Customer Reviews

Freeplay Summit AM/FM/SW Radio

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have used the Freeplay Summit Radio for over two years now and it is still doing very well.

The features I most appreciate are:

- you never have to buy batteries
it gets its energy from a solar panel on top
or by turning the crank charger on the back
(though the instructions advise you plug it in
for the first 24 hours to condition the batteries)
- the construction is done well
the crank is solid
the case is sturdy
- the LCD display is easy to read and sensible
- included in the box are multiple adaptors
for international wall electrical outlets
- there is a built-in clock with alarm and sleep mode

Things the buyer should know:
- there is only one speaker
- the sound quality is good, but don't expect
to entertain a party with this small radio
- the radio is small, but heavy.
It would not be a great backpacker's radio.

On the whole, this is a wonderfully efficient small radio that works well. It would be great for people living "off the grid," for people who live in areas of frequent power loss, or for someone who just wants a very efficient portable radio for around the house.

Background:
I have owned this radio a few months,
and have used it a moderate amount.

Pros:
* Small size
* Seems sturdy
* Good sound
* Excellent power capability- solar and windup.

Minor peeves:
* No carry case provided, for a portable, travel radio
* In my opnion a cluttered user interface, with 19 buttons! Forget about finding the sleep, light, or snooze button in the dark!
* Does not always remember last sound level- Comes on louder than last volume level used.
* Very minor peeve- Volume setting, being digital, is not fine-grained enough for me.
* No A/C adapter supplied.

Major things that could be improved:
* LCD display very difficult to see- impossible except in direct light.
* It's a radio. It's a clock. So why no clock radio feature?! MUST WAKE TO BEEP INSTEAD OF MUSIC?!

Overall:
I like this radio. I truly appreciate it's alternative power features. I think some of it's other features could be improved.

Bought this radio two years ago, and it's still going strong. We leave it on the A/C charge 24/7 all the time. Much improved over the old Freeplay with the one-way wind up strip that broke if overwound. This one can't overwind, has a green light indicator for A/C, solar and manual charge. The green light lets you know you're winding the crank at the proper speed. Great battery charge life. Compact size is handy for power outages. Lots of buttons can be confusing, but the digital tuner with memory, scan and reliable alarm/sleep settings get the job done. Very pleased with this purchase.

This was sent as a Christmas gift to a missionary in Haiti. He is so pleased with it, because electricity is spotty at best and for the first time, he can listen to the radio when he wants. He says it gets many stations.

This radio sounds great, will play for 20 hours once charged, and has a hand crank and solar collector. Digital tuning and presets, alarm function, compact and solid. I have two--one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom.

This is a great little clock radio which runs on solar energy, hand crank energy, or AC adaptor.

In addition to being a nice "emergency" radio, it stands up in competition to traditional clock radios. It offers: pre-sets, sleep mode, and alarm. One drawback: It doesn't have a nice "snooze" button on top, so you do have to think about turning it off (and the buttons can seem small when the alarm wakes you).

I haven't played much with the shortwave, so I can't speak to it, but the radio does come with a nice long wire SW antenna that retracts into a nice round holder when not in use. The AM and FM bands work fine.

I've had mine close to two years, and use it daily. It seems that the battery pack has outlived it's life, and I emailed the company asking if they had replacements (none are listed on the web site, but the instructions do mention replacing them when the batteries die). Within a few hours of my email, I had a response asking for my address, and a new battery pack is in the mail to me as I write this. Great customer service, and they stand behind their product!!

In addition, if you surf their web site a bit, they are developing solar/wind up radios for developing countries where radio is often one of the main ways of communicating. They have a separate foundation that helps with this venture.

I had another wind up/solar radio before this one, and it had an internal spring that you wound (like an old clock). The spring broke once when a friend wound it up too tight. Freeplay instead uses rechargeable batteries that you charge up when you crank it. You can crank the crank in either direction, and there is no "stopping point" that you can't wind beyond.

The Freeplay Summit radio is an essential part of any emergency preparedness kit. As an added bonus, it is sturdy enough for everyday use as well. I purchased mine from Amazon; I only mention this because there seem to be some differences in the accessories received by previous reviewers.

What's included
*AC adapter (for North American outlets only)
*Supplemental detachable shortwave antenna (comes with winding spool)
*Multi-language instruction manual
*Brief guide to shortwave station frequencies

Operation
*AM and FM reception is straightforward. Just tune to the station you want to hear.
*Shortwave reception is more complex. For shortwave, you must unspool a long wire--the supplemental antenna--and clip it to the telescoping antenna on the radio. Then you have to look for broadcasts and find the optimal positioning for the wire.
*Longwave use does not require the second antenna but the signals seem to be highly directional. Reception often involves physically moving the radio around in order to find the best position.

Pros
*There are three ways to charge the internal batteries: the hand crank, the solar cells on the top of the radio, and the AC adapter.
*The radio feels like it is very solidly built and should last for a long time.
*For a single speaker radio, the sound quality is pretty good.
*Freeplay has a decent history of making self-powered products. Freeplay also helps support a foundation that provides self-powered lights, radios, and power generators to impoverished people, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cons
*The Ni-MH battery pack in the radio requires a certain amount of care and feeding, like all battery packs, and eventually will need to be replaced.
*The power adapter tip does not fit snugly into its jack and is very easy to pull out accidentally.
*Station scanning is not sensitive enough. If a station does not have a VERY strong signal, the radio will not automatically tune to it.
*Manual tuning in the US requires changing a hidden setting for best results. The default setting for the tuner is to make 9kHz steps in the AM band. In other words, if the radio is on 1260AM, hitting the "tune up" button changes the radio to 1269AM. Most US radios move in 10kHz steps (from 1260AM to 1270AM for this example) and US AM stations are usually at frequencies ending in 0, not multiples of 9.
*Similarly, the tuner's default is to make 0.05MHz steps for FM stations. Changing the hidden setting gives a 0.1MHz increment.
*The radio feels rather heavy for its size--despite the self-powering, you probably wouldn't want to bring it to a baseball or football game.


Bottom line: despite some minor quibbles, the Freeplay Summit is a fine radio overall. Every household should own at least one for use during disasters, emergencies, and power outages.

I sent mine back the next day after getting it. With only an up/down scan button to find stations, it skipped over any station that wasn't putting out a 'super' signal. Maybe the crank and solar features would be good, but "I" prefer to be the one to select which stations I want to listen to...not the "radio".

After looking for a sturdy emergency radio - with decent sound, I came across The Freeplay Summit. This is a well build radio with a power crank that won't fall apart in your hand. The speaker produces great sound for its size. The solar panel and the AC/DC 6V adapter charge the battery pack efficiently . I found the button array functional, easy to use, and not at all confusing. The radio has a default setting of 9kHz MW and .05mHz FM that can be changed to scan in 10kHz and .1 mHz. The latter is better for scanning US frequencies. The radio missed a 5 star rating because AM reception is just OK, FM is good, but it is a good thing the radio comes with a clip-on long wire antenna reel for SW - it is necessary. I would also like to see the manufacturer incorporate a weather band into the unit. All in all, the Freeplay Summit is a good sounding well built unit that gives the most bang for the buck of any emergency radio I have seen.

I have owned several crank radios, and several shortwave radios. For me this is the best one of both that I have owned. I don't like to spend a lot of money on small radios, so usually I end up with something that doesn't last or perform well. This is the best made crank radio I have owned. Very solid construction. It doesn't feel like it's going to slip or break while cranking. I also like the digital tuner on the radio. Don't be fooled by shortwave radios that have a digital display but actually have analog tuners. They are cheap, and drift like crazy.