Etón Scorpion

So far so good for this little unit. Overall unit is exactly as advertised and comes equipped with a solar panel for charging, as well as a hand crank.

The unit comes with 3 bands, AM/FM and NOAA Weather Band. Uses a digital tuning source for all. The buttons are rubberized or should say rubber sealed and can be a little tricky, but I can see why the unit is claimed to be splash proof.

Overall the unit is built rather well, and doesn't feel cheap. The bottle opener could have been something a little more useful, such as a signaling mirror, or thermometer, etc. I'm just not a fan of the bottle opener.

So far the unit has held a charge. The clock constantly runs, however, haven't had an issue where it's excessively draining the battery. The entire unit is rubber coated which adds to the durability, especially if dropped.

The flashlight is fairly bright, for what it is. The cell phone charging function of the unit isn't too bad. It charges my Droid without complications.

The only other caveat that I can foresee in the future is the antenna. If you have this on your pack, with the antenna up and the solar panel positioned towards the sun I can see bending, or possibly even breaking the antenna. While not a huge issue with proper care, I do however, like to listen to music while hiking and that might be an issue for someone like me.

Overall for camping and survival situations, the unit is worth the price paid.

I am a beginner in the world of hiking gear so I had to do a little research to find that "all in one" device to fit our needs. At first glance the unit is impressive. Solar, dynamo and D/C power options, cool.

When I opened the package and held it for the first time I could tell this thing was DURABLE.  The screen for the clock/am-fm-weather is backlit so you can see it at night, a plus. The flashlight is just FANTASTIC! It has a VERY bright and clean beam that is non-adjustable but a great median between spot light and a dispersed beam. I am very impressed by the brightness of the 3 LED's and the lense.

Powering the unit with the small solar panel is easy. Just point it at the sun and the battery indicator shows that it is charging. Using the dynamo crank is stiff at first, but after about 200 to 300 cranks it becomes very light and smooth. I did not purchase the D/C charger.

The speaker gets quite loud. It's kinda cool that you can plug in your ipod/iphone/mp3 player into the aux jack and the scorpion effectively amplifies the sound your unit is playing. I'm a huge fan of the option to scan for channels by holding the tune button down. I mean really, who wants to sit and peck buttons until a station comes in. 

The antenna extends, swivels and collapses nicely. The caribiner is tough and holds the unit securely to my pack. It is pretty light considering all that it can do. I will say that I can think of a dozen other things that could have been put in the place of the bottle opener.

Cons:

• Nowhere in any video or article I've seen did anyone say that you have to "contact www.igo.com for purchasing cell phone charging equipment" as the instructions say. I found this link for product registration that says they will send the proper adaptor for the phone when registered, www.etoncorp.com/productregistration

All in all it is a great unit and for the price, purchased on Amazon, it is worth every penny. Oh, and buy a screen protector for like an ipod or iphone and trim it to the size of the solar screen.  It scratches VERY easily.