Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

I got this radio for camping/hiking. I liked the way it looked and I wanted a multi-function device that could charge my phone in a pinch. I will review each aspect of its many functions below.

Radio: Has a digital display which when not on, gives you the time and status of the battery charge. While it is charging (solar/crank), it lets you know. The digital tuning and "auto find" functions work great. I prefer this to manual tuning (for many reasons). The antenna expands out of the device and seems durable. It is nice having the NOAA weather band available also. Sound quality is similar to a bedside clock radio. There is an audio-in port (iPod etc) as well as a headphone jack.

Flashlight: The LED flashlight is brighter than I expected and makes for a nice backup.

Solar Panel: The larger solar panel (compared to the MICROLINK) charges in direct light relatively efficiently.

Crank: Easy to turn and seems durable.

USB Phone Charger: I have an Iphone 3GS. I had read reviews that Eton devices don't charge this phone, however when I contacted Eton directly, they assured me they did. Apple doesn't want 3rd party devices hooked up to it, so this functionality is different than you may expect. When you hook it up to the phone and begin turning the crank, the Iphone doesn't let you know it is charging, however after I purposely ran my batteries down, I cranked it for 10 min and was able to power it up and make a phone call. It receives power even though it doesn't signal it is charging. This is a nice function for emergency backup – not for routine charging.

Carabiner: Nice for clipping onto pack (even with antenna up).

Bottle opener: It works and looks cool I guess?

Styling: Looks nice and is splash proof. It's compact but a little too big and heavy for ultra-light backpacking.

You can buy a new rechargeable battery (FR160-BAT) as well as an AC adapter (FR360-ACA-US) from Eton if you wanted to.

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

Get a small, USB charged MP3 player and all of your music problems are solved. AUX input allows you to connect any kind of external player but the built in USB charger is wonderful for smallish MP3 players. The flashlight is bright and functional. Digital tuning really beats the hell out of trying to fine tune an analog radio. Weight is only an issue if you're the type that likes to dehydrate your toothpaste; and in that case, you don't need a radio, the voices in your head should be entertaining enough. It's plenty loud. Expect no bass; not a quality issue, it's a simple matter of physics. A 3 inch speaker just can't generate bass frequencies. I'm buying another, and I'll be giving these as gifts come Christmas time.

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

Having worked as a design engineer for a solar company for many years before retiring, I knew I needed to get the battery conditioned before actually using it. Set it in the window of my den and forgot about it. Two weeks later I turned on the flashlight and radio until the battery ran completely down. Device ran for roughly three hours before it died. Put it back in the window for another two weeks and repeated the process. Ran for almost four hours this time. Keep it sitting on my desk now where the morning sun can strike the solar panel. Took it hiking twice since then. Has never failed me in my tent at night. Great little device!

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

After an exhaustive amount of research for a multi-purpose, AM/FM, NOAA Wx-Band, solar-powered radio, I confidently settled on the Eton Scorpion. It had every feature I was looking for and then some, including the aluminum carabiner for easy attachment to just about anywhere on the back of my pack (with the aid of a small bungee cord or the like) for convenient solar charging while hiking.

Before I took it on my first outing in November, 2010, the only use I got out of it was while doing some weekend landscaping with a friend. This limited use consisted of my hooking the carabiner on to a belt loop while I worked. Pleased with its performance in this (very) limited role, I took it on a two-day trip. Up until a couple hours before dusk, the radio performed flawlessly. Upon returning from gathering firewood, however, I noticed it wasn't playing. Thinking the solar power may have been drained, I switched it to battery power – nothing. I even tried cranking it – nothing.

Assuming I just had a lemon, I forgot about it until the next morning at about 10:00 a.m., when the radio suddenly came back to life! Ok, maybe it's just half a lemon. . . Until it cut-off on me again at about the same time that night! That's when I began to think that the "cold" temps might have something to do w/it cutting off. I say "cold" with a grain of salt. Those in every other part of the country except the southwest would laugh, as it was only in the low to mid-40's at that point; but that's when it seemed to cut off - what can I say?

When I got home, to test my cold weather theory, I loaded it with fresh batteries, turned it on, and stuck it in the fridge, which was set at 42-degrees. Sure as heck, the radio stopped playing after only 12 minutes! I removed it from the fridge, let it "thaw out," and 15 minutes later it started playing again! Still, I wasn't sure it wasn't just this particular radio, so I did the same thing again the following day, with the same results. At this point, I decided to check out the Owner's Instructions for clues, and unbelievably, it revealed the following (SEE the 4th and final bullet-point):

WARNING
• Do not expose this appliance to rain or moisture [So much for the "splashproof body??"].
• Do not submerge or expose for extended period to water.
• Protect from high humidity and rain ["high humidity!" Same as above??].
• ONLY OPERATE WITHIN SPECIFIED TEMPERATURE RANGE (0-degrees C to 40-degrees C).

This translates to:
0-degrees Celsius = 32-degrees Fahrenheit
40-degrees Celsius = 104-degrees Fahrenheit

This is unacceptable to me – and that's IF it held up to its own claim of a low of 32-degrees, as mine ceased working at a temp 10-degrees HIGHER than what it's spec'd at!!! It's not uncommon for the temps in this area to go below 42 (even 32) at night during the winter, and 104 during the summer.

