Wow, it has now been just under a year since I first wrote about how great solar radios are. And yes, ours is still going strong and is now well over 11 years old if not more. Of course, technology moves on and things get improved. I have been looking at the Eton Solar Radios and they are certainly of interest. Below you can see the top few sellers in the Eton Solar radio or crank radio range. Please read the article below for a thorough look at why it may be time for us to update our now slightly passe old timer.
Click for Discounts on the Eton Solar Radio Range
Our crank radio can give about an hours worth of radio for about a minutes winding and it still works great after all these years. The problem is that the solar panel on the top is now a little cloudy. That is due to a few “accidents” where it was um kind of left out in the rain! Not really the best way to treat electric equipment I know.
It still does work via solar but not as well as it might if the panel was still clear. So, how do the Eton Crank Radios stack up? First of all I must say they are very cheap. Much cheaper than ours was back in the good old days when I was well on the right side of thirty (sigh).
The Eton range is certainly looking promising. There are a few to choose from but the main reason it may be worth an upgrade is because as well as being a solar powered radio and a crank radio you can also use it to charge up a mobile phone, which is handy for camping. But, what makes it a good buy for me is that it also has a few lights on it making it suitable to use as a backup torch as well.
We have a wind up torch here as well but to have a lightweight all in one item like this is certainly a good way to go. If you do want to get a solar powered radio then it looks like the Eton range is certainly a good choice and I have seen nothing but good reviews about them. Durable and tough, it may even last longer than our “old faithful” that sadly may just have to be relegated to a dark drawer somewhere very soon.
What do you think, anyone have better recommendations?
Eton looks like they make a quality line of products. I have a cheap off brand (the only tag on it says Model TD-01D) solar/crank/rechargeable battery/am/fm/torch/siren that is about 7 years old and is used primarily for when our power goes out during storms. The rest of the time it just sits in our nightstand in wait. But it does work when we need it.
With the Eton’s priced like that I think I’ll upgrade too.
Hi Jef
They do seem like they are great value for money. I think ours was a lot more when we purchased it but I guess they were a fairly new product then.
Do you have any instruction for this radio. We have the same model and can not get it to work
I looked high and low but I finally found it. I scanned it as a pdf so send me your email address to jeff@dwsolar.org and I’ll get it to you.
Jef
Jef,
Thanks for that, very kind of you to spend your time helping someone out like that.