Customer Reviews

Kaito Electronics, Inc. Portable Dynamo & Solar-Powered Radio and Cell Phone Charger

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

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.

I bought this item just over a year and a half ago, and it's served my needs very well. Frequent camping trips, occasional blackouts and the possibility of it being the only means of receiving important information in an emergency situation, this radio has proven time and again that it's the right choice for what I want it for.

I've taken this sucker camping 12 times and never been disappointed. I've left my car phone charger home by accident twice and the KA500's dynamo charged it (motorola razor) with ten minutes of cranking. I've dropped it, kicked it, even left it out in the camper in sub-zero temperatures for a week and it still works like new.

My girl likes to have a radio or tv on while she's falling asleep and the same ten minutes of cranking put out 40 minutes of shortwave or FM radio for her to fall asleep by, in the middle of the Wisconsin north woods far from any other person.

Three times since I bought this product the power has gone out in my area, and twice it was because of weather-related emergencies. This radio brings the NOAA weather alerts right to us during blackouts and keeps us up to speed.

More than a few times I've stretched out the shortwave clip-on antenna and have been able to listen to radio france or argentina simply by clipping it on and throwing it over a tree branch.

Most of the bad reviews of this product are due to user error; you need to crank the dynamo for more than two minutes to charge the battery, you need to read the packaging or advertised product description to know what's in the box, you need to crank it in small, tight and steady turns - just like any other dynamo-charged product - and not be overzealous and rip the crank handle off. It's very durable as long as you don't act like your trying to power a full-sized refrigerator. Don't let a few ignoramuses spoil you on this really good deal on a very good emergency radio.

I bought the KA500 to use for emergencies and camping. I have 3 other Kaito radios: the KA007 crank radio, the KA-1103 multiband, and the KA2100. The 1103 and 2100 are really fine radios with truly impressive reception, especially the 1103. On the other hand, I was very disappointed in the KA007, as the radio reception on all its bands is barely acceptable, with terrible selectivity resulting in stations bleeding through all over the dial. The weather reception on the 007 was awful, as was the VHF and the FM.
I hoped this would be a better performing version of the 007, and it is - but not as much as I'd hoped for. The weather reception is definitely improved over the 007, and now is almost as good as my dedicated weather radios. The SW seems more sensitive now, and seems to have better selectivity. Not fabulous but good enough for a radio that is not primarily intended as a world-band radio. However, the FM is still pretty bad. Here in the Boston area, there are two public radio stations that are fairly strong, and come in on pretty much any radio - yet I could not get either one on the KA500, let alone the weaker local stations. This means that for me, it's not usable as an everyday radio - only for emergencies.

There is no question that this radio has about every feature you could ask for in an emergency radio (except maybe a siren of some kind). It's very well thought out, and the ability to power it in so many ways, as well as charge other things from it is great. However, given that Kaito's higher end radios have really impressive sensitivity and selectivity, it's a shame they still haven't created an emergency/crank radio that uses any of their higher end technology. After all, wouldn't you want the best possible receiver in an emergency?

Kaito's digital world band radios start around $55, and their analog high sensitivity models can be had for $35. I'd have happily paid another $15-20 for a much better receiver. Currently, none of the crank and solar panel radios are much better - they all seem to sacrifice receiver quality, which makes no sense to me. I hope in the future Kaito will offer a model with the features of the KA500 but a receiver at least as good as the KA1101.

We purchased this radio to have in our emergency kits. It is an impressive little dynamo! It only took a few cranks to fire up the radio and the lights. The lights are very bright. The weather station came up very well as well as all the other stations we tuned into. It is solid. Very nice. We also purchased the AC adapter made by Kaito. Plenty of options to power it up. Highly recommend this little radio.

This radio is awesome! I also have a KA 1102. I bought this one to use during severe weather since we sometimes have tornadoes and severe thunderstorms where I live. I was thinking about using the crank and solar panel if we were ever without electricity. I am very pleased with the performance of this radio and now I use it more than the ka 1102. I amgoing to buy another and send it to my mother so she can use it during severe weather also. The reception on FM/AM and SW is very good. The weather radio is about typical for where we live -- it is never exceptionally good on any radio here where we live, so I don't really think the radio is the problem with that.

Turning the crank for a minute gives you plenty of listening time, and the reading light under the solar panel is really nice. This radio is perfect and is exactly what I was looking for. The first time I tried the shortwave bands, I got a station from The Ukraine and China Radio International with very good reception.

