shortwave

This radio is billed as an Emergency Radio, and it suits that purpose well. It is small, built ruggedly, and comes with a nice case. The crank generator does a fine job at powering the receiver and small light. You won't be using the light to signal ships at sea, but it is adequate to find your way around a dark house to locate a candle or oil lamp.

Combining a SW receiver with the AM/FM was a good idea, as you can get news from far away in the event of a large-area power failure. However, the radio lacks a weather-band receiver, which would be a useful feature in an emergency radio.

For general use, the receiver is somewhat lacking. We have a strong FM transmitter nearby, and it "spills" onto several places on the FM band. SW tuning can be a little tricky, even with the fine-tuning knob. Also, sideband reception is not available for SW. I would not recommend this radio for someone looking to get into SW reception "on the cheap."

Overall, however, it is a very good radio for its intended purpose and price. I'm glad I added it to my emergency kit.

This is an interesting product from Grundig. It is a wind up radio with a small flashlight included for emergencies. It also has the shortwave bands you need for the BIG broadcasts such as BBC, Voice of America, and Radio Canada. I was also able to receive Radio Netherlands. The trick is to listen at night - at 7 PM and after - as that is when shortwave comes in best. You won't want to use the crank every day as you want to save that for true emergencies. Install three AA batteries for daily use. Daily use? Yes. I was surprised at the very good AM and FM reception. Even in my concrete and steel office I was able to get stations that usually come in weakly on other radios. This is a neat little radio and I am going to get another one for my emergency pack (I live in Florida where we are subject to hurricanes but with the world in the state it is in, my pack now may have several uses). Buy this for emergencies but don't be surprised if you use it every day. I didn't give it five stars because I think they could have built it a bit sturdier for 40$.

FOr the price and convience of having a portable emergency battery radio, its OK.

The AM/FM tuner is OK. It's not great. It's not very precise and you need to fiddle with the tuner to get your station locked in.

The shortwave is hit or miss.

The light works.

The hand-crank broke after 3 times using it. It seems it was glued. It was easily fixed using plastic crazy-glue, but somewhat disappointing.

I really wanted a FreePlay radio, but I couldn't justify the price. This radio is OK if you have a fresh supply of AA batteries and some crazy glue :)

Peace