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| Reviews Summary for Grundig FR-200 |
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Reviews: 26
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Average rating: 4.5/5
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MSRP: $39.95 (actual price)
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Description: World Shortwave Radio (Survival) with
dynamo, 3 AA's, and AC power.
AM,FM, SW1, SW2. Flashlight. Vol. Tuner, Fine Tuner.
Mini Phone Jack.
Ext. Spkr. Jack.
Carry Camou Pouch.
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More info: http://
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write your own review of the Grundig FR-200.
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AC7ZL
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 4, 2007 22:29
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Can't really go wrong with this
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I received my FR-200 as a gift. Internal power generator (crank) works great, radio receives well and audio is good, though dial calibration seems a bit odd at times. The internal flashlight is a nice touch, though being an engineer, I can't seem to leave well enough alone. I removed the grain-of-wheat bulb used in the lamp and replaced it with a small white LED.(Unplug one, replace it with the other... it's that simple.) The flashlight is now considerably more intense, and the drain on the batteries is far less. I think this makes a great emergency/civil defense radio, as well as for general purpose listening while you work in the garage. If I'm not mistaken, this same radio was distributed in Iraq and/or Afghanistan by US forces to help spread news and information among the population.
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NS6Y_
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 6, 2006 20:05
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One hot little receiver!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This has a very high fun to cost ratio! Trying to pick up CW on it is hilarious, you get the whole band at once plus the drift factor, like the audio equivalent of one of those old biplane dogfights in an old movie. It does have some drift. But, it's amazing what this thing receives! I was listening to the AM Navajo station in Window Rock, AZ from my home in Sunnyvale California just lying in bed last night. All this has is an internal loopstick and a telescoping whip, and it gets amazing AM DX. Shortwave is a bit more demanding, but it picks up some amazing stuff. It's really hard to tell where you are on the dial since for instance WWV will show up on what the dial calls 7MHz and so on, but that almost adds to the fun, to be able to think a bit and realize where one is in the band. I like to just hunt around for weird signals, and whatever's out there.
This would be a great first radio for a kid, and of course it's intended as an emergency radio and it's very well suited for that.
I have heard the crank wears out if used a lot so I use batteries, and will only use the crank if actually needed, which is how this is intended to be used. This runs seemingly forever on a load of batteries so that's not a problem.
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W8KQE
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 6, 2005 15:30
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Excellent inexpensive crank radio!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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For 40 clams, this is an excellent value for a lightweight, name brand portable hand-crank generator analog radio. The radio is constructed very well, with AM/FM/SW, and a built-in small LED flashlight. It also allows for use of 3 'AA' batteries, and AC adaptor (not included). Audio quality and reception is surprisingly good for this kind of radio. I get about half and hour of solid playback for 90 seconds of cranking.
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SLIDERULEX
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 11, 2005 12:25
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Outstanding performance for the price!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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For the price (I paid $23.00 including shipping on ebay) I cannot imagine any competitors.
Performance:
1). AM/FM is good and using earphones is quite good.
2). SW is outstanding! I can pick SW broadcasts that other SW radios (like the Radio Shack DX-350) can't pick up.
3). The wind-up charger functions, and I can get about a half-hour of listening (through earphones) on a 1.5 minute 2-turns-a-second winding period.
It's small size and light weight are features that make it portable. The only downside I see is that the tuning on SW is sometimes tricky because they pack in a lot of SW frequency range (though it is continuous which is nice) in this radio. All in all, this is a fine SW performer and is well enough constructed that it should last a long time with proper care.
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KF6GOM
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 31, 2004 21:15
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Great Buy at $20.00
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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got this on the last day of the year.A electronic store ( Circuit City) had them for $20.00 in 5 different colors. picked up the blue one and cranked
the handle for about 1 minute. this thing is great
in audio quality, on SW 1 and 2 i attatched a 4 foot piece of wire and the stations were sounding great.
i believe these radios are retailed at $39.99 which i believe there worth it and it has a bright white LED for emergency light which is a great feature to have in an emergency. Grunning also includes a nice pouch to carry it camping or to the beach.
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THATBPGUY
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 23, 2004 07:08
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Great- for what it is
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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For $40 I wasn't expecting much. I own another freeplay SW and this one is easier to crank, quieter and lasts well over 1 hour (the other 45 minutes at best- it's a Sony). SW reception was suprisingly good and I was able to locate numerous stations. My only complaint is that all but the few strongest stations faded more than I had hoped. But, it's very compact, has a much stronger speaker than the Sony and while I've used it a tremendous amount in the last 18 mos, it just plugs right along. Great gift for someone who travels and doesn't have time or money for batteries.
