Overview:
(Short Version)
This radio earned a 5-stars rating for the reason that I have used and tested this radio for several months now and find the performance and features of this radio to meet and often exceed my expectations for an emergency / camping radio.
(Long Version)
For those who want a lot more information about this radio, below is a very long detailed review. If you are interested in this radio, this should be an informative review. Amazon displays only the first half of the review and to see it all you need to click on the blue "read more >" link at the bottom of the text. I tried to include information not previously mentioned in other reviews or available in the Amazon description. Included, is general information for improving the use of this or any radio's performance. This review is not too technical (this review is aimed mostly at the beginning user), but radios are technical instruments and will need a very slight technical understanding to achieve maximum performance.
Blue highlighted texts are links that you may click on to see the additional products on Amazon referred to in the review. None of these other Amazon accessory products are necessary to use the radio, but may be useful to get more performance from this radio or any radio for that matter and are included only as helpful guides.
Purpose:
This radio was purchased primarily to be an emergency grid-down (power failure) or off-grid (camping) radio. Some folks may not fully realize how important a source of reliable communications and lighting are in an emergency, until they do not have them. The radio is loaded with features that will be very useful when faced with a grid-down or off-grid situation. The radio is not the ultimate in shortwave portables on the market, but is does a great job pulling in the lots of shortwave broadcasts with a good antenna. It meets its intended purpose by giving the user plenty of emergency lighting and ability to hear important local, regional and international information when needed.
Emergencies have a nasty habit of not announcing their occurrence in advance. This radio fills the niche of a "go to radio/light" when the lights go out or really bad weather is on the way. If things are getting really primitive, whether grid-down or off-grid, then you will be grateful for the intelligently integrated features of this radio. This radio has become my first choice for a dependable portable emergency radio.
Construction:
The radio is well made, light and durable enough to take in a backpack. Loaded with 3 alkaline AA cells the radio weighs 23.4 oz. (600 grams), reasonable weight for all the features. The case of the radio is made of a good grade plastic that appears very durable. The radio has nice rounded corners and hinges, buttons and pieces fit very tight. The construction is first class, unlike a lot of other poor quality "emergency" radios also on the market.
Battery Power Sources:
The radio has two sources of power from batteries, a built-in NiMH battery (supplied) and provisions for AA alkaline batteries. The radio comes supplied with an internal 600 maH NiMH (nickel metal hydride) rechargeable battery. The battery compartment uses 3 replaceable AA alkaline batteries, available in just about any store (Duracell, Energizer, etc.). Batteries are one of the first things to disappear from a store in an emergency, it is wise to have plenty in the house now.
Internal NIMH Rechargeable Battery:
The radio never really shuts off, because it displays the date, time, temperature and humidity all the time, which is a nice feature. The power for these features comes from the internal rechargeable 600 milliamp-hour NiMH battery. The NiMH batteries can power all the features of the radio and lights. The NiMH rechargeable battery is a very common type used in cordless home telephone handsets (about $10 at big box stores), so when it wears out in 5-10 years, a low cost replacement is readily available and easy to access through the battery compartment. Kaitousa sells a replacement NiMH battery for $9.95.
The radio has a nice display that shows when the NiMH battery is charging, it scrolls left to right during charging and when charged, all bars show and scrolling stops. The display also gives a rough indication of the charge remaining in the battery. If you deplete the NiMH charge, you still have a backup power source of the alkaline AA batteries (or rechargeable Eneloops
Sanyo NEW 1500 eneloop 8 Pack AA Ni-MH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries) to power the radio. The radio protects the NiMH batteries by shutting down early and a Low Batt light blinks until the NiMH batteries are recharged. This saves the stored memory from being erased and prevents the NiMH from complete discharge, which may reduce the life of the batteries. When new in the box the radio has the NiMH batteries disconnected and you will need to plug them in prior to use.
