Customer Reviews

Midland ER102 Emergency Radio

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I hope I can give you some useful information about this radio and give you new ideas on simplifying your emergency items. I have been reviewing emergency radios for too many days, I think for most of us we want something portable for emergency AM or FM weather information and NOAA information and alerts during a loss of power that might last for a few hours or several days, I'm not looking for equipment to survive without power for months in the wilderness, just keep in touch and out of the dark during the emergency. I was considering the Eton RH500 (cool factor) but after reading about all the Eton radio models, I could not help but notice one serious concern with all of them, most reviewers said the Eton radio reception was not very good indoors... which is where I'm going to be during bad weather; an emergency radio without excellent radio reception has little value in my opinion. I opted for the Midland ER102 and I am very pleased. I like having the Dynamo feature, but I do not put a lot of value in it as my thinking is that all the emergency products I purchase must use AA batteries; they have a shelf life for 6+ years and they are cheap... aprox. $10 for 24 name brand batteries at W. Mart... The idea; one battery that fits everything! As for this radio; I live outside of the city and the AM and FM reception inside my house is excellent even without extending the antenna it picks up well, I can pick up 3 NOAA weather channels, two of them loud and clear, and one NOAA channel loud and clear without extending the antenna. Some reviewers complain about sensitive tuning; as for the tuning... the tuner is an analog (not digital) tuner with a digital display and it scrolls very smoothly (all the emergency radios that I have found use analog tuners.) To get clear reception it is not necessary to hit your station exactly (but is easy to do), as with analog tuners we have always tuned into the general area of the station then moved the knob back and forth until the station is clear, you never thought about it being sensitive since you just listened for the best spot without observing a digital display. Is the dial sensitive... no more than any other analog tuner, it might seem that way if you are looking at the digit to the right of the decimal point while rapidly scrolling, however a light touch when fine tuning and I find the tuner actually easier and much quicker to tune than if the display was the old analog type display other emergency radios have. The 3 LED flashlight is surprising bright, the backlit LCD display is very bright, AC adapter is included, the alarm is easy to use and it's kind of neat to look at the display and see the current temperature constantly displayed. I will note that I have a newer Nokia cell phone and although the radio comes with several adapters mine was not in the mix. Again this is not important to me as I don't want to crank the Dynamo for 5 minutes to make a very brief call.... Better idea; buy a portable emergency cell phone charger that fits your phone. This $5-$20 device (you guessed it.... works on AA batteries) will allow you to start using your phone within 30 seconds of plugging it into a dead cell phone and talk say 2 hours on one AA. If you want to go all out you can purchase Lithium batteries which last longer than Alkaline and have about a 15 year shelf life. Storms and power outages are stressful enough and lots of work, I say keep it as simple as possible... and a bonus, all my stuff fits easily in a small drawer in the kitchen.
My 3 watt LED flashlight (about 80 lumens) lasts 2 hours on high, my Sylvania LED Mini Lanterns (L562) last up to 200 hours on 4 AA's and they are as bright as many large lanterns, and this Midland Radio all use the same cheap AA batteries.... $20 buys 48 AA batteries and will last me a long time, how about 72 AA's on hand at a cost of $30.... I can go for weeks.

I have done a good bit of searching before getting this emergency radio. There are many choices out there for this type of radio. After reading many reveiws I picked the Midland 102. "Features" prevailed over weight. I will also be using this radio for backpacking/camping trips. The reception is great. Even indoors with the antena down it gets great reception. It's not the smallest radio. It is small enough to fit in my backpacks upper cover pocket. The LCD display is great. Along with the other many features it has. Tells Temp, alarm clock, weather alarm that can be set to silent flash warning. Light is small but ideal for searhing for something in a pinch. Three differnt ways too power the radio is great. I tested the lentgh of life with power on board before having to use the crank. It was atleast two days of near constant use. Or close to eight to ten hours. After cranking for three minutes. The radio played for close to an hour. The sound quality was exceptional for the speakers size. When holding the unit in your hands it won't feel like a cheesey piece of plastic. So far I am quiet pleased with the Midland 102. The only reason for four star rating is I can not attest to it's durabillity since I have only had the radio just over a week. If you get this unit you will have made a decent educated purchase, that was worth the effort in finding an emergency radio for your family. Hope my reveiw helps you out.

Excellent AM/FM and NOAA weather radio reception. Decent sound for a small unit. Easy to use.

Some of the items in the Technical Details section on Amazon are incorrect:

1. There are only 7 NOAA weather channels.
2. The cable for the cell phone charger is not USB, it is a 3.5mm 2-pole connector with standard in-line plug adaptors for some cell phones.

The manual states that to charge the internal battery pack from the AC line or hand crank the "Power Selector" has to be in the "AC/DYNAMO ON". You need to either turn the volume all the way down or put the "Alert Type Selector" in "Alert" in the WX mode. The power has to be in the "OFF" position to charge a cell phone from the AC adaptor or hand crank.

The LCD display "Backlight" switch is in a funky place on top under the carrying strap so you tend to turn it on inadvertently. It shuts off after 3-4 seconds.

I bought this radio to have on hand for an emergency if the power fails, disaster etc. It does what it says and I pulled it out of the box to give it a try.

It does have a USB port in the back under the rubber flap that the AC charger plugs into. I did try and use it to charge my iPhone to see how it worked. It will only charge while you are cranking the handle at a fairly vigorous pace, I guess if the power was out and you wanted your cell phone to work you could charge it, I just hope you have a few people with you that can also crank as it gets tiring pretty fast.

The Crank handle seems a like it is a litle on the flimsy side and may not last very long if used a lot.

