Etón FR500 Solarlink (Black)
by Eton
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List Price: Our Price: $64.99 You Save: $35.01 (35%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Etón FR500 Solarlink (Black)
Customer Review: Hurricane Ike spurred this purchase, but it would come in handy during a zombie invasion too.
Summary: 4 Stars
Build quality seems good. The case is rubberized and it seems fairly rugged. The crank and solar charging worked as advertised, and you can even charge it from a USB port on your computer. The LED flashlight was nice and bright. The AM/FM worked as you would expect, and I really liked the shortwave capabilities. There are so many religious and anti-government conspiracy wackos transmitting on shortwave you wouldn't believe. The only disappointment thus far has been the weather bands. There are 7 weather band channels to choose from, and you're supposed to tune to whichever one is the strongest, clearest signal. I get static on all 7, both indoors and out. And I'm really close to Cincinnati, aka I don't live in the boonies. Oh, and the phone charger adapter that Eton sent me was dead wrong. Doesn't matter to me because my Razr phone uses a standard USB cable anyway, which I have. So I didn't bother to contact Eton to replace the adapter, but I'm sure they would have.Customer Review: What do you expect
Summary: 4 Stars
I am living in the Bay Area, CA. I bought it just in case there is a earthquake. My criteria is it can be powered by cranking, sola, and it can charge other devices. I tested the hand crank and sola features, it can power the radio and flash light like a champ. However, the cell phone charger does not work for my iPhone. Don't get me wrong. It does charge my other devices via the USB port. The sound quality is very so so, but what do you ask for? It is a radio for emergency, I won't expect it has the HiFi sound quality. Last but not least, the radio tuner is not too stable. I was trying to tune to AM 740. However, the freq will go up and down sometimes. It cannot hold it to 740. Again, as long as it can self-power by cranking or sola, I take it.Customer Review: Emergency necessity
Summary: 4 Stars
THe FR500 is exactly what you need during a power outage and/or bad weather conditions. I registered with Eton and received my phone adapter within 2 weeks. it picks up all local weather reports and is so light that I carry when I take the kids out for a walk in the stroller.Customer Review: Emergency communication
Summary: 4 Stars
Acquired the radio to have in case of an emergency. The product had all the amenities I wanted which checked out very well. No emergency has taken place thankfully, but we will be ready if we remember to keep the batteries current and the radio where we are.Customer Review: Pricey but it does it's job.
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this originally from urban outfitters. The signal reception for this radio is fairly sensitive outdoors but once indoors (I have a computer, halogen lights, and T.V.) I tested this radio and it seemed that weak stations like KPCC (the NPR station) don't get through. I live in S. California and one of the NOAA channels works. Indoors is probably this radio's only weakness (and the plastic crank, I got big hands). I tried to boost the signal while indoors by connecting an antenna with a signal booster (by binding the signal boosted antenna to the telescopic antenna of the FR500) and the clearer channels came through pretty well but the weak channels in FM were still silent (this is indoors still).
With the little gripe out of the way I just want to say that I loved this radio's slotted case (it comes apart in two halves). The manual told me not to open the machine but I couldn't help myself. I was curious as to whether this radio was moisture resistant. I found that most of the buttons I could see were slotted in a way that would probably resist a dip. I also saw a rubber covering that sealed the antenna fairly well. But this radio isn't meant to be submerged. It were to fall into a puddle chances are it would remain unscathed (except maybe the digital readout; that could be a problem, depending on how it fell). The speaker has to be open in order to have adequate sound so the water might affect it adversely (but people can always stick this radio in a ziplock bag/s; the solar panel works even when I put put it in a ziplock). But this little weak point could be reinforced with a little bit of caulk or water sealant(ones that don't corrode the plastic casing).
Please note that when opening this case (the manual warns you not to do so) be careful as to not let the top three buttons fall into the circuit boards below. It took me a while to shake out one of the buttons and I ended up pulling out a soldered wire but it was easy enough to solder back on. Also you need to get a 5v ac adapter (FR500 doesn't come with one) if you want to charge the battery at home or listen to it indoors.