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Reviews For: Kaito KA500 Emergency Radio.

Category: Receivers: Weather Alert

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Review Summary For : Kaito KA500 Emergency Radio.
Reviews: 2MSRP: 69.95
Description:
Dynamo & Solar Powered Radio with all the Dream Features

A perfect radio for emergencies and disasters, it comes with all the features that you need in any emergency situation. It comes with a High quality AC type brushless generator. The solar panel powers the radio by itself and charges the built-in batteries as well. To maximize the sunlight’s rays, the solar panel is designed to tilt with the suns position to receive the energy during the day time. On the bottom side of the solar panel is a 5 LED reading lamp that you can use in poorly lit conditions. The radio is built with a multi-function LED flashlight. The super bright LED on the side can be used as a flashlight or can be a red flashing emergency signal.

The 7 Band Weather radio precisely gives you weather bands. The weather alert feature enables you to receive the alert signal when a disaster arrives.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kaitousa.com/KA500.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0024
KB2NAT Rating: 2019-01-01
Upon Further Review Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
With more time with the KA500, I am apologetically (for being impatient) writing an addendum to my 1st review. I did some comparison tests--better late than never--and found that the AM section is fairly sensitive, but struggles with selectivity. If the dial is turned, an AM station continues to stay audible for 10-20 KHz more. The AM band indicator is off by 500 KHz at the bottom end. The radio looks like it's at 750, but it's really around 820 or so. The SW band is imprecise and, oddly, keeps having little slices of silence as the band is tuned. If you turn slowly, there are no sound drop outs, but if you're merely scanning for any active stations, the AGC keeps acting like it just received a strong signal, but hasn't. If one pauses the dial, sound comes back immediately. Is it worth the $40? Probably. The Wx band is very sensitive and the unit IS easy to use. Compared to say, the Eton older emergency radios, it is not a step up. Don't expect it to be in the same level of reception performance of a general single-purpose portable radio.
KB0HAE Rating: 2013-06-18
Feature packed emergency radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.

I received my Kaiti KA500 emergency radio a few weeks ago. Here are my initial impressions. This radio has a lot of features in a small package. It has AM/FM/SW/WX reception, reading, flashlight, and emergency red flashing LED lights, and WX alert mode. It has the ability to charge the internal NiMH battery from solar cells, hand crank, from a USB PC port or USB AC adapter, or a 6V ac adapter. In addition it can charge some cell phones and MP3 players via hand crank or solar cells. A USB cable with several adapters is included for charging cell phones and MP3 players. No USB cable is provided for charging the radio's internal battery from a PC USB port, which takes a USB A male to USB A male cable. A set of ear buds is provided.

SW reception is via two bands and is from 3.2Mhz to 22Mhz. SW performance is better than I expected, though not nearly as good as my KA1103. I easily picked up WWV at 10Mhz and several SW broadcasters. AM reception is not bad, mostly limited to local stations. FM reception is disappointing, with the two local powerhouse FM stations bleeding over all but the strongest local stations. WX reception is via a seven position switch, and works pretty well.

I have used this radio during a couple of several hours long power outages here. The weather alert function worked very well, and the reading light and flashlight were very useful too.

Overall I like this radio. The receiver could use some improvement (as is the case with all of these types of radios that I have tried) but works well enough to listen to local AM and FM stations, and major SW broadcasters. I got mine on eBay for $49.95, and in a power outage it is worth every penny!