Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this item just over a year and a half ago, and it's served my needs very well. Frequent camping trips, occasional blackouts and the possibility of it being the only means of receiving important information in an emergency situation, this radio has proven time and again that it's the right choice for what I want it for. I've taken this sucker camping 12 times and never been disappointed. I've left my car phone charger home by accident twice and the KA500's dynamo charged it (motorola razor) with ten minutes of cranking. I've dropped it, kicked it, even left it out in the camper in sub-zero temperatures for a week and it still works like new. My girl likes to have a radio or tv on while she's falling asleep and the same ten minutes of cranking put out 40 minutes of shortwave or FM radio for her to fall asleep by, in the middle of the Wisconsin north woods far from any other person. Three times since I bought this product the power has gone out in my area, and twice it was because of weather-related emergencies. This radio brings the NOAA weather alerts right to us during blackouts and keeps us up to speed. More than a few times I've stretched out the shortwave clip-on antenna and have been able to listen to radio france or argentina simply by clipping it on and throwing it over a tree branch. Most of the bad reviews of this product are due to user error; you need to crank the dynamo for more than two minutes to charge the battery, you need to read the packaging or advertised product description to know what's in the box, you need to crank it in small, tight and steady turns - just like any other dynamo-charged product - and not be overzealous and rip the crank handle off. It's very durable as long as you don't act like your trying to power a full-sized refrigerator. Don't let a few ignoramuses spoil you on this really good deal on a very good emergency radio.