I must say that the FreePlay is a really cool piece of kit. I wound it once for 60 turns (about 30 seconds) and it's played for over 4 hours as well as had the light on for over 24. Very impressive.

I have one too. It's cool but pretty overpriced. I decided to buy it after that blackout last year.

Shortwave is a neat feature.

Interesting idea. Don't really see the purpose, though...

I mean, if things on this planet ever get so bad that I can't buy batteries for a portable radio, then I doubt there will be any radio stations to listen to, either...

I suppose if one traveled to places where batteries were not easily purchased, such as the middle of the jungle or something, it might be useful. But not for folks like us who get the DT's when we're away from our net connections for more than a weekend...

Hmm. Maybe for when we lose power and all the stores are closed due to ... what could possibly be going on these days? Oh yeah! Hurricanes!

I guess I'm just the kind of guy who likes to stay stocked up on batteries anyway.

It was developed for educating people about AIDS in Africa, where radios are popular but batteries are expensive.

Invented by Trevor Baylis, he orignally set up production in Africa after many knockbacks:
http://www.cityspeakersinternational.co.uk/TrevorBaylisOBE.htm

Bayliss Brands, his inventor's help company:
http://tbf.websfor.org/tbb/home/home.asp

Gareth

I like it because I suck at remembering batteries and end up with 4 dead flashlights. I'm so bad I sometimes have to steal batteries from one remote to use another. Besides, living in New Orleans batteries aren't always in the stores come hurricane time.

I think a large part of the point is that it does not pollute our planet with dead batteries every few weeks of non-AC use.

Cheers

I was just about to say what Mark did... there's a much larger point. Why waste batteries when you don't have to?

All good points. Based on what it was invented for- use in undeveloped sections of Africa- it makes a lot more sense.

It would be great if they offered just the hand crank / battery as a kit to run/charge PDAs, cell phones, and what-nots.

Something like this? I think there are a few devices out there for that.

If the FreePlay Plus is that efficient in power use, then I'm interested, and not suprised by its cost. I have a Grundig model like this one. and for 60 turns I can probably only get about 15 minutes.

The Freeplay Plus doesn't run off the generator. The crank charges an internal battery which then powers the radio. Solar cells on top of the freeplay also charge the battery. But only when you turn the freeplay on while in sunlight without the generator turning. Something wacky like that.

or better still....
http://www.freeplay.net/website/product/freecharge.php

Close, the solar cells wil charge the battery even if it's off AND even if the crank is turning. If it's recieving more energy than it's using, it dumps to the battery. (at least, according to the manual)

Now we just need big-ass cranks for our cars and we can end our dependence on foreign oil once and for all.

Who cares about radio anyway. This thing should have a hard drive in it playing MP3s. Or an outlet on it so you can run whatever you want from its rechargeable battery.

Bruno

I read the same manual and got a totally different impression on how it works. Oh well.