I took it out of the packaging to make sure that it works properly before giving as a gift, I almost don't want to give it as a gift now because it works great and would make a wonderful addition in case of an emergency

I took it out of the packaging to make sure that it works properly before giving as a gift, I almost don't want to give it as a gift now because it works great and would make a wonderful addition in case of an emergency

My son really likes it thinks it's really cool

I bought this in the winter, so I didn't test the solar charging. But it does work fine as a crank charger. When I bought it, the battery was charged enough to test the radio and the flashlight. Both work just fine. It comes with two cables: a USB type A to mini-USB cable for charging the radio from a USB type A port (the type you're used to); and a specific cable for charging an external device. The second cable has kind of a strange connector. It resembles an audio jack on one end (which plugs into the radio), and the other end has an adapter to USB type A. I've seen this type of cable before on small, cheap devices. It's not an audio cable, and it's not a USB cable, so you probably don't have any spares. You had better not lose it if you want to charge your phone with this device. The small connector type was probably chosen because it saves space on the radio, since the radio was designed to be so small.

That's another thing about this radio. It's tiny. Five inches long. That's probably a good thing, since it's meant to be put in an emergency kit that you take with you. The battery is a reasonable size (1000 mA-hrs, 3.6V). It's not going to charge your phone 100%, but I would guess that the radio would last at least five or six hours at a reasonable volume.

The radio has some quirks that took a star away from my rating. First, the instructions say that if you leave it inactive for 60 days, you should fully charge the battery again to prolong its life. While I understand this from an electrical perspective (it's generally bad to drain rechargeable batteries past a certain point), the design should have been such that it completely shut down at a certain voltage and didn't drain the battery down to zero. I'd rather not have to "maintain" my emergency kit every two months.

Second, the solar panel is too small. They say you can get a full charge in ten to twelve hours. That's a really long time. But I guess that's what the crank is for, and it's also a result of the device being so small.

Overall the build quality seems pretty solid. It's cheap plastic, for sure, but it feels well-put-together. The crank especially is an important part that needs to not bust, and I felt like it was pretty good quality.

I'm pretty impressed with the design that has three separate possible power inputs (charging cable, hand crank, and solar panel), and also has the five important functions (weather radio, AM radio, FM radio, flashlight, and device charger). I think it's important that an emergency product works without the user having to figure it out, and this one does.

I can forgive the small solar panel, but I'm slightly worried that the battery may *DIE* die (like, for good) sometime before I need this in an emergency. Why did they include that note in the instructions? If the battery charges back up five or ten years from now, great! - This product would merit five stars from me. But seeing as I can't prove that, the concern takes that five star rating down to four.

My son really likes it thinks it's really cool

I bought this in the winter, so I didn't test the solar charging. But it does work fine as a crank charger. When I bought it, the battery was charged enough to test the radio and the flashlight. Both work just fine. It comes with two cables: a USB type A to mini-USB cable for charging the radio from a USB type A port (the type you're used to); and a specific cable for charging an external device. The second cable has kind of a strange connector. It resembles an audio jack on one end (which plugs into the radio), and the other end has an adapter to USB type A. I've seen this type of cable before on small, cheap devices. It's not an audio cable, and it's not a USB cable, so you probably don't have any spares. You had better not lose it if you want to charge your phone with this device. The small connector type was probably chosen because it saves space on the radio, since the radio was designed to be so small.

That's another thing about this radio. It's tiny. Five inches long. That's probably a good thing, since it's meant to be put in an emergency kit that you take with you. The battery is a reasonable size (1000 mA-hrs, 3.6V). It's not going to charge your phone 100%, but I would guess that the radio would last at least five or six hours at a reasonable volume.

The radio has some quirks that took a star away from my rating. First, the instructions say that if you leave it inactive for 60 days, you should fully charge the battery again to prolong its life. While I understand this from an electrical perspective (it's generally bad to drain rechargeable batteries past a certain point), the design should have been such that it completely shut down at a certain voltage and didn't drain the battery down to zero. I'd rather not have to "maintain" my emergency kit every two months.

Second, the solar panel is too small. They say you can get a full charge in ten to twelve hours. That's a really long time. But I guess that's what the crank is for, and it's also a result of the device being so small.

Overall the build quality seems pretty solid. It's cheap plastic, for sure, but it feels well-put-together. The crank especially is an important part that needs to not bust, and I felt like it was pretty good quality.

I'm pretty impressed with the design that has three separate possible power inputs (charging cable, hand crank, and solar panel), and also has the five important functions (weather radio, AM radio, FM radio, flashlight, and device charger). I think it's important that an emergency product works without the user having to figure it out, and this one does.

I can forgive the small solar panel, but I'm slightly worried that the battery may *DIE* die (like, for good) sometime before I need this in an emergency. Why did they include that note in the instructions? If the battery charges back up five or ten years from now, great! - This product would merit five stars from me. But seeing as I can't prove that, the concern takes that five star rating down to four.

While I haven't had a chance to use this yet, I included it in my car kit for road travel.  I am pleased at the thought of having it, and I hope I never find my self in an emergency situation where I have to use it.

While I haven't had a chance to use this yet, I included it in my car kit for road travel.  I am pleased at the thought of having it, and I hope I never find my self in an emergency situation where I have to use it.

I had an issue with the product and gave it a medium review...I was immediately contacted by the company to resolve all my issues. Thank you

Fun, and a great emergency item.