For quite some time, I have been missing a key element in my survival kit. Knives, lights, radios, pouches, oh my. Everything but a radio, as it happens. So when I saw a dynamo powered radio on ZAZZ, I jumped right onto it.
This is the DOSS dmp7 dynamo multifunctional radio / music-player.
It is more than just a radio though, and it is jam-packed with extra features.
As well as a scanning (no dials or even readouts) AM/FM radio, it also has a SD card slot and USB port to play solid-state media music, and a 3.5mm stereo auxiliary input port. A push button selector cycles through the input types and similarly, the scanning forwards and backwards is by push-button. I found this a bit difficult to use, or at least awkward, to try to find a station I was specifically after.
Each side cap features a LED lamp, also push button controlled. The left side is white and continuously lit.The right side features four flashing red LED's and also activates a siren, which is both loud and annoying. Perfect, really. At full charge, the siren will play for 3 hours.
The unit features a 1000mAh 3.7V lithium polymer battery internally, but can also take four AA batteries as well. Power status indicators on the front also show how well the hand-cranking dynamo is working on your manual charge.
The radio will play for 7 hours, the torch will last 15 hours and the SD/aux playback will run for 3-5 hours.
Made of a pretty lightweight ABS plastic, and with exposed seams throughout, this is not really a rugged piece. More suited to sitting in the glove-box or in the box of camping gear than for treks in the Amazon, or salvage runs into Chernobyl, but given the eternal nature of the dynamo as a power source, not only for the radio, lights but also as a charging station, this little multi-purpose device is a welcome addition to my just-in-case collection. You never know when the power will go out, and radio is an excellent source of news and information.
