Eton products, if you haven’t guessed already, feature prominently on our list of the best hand crank emergency weather radios, and with good reason. Eton is a well respected brand and a leading manufacturer of high quality emergency radios. The Eton Scorpion II is a perfect example of the quality that those with knowledge of the industry, have come to expect from this trusted market leader.
The Eton Scorpion II is a small and compact emergency radio that consistently outperforms many of its rivals; it’s tough too, due in no small part to the rubberized, hard wearing and knock resistant outer casing.
This ruggedness is invaluable in protecting the radio from all the knocks, drops, and spills, an emergency radio will experience during its lifetime.
As with all Eton hand crank radios, the Scorpion II has one of the most efficient and best working hand crank power generators of any emergency radio in this category and possesses a battery life that will undoubtedly make many of its competitors cower with embarrassment!
Add to these impressive levels of functionality the fact that the Scorpion II also doubles as a flash light and has a built in bottle opener and you are looking at a serious ‘best of’ contender!
The quickest and most effective method of charging the Scorpion II will be by the use of a standard wall charger or through a USB adapter, both will take approximately four hours to fully charge the radio from a completely empty state which is a little quicker than the average time taken by other hand crank radios.
With the radio played on full blast a full charge will last for around 12.5 hours which is an astonishing length of time, and if you reduce the volume, the battery life can be extended even further!
We want to find the best hand crank emergency radios on the market, and as already highlighted there are none that can match the Scorpion II for the efficiency of its hand crank and its lengthy battery life, with the exception of the Eton FRX5BT, but if the FRX5BT is a little too boxy/square for your needs then the Scorpion II is definitely your next best option.
As well as the hand crank option, the Scorpion II also has the option of solar charging which performs pretty well considering the small size of the solar panel. The solar panel can be found on the back of the radio and in direct sunshine would take around 10 hours to fully charge the batteries. A good idea to speed up the process would be to combine solar charging with an occasional hand cranking.
Charging your mobile is best achieved by using the hand crank, alternatively you could use the solar charger, although it will take considerably longer to get a half decent charge doing so, but hey; if I was in an emergency situation with no wall socket in sight, I would definitely be thanking my lucky stars for that life saving option.
What’s the Radio Like?
It goes without saying that the radio itself is always going to be the most important component of an emergency radio, and the Scorpion 2 has everything required of a good emergency radio, AM/FM and NOAA 24/7 weather alerts, the question is how well does it perform?
The Scorpion II has excellent reception and audio quality which is particularly impressive considering its small size, reception can also be greatly improved by adjusting the 7 inch retractable antenna. As with any radio receiver, atmospheric conditions and local terrain will always have an effect on the quality of reception, but the Scorpion II still performs better than most radios in adverse conditions.
The radio itself has a rather small back-lit digital display that shows the channel and mode currently in use and when the radio is not being used the time is automatically displayed in either 12hr or 24hr format.
Unlike the FRX5BT, the Scorpion II doesn’t have the extremely localized SAME weather reporting service, but there again, none of the other emergency radios on this list do either, one of the main reasons why the FRX5BT is our top choice!
What Other Extras Does the Scorpion II Offer?
The Scorpion II is ‘shock and knock’ resistant thanks to its tough rubberized casing and is rated IPX4 for water resistance.
A strange addition to this particular emergency radio is the bottle opener built into its side; not exactly what I would call an emergency tool but nevertheless a very handy one for cracking open a few cold ‘brewskis‘ at the end of a long day hiking!
Another nice little extra is the handle which is actually a carabiner, very useful for attaching the radio to your pack or belt, I wouldn’t trust it to support my weight, although I don’t believe it was designed for that purpose anyway!
And Talking of Support…
Should you have any problems or queries with regards the Scorpion II, help is always on hand. Eton is a well established company with a reliable support set up which you can learn more about by visiting Eton’s own website. Plus, as with all Eton products, the Scorpion II is covered by a 1 year warranty.
Dimensions:
- Width – 2.6 inches (14.8 cm)
- Height – 6.5 inches (18.1 cm)
- Depth – 1.9 inches (5.8 cm)
- Weight – 10.62 oz (0.62 kg)
Pros:
- Superb hand crank charging
- Excellent battery life
- Radio reception and audio quality of an excellent standard
- IPX4 Water Resistant
- Speaker volume is very good!
Cons:
- No SAME localized weather reporting
- No Siren or Morse code beacon
Although lacking SAME localized weather warnings there is little not to like about this trustworthy little emergency radio!
The Scorpion II performs superbly in every aspect and is well worth its place on our ‘best weather radios’ list.
There is one thing that we haven’t mentioned above that perhaps we should have, is that the Scorpion II looks and feels pretty cool!
I know in the whole scheme of things ‘looks’ may not be seen as being that important, but try telling that to your teenagers when you’re trying to teach them the importance of radio communications in an emergency!
If it looks cool, your kids will want to know how it works!
If you are looking for a high performing emergency weather radio featuring hand crank functionality and you are not keen on the Eton FRX5BT for whatever reason (why not?) then the Eton Scorpion II is in our opinion the next best option.
Finally, you have probably noticed that Eton radios are placed at positions 1 and 2 on our best hand crank emergency weather radio list and there is a perfectly good reason for this – Quality and exceptional performance, need I say more?
Any last words?
Honestly? You’d be foolish not to at least consider this awesome little emergency radio!
