Eton Ultimate Camping Radio review

The Eton Ultimate Camping is a feature filled, yet compact, emergency radio with plenty of power options.

Eton Ultimate Camping Radio review
(Image: © Eton)

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

The Eton Ultimate Camping Radio is durable and simple to use. It has the most efficient hand crank, clearest reception and loudest speaker, so is well worth the price.

Pros

  • +

    Best hand crank

  • +

    Great radio reception

  • +

    Powerful LED light

  • +

    Charges other devices

Cons

  • -

    No compass

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The Eton FRX series of radios are endorsed by the American Red Cross. It means this, the Eton Ultimate Camping model, is loaded with features to help you in an emergency. As you'd expect there is a dynamo hand crank, but you can also power it with an AC adapter, USB port, batteries or the sun. It can receive alerts from NOAA weather stations, and it gets SAME alerts too, which are notifications specific to your county. Yup, this is a feature rich device that makes it a real all rounder for camping, crisis and beyond.

In our tests, we found it has the loudest speaker and the best reception available, which are essential features for crank radios. Whether you're camping high in the Rocky Mountains or you live in Tornado Alley, it's an invaluable tool for emergencies. That's why it makes our list of the best emergency radios right now.

Eton Ultimate Camping: Design and build

The Eton Ultimate Camping Radio has a durable, hard plastic case that can handle the bumps and drops of a campout. You can also strap it to your backpack when you go out hiking, and the jostling won’t damage it. This is one of the few weather radios with an IPX4 water-resistance rating, which means it can handle splashes of water from any direction – you can take it out in a downpour or even whitewater rafting, something you can't do with most crank radios.

In addition to the dynamo hand crank, you can power the Ultimate Camping five other ways. The large solar panel on the back is an excellent option when you're outside and have direct sunlight. It's efficient enough to keep the radio charged while you're out on a hike or lounging by the pool, and you can fully power the Eton UC in around five hours. You can also charge it using a USB connection with your computer, a wall plug or a car charger. The radio has USB and micro-USB ports as well, and you can use them to charge your computer and mobile devices. This is an excellent option if your phone battery dies during a power outage and you need to call someone for help.

This emergency radio comes with ports that are both practical and fun. Through its auxiliary input, it can connect to an MP3 player so you can listen to music instead of the radio. You can also use this input to connect a microphone and use the speaker to amplify your voice, which is an excellent way to attract attention if you need help, provided you have a microphone in an emergency. In addition, this is the only crank radio we tested that has Bluetooth, so you can transmit wirelessly and don’t need to add an auxiliary cable to your emergency preparedness kit or backcountry hiking pack.

Eton Ultimate Camping: Features

As you would expect from an emergency radio sponsored by the American Red Cross, the Ultimate Camping is loaded with survival features. It has a siren and a red flashing beacon to attract help as well as glow-in-the-dark rims around the solar panel so it's easy to find in the dark. There is also an LED flashlight to help you get around in a power outage. However, it doesn’t have a compass, one of the most valuable survival tools if you get lost in the backcountry, or a thermometer.

One of this radio’s best features is its SAME alert technology. These are similar to NOAA weather alerts, except they are specific to your county. For example, instead of receiving weather information for the entire West Coast, you can get alerts for your area only. This helps you better determine your course of action in severe weather.

Since Eton is a leading manufacturer of emergency preparedness electronics, its support team is exceptionally knowledgeable. The FRX series (of which this is) has a one-year warranty, which is the industry standard. If you need help, you can contact support through phone, email and social networks. The website is also a great resource, with a FAQs page for each product, manuals, and a user forum for like minded users to share ideas and concerns.

Eton Ultimate Camping

(Image credit: Eton)

Eton Ultimate Camping: Performance

The Eton Ultimate Camping produced an average of 12 minutes of battery life with just four minutes of cranking the generator. We tested the battery life with the volume turned all the way up, so it may be much longer if you use the radio with the volume on low. The Ultimate Camping's crank beat out the next-best one by four minutes, and it produced almost ten minutes more power than the average for our test group.

Its overall battery life is also exceptional. The radio took five and a half hours to fully charge when plugged into a wall, which is average, but it played continuously for 15.5 hours at full volume. This was the second-longest battery life in our test. When you consider that the Eton UC also has the loudest speaker by a significant margin, the longevity of the battery is impressive.

It did very well in our AM and FM reception quality tests, and it and it's excellent foir use in the backcountry too. This means you’ll get clearer reception on this radio than on any other model we tested. In addition to picking up the full spectrum of AM and FM frequencies, it can receive severe-weather alerts from all seven NOAA weather stations. This is essential if you live in an area where severe weather, such as tornadoes, hurricanes and flash floods, is common. You can also receive alerts from the Environment Canada weather radio broadcast.

The maximum volume, measured at one meter from the speaker, was 90.3 dB. That is 3 dB louder than the second-loudest crank radio and almost 10 dB louder than the average. For comparison, 90 dB is about as loud as a motorcycle, while 80 dB is about as loud as a vacuum. A loud speaker is a valuable survival tool because it's more likely to attract people if you need help. In addition, a higher maximum volume means you're more likely to notice an important weather alert when the siren activates.

Should you buy the Eton Ultimate Camping?

The Eton Ultimate Camping is the best crank radio because it has the most efficient hand crank, the clearest reception and an exceptionally long battery life. With its SAME alerts, you receive severe weather information specific to your county. If you find yourself caught in a severe storm, it has a flashing beacon, flashlight, siren and water-resistant casing. All in all, it is an excellent addition to your emergency preparedness kit or camping gear.

Luke Edwards

Luke is a veteran tech journalist with decades of experience covering everything from TVs, power tools, science and health tech to VPNs, space, gaming and cars. You may recognize him from appearances on plenty of news channels or have read his words which have been published in most tech titles over the years. In his spare time (of which he has little as a father of two) Luke likes yoga, surfing, meditation, DIY and consuming all the books, comics and movies he can find.