This is an interesting product we found for camping. Normally, we don’t believe in All-In-One products. Because you would lose all its features if the unit ceases to work. The main function of the product is a radio. Not only AM/FM stations, but it also captures emergency/weather stations. Since we don’t do backcountry camping, this feature is unlikely to be used when camping.
Flashlight
The next feature is a flashlight. However, we carry flashlights that are rugged and waterproof. Plus, the radio unit is bulky, so it’s unlikely we will carry it around and use it as a main light source. In reality, we may just use it for lighting inside the tent. It also has a reading lamp.
Multiple Ways of Charging
The only feature that is attractive to us is it has four sources of power: solar, built-in lithium-ion battery, AAA batteries and a hand-crank. After reviewing several reviews, it appears the built-in lithium battery and AAA batteries are more useful. But even at full charge of 2000 mAh, many newer and larger smartphones will drain its battery in a single charge. The silver lining is you can bring extra AAA batteries as backup power source.
Please note, each AAA battery is approximately 1000 mAh. The radio fits 3 AAA’s so you can expect 3000 mAh of battery. To be fair though, there are many similar products which are more expensive and offer less than 1000 mAh of battery, so you need to do your homework if you are considering buying one.
Quick Recap
To conclude, it may be hard to justify the purchase of this emergency radio strictly for camping trips. But looking beyond it’s use at the campsite and focus on its true purpose, it is actually a very useful tool during catastrophic emergencies where you can still receive emergency announcements while all the cellular network could be down. If so, its dual-use as a camping gear and emergency gear seems to offer a good value. We can certainly use it as a light source inside our tent and charge our phones at the same time. Hopefully we never need to find a use for its emergency radio stations.
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