American Red Cross FR1000 Voicelink Hand-Crank AM/FM/NOAA Weather Two-Way GMRS Clock Radio with Flashlight, Siren and Cell Phone Charger (White) Review

No question, this radio "looks good", seems like strong construction, and has quite a list of features. Yes, the flashlight, siren, and SOS beacon work well. The NOAA Weather channels seem to work, depending on your location. The GMRS/FRS radio performance is dismal. But most important to me as an emergency source of information - this unit fails its primary function: AM/FM radio reception. AM reception is nearly non-existent, and I live near very powerful AM stations. FM reception is very weak and includes a lot of static which I have never heard before on FM. Yes, I have tried the AM/FM radio bands in numerous locations - home, lake, mountains, flat lands. Little or no reception. One would think that with a digital display of radio station call signs that you could precisely tune in stations -- not so. For $150 - $200 and with a reputable name like ETON/Grundig, I expect MUCH more and much better performance. Like nearly all things these days, these units are made in China - so I believe ETON needs to look into their quality assurance process to ensure they are using top quality components and that assembly is complete. I have returned my unit - makes no sense at all to keep a radio which costs $150 but will not even tune in AM and FM radio stations. Also, I see many identical and similar reviews now across the internet - "pretty, feature rich unit; but very poor radio performance". I would advise against purchasing this unit until such time ETON acknowleges the problem and fixes it.

Buy it here now!