Eton FR300 Emergency Radio
By debris
The Eton FR300:
 | Amazon Price: $70.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $54.95 List Price: $70.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $70.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $39.99 List Price: $70.00 |
Review: Eton FR300 Emergency Radio
Eton FR300 Emergency Radio
The Eton FR300 is an Emergency Radio, and a good one at that. I had the unfortunate experience of testing out the Eton FR500 emergency radio, the FR300's big brother. I was reluctant to test the Eton FR300 after working with the Eton FR500, but that would have been a huge mistake! I'll give a brief summary of what the Eton FR300 does right, and what it lacks:
- Fantastic Reception! Easy to use dial, complete no brainer to use.
- Crank works fine, but slightly flimsy.
- Batteries charge well.
- Long Antenna.
- Feels pretty tough
- Light weight.
- Cell Phone Charger
- Good light
- Great loud siren
- Can get pretty loud!
- Comes with a travel bag.
Now the small number of drawbacks:
- No solar charging.
- Semi-Flimsy crank handle.
- Long Antenna feels like it could break easily (Although it doesn't need to be fully extended to get awesome reception.)
- Speaker could break if cranked too hard.
The Eton FR300 emergency radio does so many things well, especially compared to other radios or even compared to its big brother, the Eton FR500. The reception is fantastic right out of the gate. Everything on it is responsive and the little guy feels pretty rugged. The Antenna is really long which is great, but that lends it to be susceptible to breakage if it is hit accidentally.
I haven't had this problem yet, but from feeling it you can tell. The crank charges the radios batteries just fine but the crank itself feels kind of flimsy. The LED lights are nice and bright and it even has an annoying blinking mode to get someone's attention if you turn on alert mode. The siren is also loud and annoying, perfect for when trying to be found. I missed the solar charging capabilities of the Eton FR500 emergency radio and while this radio has the cell phone charger, it isn't the USB type which eliminates some of my more wild ideas like hooking up a usb battery charger and having a manual battery charging setup.
For the few drawbacks the Eton FR300 emergency radio has, I can certainly see it being a lifesaver in an emergency situation. I really like this radio a lot and believe it is well worth the money. Skip the Eton FR500 emergency radio and get an emergency radio that works, the Eton FR300 won't leave you disappointed! I give this radio an 8/10. It got high marks for its reception and its capabilities in such a small package, and it didn't get the other two points mainly because it lacks other charging capabilities that would have been very convenient.
Score: 8/10
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Comments
Hello Rochelle,
Yes, I highly suggest this one over the Eton FR500. The FR500 was nice but the reception on our strongest radio stations around here was terrible. This little guy does a wonderful job, saves you money, and is highly recommended by me. I wasn't going to buy the FR300 being that the FR500 had already given me a bad experience, but I said "What the heck, the beauty of refunds." And I gave it a shot.
I'm glad I did. To address the question about phone chargers, yes, you do need an adapter but you can get one for free by registering your radio with eton at this link: http://www.etoncorp.com/productregistration. I hope that helps you with your decision! Have a wonderful day and thank you for your kind responses!
Sincerely,Debris
Rochelle Frank 2 years ago
I've been thinking about getting one of these... so you actually think it is better than the bigger one? One feature i liked was cell phone charger, but I have heard that some phones need an adapter.
I haave an old crank radio-- not the best reception, but that might be because we are in a hilly area, also the rubber drive thingy seems to slip off the crank drive now and then and you have to take the radio apart to put it back on. It does run on a solar cell.
I want everything (lol) though I don't care about the siren.