Best Emergency Radio (Weather) 2019
Natural disasters can occur anytime sometimes with or without warning. Occurrences like these lead to a massive breakdown of all major services- transport, communication, network. Disruption of services like this can lead to chaos, confusion, and fear among people if they are not able to get information about any incoming occurrence. This can also lead to a huge loss of human life.
Weather radios can be a real lifesaver at times like these. Nowadays available weather radios have a backup power source, flashlights, alarm system and also receive alerts about incoming emergencies. These radios receive weather alerts from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 24/7, 365 days so people can be prepared well in advance.
Weather radios are also useful for those who go on long treks or trips
Listed below are 3 emergency weather radios best in the market.
RunningSnail Emergency Radio
Features
This weather radio comes with a 1000 mah power bank. A Micro USB cable is also provided with this unit. You can charge all smartphones and even an iPhone with the cable. There is no need for an adapter.
The radio can be charged via solar charging, USB cable and also via hand crank. The hand crank does not need a lot of effort to generate power to the internal battery.
RunningSnail weather radio receives signals AM/FM and weather alerts from weather stations like NOAA thus keeping people alerted for any oncoming disaster.
This radio is portable, easy to carry around and not bulky in nature. It can be used for any long hike, camping trip or road trip.
This radio is also equipped with a 1W LED flashlight which is long lasting. Most emergency radios are equipped with flashlights.
Pros
- Durable and portable in nature
- 3 ways to charge it- crank, solar and mini USB cable
- long lasting led flashlight.
- connects to weather stations thus receiving timely alerts
Cons
- None
Midland – ER310 Emergency Crank Weather Radio
Features
Rechargeable battery
This weather radio has a rechargeable battery which can get charged up in the 3 ways- solar panel, hand crank or USB cable. It features a battery of 2600 mah which is also replaceable. It has a long battery life and can sustain up to 32 hours of functioning. It can also use 6 “AA” Batteries as a backup charge. These batteries will have to be purchased separately.
Emergency weather alerts
This device tunes itself to all weather stations and channels, thus receiving timely weather alerts for any oncoming natural disaster like hurricane, earthquake, volcano eruption, etc. The best feature of this device is that it lets out an audible siren for any alerts and it will be activated in the device for n hour. The flashlight will blink continuously for a minute. As mentioned before, it tunes itself to radio stations AM/FM so you can listen to songs, the news while out backpacking, camping, etc. it comes with a jack for inserting headphones if you would like to listen to music on your own
Flashlight special feature
This flashlight shines like a beacon and has an SOS Morse code feature. CREE LED can be used for signaling purposes and its extreme brightness for this purpose can be set as per your convenience.
Micro USB cable
This radio can be used to charge other devices like smartphones, laptops, etc. This cable offers a quick charge thus in any emergency if will offer enough charge to make your calls.
Ultrasonic dog whistle
The bests feature of this emergency radio is the ultrasonic dog whistle. It can be used to alert any rescue party towards you if you are trapped in a situation where you need urgent rescuing.
Digital clock
The LCD interface of this radio has not only a digital clock but also displays time, weather and radio channels.
Pros
- Digital clock with LCD screen display
- Ultrasonic dog whistle
- Rechargeable battery and backup battery option available
- Emergency weather alerts
- Micro USB cable
- Bright flashlight with SOS beacon morse code
CONS
- None
The American Red Cross FRX3+ Emergency Weather Radio
Features
Charging options
This Red Cross radio has a hand crank to charge up the battery of 2600 mah. It does not take much of an effort to function. It also has an inbuilt solar panel. It has a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery of superior quality which provides 8.7X longer playback time than lesser models
Micro USB cable
This cable is very useful to charge smartphones, tablets, laptops. It gives you enough charge to make an emergency call.
Excellent access to weather alerts
The American Red Cross emergency radio can tune itself to weather stations, NOAA alerts, radio stations and news alerts. It has an easy dial to tune into channels.
Other provisions
It has an emergency LED flashlight. During alerts, the flashlight will blink Red like a beacon. The weather broadcasts will turn on, in turn alerting people of oncoming weather disasters.
Pros
- Superior audio quality
- Red beacon light for emergencies
- Excellent battery life- hand crank and solar charging
- Timely weather alerts, news broadcasts
- A mini USB cable for external charging
- Extremely bright flashlight
Cons
- Bulky in nature
Conclusion
A weather radio will be your best companion at times when you are stranded in helpless situations. It not necessarily has to always be a natural disaster emergency. Any outdoor activity like camping, hiking can also go wrong at times. Radios receive timely alerts, have flashlights like beacons, 32 hours of charging and some of them even have siren functionality thus keeping people safe till help arrives for them. While buying a radio it is best to buy one which is portable and durable in nature. The rest of the functions will come along with any device you purchase.