Review on KITPIPI Emergency Solar Hand Crank Radio 2021: Upgraded Portable Weather Radio with Power Bank, SOS Alarm & Flashlight by Justin Malkowski

With storm season approaching here in the American Midwest, it's always wise to be prepared. This means the presence of a storm kit. And every storm kit should have a battery-powered walkie-talkie. Until this popped up on my Revain Vine feed, I was using a small 70's transistor radio. This is a good radio but it doesn't work in the weather section. This radio caught my attention because not only can it receive AM/FM and the weather band, but it is also packed with useful features that will come in handy in the event of a severe power outage. , tornado or other natural disaster. It's really well thought out and definitely benefits from some of the most cutting edge technology available these days at relatively cheap prices. transfers from one power source to another). The lithium-ion battery can be charged via a hand-powered dynamo, a solar panel or a micro-USB port. The radio also features an AM/FM/weatherband radio, siren, flashlight, searchlight (hidden under the solar panel), headphone jack, built-in speaker and a USB-A port for connecting USB cables for the power supply. External devices. An interesting feature is how effective the hand crank is. My kids played with the radio and left it on. The battery was dead and when I found it so I decided to try starting it. I played it for probably 30 seconds and then turned on the radio. Got 10 minutes of radio life and a little more on the flashlight due to this low launch count, better than the product listing I would have received. Now keep in mind that both LED lights and radios don't use that much power, so it would take a lot more effort to charge your phone with them (something that would require a lot more power), but if we're manual the handle is very useful when used as a walkie talkie or flashlight only in emergencies. The solar panel, handle and micro USB port charge a 2000mAh Li-Ion battery. In comparison, the I-Phone 9 has almost the same battery capacity. In practice, this means that if you were to replace it entirely, you could benefit greatly from using it as an additional power source to charge your phone. The only downside is that it puts out around 1.4 amps (my best guess). Most fast chargers used in today's phones are around 2A. In other words, charging this thing is slower than the charger that came with your phone. Let's move on to other functions. The built-in speaker volume gets loud enough when the radio is in use and the 9 inch antenna is efficient enough to receive on all radio bands. Tuning can be a little touchy given the small dial, but overall it works great for radio reception. And of course there's a siren (which sounds like the ghosts in Pac-Man) that also uses a speaker. It's also quite noisy. If I had to criticize this radio, it would be two. The first is to use Micro-USB for the charging port. Although micro-USB was the standard used by some devices not long ago, the current USB-C standard would be much more useful. Almost all modern phones use it now, which means almost every family has at least one. What can not be said about Micro-USB. Second, the decision to equate opening the solar panel door with turning on the headlight. Since solar panels work most efficiently when they are at an angle to the light source, it would be nice to be able to open the panel to point it at the light source without having to turn on the lamp. Simply adding an on-off switch or even converting a flashlight switch to a toggle switch would make a solar panel that much more useful. Conclusion: A great little emergency radio for the price. It offers many power options, has many useful features beyond the radio and flashlight, including the ability to be powered by a solar panel, a handgrip, and the ability to use it to power your phone. I'm glad I have this radio. It replaces my old transistor radio in my emergency kit. Highly recommended despite my minor complaints.