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RU546
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 6, 2004 22:02
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Small price large value
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I recieved mine for christmas last year
and have been enjoying it ever since,
easy to carry and use.
the shortwave comes in real good with a little
patience the fm and am work just as well
the only draw back I had with was the antenna
broke a couple months after using it,
but that was easy to replace
For the price you cant beat it
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IANCHRISTIE
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 15, 2004 01:21
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Not bad for the price and the purpose.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought this for christmas because of the power failures that have been happening every-now-and-again is South Western Ontario. Well, so far I've been very impressed with the opperation of the unit. AM and FM signals come in clearer than my clock radio. Indoors I have a hard time receiving Shortwave, but out doors, it's extremely sensetive, but right now with sub zero temperatures, I'm not wandering around outside listening to the radio. :)
The crank dynamo is a tad noisy when in opperation and is a tad stiff, but works well. For me this radio has been a great introduction to Shortwave listening. I'm contemplating a Grundig Miniworld 100 PE, a Mini 300 http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=2019104&category=Portables+%26+Multiband&catalog=RadioShack , or a RadioShack SP-2004 http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=1209416&category=Portables+%26+Multiband&catalog=RadioShack .
If anyone has any comments on those, my prefference are the Mini 300 or SP-2004 because of the digitaly display, feel free to email me.
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K9UNA
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 10, 2004 21:39
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Fun toy
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have two of the Tecsun Green 88s, which is the Chinese version of the FR-200. The only difference is the cosmetic appearance of the radios (mine are a nice red color and the carrying case has a camu print on it). Naturally, this is not your Drake receiver, so my comments and ratings are based on its price and stated purpose (“survival radio”).
First of all, what is a survival radio anyways? Is it a device that is supposed to work for years without power? Probably not. For most of us a “survival radio” is a portable radio that provides information without the benefit of a AC mains. Most of us need a radio when the power goes out which is usually for a couple hours. Sometimes longer use is needed as in a natural disaster. Let’s face it; we probably already have a radio that fits the bill. On the ultra-cheap side you can buy a cheapo AM/FM pocket radio and get a pack of AA batteries. Rubber band the batteries to the radio and you have information plus some back up power. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with poor reception and super tinny sound. For around 50-60 bucks you can get a GE SuperRadio that will play forever on some D cells. Just make sure you have good batteries and you don’t accidentally leave the radio on (that button on the top seems to get pushed in when you don’t want it to). Need a more upscale radio? How about a nice Yacht Boy 400, but those batteries go dead even with the radio off (those darn microprocessors). Make sure you have extras around. What, you sometimes don’t have batteries? Sometimes you have them, but you can’t find them when the power is off? Sometimes you think that you have extras only to find out that they are dead or one of you kids “borrowed” them? What! your not perfect! Me too, that’s why this little radio is such a gas.
So what do you get for the money (mine were about $30 each). I would say quite a lot. You get a smallish AM/FM/SW radio that is reasonably constructed. It has nice clear sound. It has very good AM reception (better than most table radios) and the FM reception is pretty good too (but suffers from images from close by stations). Tuning SW on a tiny dial is sort of like trying to crack a safe but it does work. SW reception is fair, but fine for a radio of this class (and certainly better than a lot of other single conversion radios that I have used). Add to this a little flashlight that really does work. You can power the radio from 3 AA cells that last a long time. Included in the price is a Ni-Cad pack (separate from the AA cells) that you can charge by AC (the Green 88 came with a charger and a 220 to 112 converter) or use the built in dynamo to charge. Winding for about a minute gives you some serious playtime. The crank is cheap so best to use the AA cells and use the dynamo only when you need to. There is also an earphone jack and a nice carry case to boot. What a deal. Now would I want to use my little radio as my only radio? Nope. How about in my drawer to be used only for emergencies? Yes, it works nicely there. What about an occasion use radio (beach, working on the car, whatever)? Yep, good for that too.
It is perfect for the less than perfect person or the perfect person who likes a cool gadget. On the negative side, the QC isn’t the greatest. The slide rule dials of both of my radios is off and on one it makes it almost impossible to tune the 31 m band, but for the money I’m not complaining.
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N3HAM
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 1, 2004 18:53
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a fine low cost, light portable
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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i got this for chistmas last year and was immediately taken with its performance just using its small whip antenna. if i can't take a hf rig along with me for a weekend getaway, i prefer taking it along instead of my sangean ats 803. it's lighter for sure, and since it's analog, there is none of that dreaded chuffing when tuning. for forty bux you can't go wrong. i got one for my nephew and low and behold, he admitted to actually taking a break from the gameboy and computer and doing some swling. heck its not the same as doing it on a knightkit, but i am sure he hears a lot more. i just wish it had a bfo for cw and ssb copy. i find it to be sturdily made.
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