Voyager Max KA900

I absolutely love this radio. Previous models may have had a shortwave feature but lacked the ability to play MP3s from a micro SD card, another may have had bluetooth capabilities but no shortwave ( or vice versa). This model has everything combined in one radio, which in my humble opinion makes it one of the best radios in its price range. I've had mine for about 2 months now, using it every day and taking it everywhere I go. With 2 solid months of near constant use I have found very little negative to say about it. I'll get the minor complaints out of the way then get back to the praise. 1) The maximum volume is more than sufficient for my needs but it isn't nearly as loud as it looks. You can easily hear it across the house if it's quiet but this radio can't compete with much noise. That being said, I don't think it was really designed to. It's more of a personal radio meant for listening while gathered around a campfire or sipping iced tea on the porch or, if necessary, while in the basement during a tornado. 2) There is a slide on top of the radio that turns the reading light and flashlight on and off. It's possible for that slide to get nudged or moved without you realizing it which could drain the battery. You would probably notice the flashlight being on but the reading light is mounted under the solar panel. If the solar panel is in the "closed" position it is possible for the reading light to be on without you realizing it. This happened to me not long ago and the light was left on all night. I didn't catch it until the following afternoon and the radio still had a significant charge left. The display showed 1 bar which I have found will last for several hours with constant use. This tells me that either the reading light doesn't require much juice to operate, or the radio comes with a pretty good battery, possibly both. Either way, I was impressed. On a side note, when I first got my radio I held it upside down and the slide fell right out of it onto the ground. I picked it up and put it back and haven't had another issue with it since. 3) While overall the radio itself does seem to be sturdy and able to withstand some abuse the plastic the body is made of looks to be a little brittle. For instance, I think if it fell of my bed onto a hardwood floor it would probably shatter into a million peices. I find myself being overprotective and careful whenever I take it with me somewhere. Not exactly a bad thing I guess considering what it is. 4) One of the main selling points of this radio is it comes with an ability to charge the battery via a solar panel and a hand crank thereby allowing the user to listen to the radio indefinitely while away from any means of charging it the traditional way (ie, camping, disaster, alien invasion). I say "main" selling point because it is part of why I bought it. The solar panel and hand crank can and do charge the battery when used but they have limitations which I feel are described by the manufacturer rather well. Solar panels aren't very efficient at producing electricity, especially a very small one. This is by no means precise but if I were to guess I'd say it would probably take a week or 2 of direct sunlight to fully charge the radio. I don't remember what the manufacturer says so I could be way off, I'm only basing this on what I've seen while using my radio. The hand crank by my own experience isn't much better, maybe around 10 minutes of use with 10 minutes of cranking. Thankfully I already had a pretty good idea of what to expect from this before I bought the radio so I wasn't disappointed. If someone bought this radio expecting a full charge after sitting in the sun for a few hours they would likely be disappointed. Both methods of charging definitely work and have their merits. They would prove to be very useful in a pinch. Now on with the praise. 1) It plays MP3s and can read a micro SD card up to 32gb. 32gb is a lot of audio. I have 2527 tracks on mine, with room to spare. I like listening to music, old time radio shows, podcasts, a little bit of everything. If there's nothing playing over the air that interests me or I'm in a place with little or no reception I just play something from the SD card. This is my favorite feature of the radio. 2) It has a bluetooth feature that I have found to be more useful than I originally thought it would be. If I'm outside listening to something on my phone I like to connect it to my radio, it sounds much better playing through the radio. 3) you have the ability to charge other devices using this radio. This comes in handy when you're camping with a tablet or whatever. Just plug your device into the back of the radio and the radio acts like a battery pack. There is a small switch near where you plug in your device that determines which way the charge needs to go, "in" or "out". When you charge the radio itself the switch needs to be in the "in" position. When you want to charge your device move it to "out". 4) It can revive AM, FM, shortwave, and weather band. Having this many options makes it versatile and useful in many different situations. It also comes with a detachable antenna for shortwave that works great. Things like weather, show schedule, and physical surroundings ( buildings, mountains, etc) have a lot to do with your ability to pick up shortwave shows but it's a lot of fun when it happens. 5) The flashlight and reading light are very functional and more than bright enough to serve their intended purpose. I have used both and am very satisfied with them. 6) I like the handle. It makes it very easy to grab and go. It also seems to be very durable with a rubber hand grip in the middle. 7) It has a microphone, perfect for dictation or recording a memorable event. I have not yet used this feature but I like having the capability. 8) It has a lock function. This is useful if you're listening to the radio while on the go, as I often do. It prevents an accidental button push or knob twist from changing your radio station (or worse). While in lock mode none of the buttons (except the one you push to unlock the radio) will work nor will the top "tuner" knob do anything. For some reason though the bottom "volume" knob is still functional while the radio is locked. I have found this to be the case while listening to both "over the air" radio and MP3s. If this was intentional I'm not sure what purpose it would serve but I've had no issues with it. Overall despite the very minor imperfections I feel this is a very solid and useful radio and would definitely recommend it to anyone. I use mine every day and as I stated earlier have no real complaint or issue with it. I am very happy with my radio and, knowing what I know now about it, would definitely buy it again.

