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Kaito Voyager Pro KA600 Digital Solar/Dynamo AM/FM/LW/SW & NOAA Weather Emergency Radio with Alert & RDS, Black
 
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Kaito Voyager Pro KA600 Digital Solar/Dynamo AM/FM/LW/SW & NOAA Weather Emergency Radio with Alert & RDS, Black

by Kaito
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Electronnix.

Frequently Bought Together

Kaito Voyager Pro KA600 Digital Solar/Dynamo AM/FM/LW/SW & NOAA Weather Emergency Radio with Alert & RDS, Black + Kaito AD500 AC Adapter for Kaito Voyager Series Radios + Sangean ANT-60 Short Wave Antenna
Price For All Three: $100.86

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  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Electronnix.
    $7.13 shipping.

  • Kaito AD500 AC Adapter for Kaito Voyager Series Radios $9.99

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    Sold by Electronnix and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Sangean ANT-60 Short Wave Antenna $10.88

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Technical Details

  • AM/FM/LW Shortwave & NOAA weather radio with back-lit digital display, NOAA all hazards alert & RDS
  • 4 tuning methods including manual, direct digit entry, ATS & memory tuning with 335 memories for easy access to favorite stations
  • Calendar, alarm clock with dual settings, sleep timer, thermometer & humidity meter
  • 180-degree adjustable solar panel with 5-LED reading lamp
  • Auxiliary input jack available for external audio devices
  See more technical details

Product Details

  • Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 2.8 x 5.8 inches ; 1 pounds
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • ASIN: B0051QJJ1E
  • Item model number: KA600
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #965 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • Date first available at Amazon.com: May 19, 2011

Product Description

What is RDS?

Radio Data System, or RDS, is a communications protocol standard for embedding amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts. RDS standardizes several types of information transmitted, including time, station identification & program information.

What is NOAA Alert?

Connected to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) through NWR (National Weather Radio) network provided by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association), this feature will automatically activate the radio to inform you of any hazardous weather conditions or warnings including natural, environmental and public safety while the radio is set at the "Alert" mode.

The newest and most advanced model from Kaito's Voyager radio family, the KA600 Voyager Pro is designed for both everyday use & emergency preparedness applications. It offers different methods to power up including optional AC/DC adapter, three AA batteries (not included), the built-in rechargeable Ni-MH battery that can be charged by the AC adapter, hand cranking or a computer, and the patented flip-up 180-degree adjustable solar panel provides power for the radio even when no battery is installed. With its revolutionary design and versatile functions, it's not only an ideal choice of a bedside radio but also an indispensable tool for emergency preparedness purposes, travelling, camping, backpacking and other outdoor activities.

Specifications:

FM: 88 - 108 MHz
AM (MW): 520 -1710 KHz
LW (longwave): 150 - 521 KHz
SW (shortwave): 2,300-23,000 KHz
NOAA Weather: 1 - 7
Internal speaker: Diameter 66 mm
Headset jack socket: 3.5 mm
Sensitivity:
FM ? 10uV
MW ? 1mV/m
SW ? 30uV
Rechargeable batteries: 3 Ni-MH batteries 600mAh
Dimensions: 9 ˝ x 5 ˝ x 2 ˝ inches
Weight: 1 Lbs

Accessories:

User manual
Earphones
Warranty card


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
179 of 182 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
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. Read more ›
Was this review helpful to you?
45 of 48 people found the following review helpful
I Dig It! August 29, 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
I have had this radio a few weeks now - but haven't tried charging the battery via solar yet.
So I will tell you about the stuff I know about....
I DID notice that there was a warning in the manual NOT to leave the radio
in direct sunlight for too long - which is funny given the product being discussed.

It's a decent radio - sounds good for a single speaker ditty.
I mean - It's no BOSE, but it delivers the weather like you want it; clean and clear.

