The newly released Kaito Voyager KA500 is a sister product of Kaito’s widely praised emergency radios KA007, KA008 and KA009. With its revolutionary design and versatile functions, it’s an ideal companion for emergency preparedness purposes, outdoor activities as well as traveling.
Specifically designed for emergency situations, the KA500 offers different methods to power itself. Those methods include AC/DC adapter (not included), three AA batteries (not included), the built-in rechargeable Ni-
$ 49.95
KAITO KA500 VERY VERSATILE,
KAITO KA500 VERY VERSATILE
If considering the Kaito KA500, you want a highly portable radio that does it all. I did. I wanted a radio with versatility in (a) sources of power input and (b) radio signals received.
Public radio served me well weathering Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath with a plain boom box. But what if things get dicier? My solution was to put together a disaster/camping/survival pack. And I needed a radio.
I settled in on the Kaito KA500, because nothing else came so close to providing abundant sources of power and station signals. Internet searchings I did indicated sales to military, a good sign. I bought one with the optional antenna you reel out for 23 feet. Here’s what I found.
FEATURES
1. Multiple sources of power: It’s powered by 3 AA batteries you buy, or crank to charge the built-in Ni-MH battery pack, or use solar panel on back with tilting hinge for charging the battery pack, or connect computer USB to charge the battery pack, or use the AC adaptor to charge the battery pack.
2. Multiple sources of signals: AM, FM, all 7 NOAA weather channels on crystal (NOT analog knob) tuning, SW1, and SW2.
3. Bonus features beyond these basics: White LED flashlight, red flashing LED emergency signal light, 5-LED reading light built into the reverse side of the solar charging cells so it tilts up and down to adjust, and ear bud earphones. These LED light features are powered as is the radio, so they can work with multiple sources of power with no filament bulbs to burn out. The KA500 also includes a USB output jack with wire that fits onto five different cellphone and personal electronic devices to charge them, and all these items come with the unit.
4. Optional features: Long 23 foot antenna you can string out and clamp to the stick-up antenna that reels back into a closed spool 3 inches in diameter, AC adaptor, USB cable for charging the KA500.
EVALUATIVE REVIEW OF FEATURES
1. Sources of power
a. Before putting in any bought batteries, I cranked the radio up for about a minute, and the small light on the front said it was fully charged. It ran for 10-15 minutes without any problems receiving an FM station before I put in the store-bought batteries.
b. The store-bought batteries worked fine.
c. I have not yet used the solar charger, nor ordered the optional AC charger, nor ordered the optional USB charger that charges the battery pack. I have no reason to believe any of these would not work, as everything else has worked.
2. Sources of radio signal
a. FM signals came in fine. The output is mono but quite acceptable.
b. AM signals also came in fine, the usual many signals.
c. SW bands pulled in a lot of stations, somewhat more clearly than AM (I did this testing at night). I got perhaps half foreign language stations, mostly Spanish.
d. NOAA weather was great in another city, mediocre but intelligible here on the Gulf Coast. A separate knob is devoted solely receiving just the seven weather stations, which are received digitally using crystals.
3. Tuning and sound
a. The tuning knob worked fine, as did all other controls.
b. Sound quality was OK When MPB public radio played some vintage Earl Skruggs it was pleasant over the small built in speaker. The earphones actually added some bass. I count decent sound as a bonus, as I did not buy the KA500 for excellence of sound quality. I bought it for getting any intelligible signal under duress.
4. Bonus features
a. The LED flashlight does what one LED does, the same as the one on my keychain and 1/3 as bright as the three on my cap clip-on light.
b. The red flashing LED worked well. It is likely visible for an unobstructed mile or more, probably farther over water.
c. The reading lamp is a real jewel. I turned off all my lights and tried to read. Reading was easy, so this radio can also be a good tent light, has a strap up top.
d. The long antenna boosted reception a bit, not greatly. It improved marginal signals.
