Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger
- AM (520-1710 KHz) and FM (87-108MHz)
- NOAA weatherband ¿ all 7 channels
- Built-in 3 white LED light source
- Powered by solar or dynamo both of which charge internal Ni-MH battery
- USB cell phone charger
Product Description
Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power, and Cell Phone Charger
For more information: Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger
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I bought 3 of these to give as christmas presents. Everything worked well on them and the flashlight lasted a surprisingly long time after a minute or two of turning the crank.
Rating: 4 / 5
Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger
I was just about sold on buying this radio based on the reviews on Amazon, but fortunately I came across this model in a local store. I was able to try everything out, and was very disappointed with the radio reception–it was abysmally poor, especially for AM stations. Since listening to AM stations is the reason I wanted to have an emergency radio, I had to change my mind. There were many other radios in this store, and every one of them had better radio reception. I found that the best reception came from the Eton models with digital tuners (like the FR360, or FR600 which I ended up buying). I don’t care about having to tune something manually, but if I can’t pick up a station at all, it’s a waste of money. Maybe the FR160 would be acceptable very close to a radio station’s transmitter, but in my area it was useless. So make sure you can try it out first, or at least can return it if it isn’t satisfactory.
Rating: 2 / 5
Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger
The FR160R is exactly what I was looking for in an multi-purpose emergency radio. It will be great to have on hand if the need ever presents itself.
Rating: 4 / 5
Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger
I liked the small compact design with all necessary interfaces nicely tucked in corners. For price this low, I guess digital tuner can not be part of this, otherwise this is the best emergency radio I ever had. Sunlight charging and LED based light is very powerful indeed. Highly recommend it.
Rating: 4 / 5
Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger
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.
Rating: 4 / 5
Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger