To me, the old Freeplays that are spring-powered are the quintessential "emergency radio" to me. I have the larger table-top model and it has great sound and good reception of AM/FM.

I like them because they don't require alkaline batteries which can leak or have rechargeable NiMH cells sealed inside which eventually self-discharge or wear out (I'm not aware of any radios that use low self-discharge NiMH cells built into them). To me, that's very important since an emergency radio often is stored away for long periods of time without any use or checking on.

The solar panel powers the radio directly during daylight hours, and at night or when there isn't enough bright sunlight, the spring is a tad noisy but works every time. The spring only lasts for roughly half an hour, depending on the volume, but I can live with that.

Unfortunately, Freeplay doesn't make the spring-powered models anymore, it seems. They've replaced that with hand-cranked dynamos and NiMH batteries. Bleh. That said, I do own one of them and have been pleased with it. I just don't consider that my main emergency radio.

Actually, I did see a battered box at a local TJ Max store the other day that had the smaller spring-powered model. Still selling at their original approximately $50, though, so I passed. But this thread has got me thinking about it again, though.