This is a new radio at the time I purchased on Amazon. I own a Kaito KA600 and wanted to compare what upgrades this new model provides. The KA900 solves some shortcomings IMO about the KA600 and adds some features. The KA900 adds a bluetooth receiver function, an MP3 player if you add files from a microSD card slot, stereo speakers, and a recording function. I wish Kaito had retained the RDS function on FM. The KA900 also has a larger rechargeable battery but no option for using alkaline batteries. (The KA600 had both battery powering options.) Kaito removed those push button switches on top of this radio; I am not turning on functions accidentally when I pick up the KA900 by the carry handle. It still does not have SSB and I am still not fond of the auto-mute on SW tuning. The KA900 comes with a separate 7-meter roll-up antenna to expand your SW reception. I use this type of antenna on my more-serious SW radios. It is definitely a good addition packaged with the KA900 since these emergency radios have too short an antenna for serious SWL. I compared the SW response on both the KA600 & KA900. Both my models list identical specs in the owners manuals, and there were slight sensitivity variances across the frequencies with and without the additional antenna. AM, WB, and FM sensitivities seem similar between both models. One quirk I found that is notable. The display would not light up despite me resetting the radio and changing the display set up. It appeared to be caused by the flashlight/reading light switch on top of the unit. It is a slider switch which you can push back farther than the 'off' detent. Moving it carefully into the off detent solved the display backlight problem. Overall, I like this radio. I really think it is closer to a 4.5-star rating. It is not a perfect 5 yet.

I have owned other Kaito radios in the past and have really enjoyed them. When my office computer got switched to a laptop, I needed better external speakers for meetings online. I decided to try this as my external speakers and is an everyday work horse for me. The speakers aren't the best high fidelity type but good enough for the office. I Bluetooth my laptop all day, playing the audio from video meetings to calls, to podcasts. My work Playlist is running all day playing classical, jazz, rock and metal. I charge the battery via USB all day on Friday. I turn it off and unplug it when I leave for the week end. Then, Monday morning, it comes back on. I use it all day, then turn it off at the end of the day. When Friday rolls around, it's charged all day and the cycle repeats. I've used it every work day for nine months and it keeps going on strong. I sometimes use the weather band as just background sound. FM and AM sound pretty good. Having all the emergency functions are an excellent bonus should the need arise. Great little radio and I recommend it 100%.

Imagina que empieza a llover, suena un trueno y de repente se va la luz, tu teléfono está menos de la mitad de carga y no tienes más fuentes de iluminación que el móvil... Pues con un aparato como este radio de emergencias, tendrás un gran aliado, ya que el problema de la iluminación (al menos en las próximas horas) quedará solucionado, así como el de información y de fuentes alternativas para recargarlo. Para probarlo en las condiciones más parecidas a las de una contingencia, emergencia o apagón, se usó durante una salida de campamento al río, lejos de luz eléctrica y servicios básicos, teniendo un sobresaliente desempeño; con tan solo un cuarto de carga de batería se pudo escuchar noticieros durante dos días seguidos, usar la luz de lectura para iluminar una casa de campaña y poner música durante la tarde. La recepción en FM es muy buena y en AM y SW, muy buena en la noche. No es un producto para audiofilos, no escucharás música con mucha definición, pero si con calidad y claridad en momentos de emergencia, dónde puede que sea tu única fuente de información o entretenimiento.