Customer Reviews

Kaito Electronics Inc. KA500BLK Voyager Solar/Dynamo Emergency Radio - Black

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I tested the KA500 along with several other self-powered radios for a project I'm working on in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. I found that the KA500 is a very capable shortwave receiver it's just not nearly as rugged as its competitors. Here are my thoughts:

What I like about the KA500:
- Solar Panel--the KA500 is one of the only portable shortwave receivers out there with a built-in solar panel. The panel is effective enough that it will power the radio (if in direct sunlight) without batteries and produce a reasonable amount of volume through its built-in speaker.

- The 5 LED reading lamp -- This reading lamp is impressive. If the batteries are fully charged, the lamp works for VERY long periods of time. I'm also an amateur radio operator and found that the reading lamp is bright enough that it lit up my large radio table.

- Good shortwave sensitivity -- For a self-powered analog radio, I was impressed with the shortwave sensitivity. I also found the AM broadcast and FM bands adequate/average.

- Good selectivity -- When a station is tuned-in well, you don't often hear adjacent signals.

- Good frequency coverage -- I like the fact that KA500 covers the NOAA weather frequencies, FM, AM and a very large portion of the SW spectrum (from 3.2 MHZ to 22MHz, missing only a little used piece between 8 & 9 MHz)

What I didn't like:
- Quality -- Though the radio feels solid in your hand, I found through my testing that the quality of the KA500 is actually quite poor. More than once, the tuning mechanism would slip and the needle would get stuck in the middle of the dial. The worst part, though, is the poor quality of the hand-crank mechanism. The dynamo and crank arm feel cheap. Well, they are cheap. After only a month of occasional testing--and with me being very careful with the hand crank--the dynamo started showing signs of failing. The crank became less fluid to turn and would rub the side of the radio chassis. One day, while slowly cranking, the crank arm just snapped in half. No more crank power.

- No Fine Tune control -- Kaito fits the whole SW1 and SW2 spectrum on a small dial. There were a few times I wish this radio had a fine tune control like the Grundig FR200.

BOTTOM LINE:
I sent my KA500 back and did not get it replaced. It's a shame, really. I loved the radio's features and overall performance, but was very disappointed with quality.

I could only recommend this radio to someone who plans on tucking it away and using it on rare occasions or someone who wants a basic full-featured radio but never plans on using the hand-crank. I'd also keep the receipt handy for the return (and buy from an authorized dealer like Amazon or Universal Radio).

For my purposes, I will be using the Grundig/Etón FR350 and the FR200. The difference in quality between these and the KA500 is night and day. The Grundigs/Etóns are very rugged, water resistant and time tested. The crank arms are made better and even after long-term use, continue to function properly. They're simply designed and tested better (before hitting the retail shelf).

Sure wish Kaito would work on the quality of the KA500, they'd have a very competitive product. For now, I'll stick with Etón!

KAITO KA500 VERY VERSATILE
If considering the Kaito KA500, you want a highly portable radio that does it all. I did. I wanted a radio with versatility in (a) sources of power input and (b) radio signals received.
Public radio served me well weathering Hurricane Katrina's aftermath with a plain boom box. But what if things get dicier? My solution was to put together a disaster/camping/survival pack. And I needed a radio.
I settled in on the Kaito KA500, because nothing else came so close to providing abundant sources of power and station signals. Internet searchings I did indicated sales to military, a good sign. I bought one with the optional antenna you reel out for 23 feet. Here's what I found.
FEATURES
1. Multiple sources of power: It's powered by 3 AA batteries you buy, or crank to charge the built-in Ni-MH battery pack, or use solar panel on back with tilting hinge for charging the battery pack, or connect computer USB to charge the battery pack, or use the AC adaptor to charge the battery pack.
2. Multiple sources of signals: AM, FM, all 7 NOAA weather channels on crystal (NOT analog knob) tuning, SW1, and SW2.
3. Bonus features beyond these basics: White LED flashlight, red flashing LED emergency signal light, 5-LED reading light built into the reverse side of the solar charging cells so it tilts up and down to adjust, and ear bud earphones. These LED light features are powered as is the radio, so they can work with multiple sources of power with no filament bulbs to burn out. The KA500 also includes a USB output jack with wire that fits onto five different cellphone and personal electronic devices to charge them, and all these items come with the unit.
4. Optional features: Long 23 foot antenna you can string out and clamp to the stick-up antenna that reels back into a closed spool 3 inches in diameter, AC adaptor, USB cable for charging the KA500.
EVALUATIVE REVIEW OF FEATURES
1. Sources of power
a. Before putting in any bought batteries, I cranked the radio up for about a minute, and the small light on the front said it was fully charged. It ran for 10-15 minutes without any problems receiving an FM station before I put in the store-bought batteries.
b. The store-bought batteries worked fine.
c. I have not yet used the solar charger, nor ordered the optional AC charger, nor ordered the optional USB charger that charges the battery pack. I have no reason to believe any of these would not work, as everything else has worked.
2. Sources of radio signal
a. FM signals came in fine. The output is mono but quite acceptable.
b. AM signals also came in fine, the usual many signals.
c. SW bands pulled in a lot of stations, somewhat more clearly than AM (I did this testing at night). I got perhaps half foreign language stations, mostly Spanish.
d. NOAA weather was great in another city, mediocre but intelligible here on the Gulf Coast. A separate knob is devoted solely receiving just the seven weather stations, which are received digitally using crystals.
3. Tuning and sound
a. The tuning knob worked fine, as did all other controls.
b. Sound quality was OK When MPB public radio played some vintage Earl Skruggs it was pleasant over the small built in speaker. The earphones actually added some bass. I count decent sound as a bonus, as I did not buy the KA500 for excellence of sound quality. I bought it for getting any intelligible signal under duress.
4. Bonus features
a. The LED flashlight does what one LED does, the same as the one on my keychain and 1/3 as bright as the three on my cap clip-on light.
b. The red flashing LED worked well. It is likely visible for an unobstructed mile or more, probably farther over water.
c. The reading lamp is a real jewel. I turned off all my lights and tried to read. Reading was easy, so this radio can also be a good tent light, has a strap up top.
d. The long antenna boosted reception a bit, not greatly. It improved marginal signals.
CONCLUSION
The Kaito KA500 gives me amazingly versatile sources of power and radio signals for its price. The bonus features make it real bargain. If you want an emergency portable radio of modest price, the best chance of powering up under duress, the widest variety of signals of practical use in a disaster/camping/survival situation, plus a bunch of bonus features, I'd say the KA500 is your best bet by far.
HINTS
1. Keep the bubble wrap the radio comes in and tape the flap shut with duct tape for protection in your pack. Put it in a gallon glad bag and you're set.
2. If preparing for emergencies, online resources offer a lot. I liked:
a. Doug Ritter's many recommendations and supplies. He has set up a foundation "Equipped to Survive" and truly has his heart into survival oriented outdoor gear. You can even download his survival sheet free on that foundation website. You can also spend about a half hour reading the details about his Pocket Survival Pak, which I bought on Amazon. You can spend another half hour reading why he included the items he did in the pak and how he selected his survival instructions. You gotta love this guy.
b. Good survival manuals sold by Amazon, Wiseman's usually topping rankings.

