An Emergency Multi-Purpose Radio Belongs In Your Kit

Some emergency gear is useful when you’re out in the mountains or on the trail, and some can be surprisingly useful anywhere, at any time. This multi-function emergency weather radio from Midland is small enough (about 8”x3.5”x2.5” and 1lb) to fit in your pack for adventures, and could also be useful at home during a power outage and when you’re traveling.

This gadget can do so many things that you might find yourself using it a lot. The unit has an NOAA weather radio with alert, so you’ll get news of inclement weather when you need it, no matter where you are. You can learn more about NOAA’s weather radio here. The alerts are handy, as you just set the radio and then it will come on automatically when NOAA issues an alert.

Users report good build quality and battery life when in use. One wrote:

“Bought this radio just before Hurricane Irma. It ran for 2 days before I got to charge it after the storm. It still had two charge bars left so it would have gone more…We had no power for the next 9 days but we had all the local info we needed thanks to this radio.”

Another user mentioned, “I have already been through two good storms this year and this unit came in handy. Out in the woods and over on the coast during a rain and windstorm, I was surprised at the reception of both AM/FM radio and NOAA. The sound was good…”

Emergency features include the flashlight beacon that flashes “ SOS” in Morse code to summon emergency assistance. The 1400 LUX flashlight works great at camp, and might also serve when the power is off at home. Besides the SOS mode, the flashlight has low and high modes. This isn’t going to become your “go-to” flashlight, but it’s a useful feature for this device.

The ultrasonic “dog whistle” is designed to help search and rescue teams find you if you get lost or stranded. That’s a lot easier than building a fire and hoping the smoke gets noticed!

For non-emergency use, such as a trip to the beach or a picnic, the built-in 2600 mAh rechargeable Li-Ion battery can charge your phone and other devices with the built-in USB ports. It’s good for up to 32 hours, and you can recharge the battery by plugging it into a power source, use the built-in solar charger, hand crank, or install six AA batteries. Recharging a fully drained battery requires about 5-6 hours when plugged in. Using the hand crank, you’ll get roughly nine minutes of radio use per minute of cranking.

As with any electric device that you might need in an emergency, remember to keep it fully charged! Yes, it has a hand crank and solar charger for use in the boonies, but why not think ahead and start your journey with the unit fully charged? The easy way is hard enough.

To me, that seems like a lot of functionality for roughly $70. I think it’s a no-brainer for your adventure kit.