According to Walter Mossberg who writes the personal technology column for the Wall St. Journal, the best emergency radio is the Multi-purpose radio FR300 by Eton Corp and available at Hammacher Schlemmer.
Multi-purpose is right. It's sturdy with a case and a carrying handle.
Its front displays a speaker, small flashlight, and tuning display for five settings: AM, FM, the TV1 and TV2 television audio bands, and a "WX" band for the government's weather channels
You can use batteries or the hand-crank, two minutes of which gives you an hour of radio time.
A small cellphone-charging piece plugs into the back of the FR300, and five included adapters permit charging of certain Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson phones. Katie easily plugged her Samsung cellphone into the adapter and had it charging after a few cranks.
Well worth $50 for the peace of mind it can give you.
Posted by Jill Fallon at September 22, 2005 6:17 PM | Permalink