Customer Reviews

American Red Cross FR250 Emergency Radio

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was given this radio as a gift, and had absolutely no expectations. I have owned it for almost two years and have never put a single battery in it, I have never plugged it in (it doesn't come with an A/C adapter) and it still runs well (though I can tell it's days are numbered since I need to crank it more to get the same radio time). It has the best reception of the four radios I have tried in my apartment, and all without any electricity. I live in Cincinnati and can pick up Cleveland stations (about 250 miles away) at night.

I have used it as a flashlight in emergency situations and the light is surprisingly effective for the size. The only problem with the light is it will dim after a minute of use. You have to crank it for a few seconds every 2 or 3 minutes to keep it bright.

The cell phone charger says that you have to crank it for about 15 minutes to get one minute of phone time. That's so awful that I never even bothered to turn in the card they give you to get the free adapter.

Overall I love this radio because it gets great reception and I don't have to use any electricity or waste batteries. It's very helpful in that during an emergency it does exactly what you need it to do and nothing more. I have recommended this radio to many people and will continue to do so.

An emergency radio is a crucial part of anyone's emergency preparedness equipment. Without one you will be blind to what's happening when the power goes out. This radio has virtually all the features you'd want in an emergency radio. Google it and you'll find them all listed. I won't go into them here. But I did a lot of research and found that there simply are not many emergency radios available.....at any price.... that can do the whole job. This one comes close but lacks in quality. Yes, I kept it and will continue to use it but only until I can find a suitable replacement.

The quality is just not built into this unit that I had hoped for. Of course, for $49, I didn't expect a tank. However, while all of the features tend to work properly and as advertised, the tuner simply stinks. It's the typical mechanical knob that turns a string that pulls a needle/tuner component back and forth. In 70 degree weather that's fine although a bit heavy handed. In 35 degree weather, however, it stalls constantly. It's really frustrating. If this radio had offered a solid-state digital tuner, it would be almost perfect. But, I had to accept this throw-back type of tuner in order to also get all the "bands" that I was looking for. There are other radios out there that offer digital tuners but don't offer the emergency bands or the charging or multiple power options that this radio offers. So, I compromised my demands and accepted the cheap tuner. As mentioned, this will do for now but eventually I'll hopefully find a better replacement.

So, for under $50, this radio works as advertised but be aware of the fact that cold weather will affect the tuner (I've tested it here in New England over the winter) and you'll find yourself wanting a digital tuner, too.

I'm wondering if anyone else has really tested the hand crank power on this radio. I let the rechargeable battery run down completely (not intentionally, but a good test for emergency preparedness), and I found that after cranking for a full 90 seconds, the radio only worked for a couple minutes. I was very disappointed and returned it, since I felt that in an emergency, this would be more frustrating than helpful.

I just opened my new radio and started figuring out how to use it.
I was easily able to crank it for 90 seconds (recommended for 60 minutes of radio).
As I was trying to tune into a shortwave station, I was adjusting the antenna and it snapped right off.
So now my $40 radio is only good for AM and flash light.
Bummer.

We bought this for a trip out of state so my husband could enjoy a shortwave radio while we were away from home as well as some emergency/weather info, if needed. He has been using it to get familiar with it at home and has found it to be easy to use. Only drawback was no adapter came with the unit and finding one to fit has been difficult at several stores. That would save on the batteries when using at home. Otherwise it is a good buy, small and convenient for carrying.

My wife bought this for me as a gift;at first I wasn't too sure that I liked it but now, several months later, I love it. You can power it with the hand-crank or with batteries. This is something I use quite often as we live way out in the boonies and if any of you are like us, we lose our rural electricity often!

If you are looking for an Emergency Radio and don't want to spend too much but still want a functional tool in an emergency, this is the item for you. Good sound and several ways to power it...including by hand crank.

I just bought this model since my power went out for 3 hours and I didn't have a good battery powered radio anymore. I am really impressed with the reception. I live in Oklahoma and was able to pull in a couple of AM stations from Chicago and an English language shortwave station claiming to be from Sweden. While atmospheric conditions can affect long-range radio reception, this is pretty impressive for such a small, affordable radio. The battery life seems to be very good with only about 30 seconds of cranking.

This was a gift, and I had a hard time finding it. I went to a few stores, and it was not available or there were too big. I tested it and it worked well.