Grundig FR200 Emergency Radio
by Eton
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Our Price: $99.94 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Grundig FR200 Emergency Radio
Customer Review: An inexpensive shortwave radio and a cool toy
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm sure winding the thing up will get tiresome sooner or later, but for now I just think it's really fun! I love the idea that you don't need batteries.I have to be frank though. This product is not without it's flaws. first off, there is no weather band on this radio- not a feature you want in a "DISASTER" radio. Yeah, the apocalypse is upon us and all I can get is KISS 104, Rush Limbaugh, and a couple of stations broadcasting ethnic dance music.
This is a fairly BULKY product for a radio, although I know that the winding dynamo feature is was gives it it's heft. It's definately portable, but probably too bulky for backpacking. Better to just make sure you have fresh batteries and a smaller radio. The flashlight is a waste- if this feature will actually be of use to you in a disaster, then you are probably already screwed. It's great that they included an ac jack, but it doesn't come with an adapter (my guess is that virtually nobody will go out and buy one) and what's the point of plugging it in if it's a winding radio? The same can be said for the extra space they have for batteries- it seems rather pointless.
The sound is fair- I have radios with smaller speakers that sound better. I have found the reception to be pretty good and I like the tuning mechanism, a dual knob that allows for fine tuning or surfing.
All that being said, I'm happy with the product. It's actually a pretty good deal for a shortwave radio, although there are much better shortwave tuners out there. But for forty bucks? Unless you are REALLY into shortwave I would think that this is a great deal. I think I paid sixty or seventy for my other shortwave model, a radio shack DX-351.
My final complaint is that my model doesn't tune very well relative to the numbers on the dial- so if I'm looking for 98 FM it really tunes in on what the dial says is 102. It's a bit of a pain, but if you know that to begin with you can still find your stations pretty easily. It might just be a defect in my model, and I don't feel like returning it just because of that.
So while I have taken issue with several features or lack thereof, hey, this is a review and I want to give it to you straight up. Bottom line- I LIKE this gizmo and I would recommend it.
Customer Review: Broadcast Rx Only-OK quality
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a communications engineer & have designed radios This one is intended to be used for broadcast reception. Forget SSB or CW. It does drift a bit - but that is in part a result of trying to minimize power consumption (and cranking). I was impressed by the fact that the antenna is properly matched nearly everywhere in the SW band (as evidenced by the fact that touching the antenna does NOT increase signal volume. If you see that effect - the antenna is mismatched and your sensitivity is poor. Doubt me? connect an antenna 'matchbox' (impedance matcher) between an equivalent length of wire to the standard radio mounted antenna and such a radio - either use the ext antenna connections or collapse the stock antenna and use a clip. Now tune the matchbox for maximum background noise (indicating more RF is getting into the radio). Tune around and you'll then hear 3 times the number of signals that you heard with the standard radio mounted antenna. The ones you could hear before are now much louder too. A "Freeplay" radio is a typical example of this antenna matching design error. The Grundig is much smaller, lighter, runs (i believe) longer than the freeplay for an equiv amount of cranking, is half the price and more sensitive (on HF). (The Freeplay drifts too btw - i have 2 of them). If you want a no drift single sideband or CW radio get a AOR 3000. At $1000, it's out of the price range of the Grundig. It also doesn't have a crank. Why? the synthesized and microprocessed circuitry of the AOR draws WAY too much power - you'd need a treadmill, not a handcrank. The flashlight is handy, but not a substitute for a proper flashlight (torch). You can find the radio in the dark in a shelter..it's making noise. You can then find the flashlight..(it's built into the radio) - using it you can then find your 3 D cell Kleig light. This is a low price emerg radio built to fill a specific need - which imho it does quite well.. It is NOT the equiv of a $1000 - $3000 communications receiver. I own a couple of those too, being in the emergency comms/homeland defense business. They have their places too - but one has to consider what class of equipment one is dealing with - and for what it was designed.Customer Review: A must have item for today
Summary: 5 Stars
I live in Long Island and work in NYC. I watched in horror the World Trade Center towers burning from my office window and I got stranded in Manhattan this past summer because of the blackout.I learned a valuable lesson: WE ARE VERY VULNERABLE IF WE DO NOT HAVE A SELF-SUFFICENT SOURCE OF ELECTRICITY FOR INFORMATION AND LIGHT (and I should throw in a clean water supply, although I haven't experienced that crisis yet). My advice is to 1) get a landline phone (a cheap $10 Trimline at Kmart will do); 2) get a crankup radio with a built-in flashlight; 3) get a gravity water filter (like British Imperial used by the Red Cross) that lets you extract clean water from just about any source (rain, toilet, you name it).
