Review on Sangean MMR-88 Emergency Radio - AM/FM/Weather+Alert with Solar, Hand Crank, USB, Flashlight, Siren, Smartphone Charger in Yellow by Erin Bowers

Nice little radio. It works well and sounds better than you would expect given its size. The handle charges a depleted battery to keep the radio running for several minutes, with just a few minutes start-up time. The solar charger works, but isn't nearly as fast as a crank and needs a lot of direct sunlight from outside. No sign of a hot car left in the lot. It is too much. The radio will only work with the supplied rechargeable battery, not pre-installed AA or AAA alkaline batteries or any other working battery. An AC charging option isn't included, but they do come with a 5-pin USB 2.0 Mini-B to USB 2.0 Type-A cable. You can't use a regular USB Type-A cable with Type-A. The USB Type-A port on the radio is only used to charge a mobile phone or other USB device through the radio, not to charge the radio itself. This allows you to start charging or, in an emergency, use the radio's battery to charge your use cell phones. The radio's battery charging connector is a 5-pin mini-B USB connector only. If the charging indicator lights up, it is connected correctly. You can easily get, or probably already have, a power adapter for your cell phone that plugs into a regular Type A USB port. Any AC or USB port that the included cable plugs into will work. Reception is good but weather (FM) and FM channels seem a bit weak. AM Not sure as I haven't checked yet. Again, this is an emergency radio, and it's good enough for that. Switching between weather alert mode and normal operation can be a bit confusing if you don't use it all the time. Setting up and using presets is similar. Overall I really like this little radio, it's great for its purpose and price. Two pointers: (Yeah, those are my favorite nuisances. Lol) 1. This should be common knowledge, but I think too many people don't get it. The retractable metal antenna is only used for VHF and weather channels, which by the way are also VHF. The AM radio antenna is located inside the radio and is "tuned" by physically rotating the radio itself. This applies to almost all AM/FM radios. 2. AM radio is very, very susceptible to any type of electrical impulse noise, as are computers and almost all electronics. Move the radio away from these things to make it work properly. 3. Please do not fold the retractable antenna starting from its weakest point which is at the top. Take the first bottom extended section and paste each section into the bottom section, this will prevent you from connecting those with bent and broken antennas.