Customer Reviews

American Red Cross FR500 Solarlink, White

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Great overall emergency radio. Read many reviews that indicated poor reception which almost prevented me from buying. Once purchased I tried the radio and was disappointed with the poor reception. Almost seemed like it was running low on batteries even though new ones were just put in. I learned that the multi-function knob (see manual) was set on "Alert". This seems to be a low power savings mode. Once I selected any other setting including "Off" the radio's reception was excellent (the radio is turned on via a different knob / see manual). I bought it at Radio Shack since it was on sale for $69. Radio Shack's site forgot to add that this radio also has Short Wave which is a plus in emergencies.

I should have paid more attention to the online owners manual before I made the purchase. If you plan on using this radio for leaving in your basement or trunk in case of an emergency then I highly recommend it, for this purpose I would give it 5 star,s have no gripes in that category.

My purpose for it however was for a "ruffing it" 7 day bike trip in order to stay informed of news/weather and also keep my cell phone charged. Before I left I charged the unit in full by the usb port and supplemented it by leaving the solar panel exposed out of my pack so that it would charge as I rode. I found that on very sunny days in the second week of august in upstate ny, that although it would slow charge the battery it was hardly enough to keep up with listening to it for a couple hours a day total. Listening to it "live" off of the solar panel was nearly impossible even at noon in the direct sunlight.

As for charging a cell, it works great by cranking for emergency calls only, if you try to charge it for extended phone calls you will go crazy. Solar again even at noon was not enough to charge an LG10000, would click back and forth between charging and not and seemed to drain it more than charge it.

The solar panel needs to be much larger but otherwise the unit did what it was supposed to, but don't expect miracles from it. If you need significant power for long periods of time consider another for more solar/kinetic charging.

I have had no problems with reception, even in the sticks. I really like the added solar feature which compliments the crank function nicely. Mostly robust, though some of the knobs feel weak, particularly the "mode" knob. Excellent backlight for the frequency/clock LCD display, easy tuning, plenty of bands to select from, and the built-in USB charger is a GIANT bonus. I now own six quality Eton products, and this one is *easily* my favorite. A directional antenna vs. the current vertical-only telescopic antenna would have been a nice touch.

The FR500 radio is as much or more than I expected, will be used for weather conditions as well as very good AM/FM news, and some SW as conditions allow.
Seems like would play forever out in the sun or with bright sky what with the very good Solar cell.
Lester Davis

I'll give this radio 2 stars for some good features, however I'm returning it since it will not charge my iPhone, the main reason for which I ordered this item. I listed below other flaws I found:
On the PLUS side:
*good looks and appears durable.
*solar and crank recharging, an internal rechargeable Lithium battery (included); accepts 3 AA batteries (not included).
*nice bright LED flashlight.
*loud alarm and red flasher for emergencies (however both cannot be on at the same time)
*full digital clock with alarm, snooze, and back lighting.
On the NEGATIVE side:
*will not charge an iPhone; I tested other phones and they charged OK; I assume this problem applies to the iPod as well(?); Eton customer service says the iPhone USB charging is a known issue.
*radio reception is extremely substandard; I've had similar crank radios which were much cheaper and had excellent radio reception.
*radio tuning knob sensitivity is very poor and terribly clumsy.
*will only charge a phone while the radio is sitting directly under sun or while being cranked - not very practical.
*AC/DC charger not included though sold separately.
*must have a phone which charges via USB using its own cable, otherwise need to request an adapter from Eton (for free) and wait for it to be delivered; not sure if Eton will offer more than one adapter per customer - you likely have more than one type of phone in your household, requiring different adapters.

Great Radio... wrong adapter. Amazon links the two but if you read carefully this adapter is for the FR up to 400 series and I got it for the Solarlink FR *500*. This is a 4.5 volt adapter and the FR 500 requires a 5 volt adapter. Customer service at the "store" that shipped it to me was EXCELLENT, full refund no questions asked. Amazon screwed the pooch on this one by linking two incompatible products. (Insert Jeff Bezos laugh!) :)

I would not reccomend the FR500 to anyone! The AM/FM radio is a joke - it will only recieve one station regardless of tuning it and changing the band. The solar panel will not charge the rechargable batteries. The dynamo will recharge, but requires a ton of cranking to do so. The FR500 will only work really if you put in regular batteries. I will I had not bought it!

I bought this radio to have in case of a power outage. I charged the thing for 10 hrs. with a 5v dc adapter and it played for a whole 15 minutes. I repeated the process and got the same result. And to make my purchase even worse, I bought it at Amazon and the seller would not even exchange it for another. (I'm thinking it could be defective???)
Not a good product.

I have the black version of this radio. The reception is poor, stations are difficult to locate, the solar function is poor, and the sound quality is not good. I have one of the original crank radios from another manufacturer that is hands down superior in every way, but without the esthetics of this one. Great idea, and I would pay twice this amount or more for one that wasn't of this poor quality. I also bought one for my parents, and they put it in a closet for the same reasons.

I'm a package delivery driver for one of the HUGE parcel services. I wanted a radio I could strap to the dash for something to hear other than my own boring thoughts.

Battery... once you figure out how the power-selector works, this is awesome. It's actually got two batteries provided you slide three AAs alongside the rechargeable. AAs alone will last for several weeks of LONG days with the volume almost all the way up.

Sound... it's got one speaker. Keeping that in mind, I'm well satisfied. Sure, it's not a replacement for your 7.1 Dolby super sound system, but for what it is, it's fine. It's loud, it's fairly clear, and I can even hear it over my truck's engine at anything this side of interstate speeds.

Reception... not as good as my car's system, but still pretty darn good. I listen to a weaker Christian Contemporary station & rarely lose the signal in spite of running rural routes. I have broken the antenna, but I knew that was coming. I'm much to rough on it for any telescoping antenna to survive. But, the antenna is beefier than any telescoping antenna I've ever seen on a portable radio. It's got a bigger diameter & the metal is thicker. Another huge plus is the digital tuning readout. The tuner itself isn't digital, but being able to zero in on a frequency rather than scroll back & forth on a dial makes this infinitely more usable in the real world.

Form... It's sturdy sturdy sturdy. I've beaten the crap out of this thing & it just keeps on keeping on. I wish I could post a picture of it so you could see the scars I've given it. There are a few things that could be improved. Some of the controls like the volume and siren knobs are in those cut-outs next to the speaker. This is great because you're unlikely to bump them when you're moving it or just being active around it. However, the power and tuner knobs are pretty big & protrude from the side. I often have to re-tune the radio, not because it lost the signal like some radios will, but because I've inadvertently bumped the tuner knob or it's bumped something on the dash. Before you let that deter you, though, consider that this is still a huge step-up compared with most portable radios.

A few extra niceties are the audio input in the back, USB charging, headphone jack, and the rubber covers for them.

One thing to dismiss is the claim of the alarm clock or even the clock at all. If the battery dies, there's no back-up battery for the clock. That's it... it's gone. You have to recharge or replace the battery & then re-set the clock. So, if the battery dies while you're sleep, your alarm won't go off.