The radio dial is a bit touchy but stations can be tuned in, you just have to be light on the knob.

I have a cabin in the mountains and don't have TV or Internet access. I was up there not too long ago and found about about a snow storm just a few hours before it hit. I happened to be driving and heard the emergency broadcast system alert go off in my car radio. That's when I thought it would be a good idea to have a weather alert radio in the cabin.

I went with this one because I liked the multiple power source options: battery, charged up from the plug, and the crank. I also liked that you can use it to listen to a regular AM or FM station and it will switch over to weather should an alert become active. It can also be off and in a stand-by mode but will activate if there is severe weather.

I recently went to my cabin and had this radio up there for the first time. I was able to find a clear weather channel (several, actually)as well as a favorite FM station even though the cabin is a bit isolated - I barely get a cell phone signal.

That evening I was listening to the FM radio when it went into alert mode and started providing weather information. It had been raining and apparently there were now some flash flood warnings, watches, etc. as well as high wind issues in the area. It worked just great.

I didn't bring the charging plug and had not got any batteries for it yet, so I was using it just off the charged up internal battery. I estimate, on the conservative side, that I got about 10 hours of listening time before the battery ran down. I thought that was pretty good.

I also did some work in the crawl space of my cabin while I was up there. Again I was able to bring this radio with me to listed to FM. By the time I had emerged from my work, it had gotten dark. Used the flashlight to get back up into the cabin. Handy.

This radio is small enough to move around easily. I put it in a medium size duffle bag that I pack my clothes in when going away for a couple of days.

The sound quality is not fantastic, but I didn't expect it to be. Remember car radios that had that one speaker up in the dashboard. Gets the job done, but don't look for the bass and treble adjustments!

I think this radio deserves a strong consideration if you want to be sure you are alerted to severe weather at home or a vacation spot. The clock, alarm, temperature display, freeze alert, etc. are all icing on the cake.

I bought this to replace an Eton FR300. No amount of cranking on the Eton would give me more than a few minutes of use. The Midland after a few minutes of cranking lasts for days. I still recommend the AC adapter for a full charge. It also has better reception of weather channels.

Awesome radio. Works as described very well. For those who can't seem to adjust the frequency properly in the AM band...all I can say is "give me a break". It takes no effort at all to gently adjust the control to the exact proper channel no matter what band you choose. IF you can't adjust the frequency properly then knock the rating of yourself, not the radio! And anyone buying this radio will in all likelyhood already KNOW that there are only 7 NOAA channels. I have a Midland handheld CB/Wx radio and it DOES have 10 available channels for Wx/NOAA even tho only 7 are used. Best radio of it's kind that does what you are buying it for superbly. My only concern is that either the unit does not have an alarm mode where the radio is in sort of standby mode but if a NOAA warning is issued an alarm goes off alerting you and then you can tune to the Wx bands to hear it. That's how my base unit (Midland) works. On this radio it seems you have to be listening to the NOAA computer voice audio to be able to hear any alarm.

I own several weather radios of various brands. Both desktop models and portables. I feel the Midland ER102 is the very finest made of all of them. As well as being one of the best performing. The weather reception is as loud and clear as the come. (It has a very long, solid antennae. All Midland radios do.) And the quality of the FM reception is excellent. (The speaker on this unit is of an exceptional clarity in my opinion.) As for this units quality in manufacturing, I cannot disagree more with the reviewer here that referred to its as shabby and cheap. We can't possibly own the same radio. Either that, or he doesn't own as many different ones as I do. For trust me, this unit is as rugged as they come. Its heavy, solid, and could easily survive a sharp hit or fall to the floor. The buttons and selectors are tight and solid as well. ( I happen to own the camouflage version of this radio. Which is really cool by the way. Underneath they are the same). One other thing definately worth mentioning is the price of this radio. I have owned a weather radio since the days that weather radios were as big as small microwaves and had to be carried around in two hands. Even though my experience with the radios goes back several decades, I have never understood the high price tag applied to so many of them. Its like its an age old industry scam that weather radios have to be expensive, as weather reception is some kind of technological premium that comes at a price. The true fact is that adding a weather tuner to a radio is even less expensive than adding AM or FM. Yet still today so many weather radios here on Amazon have pricey tags on them just because they carry the "premium" weather. If you take the time to examine the line of portable units such as the Midland ER102, you will find this to be not only the best of the portables in my opinion, but also the most reasonably priced of them all. In fact compared to so many others it even qualifies as a down right bargain. Trust me, I own a line of both desktop and portables that could pass as a store. This Midland unit is in my opinion the very best in the portables.

The only small complaint I would mention as to this units design is the location of the earphone jack. Its in the back of the radio rather than on the side. Making it a little more awkward than some considering it limits one as to its placement. Up against a wall for example. Its minor, but worth mentioning.

I would recommend this unit for anyone that wants a good solid weather radio that will last for years. They don't come any better in a carry along unit....

If you're looking for a radio with good volume and high sound quality, look elsewhere.
If you're looking for an emergency radio that performs as advertised? Look no further.
Very happy with this radio, only problem I've had with it is the times I have it on "Weather Alert" and forgot it's on that setting. Just about gave me a heart attack, but that's my fault, not the radio's
Good looks, good function, and a bargin at $36. Very happy with this purchase!!

I originally set out to by an Eton radio, but after reading some of the reviews I changed my mind. This Midland radio is a great cost saving find! Unlike most radios, it come with the adapter and it has rechargeable batteries! To good better you can still add regular AA batteries, so no matter what your situation is you'll always have a working radio.