Modern NiMH (Nickel-Metal-Hydride) batteries are great compared to the older Ni-Cad rechargeable batteries. They last much longer (Sanyo Eneloop rates their newest NiMH AA batteries at 1500 charge-discharge cycles). They can replace an alkaline battery in virtually every way, except initial cost, but over the long term are much cheaper than alkaline batteries. My personal experience with Eneloops is that they require between 90 - 100 maH of charge every month topping them off to 1.45 volts with a Powerex charger (
Maha Powerex Wizard One MH-C9000 Advanced Battery Charger and Analyzer - Free Deluxe Accessory Storage Case Included). This is a first class charger that can also be powered directly from 12 volts in an emergency with a coaxial plug adapter. As a bonus the Powerex charger's padded case fits the KA-600 perfectly.
Power Consumption of Various Features:
The question is "How long will the NiMH internal batteries or the AA Alkaline batteries last?", since this radio is for emergency and off-grid use. The chart below assumes 600 maH (milliamp-hour) capacity for the NiMH batteries and 2000 maH capacity for the AA Alkaline or rechargeables (numbers in parenthesis are actual measurements made on my radio in milliamps (ma):
Estimated Life with 600 maH NiMH batteries:
Backlight Only---------(6 ma): 100 hours
Radio Low Volume----(28 ma): 21 hours
Radio High Volume---(35 ma): 17 hours
Weather Alert On-----(26 ma): 23 hours
Flashlight-------------(25 ma): 24 hours
Reading Light---------(28 ma): 21 hours
Estimated Life with 2000 maH Alkaline batteries:
Backlight Only---------(6 ma): 333 hours
Radio Low Volume----(28 ma): 71 hours
Radio High Volume---(35 ma): 57 hours
Weather Alert On-----(26 ma): 77 hours
Flashlight-------------(25 ma): 80 hours
Reading Light---------(28 ma): 71 hours
For these measurements on radio power consumption "Low Volume" was the minimum to hear the radio clearly when it is a few feet away. "High Volume" was the volume control turned about 50% of the way up, plenty of volume for a room or outdoors.
If you are using more than one feature at a time, such as the radio and the flashlight, then the times will be significantly shorter (about half, 11 hours using NiMH and 38 hours using Alkaline cells). An unusual item discovered during power consumption testing is the Weather Alert feature draws almost as much power as using the Radio Low Volume function. So be aware that the radio consumes the batteries (as if it were turned on, approximately 77 hours, a little over 3 days continuous time on the AA batteries) in the silent Weather Alert mode.
This will at least give us a close estimate of how long we can depend on the radio to function under various modes. Always having lots of extra AA batteries is a very good idea. It simplifies keeping the lights and radio playing, without the need to use solar or the crank. You can even use the reading light to light the battery compartment while changing the AA batteries.
When a power source is depleted or unavailable the radio will tell you to "Select Power", meaning the power source is not available when the source is selected with the 3 position power switch.
Multiple Charging Methods:
This is where this radio really shines, the ability to use multiple methods to keep the radio operating. The radio's recharging circuits are for the 600 ma NiMH battery only. A USB adapter cable like (
Philips SWR1249/17 Retractable USB 2.0 Adapter Kit) or the 6V wall plug charger (not supplied,
Kaito Electronics Inc. AD500 AC Adapter for Kaito Voyager KA500 series Radios) work quickly to charge the radio. There is a 12 volt cigarette lighter adapter (CLA) with 2 USB and 2 CLA ports available on Amazon made by Bestek, which will allow mobile charging from a 12 volt source via USB (
BESTEK car cigarette lighter socket usb socket car charger Cigarette Lighter adapter dc to dc adapter for car charger adapter usb car charger socket car adapter socket car socket splitter car splitter adapter 3 way plug socket usb socket outlet three wa...).
Mobile Charging:
The above Bestek USB CLA (or similar) adapter gives the mobile user more options for power.
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