Here's why it gets 4 stars:

The case is really well built and feels solid - not like a cheap toy.
The radio gets good reception on local stations and the weather stations.
I like the scanning feature for the SW a lot. It saves a lot of time.
The extra stuff like the thermostat and lights actually work well and the RDS display is nice.
The flashlight is bright enough to really annoy my wife while she is seriously playing her MMORPG.
The radio has a groovy handle on it you will never use but it looks James Bond cool just the same.
They sent some earbuds I wasn't expecting and I appreciate that.
The instructions are well written and in plain English.

Here's why it don't get 5 stars:

I think if you were stupid and didn't know your own strength -
you would break the generator crank off pretty easily.
It's not built too tough so don't let the kids crank it.
The radio tuning knob on my radio has loosey goosey give in it for half a turn and then tightens up.
This doesn't affect the digital tuning any but it's weird and I don't like it.
PLUS - there's no fine tuning adjustment and that's bad.
You get the staticky stations you get and that's it.
I bought the 20' antenna extension. I think it helps but I didn't do much comparison testing.
That said - I'm not pulling in as many SW signals as I had dreamt of getting when I bought this product.
There is a LOT of dead air and I think a better SW radio would find more talkers. But I'm guessing.
And also - many people in the world don't have the common courtesy to speak english and this radio doesn't translate.
ha ha.
Also - this radio doesn't do SAME channels and specific alerts for the weather.
So that kinda sucks. But in all fairness - they didn't claim it does and I didn't expect it did.

Anyway - I like this thing a lot and would buy another for a backup in case some idiot broke my generator handle off during the apocalypse.
I think I will save up my coin and buy the more expensive Grundig with the SW fine tuning knob.
Because I want to hear people speak in languages I don't understand - more clearly.
I did not drop it to see how durable the case is.
For that review you will have to find the same person who broke their dyno handle.

CHOW!
Was this review helpful to you?
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Worth the money! August 29, 2011
By Rufus
Amazon Verified Purchase
As reviewers of similar products have stated, the receiver on most crank radios is not usually of the best quality. The tuners are generally not very sensitive and tend to drift. That's also the case with a cheaper emergency crank radio I have. After researching many different radios on Amazon, I was of the conclusion that there were probably none that had exactly the features I was looking for but also were of good quality.

Finally, I found the KA600. It actually did have everything I was looking for (many didn't have shortwave). This thing is loaded with features. The tuner, being digital also works well and eliminates the sensitivity and drift problems. The quality of the unit seams to be pretty good. I love the charge-by-USB feature, as well as the fact that I can charge a USB device by hand-cranking.

I don't think you will be disappointed with this radio after purchasing it.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Kaito Voyager Pro KA600
This has many written fine things that would be wonderful if it fulfilled its promise. But nothing worked. The light worked for 4 seconds after 120 turns on the crank. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Patrick Harrington
A lot of functions on this radio
This is my 1rst noaa radio, I heard & always believe it's an investment every household should have. This radio has many functions... Read more
Published 28 days ago by MinnieWinnie
Not worth over $45.00
Bought strictly in case of "emergency".
Never used it on any regular basis, was stored strictly as an emergency radio. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Fidels Eyeglasses
decent radio not very impressed
I just received this radio today and I have mixed feelings about it. Let it be known that this my first emergency radio so I don't have anything to compare with. Read more
Published 2 months ago by jhy
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Best solar radio that I have seen. I was About to send it back after a week because it would not hold a charge. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tommy G
Awesome radio!
This radio is exactly what I was looking for! It is well-made and solid. It should last a long time. Read more
Published 2 months ago by James Beddingfield
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This model of the Kaito solar/crank radio is much better than the previous Kaito radios. This one works and seems to be very well made and solid. Read more
Published 2 months ago by mgentry
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Great value. Sturdy. good sound. good reception. we leave it in our family room in weather alert mode. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. David Bell
LOTS OF FEATURES
Other reviews adequately describe the KA600. I have little to add. Also, bare in mind that I'm just a customer and have very limited radio/technical knowledge. Read more
Published 4 months ago by WILLIAM MCLEAN
wonderful gift
I purchased this item for my dad, he was really smitten with the product..and usually he is a tough sell. It was nice and light for handling. Read more
Published 4 months ago by shopgirl
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