Wind up Radio

We've all seen that Grundig you crank to keep running. the design was aped by other companies like Sony, Steepletone, Roberts, Eton and others. There are several models here. It's basically a sturdy emergency radio, really designed for the bomb-shelter types. It's got it's time and place, and for the most part that's appearances in apocalyptic movies. But this... this is much nerdier somehow.

This is a radio that generates its own power, just by cranking it up. It's called The Freeplay radio. It takes about sixty turns to give it a full charge. And you really are just winding up a spring. As the spring unwinds it runs a small generator providing about 3 volts to the device. The radio board is compatable for AM, FM and even short wave.

Features vary by model, but some models even have a solar panel as an alternate energy source. Their Devo Model is even DAB compatible. It's battery, when fully charged provides 25 hours playtime when fully charged. All in all, a fairly green product. ...Though some users complain about the gear noises.

Pulse Planet wrote them up, it's well worth the read: www.pulseplanet.com

CAVEAT EMPTOR: Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont! DuPont, the friendly neighbors that brought you such wonder products as Teflon, Nylon, and VX-nerve poison.