KaitoV1 Voyager Solar/Dynamo AM/FM/SW Emergency Radio with Cell Phone Charger and 3-LED Flashlight, Red

I just got this today. This little radio has great sound and receives am and fm very clearly and I actually get more stations on it than my car stereo! The shortwave doesn't work in the daytime in our older 1970s mobile home so I will try that after dark but it did produce white noise so it should work with less daytime interference and outside. It's simple to use and i am sure it WILL come in handy eventually. We get our cable, phone and internet from the same company as a bundle and last week they ALL went down for hours. That's when I decided to invest in this radio. We need some sort of news when that happens and this radio will be perfect. The LED lights are a nice bonus. It also fits in my purse for tornado season, which is upon us, so I can stay informed away from home or in our tornado shelter. With all the different ways to charge it, it is a good investment and reasonably priced :-)

A user suggested I use a needle and thread. It worked. I still think there could be an easier way but I now give it a 5 star!It would have been given 5 stars if I could figure out how to attach the strap. I see the two holes but cannot get the small end of the strap pulled through to loop over. The radio does as it says: rechargeable battery worked out of the box, 3 AAA I inserted worked fine, the flashlight, etc. just work as they should. Connecting the rechargeable battery was not easy for adult fingers to do. Exactly what I wanted to keep in my vehicles in case of a major earthquake, albeit with a most important strap to free my hands to carry the supplies. If the seller lets me know how to accomplish this I will then change it to a 5 star.

This radio fits all of the areas that I wanted in an emergency radio. There are many which are crank and/or solar, but I also wanted one that would do those AND also accommodate regular alkaline batteries. Radios are very easy on alkaline batteries and will last many weeks and months on one set. For example, I took the two AA batteries that my Wii controller had used up and I put those batteries in a different, basic Am/Fm radio and ran it for 9 hours a day for three weeks until I got bored of that experiment.The reason I did not give it 5 stars is that this unit does not come with the USB cable, so I had to track one down. . . . which isn't hard to do (and I found one for under a dollar) but it would have been much easier and appreciated if the manufacturer had included one and charged me another 60 cents. The solar panel and the usb cable charge the unit very well (which, btw, should be done every 2-3 months, to keep the internal NiMH battery charged. If you fail to do this, that internal battery will not function as well down the road. It just won't hold the charge it could, had it been kept in good shape.).The unit seems solid. Reception is good. The antenna feels solid. I love that it has a 'charging' light that tells you when the solar panel is getting enough light to charge (as well as when you are cranking or charging through the usb cable). The flashlight isn't super bright, but it seems just right for this unit. Meaning, if it were much brighter, it would use the internal battery much faster than I'd want. Shining it next to a 9 LED flashlight you get at HF for a dollar, it is not quite as bright. So, maybe 15-20 lumens.It also has shortwave radio capability. I learned recently that through shortwave frequencies you can pick up Ham radio talk. So, in an emergency you can listen to those channels for even more information in addition to what your local radio station is providing.The USB cable will charge phones (mine is an older Tmobile phone and works) but it won't do Apple products (iPhone, iPad) as they require more power than this puts out.The internal NiMH batter is accessible without opening the whole radio. This is thoughtful, as the day may come when I'll want to replace it. This is just a very well thought-out and crafted gadget. It covers all of the basics (that I think are nice to have) and works. And, for the price, it can't be beat. It will go toe to toe with the larger Eton, etc radios that are twice the money. Can't go wrong with this unit. Just wish they had included the usb cable. 4.8 stars.

The functionality is good, but tuning stations is kind of fidgety. This is probably because everything is so small. I also noticed that strong FM stations tend to overdrive, regardless of the volume.On the other hand, the dynamo, solar cell and flashlight all seem to work great. Haven't tried charging a cell phone through it.

Much like the Degen radios but without the emergency flashing lights or charging cord. Amazing sound from such a small speaker and the FM reception is quite okay. When charging a phone (not all micro UBS cell phones will charge off of the crank charger) just turn the crank fast enough to make the green charging light illuminate. Any faster turning only stresses the generator and accomplishes nothing expect wearing out the person cranking.