Though many people like emergency radios, I am not one of them. They actually don't seem all that ideal in an emergency situation.

Size. In order to include generators (hand crank, solar, or anything else), emergency radios tend to be a bit on the big side.

Reliability. I don't like tools with too many functions. They tend not to be robust. Some emergency radios do AM/FM & NOAA, and can shine light, recharge your cell phone, cook dinner for you, etc. That's just more things that can break. I like splitting up these functions into different tools.

Power generation. In an emergency, do you really want to waste your precious physical energy cranking the radio for a full minute just to get sixty minutes of power? Maybe you are hurt. A stash of batteries, to me, is a much better solution. Four AA batteries can keep a small radio running till kingdom come.

I'd suggest a high quality radio like the Sony ICF-S10MK2, which costs under $15. Hams apparently love this radio because it's so sensitive, and offers analog tuning. This allows it to pull in distant stations that digital radios can't. Add a small, hand-held weather radio with SAME encoding. Then some batteries. This setup will take up less or the same amount of space, and it will be more robust and convenient in an emergency.

In a weather-related disaster (tornado, hurricane, etc.), you can monitor the weather on the weather radio, and get crucial information from local radio stations at the same time. If one radio dies, you can still get some information from the other. And you don't have to crank, shake, etc. Just make sure you have your own flashlight and battery-powered cell phone charger.


Da Bing