better selection in a portable unit is the Midland ER102 also available on Amazon and reviewed by me. Its price is very close to this one, (and even cheaper than this radios usual price), but has excellent sound quality and reception in both AM, FM, AND weather.
Midland ER102 Emergency Radio
Customer Review: Deceptive Advertisement
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this at Christmas time and have since returned it (kudos to Amazon for an easy return process, but non-kudos for promising to refund all my money and then shorting me!).
Nutshell: The pictures and description of the product clearly show that it has a TV-VHF capability. It was *the* reason I bought it. When I took the product out of the box, no TV-VHF setting. No TV-VHF band on the dial. I checked the web site to make sure I wasn't just plain stupid in picking the wrong item. Nope. I checked the model number on the product: FR-300, which matched the item description on the website.
I have no idea what happened, but I'm not willing to try to buy this product again, for fear of getting another product lacking the very feature I am buying. I guess I'll have to wait until I see the item in person to know if I'm getting what I'm actually paying for.
So, my warning to you all: check the radio as soon as you get it and make sure it has TV-VHF, because there are radios labeled FR-300 which don't!
Bah, Amazon!
Customer Review: Beware Buyers
Summary: 1 Stars
This product came very fast which I was happy about, BUT it was not the color I wanted it to be. I contacted the seller and they said I quote;
"Sorry to hear of your disappointment. We do NOT have any RED color radios.
The Amazon ad showed 3 different color options but as a Marketplace Seller
we are not allowed to make any changes to the titles.But this is the reason we tried to make it clear in our COMMENTS section".
Usually, I read the reviews and the seller feedback, however I think that if I was able to actually choose red for the color it is a bit misleading. Also, the comment section is not very clear and I have yet to find it as well. I highly recommend purchasing a product from a seller who gives you EXACTLY what you want and makes it CLEAR as to EXACTLY WHAT THEY HAVE AVAILABLE. As a long time Amazon shopper, I am very disappointed in cusomer service and I plan not to purchase from this seller again.