From the storm cellar to the mountains, we carefully researched and tested the best emergency radios to find the perfect options for your bug-out bag or severe weather kit. Knowing what’s coming is essential to emergency preparedness, and we’ve tested close to 25 of these receivers to find the top 11 available today.
There’s a wide range of radios available, from top picks like theMidland ER210to more budget-friendly options like theRunningSnail Weather Radio, and we covered thespread in our testing. From timing battery lives to challenging NOAA weather reception from fire lookouts, we dug into the details to understand these radios.
A good emergency radio can be a great investment, and these and the best we’ve come across. To learn more about what makes them tick, consult our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide, Comparison Chart, and Price & Value sections.
Editor’s Note: We updated our Emergency Radios guide on September 24, 2024, to add additional details to our testing regimen and a new Price & Value section.
For most folks, the Midland ER210 E+READY Radio ($50) is going to be the best emergency radio out there today. It’s a mobile unit from a trusted brand, tucks away a good-sized rechargeable battery, and sports all of the functionality we’re after. If you need a one-and-done (and forget about it) option, this radio has you covered.
Let’s cover the spread here: the ER210 lands just about in the middle of Midland’s emergency radio offerings (between the ER310 and the pocket-sized ER50), and it receives the standard AM/FM signals as well as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) channels. There’s a handy auto-scan that will find the best weather signal for your location, and you can also set it to alert you to severe weather risks in your area.
The large backlit LCD display can show the radio station, time, and weather channels. We especially like the attention to small details, like the SOS emergency flashlight. The 130-lumen LED light has an SOS strobe to call for help in emergency situations. Also, the loop on the end makes it easy to fix onto a backpack and lets the solar panel soak up the sun during a hike.
Stacked up side-by-side with other radios in our reception test (where we hike to a fire lookout tower and scan for signal), the Midland radios consistently had a slightly better pickup than other options out there. And while some radios only incorporate rechargeable batteries to stay going, you get all three styles here (batteries, solar cell, and hand crank).
To be sure, there are more featured radios out there, but the features that you do get added on top (such as the Bluetooth speaker connectivity of the Eton Odyssey or the S.A.M.E. localized weather alerts on the Midland WR210) aren’t essentials in our opinion. The tradeoffs in the ER210 are where it counts, and it’s got a larger battery than the feature-rich Odyssey, and is far more portable than the home-station WR210.
Even if the ER210 doesn''t contain a dog whistle for that extra level of shrill emergency sound, it has enough features to keep you engaged and learning. With several power options and additional features that can help in an emergency, we think the ER210 is the best emergency radio available today.
It would be hard to find an emergency radio that provides more bang for your buck. The RunningSnail Solar Crank NOAA Weather Radio ($36) provides pretty much all of the features of name-brand radios but at a lower price. The fit and finish aren’t quite there, but after a few years of use now, we haven’t been able to find a weak spot.
The radio tunes in to all of the NOAA weather stations and AM/FM radio. Plus, it can be set to alert you to severe weather, hurricanes, and tornadoes in your area. The slight downside here is that the radio receiver is an analog one — which is common for lower-end radios but is less refined than digital options and more difficult to tune into exact frequencies.
Even still, we were able to hit our local NOAA stations with no problem, and when the weather does hit, an SOS alarm with a flashing red light lets others know that you need help. The three-mode LED flashlight (spot, flood, and combo) brightens up dark areas, and the USB port lets you charge smartphones and other small devices.
Inside this radio is a 4,000 mAh battery, which has been upgraded since the first iteration we tested and is now one of the biggest available today — which is wild considering the price. This is more than enough to fully charge modern cell phones and keep your radio running for a few days of intermittent listening.
Compared to the solar cells on other emergency radios, we can tell that the version on this radio is of lesser quality, and side-by-side solar charging from dead flat seemed to confirm that. Instead, we recommend recharging this radio by either using the micro-USB input, replacing the rechargeable cells with three AAA batteries, or, as a last resort, turning the hand crank.
The RunningSnail’s low price provides a great entry into the emergency radio world, with a mixed focus on weather and creature comforts.
With a tough ABS plastic case clad in over-molded rubber bumpers, the Kaito KA500 Voyager Emergency Radio ($50) is a rugged little unit that packs in functionality. Even after dropping it down our cellar staircase, the KA500 kept chugging along, making this our top pick for a rugged emergency radio.
The tradeoff for the tough build is the nearly 1.5-pound weight, but if you need something that won’t break the first time it gets absent-mindedly knocked off the table, this is the radio to consider. In addition, this radio sports the most recharging ability of any radio on our list, including the internal battery pack, solar panel, hand crank, AA battery compatibility, and an optional AC wall plug.
