Freeplay Corporation Freeplay Plus Radio

Other products by Freeplay Corporation

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 11 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000YCFCC
• Item model number: FRP
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #49,022 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
The Freeplay Plus combines a Baylis Clockwork Generator with advanced radio technology, a magnetic, detachable White LED light with 6-foot reel-up cord, and a solar panel. AM/FM and continuous coverage of 10 SW bands from 3.0 to 18.1 MHz. The built-in rechargeable battery pack, fully charged, will run the radio for over 40 hours.

Features

• Built-in stereo headphone jack.
• Weight: 5 pounds.
• Size: 11 x 8 x 8 inches(WxHxD).

Product Description
The Freeplay Plus Alternative Power Radio features a 4-way power system that enables operation anywhere and anytime. It's great for outdoor use and at times of emergencies. Flexible power sources include: Power your radio and light by hand winding up the Freeplay's generator; Set the radio in the sun and use its built-in solar panel; Charge the built-in rechargeable battery pack with the optional AC adapter; Stores the excess power from the wind-up generator, solar, and AC in its built-in rechargeable battery pac 6-Foot long retractable reel AC cord Built-in speaker Convenient rotary controls Unit Size - 11 W x 8 H x 8 D Unit Weight - 5 Pounds Includes built-in rechargeable battery pack (fully charged battery will operate radio up to 40 hours) An Absolute Must for any Home Emergency Kit

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, February 16, 2006

By	Danoon (SC) - See all my reviews

I'm new to short wave listening but am impressed with this radio. AM and FM are much better than the FR-300 I have and better than the Sony home stero and the "jambox" in the workshop.

The light works great and will light a room quite well. Its not a spot light, but doesn't profess to be. One candle power is what its rated at but I think its more. It shines across the back yard nicely. I like the magnet mount on the back of it and 6' cord for mounting somewhere other than in the radio.

The short wave is very nice and has a fine tuning knob that comes in handy for bringing in those distant stations. I have listened to South America, China, Germany, BBC, and many others that I'm not sure where they are because of the language barrier. I'm sure one was Russia and one was Japan. There are more short wave stations in english than I thought there would be, like the one from China I happen to like listening to. The four page pamflet that comes with it suggests a short wave antenna will help reception. A length of speaker wire and an alagator clip will do the trick but I haven't tried it yet.
There is some fadeing but I'm still able to hear whats said on most of the frequencies. I live in the south east US [ an hour from the ocean ] and I hear reception is better here so yours may differ.

The hand crank is a bit stiffer than I expected, but for one thats rated at 10,000 x 60 cranks I would expect something solidly built and it seems to be just that. Just crank it 60 times [ two minutes ] and it plays for about 20 hours depending on sound level and usage of the light. This is the main reason I bought this radio.. no wall plugs, no batteries, no problem. You can depend on this baby to perform when the batteries die in everyone elses and they come to you for world news or weather reports. Being a scout and then in the military many, many years ago, I have always believed one should "Be Prepared" and this radio is a good start.

I haven't tried the solar panel yet but if it works like everything else I'm sure it does what they claim it will.
This is a solid radio that I would recommend to everyone.
The only cons are it didn't come with a ac/dc adapter plug [ though takes one ] but getting one at radio shack won't break me if I get too lazy to crank it for two minutes. It seems a bit large for what it consists of but I haven't opened it to see why all the room was needed so untill then I'll trust that they knew what they were doing.

Lastly I'd like to thank J&R who sold me this and after buying it on Tuesday morning I got an email Tuesday night saying it had been shipped and it was at my door Thursday afternoon.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT PRODUCT, January 29, 2005

By	G. Crain (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This radio does everything it says it will, and it does it quite well.

My siblings and I bought this for our parents, who also live in Oklahoma, and they have been very enthused by it. My 77-year-old father actually listens to regular radio with it, and has tinkered with the shortwave.

The sound is very good, and it is easy to operate, even for my extremely non-technical Dad. He did get tired of winding it, and this leads to my only gripe: CCrane need to include an AC adapter. The dynamo is nice, but the novelty wears off quickly. (We bought an adapter from Radio Shak, and it has worked fine.)

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Competent but overpriced, lacking advertised feature, January 9, 2006

By	pinxet "pinxet" (USA) - See all my reviews

When it came time to replace my broken Grundig AM/FM/SW radio, I looked around for something a bit more full-featured.

The Freeplay Plus works as well as the Grundig on all radio bands. Neither better, nor worse. The crank is slightly more difficult to wind, but not terribly so. The solar panal is a plus. The large flashlight is removable, a plus, but seems less brilliant than the smaller one on the Grundig.

Most intriguing in the list of features to me was:
"Jack for optional headphone or external shortwave antenna (both not included)"

Finally, I would be able to use an external antenna in a jack instead of clipping it to the telescoping antenna, which over time, is what broke my old Grundig.

The manual however makes no mention of a jack for an external antenna. There is no dedicated jack for one, and the only jack into which an antenna plug may be inserted is the headphone jack. From the feature list, it would appear this is what one is to do.

But as headphone jacks are wont to do, the speaker is thereby disabled. I take it on faith from the feature list that the antenna functions well in that jack -- but if one is unable to listen to the radio because of it, I think the feature is of questionable use.

Sad to say, it was for this feature I spent $99 for the Freeplay Plus emergency radio instead of $39 for a new Grundig which works just as well. Minus four stars for deceptive advertising.