Kaito V1 Voyager Solar/Dynamo AM/FM/SW Emergency Radio with Cell Phone Charger and 3-LED Flashlight, Iron Gray

I received my radio on time. I did not realize how small it was, but that is okay. I tried it out last night and it worked well. The solar power worked well to charge the battery, which came partially charged. I live in Richards, Texas very much in the middle of no where. I was able to pick up several stations on the shortwave channels at sunset and around 2:00am. I am going to purchase an antenna for it in hopes of clearing some of the static. I could not pick up any AM station however. I am hoping an antenna will help that. We don't receive AM stations on any of our other radios either though. I guess it is where we live.I will update my review after I get the antenna to tell how it worked. All and all I am very pleased with my purchase. I bought this radio as an introduction into shortwave listening as I am a beginner. If I like it I will be spending the money to buy a better shortwave radio. I will keep this one with it because I like it so much.Update: November 25, 2012I have my Sangean ANT-60 Short Wave Antenna now. It improved reception on the radio. It is worth it to buy some kind of antenna for the radio. I listen to my shortwave stations now almost every night and some afternoon broadcasts. I enjoy having this radio very much. I will feel prepared for an emergency and I can listen to broadcasts worldwide. I would recommend this radio to anyone; it serves several purposes.

I got one of these as a kind of a backup for power outages and camping. It's small and light and does just about everything. You can recharge the batteries using the crank, any standard usb power source(i.e. wall charger, computer, car adapter, etc.) or the solar cell on the top of the machine. It does require a pretty strong light to recharge, but there is a little green light on the front to let you know the charge is working. The Three LEDs on the end give off sufficient light to find things, The radio AM/FM/SW works well enough to get news,weather etc. It does pick up a lot of hum, especially in AM, and the speaker is tinny, but it was not meant for listening to the symphony. The headphone jack may give you better sound with some good earbuds. With the standard USB out it will charge your phone, ipod, mp3 player, whatever you can charge via USB. All in all a very useful little gadget. I won't use it every day, but when somewhere away from a working electrical outlet, it will be a lifesaver. It also runs on AAA batteries if you don't want to crank.For the price, you can't beat it.BTW, after getting one for myself, I ordered one for my son who is a backpacker and takes off into the hills with his wife and kid whenever he can.

I just received mine. It is charging fine in the window (at least the charge light is on).I tried a couple of times turning the handcrank while in the required position and the charge symbol on my phone never came on. The instructions say "maybe the unit can't charge for some cell phone which have this especial requirements about the voltage and current". Not well written as you can see. I don't think this was mentioned in the description. I specifically ordered this one because of the phone charge capability.You have to get close to the window for the SW1 and SW2 channels to bring in any reception and it is still staticy. The AM and FM reception seem fine. The flashlight works fine. It's not really bright. Maybe like the strength of a night light .So I have a solar radio but now I have to search for a separate solar unit to charge my phone.

This small radio is BIG on value and features!It has AM/FM and Short Wave 1-2, it runs off of a factory installed battery or solar power from the solar cell on top, or it can be charged from an A/C adapter, (not included), or as I did using a UPC cable from my computer.OR you can use the hand crank to wind up the battery charge!The sound is VERY GOOD and CLEAR and it is a great little radio to have on hand in times of emergency or power outage!The item arrived very quickly and in great condition, I have NO HESITATION in recommending both the seller or the radio itself!I was very pleased with the price and quality.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I really like this radio. When I first got it, I tried using the crack and it didn't work but I checked the rechargeable battery and it ends up that the battery wire wasn't completely plugged in. Once that was plugged in, I didn't have any issues and it charged very easily with the hand crack. I also tried the solar charge option and it seems to work fine as well. I listened to the radio for a few hours and the channels came in very well and I didn't even have the antenna up. The LED flashlight works well as well. I was able to confirm that the cell charger works but I will admit that I didn't leave it charging for long so I can't say too much about it. I can't find any problems with this radio and it's nice and compact/light.