CONCLUSION
The Kaito KA500 gives me amazingly versatile sources of power and radio signals for its price. The bonus features make it real bargain. If you want an emergency portable radio of modest price, the best chance of powering up under duress, the widest variety of signals of practical use in a disaster/camping/survival situation, plus a bunch of bonus features, I’d say the KA500 is your best bet by far.
HINTS
1. Keep the bubble wrap the radio comes in and tape the flap shut with duct tape for protection in your pack. Put it in a gallon glad bag and you’re set.
2. If preparing for emergencies, online resources offer a lot. I liked:
a. Doug Ritter’s many recommendations and supplies. He has set up a foundation “Equipped to Survive” and truly has his heart into survival oriented outdoor gear. You can even download his survival sheet free on that…
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|Solid, durable, and perfect for camping or emergency use,
I bought this item just over a year and a half ago, and it’s served my needs very well. Frequent camping trips, occasional blackouts and the possibility of it being the only means of receiving important information in an emergency situation, this radio has proven time and again that it’s the right choice for what I want it for.
I’ve taken this sucker camping 12 times and never been disappointed. I’ve left my car phone charger home by accident twice and the KA500’s dynamo charged it (motorola razor) with ten minutes of cranking. I’ve dropped it, kicked it, even left it out in the camper in sub-zero temperatures for a week and it still works like new.
My girl likes to have a radio or tv on while she’s falling asleep and the same ten minutes of cranking put out 40 minutes of shortwave or FM radio for her to fall asleep by, in the middle of the Wisconsin north woods far from any other person.
Three times since I bought this product the power has gone out in my area, and twice it was because of weather-related emergencies. This radio brings the NOAA weather alerts right to us during blackouts and keeps us up to speed.
More than a few times I’ve stretched out the shortwave clip-on antenna and have been able to listen to radio france or argentina simply by clipping it on and throwing it over a tree branch.
Most of the bad reviews of this product are due to user error; you need to crank the dynamo for more than two minutes to charge the battery, you need to read the packaging or advertised product description to know what’s in the box, you need to crank it in small, tight and steady turns – just like any other dynamo-charged product – and not be overzealous and rip the crank handle off. It’s very durable as long as you don’t act like your trying to power a full-sized refrigerator. Don’t let a few ignoramuses spoil you on this really good deal on a very good emergency radio.
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|Great features, disappointing reception,
I bought the KA500 to use for emergencies and camping. I have 3 other Kaito radios: the KA007 crank radio, the KA-1103 multiband, and the KA2100. The 1103 and 2100 are really fine radios with truly impressive reception, especially the 1103. On the other hand, I was very disappointed in the KA007, as the radio reception on all its bands is barely acceptable, with terrible selectivity resulting in stations bleeding through all over the dial. The weather reception on the 007 was awful, as was the VHF and the FM.
I hoped this would be a better performing version of the 007, and it is – but not as much as I’d hoped for. The weather reception is definitely improved over the 007, and now is almost as good as my dedicated weather radios. The SW seems more sensitive now, and seems to have better selectivity. Not fabulous but good enough for a radio that is not primarily intended as a world-band radio. However, the FM is still pretty bad. Here in the Boston area, there are two public radio stations that are fairly strong, and come in on pretty much any radio – yet I could not get either one on the KA500, let alone the weaker local stations. This means that for me, it’s not usable as an everyday radio – only for emergencies.
There is no question that this radio has about every feature you could ask for in an emergency radio (except maybe a siren of some kind). It’s very well thought out, and the ability to power it in so many ways, as well as charge other things from it is great. However, given that Kaito’s higher end radios have really impressive sensitivity and selectivity, it’s a shame they still haven’t created an emergency/crank radio that uses any of their higher end technology. After all, wouldn’t you want the best possible receiver in an emergency?
Kaito’s digital world band radios start around $55, and their analog high sensitivity models can be had for $35. I’d have happily paid another $15-20 for a much better receiver. Currently, none of the crank and solar panel radios are much better – they all seem to sacrifice receiver quality, which makes no sense to me. I hope in the future Kaito will offer a model with the features of the KA500 but a receiver at least as good as the KA1101.
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