American Red Cross Emergency Weather Radio with NOAA Alerts

U.W.: Good sound, nice digital display, compact, feels robust, nice lights.
Negative: User Manual is tiny small hard to read, doesn't stand well (wiggles), no compartment for the charging cable, no USB-C charging connector, hard to remember some of the functions thru multi use of buttons remembering that in an emergency is doubtful. The weather warning system don't work in most other countries beside USA/Canada
Still, compared to other devices its pretty good.

United States on Nov 22, 2023

Vera: Once you connect the battery in the back this unit works perfectly. You can charge it with the hand crank. The radio is reasonable and has the emergency stations. Great well made unit.

Canada on Oct 24, 2023

What's the frequency, Kenneth?: Initial observations:

Good rugged appearance. Simple to use, intuitive knobs and buttons.

I plugged in the battery, turned it on, tuned in a few AM and FM stations with no problems, switched to the NOAA band and verified that I could receive my local station with no problems. I tried out the flashlight and hand crank. I then cranked it for a few minutes to verify that the charging does work with the hand crank. I have not tried the tiny solar panel yet. Since it was displaying 2 out of 3 bars on the battery, I attached the included mini-B USB cable to a nearby charger and let it charge for a few hours. When I returned, it displayed full bars. I have not tested the runtime yet. Radio sensitivity seems fine, but I haven't tested any far away radio stations yet.

Purchased 10-2023. The battery shows a mfg date of 2021.

I noted that this can be charged by hand crank, solar panel, or USB only. If I interpreted the instructions correctly, it can also run the radio when the USB is plugged into an external source of power if the battery is dead. The radio is supposed to run for four minutes for every 1 minute of cranking.

Downsides:

The instruction...

United States on Oct 20, 2023

drobin3: 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.

United States on Oct 13, 2023

STEWART S: I quite enjoy this. I bought it as a Bluetooth shower radio - prev/next controls work!
Of course, it's much more versatile. Out and about I've used the FM radio a fair bit. During power outages I've used the flood and flashlight.
My only wishes are that: 1) I wish it had a Wake-With-Radio-Alarm--that would be amazing; 2) I wish it was more stable; perhaps they could add a wire clip style kickstand that frames the flood light.
Not having the first wish I almost returned the radio, but then I saw their donation to Ukraine and thought "If I return this I'm going to feel like a schmuck."
I'm proud to have a neat product by such a noble company. Great stuff, Eton!* (*Please wake my wishes come true. Thanks!)

Canada on Sep 08, 2023

Joyce M.: Sturdy, well made, quality sound, has everything u may need during black out. Only used it once for about 1 hour, so can't comment on, life of battery or water resistant..
for extra lite, incase needed, also purchased a light with head band, instead of holding flashlight, leaves hands free!

Canada on Jan 22, 2023

Briallen Merrick: I like my emergency preps to be multifunctional so I was really hopeful when I found this radio. I had an older Eton which still worked great but was unable to charge smart devices. This radio works well for that and the lights are good but the actual radio function isn’t great. Where I live the emergency station is AM1233 but because the radio has a digital tuner it goes up by tens so I can’t get the emergency station clearly. Such a silly oversight which really brings the product down.

Australia on Nov 10, 2022

Peter Smith: I got this to have radio and weather warnings in case the power goes out. I haven't had to use the crank power, and the solar charging is fairly slow. It does charge with mini-USB plug. Flashlight is weak but I do like the more diffuse light provided by the back panel for general lighting for camping. Battery life seems good. I haven't used the USB power bank.
I can't see the lettering on the buttons (too small) under the handle, which is my only complaint.

Canada on Jul 30, 2021

Christopher D'Amico: Note that there are reviews for OTHER similar models, all lumped together, that are confusing folks. The FRX3 [NO plus] is the one with dual battery type, even though the details text and pictures seem to apply this to the PLUS model, too. Same goes for solar charge capacity. There are some units without.

Frustrating start to the ownership of this FRX3+ [note PLUS].

I read the instructions in the user manual first and connected the harness to the rechargeable battery as instructed, since it ships disconnected. Cranked unit to add charge to the battery, which showed two out of three bars, out of the box, until three bars. About one minute of cranking.

Tried to set up time and alarm clock. Got the time ok. Would not change time from default for alarm clock. Tried to use the instructions for time set for alarm clock set, thinking user manual was not up to date. No go. Noted that battery back to two of three bars. Cranked again to get to three bars. Retried setting alarm clock. Nope.

Figured I'd start fresh so I disconnected battery until LCD screen cleared and waited another minute, in case there is a capacitor in the electronics. Reattached the battery....

United States on Nov 15, 2019