Well, the grundig I bought at Radio Shack is still going, and it is I believe a nice little compromise. It does have a built in light, which I've found useful. It also has a battery compartment that you can put AAs in that will run the thing for about a week or so provided you don't use the light that much. When the AAs give out, then you can start cranking on the rechargables if you need to, or put new AAs in it. It isn't the size of a cigarette pack, but it isn't briefcase sized either, about the size of a good harcover book maybe. I took it to elk camp and left it outside sitting on a stump during a blizzard. Temps fell well below freezing, and the thing was buried in snow then next morning. I dug it out, cranked it up, and it worked just fine. Still does. I don't know how you are gonna beat a deal like that. The only drawback is the shortwave is not very impressive unless you get in and attach a longwire to the antenna circuit. That seems to be a common problem with portable shortwave radios anyways, so I can live with it.

I don't see much room for improvement on the market for this radio. You might make it smaller, but that generator can't get much smaller physically. It'd be a challenge.