Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Very poor radio. I ordered this radio mainly for the weather alert ability and secondly for the AM/FM receiving capabilities. I liked the idea that the internal battery could be recharged with the solar panel and by the crank magneto when needed. I tried two(2) of these radios from Amazon. Both radio's AM/FM/Weather reception worked fine. The problem I kept having was that the internal fully charged battery kept dying shortly after being fully charged. The battery charge lasted about one day. I couldn't figure what was killing the battery, so I returned the radio to Amazon and they sent another new one to me. The same thing happened with the second radio-a fully charged radio would die after one day of no use. I think I figured out what was happening. I had the radio switch set to AM, low volume, turned off, from the last time I used it. The "alert function" of one or more of the weather bands(7) was turning radio on automatically, as it should, but while in AM or FM mode, when I wasn't around and the radio stayed on continuosly thereafter and killed the battery. The radio never switched itself over to the weather band when it turned on automatically for an alert, or maybe a test signal from NOAA, and then never shut off after alert ended. The funny thing is that the weather was fine during this whole period. With a fully charged battery and listening to an AM or FM station at low volume, the battery pack included never lasted more than 1/2-1 hour before it died-very poor battery capacity and/or radio power usage. As far as solar charging of the internal battery pack, the solar panel is way under sized. It took 1-1/2 to 2 days of full sun(8-9 hrs. of sunlight/day, at that time) to complete a full charge. I also charged via the USB cable to my computer and that worked fine(~2-3 hrs. to a full charge from dead battery). The LED light works fine, but the switch is very easily turned on if you aren't carefull where you put your hand when handling the radio. Several times I found the radio with near dead batteries and the light was unintentionally on. The light switch should be harder to turn on, in a different location, or protected some how to prevent accidentally turning LED on. Overall, I would not recommend this radio as an emergency weather alert radio or even as a portable every day radio!