Eton Microlink
I recently got the Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger for the car. Pretty handy and, for just $30, a good thing for the go bag. It has a hand crank for power and some solar cells too. The flashlight is a LED light that is adequate but not comparable to other higher end lights. The really neat thing about it is that it has a USB port and you can use it to charge your cell phone. And that is a handy thing to have in the car or in a go bag.
November 10th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Yep got one for the same reason, and now I’m looking at this one as it has shortwave, http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_CM%20R977_A_name_E_Kaito%AE+Black+Voyager%99+
And as Clint Smith says one is none 2 is 1
November 10th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Great idea. I’ve got one of the old Freeplay wind-ups that use a coil spring for power, i.e. no battery at all. I’ve always wondered why they disappeared. Was it size? Did they break?
November 10th, 2011 at 11:12 am
“t” was me, actually… oops.
November 10th, 2011 at 11:24 am
The wind-up flashlights never worked well for me at all. They advertised an hour of power off a 5 minute crank. Not only is 5 minutes a long time to crank one of those things and listen to it whine but I never could get an hour out of it. I’m curious to know if the technology has improved.
November 10th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Have any of you actually tried to charge a cell phone with one of these things?
I have an FR300 that includes a hand crank for both the radio and for charging phones. I tried it with the old (non-smart) phone I had at the time. You had to crank fairly briskly to get enough voltage for the phone to register that it was getting power and cranking for five minutes didn’t make any appreciable difference in power level of the phone. Perhaps it would have been enough for a one minute phone call or so. Hard to tell.
Anyhow… it takes a lot more to charge a phone with one of these than you might initially think. I dread to think what it would take to charge my power-hungry Android smart phone.
November 10th, 2011 at 11:39 am
Yeah, I did it last night to see how it worked. Have to crank it constantly but, in a pinch, it will do. Says 10 minutes of cranking for a minute of talk time. If you need it to make an important call, that’s worth it.
November 10th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Or, you could make a point of selecting a phone that had an easily-replaceable battery, and get spare battery(s).
BTW, if you cell phone goes dead, using one of the several available emergency chargers will bring it back. I have the Gomadic one, and it takes 4 AA cells, will completely recharge the battery at least twice. Note that if you use rechargeable cells, you only get 4.8 volts out of it, which WILL run the phone, but not fully recharge it.
November 10th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Trick of the Trade: Charge Phone, leave GPS ON, use Text Only. Helps if you’re “Lost in the Wilderness” and want to be found. Also, having a Charger that fits ALL your phones in each Vehicle you own that works off the Car’s Battery helps while Traveling.
Just don’t be Texting in the Fast Lane.
November 10th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
I love mine! I charged the battery to full by winding it over a year ago. Every time I pull it out to see if it’s dead, the light illuminates the dark garage.
This thing is a powerhouse, and I’d recommend it to anyone.
November 10th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
That’s the same one I got! Congrats!
November 10th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Also: cool to have for listening to football games on Saturday night while sitting around the fire at a hunting camp while enjoying company, rib eyes and wine.
November 10th, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Great minds think alike. The brown truck of happiness delivered mine last Friday. Now living well out of Hurricane Alley, my Bug-out/Bug-in box got a little bit lighter. My Grundig FR200 was removed from the box and assigned “bug-in duties” on the pantry shelf. Makes more room in the box for ammo and food….