The radio sports a range of band reception that includes AM, FM, and NOAA weather stations, with all seven NOAA channels pre-programmed. Another outsized feature is the ability to receive shortwave radio, which is broadcast globally and brings you news from around the world. In testing, we were able to pick up transmissions from Radio Romania in the evening, as well as the BBC World Service, transmitting from the Ascension Isles off Africa.
The 14.5-inch telescoping antenna increases reception. And the LED signal strength indicator lets you dial in your tuning. It also offers an "Alert" mode, which automatically turns the radio on when it receives emergency weather alerts from NOAA weather stations. Don''t expect a powerful battery for charging other devices, though — the 600mAh cell is about the smallest we’ve seen. You may want to rely on a portable power bank for that task.
The KA500 radio literally shines as well, with its included reading lamp, flashlight, and red blinking emergency light. We think that the Midland ER210 is a better all-around option (mostly due to the smaller form factor), but if durability is your top concern, this might be the best emergency radio for you.
The Midland ER310 Emergency Radio ($70) sports a variety of charging options — rechargeable and disposable batteries, solar power, and hand cranks — when wall charging isn''t an option. This variety gives the battery plenty of versatility, even if the whopping 2,600mAh battery will last for up to 32 hours before you need to use secondary charging options.
It’s mainly that ability to use six AA batteries to power this radio that separates it from the ER210, but there are a few other differences as well that help explain the added $20 expense. The rechargeable battery is slightly bigger, as well, which translates to around 5-6 additional hours of run time in our testing.
The ultrasonic dog whistle — a subaudible tone that rescue dogs can hone in on — may also make the difference in a serious survival situation. We’ve obviously not had the opportunity to test this with real-deal rescue hounds, but our own dogs certainly recognize the noise. An SOS strobe beacon will also assist in the search, and the CREE LEDs powering it are super bright.
When the radio goes down, the efficient hand crank sports a 10:1 listening-to-cranking ratio. This means you''ll get an hour of listening after 10 minutes of crank time. The larger profile compared to the ER210 also means that the solar panel is a bit larger, which translates to quicker charging.
The ER310 lets you listen to AM/FM radio and all seven NOAA weather channels, with an automatic scan feature that finds the strongest weather channel to get emergency information for your location. It also has a handy alert feature that sounds an alarm to indicate severe weather risks in your area.
The ER310’s added expense comes with the added versatility it offers in powering, and if that’s essential for you, going with this radio compared to the Midland ER210 can make a lot of sense.
Considering that it''s about the size of a smartphone, the amount of features that the FosPower Emergency Solar Hand Crank Radio ($40) has packed into this radio is impressive. The 2,000mAh battery provides close to a full charge to smartphones, and a four-LED reading light and zoomable flashlight keep the dark at bay.
While not quite pocket-sized, this radio is danged close, and we greatly appreciated that when looking for an option we could toss in our glove boxes. Packed size should be highly considered when deciding on an emergency radio, as bulky kit tends to get left behind, and you want to keep your emergency equipment as compact as you can manage.
This radio is more than its compact size, however: It tunes in to standard AM/FM radio and NOAA stations, and it provides emergency alerts when severe weather is approaching. The ergonomic shape makes it easy to grip when turning the crank or using it as a flashlight. We carried this radio in our truck as a backup for a few months and actually needed to employ the light during a late-night tire change — where it worked great.
We loved the FosPower for its water resistance as well. Its IPX3 rating makes it resistant to rain, making it ideal for storms and flooding emergencies (as long as you don''t submerge it). Surprisingly, most emergency radios aren’t waterproof, so you’ll need to care for them as such, but even the splash resistance puts this radio ahead of most.
The solar panel is of similar quality to those seen on the Kaito KA500 or RunningSnail radios, and while it works, we found it lagged behind other options like the Eton Odyssey when attempting to recharge from dead-flat. Even still, if you’re after a slimmed-down emergency radio that still retains a good amount of functionality, the FosPower radio is a great option.
Made to act as a base station emergency radio, the Midland WR210 NOAA Weather Alert Radio ($40) can be mounted to your wall and powered by an AC adapter, making it the ideal home alert system.
While all the radios in our lineup feature NOAA Weather Alert reception, the WR210 takes it one step further with S.A.M.E. localized reception capabilities, which allows it to filter out alerts from areas that don’t affect you. You’ll need to program in your unique county code, but once you’re set up, this radio will alert you to over 60 different kinds of weather hazards and emergencies in your area.
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