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Your cart is empty.4.5 out of 5 stars
- #4,997 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
- #35 in Weather Radios
Patrick Z.
Reviewed in Germany on February 4, 2025
Das Drehrad zum Einstellen der Frequenzen ist nach wenig Benutzung gebrochen. Die Frequenz kann nicht mehr eingestellt werden. Das Kaito hatte sich von Anfang an für mich recht billig und fragil angefühlt. Vor allem die US-Rezensionen bescheinigten dem Geräte aber immer "built like a tank" und damit recht widerstandsfähig zu sein. Ich hatte vorher ein 10€ Kurbelradio, das war von der Haptik ähnlich und läuft noch. Der hohe Preis ist meiner Meinung nach nicht gerechtfertigt.
Kam
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2025
Got this for my uncle who lives in a city in Pakistan. Unfortuntely the have daily power cuts and he loves listening to the radio. What’s also needed is a torch. Well this is a two in one! To be able to power it up by winding it up is just what was needed. The feedback from my uncle has been really postive, he loves the radio - good reception and that in times when the power goes out he can continue to listen to it. Great device.
Jaime Silvano
Reviewed in Mexico on August 30, 2024
Radio sólido, bien pensado y con excelente sonido! Además con todas las vías posibles de alimentación, jamás te dejará abandonado.
JR Clausen
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2023
Radio is well designed and sound is a little tinny in its nature, but still pleasant to listen to. Short wave doesn't pick up anything and that is disappointing as I was hoping to pick up CBC and BBC America if possible. Display is large and easily read. Batteries are NOT lithium but are instead Nickel Cadmium, which means they will not have the charge/recharge cycle longevity that lithium has.Radio has four way power options, which I like, but the winding option takes a lot of winding to charge the unit. Status lights are bright and easily read too. Weather radio is also helpful especially since I'm in a Hurricane prone area. I cannot comment on the power of the flashlight.
francisco gava
Reviewed in Brazil on January 5, 2023
O radio e por energia solar, porém nâo comporta, ou seja, em funcionamento no sol, a carga que recebe é menor que a utilizada para manter o radio ligado... Ele desliga por falta de energia na bateria, que é muito fraca... Pra funcionar, somente ligado na energia elétrica..PRODUTO PÉSSIMO...GOSTARIA DE TROCAR O PRODUTO POR UM OUTRO SIMILAR E/OU O DINHEIRO DE VOLTA... PRODUTO PÉSSIMO...O PRODUTO NÃO AGUENTA 10 MINUTOS LIGADO E NA ENERGIA SOLAR... VÃO TROCAR O PRODUTO OU DEVOLVER MEU DINHEIRO? AGUARDO RETORNO...FIZ A AVALIAÇÃO HÁ UM BOM TEMPO.... HAVERÁ UMA SOLUÇÃO PRO MEU PRODUTO?. AGUARDO RESPOSTA...
Sam
Reviewed in Canada on May 23, 2022
This is by far one of the best emergency or hobby/camping type of Short Wave and Weather band Radios that I have ever used. It has a built in light for the display and is easy to use. I plan on buying more of them. I have had other radios that are limited in functions. This one has the most band coverage on shortwave + weather and regular AM/FM radio. It has built in flash light for easily reading the display in the dark and as a flash light or reading lamp. I'm not yet sure how effective the solar panel is but it's nice to have there. I'll be cranking this in most cases and using rechargeable and regular batteries that will work just fine for my needs. I especially like how the cell phone can be charged with this unit very important for long term power outrages. What I would improve on is the tuning it could use a "fine-tune" feature that would be nice, maybe a dual display frequency counter with the analog and a tone control also would be nice but that's about all I can think of that would make it best of the best. If you don't own one already I'd recommend it for sure.
Joel
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2021
This is my second kaito KA500. The first one I bought about 12 years ago. That went through several years of outer banks hurricanes and rough stormy power outages as well as lawn chair duty under the trees. It is still in service, although the NOAA volume is low. The rest of the device is as new.So I bought the extra charger, but it’s really an optional accessory. I rarely use it. I usually keep the rechargeable mostly charged and use the alkaline. If you’re in the sun or want to crank it a bit you can keep a mostly topped off rechargeable that way for quite a while. Maybe once a year at most I might drain it and throw it to the wall charger, but again, not imperative.This second one is identical. Just the first is green this new one is blue. I like the versatility. Several ways to charge, led lights for when the power is out if you want that. It has several port options so that’s good too. Reception is just fine. You can increase it with a long wire clipped to the radio and hung higher. Not really necessary in my area. The shortwave and AM broadcast are fun to sniff out at night. It’s a good listener. Local FM broadcast stations come in well.The crank is effective. The solar is proportional to the size of the cells. They’re not big but they do function. Buy light colored radios only if you plan on sitting it in the sun. A black radio with solar in a blazing sun all day simply is not going to do well. If you wanted to charge the rechargeable from only sun it would take several days pointed at a good sun. Therefore get the light colored models.As for me it’s generally an alkaline operation.If buy a 3rd one if they’re still for sale in 25 years. I do amateur radio mostly HF and am spoiled with several of the best listening and transmitting radios. For a simple cheap broadcast sw/am/fm/NOAA radio this one does the trick. It’s no piece of junk based on years of time and hours in service.Save the box and store it when not being used. That’s why my old one looks like new and the new one will look the same in a decade.
Bruce
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2009
I've had this radio for about a week. I wanted to test the hand-cranking feature. I cranked it pretty hard for 2 minutes, 300 turns. It ran for 22 minutes before the "battery low" light came on. After the battery low light came on, it continued to be audible for another 40 minutes, for a total of 1 hour on a charge. At the end, the radio was very quiet, but I could still hear it. I was using the external speaker; it may have lasted even longer had I been using the ear buds. I was rather impressed. Of course the battery performance is sure to go down with use.The reading light looks like it would be barely adequate to read by. The flashlight is like the coin size led lights that are worn on key chains. Since it has the reading light, with 5 LEDs, the flashlight really seems useless, although it does have the flashing red mode, which is kind of cool.I was quite impressed with the sound and general performance. I was able to bring in some SW stations and receive a lot of AM stations. I don't really listen to FM. The weather band works well. One of the reviews mentions an auxillary antenna that helps short wave reception. My radio doesn't have any such feature.I did try the solar cells in bright sunlight and it seemed to work.I bought a similar radio from Radio Shack about 8 years ago, a Grundig FR200, and I used the hand crank a lot. It did seem to wear, and stopped turning smoothly, but it still works. I suspect this radio will be the same. The crank seems to squeak when its being turned hard, and I wonder if a shot of WD40 would help.I listen to the radio quite a bit, and this is the radio I'm using now. I have NiCad batteries in it. I'm sure they'll work for many hours before needing recharging. Its pretty unlikely that a set of 3 AA batteries will go dead before an emergency has resolved itself, but I like the crank and solar cells anyway.I'm a Ham radio operator, and this radio is not real high quality. But for the price, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it is made. The tuning knob is smooth; the speaker is only 2 inches but seems bigger. None of the cell phone charging plugs works in my cell phone, so I won't be using that feature. I doubt if it would work very well for that purpose, given how hard it is to charge the tiny internal battery.All in all, a nice little radio!
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