Customer Reviews

American Red Cross FR400 Emergency Radio, Red

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This radio has an outstanding set of features that would appear to make it a great emergency radio for the home. It has nearly every conceivable feature in an emergency radio that covers al the bases in one small unit. Unfortunately, The radio's performance is so wide of the mark that I can't recommend it.

The radio suffers from two serious performance flaws: Strong FM stations can prevent reception on some TV channels. This "image rejection" problem is well known in receiver design. You should check if the TV channel you intent to listen to can be received at your home. I had one strong TV channel that my 10 year old GE radio could receive just fine that was completely blocked on this radio. Keep in mind that in a real disaster you may not be able to hear same stations because the stations themselves have lost power. What if the only station you can hear is rendered useless because of this receiver's poor performance?

Secondly it is not nearly as sensitive as other, cheaper weather radios. The Midland WR-300 is a far superior performer at pulling in weak weather broadcast stations. In side-by-side tests over -several days the Midland could easily hear two stations while this radio could only hear static.

Also, the design had several ergonomic issues. If, like most of us, you're right handed, you'll find the crank placement cumbersome since it's on the left side of the radio. Also the tuning display has no back light making reading it in the dark very hard. Third it really needs a carrying handle, which the cheaper model FR300 has (but it lacks an AC adapter). This alone might have me decide in favor of the FR350 since, even after you purchase an AC adapter at Radio Shack, your still ahead dollar wise and you have a nice handle!

This unit was unable to charge my cell phone completely (an LG VX3200). The cell phone display indicated "charging complete" sooner than I expected. Sure enough it still kept charging on its own charger. I suspect that is due to the wimpy AC adapter included.

On the positive side: The tuning knob works well and the radio is easy to tune. The audio is very clean and clear even at moderately load levels. With the exception of the crank, most of the controls are well laid out and clearly marked. The operation is fairly self explanatory so any member of the household should be able to use it effectively in an emergency once they become familiar with it.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any real, direct competition for this radio given its excellent features. I'm disappointed that Eton, which prides itself on its radio design expertise, would have designed a radio with such poor performance. I'm also a little dismayed that the American Red Cross would put its name on a radio that might not work when it's needed most. I can't recommend this radio.

What do you need from a radio in emergencies? First is to be sure that it hasn't dissipated its power, but the switch at the top of this unit is left-light, middle-off, right-flash, and with experience in similar devices stashed in tool boxes or car trunks, etc. the switch is gonna get moved so it'll drain the batteries. This needs a better switch.

Second, another concern is the two flimsy plastic turn-knobs on the front. The knob on the left front lets you select the power input as to how to supply power to the unit (battery or crank-around-and-around), but the knob sticks out and feels flimsy, so it's a likely candidate for getting broken in any storage place or when being used, so that you may not be able to use it to select how you are gonna power the radio. The knob on the right front that sends out a siren (left), off (center), or sets up the weather alert monitoring (right) is built the same way, and it's also a likely candidate for getting moved away from the off-position, or getting broken off when you need it. It's too much a plastic toy and not durable enough.

Third, radio reception is decent, but the TV bands appear limited to channels 2 though 13, and if you are in an area where TV is channels 16 and higher, it won't help you there unless you get lucky to pull in some sideband or whatever it is called (I did once get a wisp of a higher channel, but I wouldn't want to depend on that in an emergency.) The maker does send 70 cents per sale to the Red Cross, so that is likely why this says Red Cross on it. I'm gonna keep it cuz who knows, but I have a better built Garmin unit.

Fourth,if I dropped the Garmin unit, I think it'd hold together. From handling this Eton unit, if I dropped it, I think I'd have 50 broken pieces of plastic. I'm not Consumer Reports so I'm not gonna try the drop test--why trash it needlessly--but I feel sure this'd shatter.

BTW, the battery door opened easily on this unit. Perhaps the plastic connection for the rechargeable batteries sometimes isn't turned 90 degrees to fit down all the way down inside a internal slot, and thus this plastic connection might stick up into the battery space, which then creates a narrower vertical space which doesn't let you shove the rechargeable battery package all the way down into its home, and then (still following me?) the rechargeable battery package, sticking up higher than it should, provides friction on the battery door making the battery door hard to open. Or hard to close if you don't position things just right. I can understand the complaints about this issue. This is yet another indicator of poor design, as with the top switch and the flimsy knobs on the front. Yet, everyone should have some emergency radio unit, thus I give it a 3 as it's a whole lot better than nothing, plus in buying it you've sent $0.70 to the Red Cross--woo woo.

