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Some gadgets are just plain fun. You can easily come up with justifications for buying a crank-up radio. For example, when the lights go out in a storm, you might not want to go out to the car to listen to the storm reports on the radio. But who needs an excuse for a fun toy?

Crankup Radio

Combining a 5 LED flashlight, an emergency radio, a cell phone charger, a compass, and a siren, some of these gadgets may be going a little overboard, but for $40 you can't go wrong. The crank-up cell phone charger feature alone might be worth that.

For a little more, you can get a larger radio that also received television audio, and the weather from NOAA. It also has the cell phone charger and LED lights. (Sorry, no compass or siren).

Crankup Radio

The Freeplay radio (a little more expensive) adds solar power and shortwave radio reception (good for those long sailing trips), and a detachable light on a six foot cord. Fully charged, it will run for 40 hours.

Freeplay Radio

If you just need a weather radio, you can get just that, and a citizen's band two way radio (walkie talkie) is good to have on the road, and Family Radio Service radios (FRS) have even greater range, and less noise, because they transmit and receive using FM instead of AM.