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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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Grundig FR200 Emergency Radio
Customer Review: Tippy radio spills its batteries
Summary: 3 Stars
I use my Grundig FR200 around the house to listen to AM talk radio. It works fine for that. I've had it 2-3 years now.
The pot (potentiometer) is awful -- you have to really play with the knob to get the volume where you want it.
It is very "tippy". I must knock it over weekly. This always causes the battery cover to fall off and the 3 AA batteries and the built-in rechargeable battery pack to fall out. It's a very tight squeeze; difficult to get them all back in and the cover closed. I'm considering duct-taping it shut.
Cranking the radio, instead of using batteries, is fun for about 2 days. Too much work for too little listening. I no longer bother and just buy AA batteries, which last a good long time.
I like the strap on top for carrying it around. I like that the radio is durable (especially since it *will* be knocked over often).
The light works OK, but there are better emergency lights (such as the fantastic Panasonic SQT555W601 Automatic Power-Failure Light).
Customer Review: Much room for improvement
Summary: 3 Stars
There are a number of problems with this radio. One is that it is NOT designed to operate without batteries in the long-term. If it were, the power-generating crank arm would probably be made of alloy instead of plastic. The crank on my radio just broke off one day after less than four months of daily use.
When the crank does function normally, it's a great thing to be able to generate one's own power for radio listening. Unfortunately the charge doesn't last as long as advertised. They say one minute of cranking equals one hour of listening, but I never got more than 30 minutes of listening per minute of cranking, and this ratio fell rapidly as the battery got older.
Finally, the reception is not what one would expect of a Grundig, at least where shortwave is concerned. I got better shortwave reception on a $10 Panasonic.
This design can be a good start for anyone who wants a versatile radio that can serve a number of roles, as long as they know that it isn't built for the long haul.
Customer Review: Not for daily use...cheaply made
Summary: 1 Stars
Got this radio for Christmas. I was intially impressed with its reception both am and pretty good for shortwave. However, this is not a radio that you would want use long term. I used it daily for 3 months when my other portable radio (10 years old) died. It was the evident the radio was cheaply made. The volume knob came loose over a month ago--you have to shove it back on. The radio fell over from my dresser about 3 feet on to carpet and the station finder stuck in a slanted position. Additionally, there maybe some problems with the eletronics the volume seems to have a mind of its own it goes up and down randomly. Also if you use batteries in it the flashlight feature can easily come on during transport...so there go your batteries. That said: it worked for the first couple of months and maybe it can serve as a back up radio, but it would be cheaper to have good 20$ radio with some batteries handy.Customer Review: Good AM/FM reception, but it fails as an "emergency" radio.
Summary: 2 Stars
I've owned this radio for approximately three years now. Its primary purpose for me is to allow me to listen to radio in an emergency situation, when I don't have power. I played with it a few times over the last three years, and put it away for an emergency. Fortunately, I never had one. I moved about a year ago, and played with it again when I was unpacking, and all was well. When I heard others talking about emergency radios recently, I pulled it out of its drawer again, and found out that some time in the last 10 months, its dynamo system quit working. It will power the light while I'm cranking, but not the radio (or maybe I just can't crank hard enough to get any volume). And neither the light nor the radio will work off of the rechargeable battery. May be an easy fix, I don't know. I haven't taken it apart yet, but for anything billed for "emergency" use, I shouldn't have to.Customer Review: Glad I bought it!
Summary: 5 Stars
After being without power for 25 hours in the big blackout of 2003, I decided to get some necessary items and this was at the top of the list. I had never heard of such a radio but after reading the reviews (here and elsewhere), saw that Amazon had the best price, plus free shipping, and ordered it. I cranked the handle for about 90 seconds, and the radio was up and running! I noticed that the flashlight part didn't want to light up while the radio was on but that's very minor. I left the radio on for about 30 min., turned it off and the next day, out of curiousity, turned it on again and the radio played! Now I'm telling all my friends about it. Like other reviewers said, I wouldn't waste it for every day, and for shortwave it's not great, but it's a comfort to know that if no batteries could be bought for love or money, I'll still have a radio to find out what's going on.