And I am impressed by the many ways you can charge this radio. I tried them all except for putting regular batteries in and the AC charger, and they work well.

Overall, I feel like this is one of the best things I have ever purchased. Few things there are anymore that I can say I am very happy with, but about this radio I can say it. I would give it an A+++.

This thing has it all. If you look at other "cheaper" products, you'll notice that everything is run by the battery. In otherwords, you use the crank to charge the battery. Well guess what, if the battery dies the product wont work. With this, you can use the crank with or without the battery. That's why I got it, and love it.

I was skeptical of buying this with the drastic mixed reviews. I feel compelled to share my own to hopefully help you. I was thoroughly satisfied with the radio. The instructions are simple ( you really don't even need them ). The device is quite user-friendly, has many features, and i had zero problems with reception living in rural NC. Having zero radio experience i was afraid the weather radio would be a pain to tune to. You simply click the knob til you hear it. Sound quality is perfectly fine, to be expected. I haven't had it long enough to review the battery life, but simply having the rechargable battery with solar (probably best preference) and hand-charge for emergency, i bought the AC Adaptor and it works fine. I'm 110% satisfied so far. I hope this helps. I did tons of looking around for good weather/solar radios and seem to have found the same mixed reviews with all of them. I was skeptical with all of them but decided to take a gamble on this one and it seems to be working fine.

Just adding another piece to my review. I'm picking up Alex Jones from Austin, TX on Shortwave 12.160MHz in Smithfield, NC. I can hear him clear as day. Amazing. A MUST HAVE. I did buy the extended antenna but I haven't tested it yet. With the clarity (in and out) of this broadcast without the antennta i'm certain it will be perfect once i run it to the roof of the house. Excellent buy.

Pros:

Good concept - solar, crank, AC and AA battery powered.
Radio looks good and feels substantial.
Radio works OK on AC and AA battery.

Cons:
NIMh battery would not charge to a level sufficient to play radio. Cranked it for several minutes; left it in sun for several days and also left it plugged to AC for several days and it still did not charge (yes I did plug the NiMh battery in as per instuctions). Not sure whether this is a bad battery or bad charging circuit.
There was static on AM radio when running on AC: AA battery power generated no static.

Since I felt that the quality control was poor, I returned it today and will seek another brand. As a side note, this is the first item I have ever had to return to Amazon in several years with many purchases. I found the process simple and efficient. Kudos to Amazon.

Overall a good radio. If the solar panel were larger, it would work better in the sun. I hooked up a large C. Crane solar panel and it charged the batteries really fast and kept the radio going as the sun came in and out.

The radio seems sensitive on all bands, and the sound is crisp not hi fi. The GE super radio has better sensitivity on AM/FM of course, but Kaito would be fine in emergencies for local radio reception. i like the broad shortwave coverage..so you'd be able to tune the most busy shortwave bands in an emergency.

I used it to charge my cell phone and it worked great.

My only concerns are:
1. there is considerable tuning mechanism backlash on my unit--its easy to 'tune past' a shortwave station, and then its hard to reverse to tune it again--the tuning is not mechanically precise enough. i wish the tuning mechanism were more stable.
2. the radio is not super rugged-- would wish for a more solid robust package and as i mentioned above, a better analog tuning system (not digital because it draws more power).

The C. Crane solar panel I have is discontinued, but I like it a lot with this radio because the large panel really charges the batteries quickly and is more able to provide power when the sun goes behind a cloud.

I had this radio along on a 2 week camping trip. Won't go so much into what is good about it...because most everything works as expected. I just see room for a few improvements:

1) When camping...finding a real stable surface to sit things like a radio on can be difficult. Found that the radio tended to fall over too easily...and if it falls from any height...this can loosen or break the antenna...so I plan to put a couple of wider "legs" on the bottom for more support.

2) I couldn't get any stations to come in on band 2 with the SW.

3) Everything else worked OK...except that the radio seemed to only keep playing by the solar panel in full sun...with no provision to just charge the batteries without the radio being on.

The NOAA weather worked well...found a channel in most places...as long as I wasn't in a low spot.

Crank charging seems to work well...same for the lights.

I do hesitate to buy devices with so many features...since in my experience some part of them always seems to go bad...but so far this radio does what it is claimed to do.