Hand-Crank Dynamo Emergency Radios. Useful or plain gimmick? Our opinion of some new and old models.

We have been buying and using good old hand-crank dynamo emergency radios and here in 2024, we decided to look back at some models. Are they useful? or just plain useless gimmicks? Here's our opinion. Most of the dynamo generation will be useless if the internal batteries are weak or are already dead. Having one that can run off primary cells or readily available off-the-shelf batteries will be more useful. Most of the built-in solar panel generate too low power to be any useful at all. Some of the dynamo or internal recharging circuitry causes too much RF interference to the FM radio reception. When cranking while the radio is turned on, sometimes you'll just be getting a RF buzz of the motor. If we have to pick the best and most useful unit, we think the Sony ICF-B01 is still one of the better designed ones.
#survivaltools #edcgear #selfreliance #selfreliant #bugoutkit #bugoutgear #bugoutbag