Great radio for a bugout bag, power outage, or SHTF scenario. I wouldn't be without it.
I did a lot of research before purchasing this radio and have been very happy with my purchase. I love all the features including Flashlight, solar cell, digital tuning, digital temp/humidity readings, reading lamp, alarm, sleep timer, AM/FM/SW/LW/Weather. The NOAA weather channel comes in great on this radio (all 7 weather channels are programmed but you'll tune to the channel in your area). It also has an "Alert" feature for the weather channel and even if the radio is off, an emergency will alert you and turn on the radio automatically. The FM music band comes in well too. This radio actually picks up a distant FM station that I can't get in my car. The Short Wave comes in pretty good but is dependent on propagation, time of day, etc. If you're purchasing the radio primarily for short wave, you may want to consider a larger external antenna or a dedicated short wave radio. This radio can store 100 FM channels, 100 Short Wave channels, 25 AM channels, and 10 LW channels. Even when not in use, the radio nicely displays the date-month-year and time on the LCD display.
The radio can operate on 3 AA batteries, the self-contained NI-MH battery pack, or an AC adapter (not incl). You can also charge the NI-MH batteries via the hand crank, computer USB port, or the folding solar panel. I usually put my radio in the kitchen window for a few hours whenever the rechargeable batteries display less than a full charge and the solar panel tops off the batteries.
I didn't try charging my cell phone with the hand crank. If you do, make sure you disconnect the NI-MH battery pack cable so the current will go into your phone, rather than the internal batteries. Don't expect the hand crank to provide a lot of current. It's enough to charge the internal batteries (if they are low) and will allow you to listen to the radio for a while after cranking for a few minutes (if the batteries are low). I operate my radio predominantly on the internal rechargeable batteries and save the alkaline batteries for when the internal ones are low, it's nighttime so I can't use the solar cell, and I don't feel like hand cranking the unit. The radio operates for hours on the rechargeable battery when I'm outside working around the house (I flip up the solar cell so it helps charge the batteries while I'm listening).
I basically like everything about this radio. It's very compact, yet sounds good, and is jam-packed with features. It would be a great radio for camping or power outages since the internal battery can be charged via the hand crank or solar panel.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: New