Eton Odyssey Hand Crank NOAA Weather Radio, All Band Emergency Radio, AM/FM Shortwave Storm Radio, Bluetooth, Phone Charger, RDS, Solar, Multi-Function Flashlight, Camping, Hiking

I have taken this camping and traveling. Performs like it should. I had no problems with it. Maybe the price could be a couple clicks lower. But it works and stays inside my go pack in case of an emergency. What is nice about it you can turn off the battery to save it when not in use. Great for any emergency use! A little heavy and audio kinda of bassy. I like the red background light and it stays on when listening to the radio! Pretty cool!

This Eton emergency light/radio works great for me. It take very few cranks to get it up and running. The radio is easy to tune and the channels are clear. I have yet to charge a phone with this but so far I am very pleased with this purchase.

Update: I exchanged for a different unit. The replacement FM reception was good for 95.9 without the antenna extended. Keeping the replacement even with the antenna design flaw and battery door weakness. Having this is better than nothing at all. The concept is great and the package is overall put together very well. However, during the end times or unrest, I do not think this is will make it in the long run. Pros: - Rechargeable battery that comes with it is end-user replaceable. - Compact design that isn't too small and well put together. To clarify my cons: - Even when fully extended, the radio reception was marginally improved. I tried a local NJ station 95.9 which should have worked fully extended. It faintly came in. This applied to a lot of other FM stations that should have come through. At the bare minimum as a campsite radio, FM music should have worked. AM was fine extended but faintly came in while retracted. NOAA worked without antenna extended. Nothing on the SW regardless of antenna position. - Even worse, the antenna does not appear to be end-user replaceable. My prior SW models had an antenna that can be unscrewed and replaced. This does not appear to be the case. - The battery compartment is held on with a very fine Phillips screw that started stripping after first use inserting the AAA lithium batteries. Not sure how many cycles of open / close this door will last. There is a very high level of tension on the battery cover which makes it more challenging. It is best to replace the batteries with the solar panel on a table or flat surface versus holding in your hand. A better approach to the battery compartment would have been a tool-less mechanism to open with much less tension.

I say it is the best because it comes with a lithium Ion 18650 battery (replaceable) and can use three “AAA” batteries as well as back up. The important thing here is that the battery is not built in, therefore no need to try and send it out for a replacement. The downside here is that if you add the “AAA” batteries with the 18650 you can’t recharge the battery. You have to remove the “AAA” batteries in order to charge the 18650 battery with the USB C charge cable. Another downside to the emergency Eton radios with a built in lithium ion battery is Eton doesn’t reply to emails requesting service.

The instructions are very detailed and somewhat confusing. I try, off and on, to set the channels but to no avail. To me, at least, the instructions could be simpler.

This device is supposed to serve as a support item when you are in an emergency situation such as a power outage, flood, hurricane, earthquake or other emergency. It has a lot of functions incuding a weather radio, short wave receiver, flash light, bluetooth speaker, and most importantly a battery. The battery capacity is ridiculously poor. It cannot charge a cell phone to even 25 percent of power, and it gets depleted rapidly when using the radio or bluetooth. Batteries are expensive of course, but this unit has a very low capacity battery. It has a solar panel that is a sales point but not a functional item. You might be able to fully charge the batter if it was left in the sun in the summer for 12 hours a day or more for a week. It has a handcrank that will charge it only if you turn it for several hours. In short this is a waste of money because the weak battery cannot support the many functions it is designed to provide. The hand crank and solar panel are there to drive sales, but they are not actually useful in practice.

First, I returned the Odyssey because after a full day of charging, the battery wasn’t fully charged. I. Didn’t want to replace the battery so returned the unit. I own several Eton shortwave radios, and they’re good, But the “emergency “ models don’t stack up well to other brands like Midland. The Odyssey is a fair performer, but overpriced for what it offers. Pros: — Good radio reception on all bands. Not stellar DX performance on AM or SW, but not a deal breaker. — Handy handle for easy carrying. —SOS flashlight and LOUD emergency siren. — Solid display and backlight Cons: — Too heavy for easy portability. Not a good addition to a backpack or go-bag. — Questionable battery (see above). — Abysmal SW tuning. No fast tuning on any band. You’d spend half an hour trying to go from 4 to 21 MHz on shortwave. Tuning on all bands is way too slow, with no direct digital tuning option. Summary: This radio wouldn’t be so disappointing if it were $40 cheaper. But there are far better emergency radios for much less, many of which offer more coverage such as air and VHF. Eton should stick to shortwave radios, where their products are much better.

Haven’t had much time with the radio but it looks good and does what it’s supposed to. Wonderful radio reception on FM. Some quirks that could be solved... minimum volume is a bit loud... only auto-stored memory, no way to change or manage memory preset stations... can only cycle sequentially, and backwards, the memory stations… screen with poor viewing angles and backlight always on… a screw to lock/open the batteries compartment/cover that inevitably disconnects the radio (loses time and memory presets) and needs a screwdriver to be done… can’t say how long it will last under regular use.

Fantastic all rounder for an emergency

For me, the go-to radio, whether you can use the NOAA system or not.

Never had to use it and hope I never do but it seems solidly built and if the hand crank is capable of charging it up in a reasonable time then I would recommend it as a decent emergency radio.

The radio which seems excellent, unfortunately arrived looking used. See images. Sending back to request new unused unit. Review rating is low because of the condition ie used. Overall rating would be 4 stars otherwise.

Clearly a used radio not happy!