Some of this really hit home during the blackout. I ended up staying at a friend's apartment, but my friend (like many others New Yorkers) was woefully unprepared: no candles, no batteries for the flashlight or radio, and only a cordless phone which of course is useless during a blackout because it depends on electicity. We ended up having to roam the streets for information, depending on strangers for light, and groping in the dark in the August heat to make our way up the VERY long staircase because the elevators were knocked out.
I have since bought a landline phone, a gravity water filter that is much cleaner and cheaper than those endless Poland Spring Water bottles... AND I got a Grundig crankup radio. It's the neatest thing! Just crank it up and it works like a dream -- with a flashlight to boot. The reception here is terrific and I'm getting all kinds of radio stations I didn't know I could get. And best of all, I feel safer. If anything happens I know I'll be prepared.
I've given this radio as a gift and it's always a big hit. Our Radio Shacks here are on back order because it's one of their most popular items.
I hope more manufacturers begin making things with built-in generators. It's an untapped market.
Customer Review: A good choice for local emergency reception
Summary: 4 Stars
I've owned this radio for two years now, as my desk radio at work. I decided to run an experiment, and only power it with the crank. I've cranked this radio every day for the last two years.
After about a year, one of the dynamo gears lost a tooth. A call to Eton got me a replacement dynamo set under warranty. I installed it myself (which is not a job for the faint of heart, but is within the skill of anyone who's handy with a screwdriver). The new dynamo and gears lasted through the recent breakage of the winding arm (which was not replaced with the new dynamo), which has relegated it to alkaline power. Of course, now the radio's well out of warranty, so I don't expect any free replacement parts.
However, that's pretty good. In an emergency situation, it's unlikely you'll crank the dynamo even 1/50th as much as I did, and it held up quite well. I'd typically crank for 30-45 seconds, and get about the same number of minutes at low volume. Increasing the volume markedly shortens runtime.
Reception is fine, although I've only played with shortwave a little bit. There's no way a radio like this can make a good shortwave receiver, so that feature is a bit silly. It would still be potentially handy in an emergency, when a lot of local interference goes away. For local FM reception, it does quite well. I haven't really tried AM, so I can't comment there.
The little LED flashlight would be handy in an emergency, especially the fact that it can be recharged by cranking. More important would be one of the higher-spec Eton crank radios such as the FR250, which include cellphone chargers -- SMS messaging is an important communication method in many emergencies.
I heartily recommend this radio for emergency use, particularly given the robustness of the dynamo system.
Customer Review: Is your radio ready for "The Quickening"??
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a big fan of AM radio, and especially the late night "High Strangeness" talk show Coast to Coast AM. I've always wanted a hand-crank powered radio that will work no matter what is happening outside. The recent Mid West black out made that even more urgent. The Sangean Freeplay radio was my first choice, but when I saw this little Grundig for 1/3 the price, I was extremely curious.
As a kid growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, my parents always had a radio playing on the kitchen counter. They had the same analog dials and tuning as this little Grundig, and they ran for decades without a hitch. AM reception is superb! Better than on my Onkyo stereo receiver. I have the feeling that if the lights go out,this little world band radio will be worth its weight in gold.
But even if it doesn't, this little guy has a permanent place on my kitchen counter.
Addendum; four years later I cannot recommend this radio. The battery no longer holds a charge for more than a few minutes. You might think this is not bad, since rechargeable batteries have a limited life. However I have rarely used the rechargeable battery. It's just not very good! It works OK on AA batteries though. Wish this thing had come with a AC adaptor to plug in. Also, it's falling apart. The clear plastic over the station numbers popped off after a minor bump. The knobs are loose and the volume control now has only 2 settings; loud and barely audible. If this were an emergency radio I'd be done for! The one good thing I'll say is that it can pull in distant AM and Short Wave broadcasts. However the tuning dial is so sloppy that the minute adjustments needed to tune in are nearly impossible. If you're looking for a GOOD self powered radio check out the similarly priced Freeplay EyeMax.