I bought this little radio for my son for Christmas ; he loves it .It is compact,has a great sound and the flashlight is quite bright. Now my daughter wants one.
This was purchased as a gift and it is awesome. I originally was going to get the larger one but this one is perfect. Fits in the glovebox, purse, backpack, etc with no problems.
I plan on buying another one for my son's birthday.
Before purchasing this radio as Christmas gifts, I decided to try it for myself first. I like the size and colors that the radio comes in. The main reason to buying it is for emergency reasons. The sound is good. I get one of the 7 stations that gives me weather reports for my area. And having a radio that can run on solar energy is very important to me. It would be nice if the cell phone charger would also run off of the solar panel too, but after talking to the manufacture, it does not. It runs by crank only, and only for about two minutes. This is the area that could be improved on. And yes, I am giving them as Christmas gifts this year.
I had an FR150, the previous model, for almost a year when the sound just stopped. L.L. Bean gave me a no-fuss exchange. That one was defective in that the sound went off depending on the position of the volume dial. Again, a no-fuss exchange. This one has a solid feel to the volume control.
I primarily got this for the weather band broadcasts. As expected, regular FM reception is not strong. The flashlight is surprisingly strong and focused. Phone charging is a nice-to-have feature. L.L. Bean should clarify in the listing that one needs to register with Eton to get the appropriate wiring.
I intend to periodically test the radio as it needs to work in emergencies.
