Is it worthwhile?

philosophersavant

Is buying one of those wind-up torch, radio, charge item worth it? Is there one better than another. Living alone as a disabled pensioner I need all the support I can get. Thanks.

twopenny

Wind up torches and radios are pretty cheap in our local DIY shop so no harm in buying them.

I've got an mp3 player still that retains a charge for 3 days, longer than newer gadgets and I have podcasts and talking books on that.

Ditto if you have a power bank, there are some cheap ones that will do a fair job for a short time and could charge a tablet that you have downloaded books onto. The library has free book loans. It will be easier to read a book on a tablet after dark if we loose power in winter.

If you are a pensioner who lived through the 70s we got through power cuts well enough 😊 it's about adapting and we're more used to that than the younger generation.

p00hsticks

Personally I can't see why the emphasis is on wind up torches and radios for the home rather than those that work from batteries (always ensuring you get in a good supply of batteries of course)

dreaming

I use rechargeable torches, and one is always plugged in to charge from my computer when I'm using it. The others get charged regularly. I also have the rechargeable, motion sensor lights which are useful for middle of the night bathroom visits. There is a wind up torch as well - left over from when the grandchildren were little and enjoyed playing wth them but having arthritic hands now I can only get a few minutes charge from them. Yesterday I watched a Youtube post from Frugal Granny UK (My ongoing prep audit…radio and torches) who was talking about the wind up radio/torch she had bought some years ago but which no longer worked as she wasn't aware that she should have been charging it up regularly and the batteries had lost their capacity to recharge, so that made me realise that I don't know enough about them to buy a decent product. She also mentions that it would have taken over 7 hours winding to fully charge(!) although pointed out that you wouldn't have to fully charge it in an emergency.

sheenas

I guess you have been reading the governments advice. Quite laughable recommends. I would have simply consider a simple battery camping stile setup. A small gas stove and some large candles which give light and keep a room surprisingly warm. Maybe a CO2 alarm too. I have a solar & battery that would be handy for charging laptops etc. I guess Star Link would be necessary if the internet went down.

Blackbriar_040

I had a couple of these wind up torch/radios a few years back, had it in bathroom for the radio!

They are cheap for a reason, the self charge functions are as good as useless!

The claimed solar charging never worked, despite the radio being left in direct sunlight at a window!

Attempting to charge anything via the crank handle itself was also pointless, never managed to even get 1 bar while connected to a phone!

The crank handle break quite easily, so you have to be careful when cranking it.

The radio was the only thing that really worked half decent albeit, between having to re crank it every 10 mins!

I never used the torch, but the LED was not the brightest.

As a cheap Radio backup they would do the job, but forget using these to charge anything!

You can get decent Power banks fairly cheap these days.

I have a couple of 10,000mAh and 20,000mAh, from a Brand called INIU from Amazon!

These a frequently discounted, and keep their change for a good while.