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Overall Rating

Pleasantly surprised with the battery life
This radio is an excellent radio for the price. No, it is not a top-end emergency radio, but it should work rather well for anyone looking for a basic AM/FM/Weather radio with both a solar and hand-crank charging option. I purchased mine about a year ago and used it only occasionally for the first few months. Then I placed it on a shelf with limited light and there it sat for about six to eight months. About six weeks ago I dusted it off and it actually worked for about an hour or so with no hand-crank charging. Later that day I sat it in the front window where it would get plenty of direct sun light. A couple days later I picked it up from the window and have been using it a few hours each day since; some of those days it was used for more than six hours in the basement. I have not needed to crank it at all, but did crank charge it for about one minute total just while playing with it - for the record. Since then, I have been keeping it on the shelf out in the open where it is exposed to normal room daylight, no direct sunlight. The charging light does not light up in this setting, and I would not expect it to. I have occasionally taken it out on the front porch to sit a listen where there is direct sunlight, but only for about an hour or so each week. I really like the idea of not having to buy batteries, and the convenience of knowing I always have a charged radio.

The flashlight is minimal, but I would not expect more from an LED light source. I have my 6-D-Cell Mag light if I need a powerful (luxury) light source.

Tuning the radio is a bit sensitive and can be difficult to fine tune. I would consider this to be a SIGNIFICANT problem for an elderly person or anyone without the use of fine motor skills in their hands; but for me it is a minor hassle I am willing and able to deal with. I have considered getting the Eaton FR600 for its digital tuner. The reviews for that model suggest the battery life is pretty bad, so I have decided to wait for an improved model. For now, my FR160 is just fine. I would consider giving this 5-stars if the fine-tuning was much easier.

The USB charge does work, but know that it will not charge an iPhone 3Gs. This is more a problem/restriction of the iPhone 3Gs (a widely discussed complaint across the Internet for many-many generic charging devices) and is not because of the radio. Charging my old Samsung phone was not a problem.

The weather bands do pick up a signal, but to be absolutely honest, I have not used it much to provide any real opinion.

The hand-crank charger feels solid enough (I wouldn’t abuse it) and tucks away securely when not used. I have found the manual crank-charger will provide about 25-30 minutes of radio time (at about 1/4 to 1/3 volume) for every minute of crank-charging. I average about 2 cranks per second or about 120 rotation per minute. Now I just count to 120 or so instead of watching the clock. This play-time per craink-time yeild has been very acceptable for me. After two minutes of crank-charging my hand does begins to tire a little, but just a little. If I leave the radio in a place with good direct sunlight when not using it, changing via the crank is never even needed.

In short, it works for what I want - a radio that that can be charged by sunlight or by hand-crank when absolutely necessary. If you want the construction and feature-set of a $100+ radio - buy a $100+ radio. But, for $30 (or less), I am pleased with the FR160.

Overall Rating

Doesn’t charge the iphone 3gs
Updated on 11/30: I took this on a camp out over the thanksgiving week and I was pretty impressed with it. The battery life via the crank worked great and lasted a long time. The light was very bright and usable. I gave it to my kids to use in their tent and they loved it. I upgraded the review from 3 to 4 stars as a result.

I bought this unit as it says it can charge USB compatible phones - clearly - today when you say a USB compatible phone you mean an iphone or a blackberry or a palm pre. I could NOT get this unit to charge the iphone 3gs at all. I try to crank it slow or fast but the iphone says its not compatible and the charging icon never shows up. Pretty disappointing. If you are buying this unit with a consideration to the phone charging, I would look elsewhere. Even if it did charge the iphone, it says in the manual that it would require 15 mins of cranking for a 1 minute phone call - ouch. Ok, I guess in an emergency thats better that nothing but still I could not get it to charge at all. I think you would be far better off when some rechargeable batteries and a charger that powers USB devices. Duracell makes a great one and it powers the iphone nicely.

I think I will just keep this in the car.

Pros:

Nice and small, really tiny actually. Easy to keep in your car, etc.
Radio quality was fine, its not meant to be a stereo.
Flash light was actually pretty bright. 3 LEDs on the front. They are more than usable.
Cranking the unit for about a minute powered the radio for easily 45 mins or longer.
Solid, rugged construction.

Cons:

Doesn’t charge the iPhone 3gs - forget about using it for this. Bummer.

Radio tuner knob is very small and pretty hard to use to fine tune. It works, but would it have been that hard to make the knob bigger or less sensitive?

The manual says solar charging takes 8 hours in full sunlight for a 3 hours radio usage. Why have it at all & just save the cost? The crank is much easier & faster to use. I guess the solar is just a “gimmick” really.