Kaito KA500 Emergency Radio

Though many buy it to keep handy in the trunk of their cars, the Kaito Voyager KA500 is not really just an emergency radio. It makes a great all around radio companion. If you listen to a lot of radio for talk and/or music, take it throughout your house. Use it at your desk, use it beside your bed, take it to the restroom when you shower or when you are just resting, take it outside in the yard, take it to work, and take it on outings. BANDS: It comes with AM and FM, both providing excellent reception (though the FM is not in stereo), has all seven NOAA weather bands, and has two short wave bands covering most of the spectrum. POWER: It can be powered elegantly by 1) An optional AC adapter; 2) Three AA Batteries; 3) a connection to a USB port on a computer; 4) a solar panel which powers the radio when on, or charges it when off. Just keep by a window when not in use (the manual even claims that it responds to indoor light); and 5) its internal, replaceable, rechargeable batter... Read more

I returned this radio because it gave me very poor AM and FM reception -- especially for [...] bucks! I could only pick up 2 stations on each band, compared to 2 other (cheaper) radios that I brought in the same room to compare, which had no trouble getting good reception on all local stations. Reception on other bands was fine, but AM & FM are so fundamental in an emergency where I am, the gulf coast hurricane zone, that this radio is useless... Maybe mine just had a bad tuner (although I've never heard that one before). The other thing: USB cables have different connectors on each end because they are meant to be one-way: there's the more square end (called an B-connector) and the more flattened end (called A)... This radio only has an A connector, making it impossible to charge via USB connection to your computer as is described in the manual. You could do it with a special male A-A cable, but that can potentially damage the radio and/or computer -- that's why they make the... Read more

The Good: -Features: This radio had all the features I was looking for. AM/FM, Shortwave, weather, NOAA, Crank charge, and even solar charger. -Form Factor: Perfect size and shape, nice tuning meter. -LED Lighting: Great LED Light, nice and bright in the short time it lasts. The Bad: -Performance: Radio only operates for 3 - 5 min at a time. I let the batter charge in the sun all day, even crank charged it for 5 min. The radio lasts about 3 min then dies out. The light however will continue to shine for quite some time, although is only bright for a few min. -Lack of Quality: The Crank, Knobs, and switches seem cheaply made and easily breakable. The solar panel, while a nice design, also appears to be easily breakable. I would expect an emergency radio to be built more durable.

The following is my experiences with this radio : NEGATIVES I live in a rural area of America with a elevation of about 200 ft above sea level . My location has extremely poor radio station transmitions and this Kaito radio does not pull in stations to well. VERY POOR RECPETION IN MY AREA. I keep my radio in a window where it is always in the sunlight, but the included rechargeable battery pack would not charge up by solar power. I decided to get out my multimeter and test the d.c voltage output of the flip up solar panel . Heres the problem ; In the brightest sunlight possible, my solar panel was only putting out about 3 volts . In normal sunlight , sitting in my window, it was putting out about 1.5 volts. This will not charge the 3.6 volt batter pack. Luckily I had a extra small solar panel from another solar radio. I took the solar panel compartment on the Kaito apart, and then soldered the other solar panel in parallel and then hot glues that solar panel to the flip ... Read more

This KA500 has all the features you need for an emergency radio, NOAA Alert and Weather bands, Shortwave to receive all the world stations... The Reading lamp is unique that only this radio is built with. The brushless motor is a valuble feature that last forevr and noiseless. The solar pnel will run the radio when there is no way to get any battery or even no one need to crank the radio, it powers the radio with no problem. You can charge most of the cellphones on the market, the USB input and output is a great feature that save your life when you need to talk to someone by cell phone... The radio is built with high quality plastic and accurate mechanism, a real emergency radio that you can trust when you are in a real situation. I love it and hope you guys find it the same as well..