Beyond this significant flaw, I cannot honestly comment on any of the important features of this radio, such as (and especially) the solar panel, though for whatever it's worth, the sound quality was very good.

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

I have several FreePlay solar radios, but being something of a collector of all things having to do with scorpions, I could not resist adding a new radio called "scorpion" to my collection. Plus, I had a $50 gift card to REI, so when I heard about the Eton Scorpion, I could not wait for it to be available in stores.

Living in AZ, solar radios are great to have on the weekend while doing yard work. With all the sunshine we get, I was shocked when the Eton Scorpion would only work for 5 minutes at 11am with zero clouds around. Plus, it would not remember the station I had just tuned in, so I had to manually scan to the station I was listening to and then reposition the solar panel to point directly at the sun. Again, after maybe a song and a half, the radio just died. I tired it a third time and this time I held the radio. Moving it just a few inches I could see just how limited the solar panel is. I took out a 10 year old FreePlay radio out of the garage and the second I walked into sunlight, it powered up and was playing music for the next 3 hours straight, EVEN WHEN CLOUDS CAME OUT AND BLOCKED PART OF THE SUN.

The Eton Scorpion also had a jack for an AC adapter, but the limited packaging/owner's manual had zero mention of it. Ditto for the Eton website which had zero information and did not offer a chance to purchase one.

Eton should be proud of neat design in a compact package. This could have been a great radio. Unfortunately, an inferior solar panel and no available AC adapter to charge the Eton Scorpion makes this radio useless. Thank you REI for having a great return policy!

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

This is a great little radio with great sound for a single speaker compact radio. The NOAA weather presets are a great feature, and the digital readout with the battery level gauge is very useful. My only complaint and the reason that I gave it 4 stars is becuase of the weight. REI lists the weight at 8.5oz, however, the packaging indicates it weighs 10oz and my scales indicate 10.6oz. Please correct the discrepancy.

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

The idea for a great product is there. The only thing that separates this unit from being amazing is it needs to allow regular batteries as well. When I first read about the features, I thought wow, I have found the all-in-one solar emergency radio that I have been looking for. Especially because I wanted a campsite speaker for my mp3 player. Unfortunately, the battery life is so poor that a full charge lasts 20-25 minutes for radio or music. If I could use the crank and solar features as back up to a regular battery compartment (that I could load with super lithiums), this product would be stellar. I will countinue to wait until something comes out that really wows me.

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

I really really really wanted to like this radio. It has all the features I was looking for but in the end did not live up to it's claims.

the good:

-very well designed
-caribiner rocks
-very practical
-light weight
-NOAA channels
-looks cool

the bad:

-tedious to tune with micro sized buttons
-digital tuner is not that sharp
-reception is not that great(antenna is really small)
-no way to use regular alkaline batteries
-sound quality and volume leaves lots to be desired. I understand the speaker is compact but have heard much better sound from even smaller speakers. My guess it they're cheapo paper cone.
-solar panel doesnt cut it and hardly charges the radio
-takes lots and lots of cranking to charge the radio only for 10 minutes of listening
-rechargable battery it comes with hardly holds a charge. I fully charged it in the sun and with cranking, packed it away and then tried it 5 days later and the charge was already gone
-and most IMPORTANTLY it's NOT splash proof. At least mine wasn't. Got very few drops of water on it and it started acting goofy. Flashlight wouldn't turn off, radio stations would fade in out, and then finally stopped working all together.

I wish I could keep this radio but it just doesn't cut it. Maybe if they make a Scorpion 2 they will fix all these issues. In the meantime I'm sticking to my bulkier(but working FR400)

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

I bought this item yesterday. Immediately after leaving the front door of REI, I tested it and was very impressed.

Don't be fooled by how small this radio is, it can get pretty loud and it's sound quality is top notch! It has no problem picking up AM and NOAA frequencies. FM radio needs a bit of tweaking of the antenna much like any other hand held radio.

When I got home, I hooked up an ipod to it's auxiliary jack and used it as a little speaker. this feature will come in handy on picnics, camping and fishing trips. I haven't tested out the USB phone charger yet, but I'm sure it will work just fine.

Overall, this little portable multipurpose radio is a must-buy in my book. Construction is solid and durable and sound is pretty amazing. I will be testing this out further this weekend on a fishing trip. I will keep you posted if anything bad happens with this device. CHIAO!

Service and delivery comments:

I ordered this item online, but couldn't wait for the store to get it in. So I decided to head over to the store and purchase it. Customer service at the store was more that accomodating to my situation. Seeing how happy I am with this product, I might just keep the other radio when the store gets my order in. :)

Comments about Eton Scorpion Multipurpose Radio:

If used for its intended purpose, which in my opinion is emergencies, it covers a lot of territory. After the recent earthquake in Japan, I checked out my emergency cache and discovered most of my communication and lighting items use AA Batteries. What I didn't have was anything that was either solar or crank powered. The Scorpion solved that problem for me.

I was lucky and everything worked right out of the box. Granted the radio only lasts about 30 minutes on a full charge, but I didn't buy it for entertainment. And, the weather radio channels are exceptionally clear and static free.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this well-engineered product.