Unplug and play for free
Written: Mar 25 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: It works, Don't have to waste batteries.
Cons: Not a professional level speaker system.
The Bottom Line: This works well for its intended use.
|
|
|
| FlanderFlop's Full Review: Freeplay Energy BayGen AM/FM/SW Radio |
It all started at a mountain bike race. We were camped out for a weekend by the side of an access road at a ski resort in Maine, and the local radio station was playing their entire catalog from A to Z. Needless to say when we were not riding we were trying to guess what the next song would be as it played on the trucks stereo. (As you can see, I am using the term “camped” loosely) The weekend was great, despite less than ideal results in the cross country race, and we were some of the last riders to leave the venue. Actually one of the reasons it took us so long to leave is that it is a bit of a trick to convince someone with four wheel drive to drive up a dirt mountain road to give you a jumpstart because you drained your battery listening to WBLM’s A to Z event.
So I started looking around for a way to get a radio out in the woods that wouldn’t drain my battery. Normal battery powered radios end up costing a fortune in disposable batteries, not to mention environmental issues. I played with the idea of putting an accessory battery in the truck, but that would also have cost me more than I was willing to spend. So I came to the idea of wind up and solar powered radios. The two major brands I looked at were the Grundigs and the Freeplays.
Both of these major brands gave me the wind up feature that I was looking for, but there was one major difference. When you crank a Grundig radio the energy is converted into an electrical current which is used to charge a battery which in turn plays the radio. When you crank a freeplay, the energy is stored as mechanical potential energy (the same way that your wind up toys stored energy when you were a kid) (wait, do they still make wind up toys?) (do kids have any toys now that don’t use batteries?)(I guess X-box doesn’t take batteries, but it does have to plug into the wall) ( Wow, sidetrack). Both of these systems have a potential down side. My experience with rechargeable batteries is that they tend to lose their ability to recharge over time. This means, in theory, that over time the Grundig would get progressively less play time per crank while the Freeplay would continue to get roughly the same playtime per crank. My experience with any mechanical device has been that eventually, if you used it enough, it breaks. This means that at some point something in the Freeplay will snap and the whole thing will cease to work all at once.
So I took my chances with the Freeplay because I figured there may be long periods of time that I don’t use the radio. In this time the Grundigs battery will deteriorate, and the Freeplay will maintain its function. So the gamble was that the Freeplay was well enough constructed to not break even with considerable use.
The gamble seems to have paid off.
I have owned my Freeplay for about a year now, and I got it used on e-bay so it seems to hold up well. I probably listen to it about an hour to an hour and a half per week, and it has been holding up well. So here is what you need to know:
play time
I get about 45 minutes of play time to 40 cranks. So just a little more than a minute per crank is not bad. As I use this radio in my office, I have also found that having a 45 minute block of music is helpful for planning my day. For instance, if I decide to screw around on the internet for a while I know that If I have to crank the radio more than once, I have distracted myself for way too long.
sound quality
Lets face it, this is not a Bose, nor should you expect it to be. This is a small one speaker deal with not a whole lot of Bass. But for what it is, the sound quality is better than I expected. I was expecting it to sound a lot more “boxy” than it does, but it gives a clear sound and it dials in radio stations well. If you want better quality out of it, you can take a nice pair of headphones and plug them in.
construction
The unit is made of plastic which seems like it hold up pretty well, but I wouldn’t suggest dropping it on tar or anything. So while it may not be indestructible, it is light and portable which is what I got it for in the first place. I have put a lot of use into it, and it has held up well, so there is not much more I could ask for.
conclusions
I would recommend this radio to anyone who prefers not to be plugged into a wall and can’t stand giving all their money to an annoying bunny with a drum. I have had good luck with mine, I hope you do too.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.