5 Best Emergency Radios

You can charge this emergency radio just about any way you like. It takes roughly 6 hours to charge via solar – which is the same as it takes via USB. Sadly, there isn’t an alternative power cord, though those are becoming increasingly obsolete.

Expect up to 32 hours of just radio operation from a single charge, though it’s much closer to 10 if you’re using other features at the same time.

And, if you end up needing the hand crank, you should know it’s both sturdy and 1 minute of cranking creates around 9 minutes of power.

TIP: pay attention to the sticker with information about the lithium ion battery rather than the user manual when getting set up. And, be sure to connect the lithium battery; it comes disconnected.

The reception of the AM/FM/NOAA weather radio stations is excellent, though users often report that the FM stations come in clearer than the others. The sound quality is also more than respectable given the size and multi-functions available. As far as volume, you can reach a more than respectable 87.6 dB.

While you get an earphone jack, you can’t stream off your iPod via Bluetooth. More of a concern is the inability to save multiple stations; the unit maintains that last station per band only. But, at least there are buttons rather than manual tuning.

You do get NOAA weather radio stations and weather alerts, but you can’t program SAME weather codes for localized reports. If you’re travelling and don’t know them, that shouldn’t be a concern.

You’ll get the major area alerts and the alarm is super loud; you won’t sleep through them.

The flashlight has low and high settings and you can get a bright 130 lumens from it. There’s also a Morse code beacon (SOS strobe).

There’s also an ultrasonic dog whistle, which can be useful if there’s a search after inclement weather or you’ve managed to get yourself very lost.

Back country reception is very good and you can charge your phone, even using the hand crank in a pinch.

We would have loved a loud siren to go with all these goodies, but most people will find these emergency features are more than enough.

This little gadget really can handle it all and we love it for that. When you charge the lithium ion battery (which takes about 4 hours to full), you can expect around 12 hours of usage, depending, of course, on the features you’re using (more with light only, less with radio).

Users report getting 10 minutes of power from 1 minute of hand cranking and the expected power use from solar charging.

If you have them on hand, you can use 3 AAA batteries to power this up. You can also partially charge your phone when you need. Plus, wonderfully, the unit arrives fully charged, just in case.

The audio quality is good (and you can expect a max of 83.2 dB, which you should be able to hear over a fair amount of weather).

Radio reception is above average, and users find the sound quality better than expected. But, you can’t do anything fancy like Bluetooth your iPod through this emergency radio… it’s for emergencies. And, some people have a difficult time with the manual dials (though that’s there to ensure nothing is draining the battery that doesn’t need to be).

So, you will get AM/FM radio with this and 7 NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) channels. In principle, that’s enough for most people.

However, you need to keep the weather band on to receive alerts. If you know something is on the way, that’s fine, but this won’t be your first choice if out of the blue alerts are critical for you.

You get a lot of emergency extras with this radio. In addition to the flashlights and the hand crank power situation, there’s also a Morse code beacon and a serious SOS siren.

You can also charge your phone and expect this emergency radio to deal with some splashing (it has IPX3 water resistance). If you’re wondering how it’ll hold up under a hurricane, you’ll find plenty of positive reviews from those who say it got them through at least one.

Although some of the older units seem to have a problem holding their charge, most (newer) units do not.

You can charge through the mini USB cable, plus through solar or hand cranking. Hand cranking results vary; some users get just a few minutes while others report hours of power. The important thing, however, is that you have the option if needed.

Additionally, newer models do a much better job of giving you a bit of cell phone charge when you need it most.

This little unit with AM/FM/NOAA bands gets good reception, even where you think it wouldn’t be possible (back country, basements).

And, although you shouldn’t expect super awesome sound, the little speaker does better than you’d expect.

All you get is AM/FM radio plus NOAA weather radio; there aren’t any alerts. But, given that this is a budget unit and it picks up the bands it does get well, we’re prepared to give this the score it deserves.

This really is a budget emergency radio. You should think of it as just that. If you want bells and whistles, you’ll need to pay more.

Considering what you pay for and what you get, this is more than fair. You can charge it using solar or hand-crank methods, not to mention through the rechargeable battery (which isn’t likely going to help in an emergency, however).

There’s also a 3 LED flashlight which offers minimal light, but can help in a pinch. And, you can also charge your phone which is a little more than we expected for the price.

This emergency radio is different from the others on the list; it’s really designed for home use. More specifically, for people who live in homes where there’s always some sort of weather issue brewing (tornadoes, hurricanes and the like).

It’s very good at warning folks of those issues but the power functions are low. It runs off an AC cable, but you can use 3 AA batteries as a backup. You’ll want to make sure you have more than one set if you’re very worried about the power going out during an emergency.

You get alerts loud and clear and most users report excellent reception. You also have a choice of alerts with display, voice or tonal. There’s also some level of volume control for voice alerts. But, as this doesn’t function as a standard radio or a streaming music player, the audio functions are simply less important – as long as you can hear the alerts (which are super loud).

This is (obviously) where this emergency radio shines: it’s brilliant at weather reporting because that’s all it does. (Okay, it also has an alarm clock function, but that’s neither here nor there.) It really is the best weather radio you’re going to find without paying a small fortune.

It gets 7 NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) channels plus Environment Canada and works with SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) programming.

You’ll be notified of any floods, tornados, hurricanes and more – but only if you want to. Not only can you choose which counties you monitor (and are alerted for), but you can also choose what you want to be alerted for (with the exception of a few that can’t be switched off) and the level of warning that’s important to you.

You can’t signal for assistance with this radio, nor does it become a flashlight when you need it most. But, it deserves a decent score since it’s not trying to do those things; you get this because you want to know when there’s an emergency so you can get your other gear into place.