Forever Last Radio: Hand-Cranked Radio & Flashlight
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.12.07
Richard Thalheimer, the guy who started up The Sharper Image, has his own online store over at richardsolo.com, which he's filled with slick, Sharper Image-like gadgets, gizmos and toys. Some of them are a bit extraneous, but one of the things we like is the Forever Last Radio, the newest in a growing number of handy hand-cranked radios. In addition to the AM/FM radio, it's got a flashnight/nightlight combo (so you can see what station tune to, we guess), and one minute of cranking gets 20 minutes of listening pleasure or 40 minutes of flashlighting. The answer the "Who cares?" question, Richard says, "People need a stylish radio and flashlight but do not want to keep buying batteries." Well said. ::Richard Solo via ::Notcot
If it charges batteries for cell phones or digital cameras or other devices it would be even better.
The string pull dynamo is also much more efficient than the hand crank and a bicycle may be more efficient still.
If we can make a set of appliances efficient enough to work on, say, a half hour a day of muscle power, we will go a long, long way to solar survival and, just incidentally, technological equity.
See Solar Swadeshi at solarray.blogspot.com or the solar/dynamo flashlight/radio/battery charger on youtube for more.
The problem with most of the hand cranked items is they have a small re-chargeable battery inside which does go bad after a few years and isn't as user replaceable as standard batteries like AA or AAA. There are a few that have a nice big capacitor but the majority uses a battery.
Your much better off just buying a regular radio/flashlight and drop in some nice low self discharge batteries like Sanyo Eneloop and top them off oncea year or after each use.