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Cheap plastic switches and dials which do not click into place and stay there. I have already sent it back to the manufacturer for service and it was returned "functions properly as is" which is not very well. Weather bands do not come in, even though my old radio shack 3"x4" "transistor radio type (for you old folks)gets 2 radio bands clear as crystal. Not recommended.
I bought the Etón FR500 Solarlink in black from Amazon, think that it deserves demerits instead of _any_ stars, and I am writing this review minutes before returning the radio.The instruction booklet that comes with the radio tells you to plug the rechargeable battery pack's connector into the radio, and it tells you that you must either turn the crank or expose the solar panel to sunlight to charge the battery, although any bright light will also charge the battery.The radio's controls suffer from bad ergonomic design. As the instruction booklet recommends, I used the tiny, useless, whip antenna for the FM, shortwave, and weather bands.If you tune in a station on the low end of AM band, the radio won't retain that station's tuned frequency when you switch to another band and tune in a station at the high end of that band.On the shortwave band, the one foot long antenna is too short to be effective, and it's very difficult to move slowly and smoothly either up or down the shortwave band because too many frequencies are covered by the tuning knob and because the tuning knob springs in the opposite direction you were turning it after you release it. The consequence of that is poor stability and a display that shows frequency drift on the AM, FM, and shortwave bands.A selling point of Etón radios is that they have a crank that turns a dynamo, but their advertising doesn't tell you that their dynamo doesn't have a flywheel to keep the current running after you stop turning the crank. It also tells you how to set the LCD clock, the alarm, sleep, and snooze functions as well as how to turn on the LCD display's light.To use the Etón FR500 Solarlink as a radio, you must do _two_ things: You must press the power button, _and_ you must turn the power selector knob to DYNAMO to draw power from the rechargeable battery.As a multiband radio receiver, the Etón FR500 Solarlink is a low quality device with a low gain radio frequency amplifier and excessively wide tuning filters in the FM band. Of course, a heavy flywheel would require a much sturdier case than the Etón has.Instead, the Etón dynamo uses rechargeable batteries to store charge. At the low end of the FM band, low power stations may all be heard simultaneously.Across the Hudson River from New York City, with a line of sight to the Empire State Building, where most radio stations in NYC have their antennas, I was able to tune in only a few of the strongest FM stations in the middle of the band.On the AM band, I was able to tune in only strong stations anywhere on the band. For example, the band selector ring and tuning knob are mounted concentrically, but turning the knob with large fingers can easily move the selector ring because it doesn't have firm detents to make the ring stay put on the band you chose.The booklet doesn't tell you _how_ to use radio although it tells you how to turn on the LED flashlight, the red flashing LED, the anemic siren, and the weather radio alarm. You may be able to live with that lack of resolution in the AM and FM bands but not in the shortwave band.Also, while the frequency display is digital, the tuning knob turns the controls for an analog tuning circuit.
On the shortwave band, I was not able to tune in any stations. Of the seven weather band channels, only the last one was active and came in loud and clear. Clearly, a crank driven dynamo with a flywheel is the only way to build this kind of radio, but to be good a flywheel would have to be heavy. Of course, rechargeable batteries may be recharged only a finite number of times before you must replace them, and they might be dead during an emergency.As a device for emergency use, the Etón FR500 Solarlink relies completely, and to your detriment, on three, small, rechargeable batteries, and the instruction booklet helpfully informs you that you may order new batteries from Etón.The crank is flimsy, light, plastic and looks and feels as if it may break long before you have any emergency that calls for an emergency radio that is able to run off the power grid.Don't buy an Etón FR500 Solarlink.
If you leave it near a window, the built in solar panels seem to do a good job of keeping the battery charged.The interface isn't too bad but could use some improvement. It takes a couple seconds of gentle nudges to get the frequency correct. The built in flashlight is fairly decent although my unit arrived with one of the LEDs non-functional. There are many ways to power it and with the free cel phone adapters it would do a great job of keeping you in touch with the outside world. Parts of this radio work acceptably but not well, others don't. When in shortwave mode, the display shows you the frequency in MHz and will only show you the frequency to the nearest 5KHz.Overall, I'd say it's good for emergencies, but not well suited for daily use. It's very difficult to tune stations in, as the tuning is analog and sometimes turning it small amounts in a direction results in the frequency changing in the wrong direction. It doesn't seem like you can listen to the radio or use the unit as a flashlight while the weather alert feature is enabled.The AM/FM radio reception is just ok.
I can't pick up a single station. The display has a light, but the button to activate it is difficult to find in the dark because it is the same shape as several other buttons near it. The unit seems to be very durable and would probably be very useful during a disaster. The shortwave radio simply does not work for me without any sort of external antenna. The power source knob is a little confusing and not well documented, but can be figured out by turning it to one of the 4 settings until whatever you want to happen happens. The snooze button is similarly tiny and hard to find in the dark.Weather radio reception is loud and clear and the alert feature is somewhat useful. I imagine that even with a proper antenna, tuning would be very difficult due to the knob being very imprecise. It might be a better idea to get one of the less expensive units which lack a clock and shortwave radio.
The FR150 gives you 10 times clearer reception. VERRRRYYYY DISAPPOINTING. 3) CRANK POWER - Have to crank 120 times to get some juice. 1) S/W BAND- Only station not static filled was from Cuba. 2) AM RECEPTION - Does not pick up distant stations very well. 4) SOLAR POWER - Needs 10-12 hours in the sun to work. NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE.
Crank charging according to specs gives less than a minute of play time before you have to crank it up again. The tuning for this thing is impossible; the tuning knob feels like something on a child's toy. And the much touted charging by solar or crank is way overblown. Don't buy this thing. It's useless.
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