The following is my experiences with this radio :

NEGATIVES

I live in a rural area of America with a elevation of about 200 ft above sea level . My location has extremely poor radio station transmitions and this Kaito radio does not pull in stations to well. VERY POOR RECPETION IN MY AREA.

I keep my radio in a window where it is always in the sunlight, but the included rechargeable battery pack would not charge up by solar power. I decided to get out my multimeter and test the d.c voltage output of the flip up solar panel . Heres the problem ;

In the brightest sunlight possible, my solar panel was only putting out about 3 volts . In normal sunlight , sitting in my window, it was putting out about 1.5 volts. This will not charge the 3.6 volt batter pack. Luckily I had a extra small solar panel from another solar radio. I took the solar panel compartment on the Kaito apart, and then soldered the other solar panel in parallel and then hot glues that solar panel to the flip out lid, so both solar panels would get sunlight. Now I get 3.8 volts in full sunlight, which is perfect for charging the 3.6 volt rechargeable battery pack. I dont know if other Kaito radios have this problem, but mine did.

Positives ;

the radio has a great flip up LED lamp , which throws out significant light, enough to read by in pitch dark. It also has a 1 LED light to use as a flashlight feature. The NOAA weather alert is a nice feature. The single speaker sounds fine and at night I have gotten a few shortwave stations.

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!

I returned this radio because it gave me very poor AM and FM reception -- especially for [...] bucks!

I could only pick up 2 stations on each band, compared to 2 other (cheaper) radios that I brought in the same room to compare, which had no trouble getting good reception on all local stations.

Reception on other bands was fine, but AM & FM are so fundamental in an emergency where I am, the gulf coast hurricane zone, that this radio is useless... Maybe mine just had a bad tuner (although I've never heard that one before).

The other thing: USB cables have different connectors on each end because they are meant to be one-way: there's the more square end (called an B-connector) and the more flattened end (called A)... This radio only has an A connector, making it impossible to charge via USB connection to your computer as is described in the manual. You could do it with a special male A-A cable, but that can potentially damage the radio and/or computer -- that's why they make the cables one-way!

Other than these 2 points (the first being a deal-breaker), the radio seemed quality.

Though many buy it to keep handy in the trunk of their cars, the Kaito Voyager KA500 is not really just an emergency radio. It makes a great all around radio companion.

If you listen to a lot of radio for talk and/or music, take it throughout your house. Use it at your desk, use it beside your bed, take it to the restroom when you shower or when you are just resting, take it outside in the yard, take it to work, and take it on outings.

BANDS: It comes with AM and FM, both providing excellent reception (though the FM is not in stereo), has all seven NOAA weather bands, and has two short wave bands covering most of the spectrum.

POWER: It can be powered elegantly by 1) An optional AC adapter; 2) Three AA Batteries; 3) a connection to a USB port on a computer; 4) a solar panel which powers the radio when on, or charges it when off. Just keep by a window when not in use (the manual even claims that it responds to indoor light); and 5) its internal, replaceable, rechargeable battery pack.

