I bought this radio and took it on a trip to the woods to try it out. I charged it from my computer before leaving, so the onboard batteries were fully charged and it had new AA in it too. Using either sunlight or the crank, it was easy to keep the batteries fully charged, which left the AAs for backup use only. I could easily receive 4 of 7 weather channels where I was and they all came in clearly. The other bands worked equally as well. The little red signal light seems silly and useless, but, you never know. It is also crazy that this radio is not weatherproof! Come on, and emergency weather radio that may fail due to inclement weather, or from being out on the boat with you???? Take the money that went to the signal light and siren and put it toward sealing up the case. That's really my only knock on this radio so far.
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