I just received my FR 400 from Amazon. I noted several problems right away. NO cell phone tips or cord were included. Instead you get a warranty card on which you are to specify what model phone you have, then (in theory) they send you a cord and that SINGLE tip. Not what they advertised, nor what I expected/wanted, as my wife and I have different phones. Possibly this is a recent change, but this kind of bait and switch makes me distrust the entire product. I would not have bought it if I had known this. Also, the AC adapter uses a barrel plug with reverse polarity (i.e. positive on the exposed outside, negative on the shielded inside), which defeats the entire purpose of a barrel plug. Apparently they wanted to make their charger useless for any other purpose, and prevent you from using any other charger. Not having a phone cord I'm not sure, but I would be afraid they reversed the polarity on that too, making any other cords and tips that might fit useless as well. An emergency product should be versatile, not proprietary. Additionally this arrived just before a severe storm (24 Feb 2007), but not to worry. If the power goes out and my phone goes dead, I can take comfort in my warranty card.

Was very disappointed in this product for several significant reasons:

1. The thin plastic crank handle is WAY TOO flimsy. This "handle" provides a critical function-- you think/expect the manuf. would have invested a few pennies more for a thicker or metal handle. (The internal generator produces a fair amount of crank resistance-- so it's only a matter of time before this handle will break.)
2. The time needed to charge a dead cell phone for a brief call (1-2 min.) was way too long-- especially given the fragility of the plastic crank handle.
3. The ON/OFF is inadvertently turned to the ON position each time you slide the radio back into the very snug storage cover/bag. (Nice surprise to open your "Emergency" radio only to find it has completely drained batteries because of this design flaw.)
4. Radio reception is poor for FM stations, and was non-existent for TV stations-- tried tuning-in both at various location in my town.
5. For a price on $79 (currently on sale at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $65) these BASIC features should work as advertised.
6. Amazon customer service has been EXTREMELY slow to deliver the pre-paid return slips as promised. It has been over 30 days now-- and 5 phones calls-- (3) to India, (1) to the Philippines, and finally, one to the US. The international calls each averaged over 20 minutes because of language and phone connection difficulties.
7. Product is a great concept-- every home should have one. I would buy locally so you can test the features first-- and because of the slow/inept Amazon customer service... in this case.

I was hesitant to get this, since other reviewers gave it poor ratings on reception. Now that I bought it, I'm very glad I have it. It does all the things you might want in a disaster, inluding a flashlight, red flashing light (especially if your car breaks down at night), a siren (if you're trapped in a building), AC, battery, and crank power, and multiple radio bands. While some reviewers complained of not getting a lot of stations, in a disaster, you only need a few stations, as everyone will be broadcasting disaster news. Between the AM, FM, TV, and NOAA bands, my radio will received a huge number of stations--many more than would ever be needed in a disaster. (I didn't try the cellphone charging function.) It comes in a carrying case.
Only minor criticisms: The case seems like an afterthought: it doesn't hold the AC adapter; the knobs tend to turn the radio on when putting it in the case, and the knobs could get broken off if the case is hit (not that protective). However, it comes in a strong box which is perhaps better storage for everything.
Overall, this is all you should need for light, siren, and broadcast information from multiple power sources in a disaster.

The primary reason I bought this product was because, in addition to all the normal emergency features, it advertised a built in cell phone charger. Well, if you happen to own one the selected brands and models for which they provide adapters, you can. Once you receive the product, the fine print on the box tells you that not all cell phone manufacturers and models are supported. I don't own any of those they support. So I am very dissappointed about that.

I will not be sending this item to my frail 85-year old mother in law to help her survive in hurricane alley on the west coast of Florida. It is virtually impossible to open the battery case cover to assemble the rechargeable battery connection for this radio. Most folks would buy this and store it until needed and so would not know in advance that they cannot access the battery compartment. This is unacceptable design failure for something the Red Cross is touting as a household essential.

When the company was contacted for assistance, they suggested inserting a butter knife in the hinge and forcing the cover open!! Folks have already reported being injured in trying to force the cover open.

I will be returning this one as soon as I can.

If you're buying this radio for emergency preparedness and expect to use the TV feature then you should also expect a disaster in the next 2 years. That's because after Feb 16, 2009, all analog TV transmitters will be shut off and the TV tuner in this will be worthless. You can thank your friends at the FCC for this great idea

less than expected. The first one came with a broken latch for the battery compartment and I had to go through the exchange hassle. Reception is not that good and the T.V. mode of reception is very weak. Will keep it but disappointed.

There are some nice features to this radio, but on the key measure, radio reception, it fairs dismally in my location. The weather stations could be pulled in with lots of static, but FM and TV channel reception were impossible. The receiver so lacks sensitivity that two local FM stations totally overwhelmed reception from all other stations, both on the FM and TV channel bands. AM worked okay. The manual that comes with the radio says that you'll probably have to crank the hand charger for 10-15 minutes to get a cell phone charge sufficient for a one minute phone call. And that's basically a dismissive guess on their part. Thus, this feature seems pretty useless. I was unhappy enough with this product to return it.