Anyone planning on buying a wind up FM radio?

What worries me is if the electric goes off. We have oil central heating ( no gas in the village) but of course the controls for that are electric. I don’t know how we’d keep warm. We do have a fireplace behind a decorative electric fire but the chimney has a stopper on it to stop birds coming down so I don’t think it would be adequate for an open fire. We are elderly so keeping warm is important for us and cold air exacerbates my asthma.

I just ordered one about 30 minutes ago. It can be used with batteries or wound up and it also has a solar panel and torch (plus a USB socket to charge a phone). It’s a Philips TAR1609.

I have got a couple of cheapo thin ones in my car but I bought them years ago. You only need to break down in winter once, even with a winter coat in the car, to see how useful they are when you need them.

@dizzydizzydizzy sounds the same as mine!

no they are new radios - 6 years old and just ordinary radios.
@godmum56 technology for wind up radios really hasn’t moved on that much in the last decade. It’s still basically a dynamo set up just with a battery attached. Very much like the old bike lights. They work well for a few uses than fall off a cliff edge.

Thanks, I have a few foil blankets for when hiking but these ones were much more heavy duty. It's a while since I've looked online for them.

Yes I bought one about a month ago - it is also a power bank, a torch and will sound an alarm.

I see it as more the new cold war than world war III.

I'm in California and we're recommended to have at least 72 hours and ideally 14 days of emergency supplies! We currently have 5 days.

We have a fancy radio that's wind up, rechargeable and has a solar panel. We have several solar panel torches that are also rechargeable and 2 battery ones with a box of batteries. Also a USB charger that will take batteries and charge the radio, phones if we have any service, and the other torches.

Also a bucket toilet with plastic bags and toilet roll, mylar blankets, four tarps, rope, a first aid kit, pack of playing cards, two multitools, gloves, first aid kit, emergency pet kit and a bunch of other things I can't even remember but were part of a Red Cross "bug in" bag.

I have had one for years but recently upgraded to one that has a phone charger built in.

We have about 10l of water in the garage, 2 large torches, a bag of tea lights, probably enough cans for a few weeks and a charged power bank. That’ll have to do.

My elderly neighbour bought one of the original Baylis wind up radios when they first appeared in the shops. Its still going today. It only needs a few winds to give an hour's listening time.

I think "years ago" is the key. They have become a lot more efficient than the expensive originals

I got one in the summer when I first started hearing about the super El Niño, along with a power bank and wind up lamp. I used them this morning! After the three day power cut after Goretti I wasn't taking any chances.

I have said this before but its totally people's choice and decision on what to do. Nobody is being forced to do anything and people's different circumstances will change what they decide to do and what will be needful for them.

Mine turned up yesterday 📻

Yes I agree this is about world war three although I think this war is basically cyber and infrastructure attacks.

4 foil sleeping bags are under 20 quid on amazon. Yes I know that there will be people who can't afford them but I don't think its pricy. They do come singly as well. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deecam-Waterproof-Lightweight-Activities-Backpacking/dp/B0FNCR8BGG/ref=sr_1_15?crid=2242BIOVZUD88&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Qt8JfA1PNmYgqCWvhyvjrF7YWv4pR7RXxuRYIEVqh6C5lisK0zbmFtoyyCVTGecnVXxR8ixEMv5gOF5bcAxbna7qTOSLtP_yHXnVOPduOObKIW-JuCcEwyprMP_3_PxH5vLDeikG_xsrCeUe7JeloZuJ2FNt-TQJ0DaUjGVBKL_dB856xdRPJhA8kBv-YNZ8Uq3yoAZGv0sbY4lgPA8AzrW14cfJaBdwoUasebzkGHBdKK_PgyQ0Ky25k8WzuL5lIY50ZSI3WLH6rOKInut8JjmcCey5zZfLPk2wjr4b1DA.otmbuChDJoUbujq48K9jnHrCmsbz1pnoddrhi3IvJzU&dib_tag=se&keywords=foil+sleeping+bag&qid=1792768287&sprefix=foil+sleeping+bag%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-15

They are soft launching WWIII.
The constant influx of articles about war, conscription etc paired with even more constant influx of articles about stock piling food and other things. Very interesting timing 🤔

I live in semi rural area and we have power cuts weekly, mostly lasting a few minutes but still.
A few weeks ago, we had 2 power cuts and a no water in a space of few days.
I live between a town and a city but both about 10 miles away in different directions, if the weather is really bad (beast from the east for example) we are cut off.

@godmum56 I have always lived in large towns and cities in England, Wales and Scotland. I have lived in five different places, so this is not about one city being particularly organised.

Would the battery life be that short if you're only listening to the radio? Was it a radio cassette/CD player? They do use a lot more power when playing tapes as they're physically moving something, but I feel like radio alone shouldn't use that much power.

wow lucky you! As I said upthread, I have never lived anywhere in my adult life where we didn't get at least 4 longish powercuts a year and often more. Water loss is, for me an new problem but havinghad a long outage once and now knowing what dreadful state our water supply system is in, I think its now sensible to take some minimal precautions.

if the water does go out of date then slightly out of date water will be better than no water. It can also be used for washing and loo flushing if needed. Provided you check the "best before" date and note that is is a best before date and not a use by. I'd also suggest that any amount of water is better than none at all? If you want to limit how much water you decide to store then if you can get a waterbutt or more than one. When we had the long outage here, I used water from my water butts. I tied a piece of cotton cloth over the tap to filter out the big stuff, then added sterilising tablets (cheap on amazon) to it and then used it for loo flushes and heated some of it in saucepans for washing. I could probably have drunk it once sterilised and boiled but didn't need to.

Already got one, wind up, solar, reachable and battery operated in one. It was something like £13.99 from Amazon, I tested it and it works fine. Also has a torch.

I don't have a radio but I do have a wind up torch and find the same. It's put me off going for a radio, the ones at home take batteries so I'll just make sure I have enough of those. I do wonder how many of the good reviews for the one a PP linked have actually used it as a wind up.