CHARGING OF THE INTERNAL BATTERIES: The internal batteries (as distinct from the three AA batteries) can be charged by 1) the AC adapter; 2) the USB cable; 3)the solar panel; 4) probably by a DC car cigarette lighter adapter from a third party; and 5) by a concealable crank on the left side. One minute yields about an hour of radio play. And though it turns very easily, I would still always recommend caution with such devices. ** The fully charged internal batteries will easily yield a few days of on and off play.

OTHER FEATURES: It has a single-LED flashlight and a single-LED flashing red light on the right side which others here have claimed is visible for a mile. It has a highly functional five-LED reading light located on the underside of the solar panel which can swivel 180 degrees up and down or lay flush against the back of the radio. The positional flexibility significantly optimizes both reading and charging by sunlight. All light systems are charged and powered by all the same methods used for the radio. It has the ability to charge cell phones and comes with an appropriate cable and five connectors to support a wide range, with other ones supposedly being available. A common 2.5mm connector for my Nokia 5310 was unfortunately not included.

COMPARED TO THE LAST MODEL, KAITO 007: The pair of Kaito 007s I have had for more than five years are still for sale at Amazon and still garner a price only $10 less then the Kaito Voyager KA500. The older model lacked the weather channels, but had TV audio instead (would have been nice to have had again). It had none of the lights, cell phone charging, or USB powering and charging. The new one has a far superior solar power system, a cool rubberized coating, and is water resistant. The antenna now telescopes into the radio housing instead of folding and just sitting visible across the top of the radio. The integrated handle of the older model has been replaced by a combination rubber and canvas strap, which is just fine. And, most important, the rechargeable batteries are now replaceable, making the potential lifespan of the product unlimited. The batteries on my last one gave out after about five years and it became an AC-only radio thereafter.

CONCLUSION: Sure, a couple of the reviews complained about one or another feature not working properly. But that shouldn't matter either. The personnel at Kaito's facility here in Southern California are exceptionally kind, professional, and responsive, and the unit comes with a full one-year warranty. I've bought over five radios from Kaito, mostly from their own warehouse site, including a great pocket radio powered strictly by the sun, and there's no other company I trust more for the quality of their products and the decency of their staff.

OTHER: If you asked me to register any complaints about the Kaito Voyager KA500, I would probably have to say that it does not stand as securely as it could. When you bump it, it rocks a bit, then quickly resumes its position, like those weighted punching bag toys that always roll back up into a standing position after being punched. But that's really being picky. But you asked. I agree with those reviewers who marvel that it is not just one of the best emergency radios, that it is not just one of the best radios period, but that, for about $50, it is even one of the best products of any kind for the money. Remember that the AC power cord is not included, but is $9.99 extra and also available from them or from Amazon, and the USB charging cable is neither included or available from Kaito. Certainly Amazon carries one. But be sure to get one with standard male USB connectors on both ends. Great product. I've got two. Can't say enough.

The Good:
-Features: This radio had all the features I was looking for. AM/FM, Shortwave, weather, NOAA, Crank charge, and even solar charger.
-Form Factor: Perfect size and shape, nice tuning meter.
-LED Lighting: Great LED Light, nice and bright in the short time it lasts.

The Bad:
-Performance: Radio only operates for 3 - 5 min at a time. I let the batter charge in the sun all day, even crank charged it for 5 min. The radio lasts about 3 min then dies out. The light however will continue to shine for quite some time, although is only bright for a few min.
-Lack of Quality: The Crank, Knobs, and switches seem cheaply made and easily breakable. The solar panel, while a nice design, also appears to be easily breakable. I would expect an emergency radio to be built more durable.

I originally purchased this as a gift over a year ago but the first one was defective so exchanged it. Second one was also defective but I liked the features so decided to try a third ... bad decision. After only a couple times the crank handle broke and cannot be repaired. The solar panel, which never did a good job, stopped working about 6 months ago, and now the weather band including the alert function is no longer receiving anything. The AM-FM and SW banks seem to be ok, but their selectivity is poor. I generally have good luck on things like this but cannot recommend this radio at any price.

I bought this radio for use as my backup emergency radio, or to use on camping trips. I liked all the features it had: solar panel, hand crank, NOAA stations and shortwave etc... None of this means anything when they don't work right. The hand crank feels so cheap I'm afraid to crank it because I think it will break. Also, I can get only a few stations to come in on FM or AM, and none in shortwave... And I live in a city! The speaker on it is horrible, it puts out more static than stuff you can understand. All in all I would not have purchased this radio if I had to do it over again. It doesn't even come with a wall charger which is pretty much standard on everything these days. Save your money and buy something better, even if it doesn't have all the features. One feature that works well is better than seven that don't work at all. I gave it 2 stars because I got it quickly and everything is technically functional, just horrible quality.

This radio is priced about 25 dollars too high, the receiver is just not sensitive enough poor separation of channels and needs noise canceling.It will do in a pinch but, if you want quality then keep looking.