Weather Radios
 

The recent storms in the area got me interested in weather radios.
What are the preferred brands and models? Publix has a hand crankable Midland ER102 and another which appears to be a table mount radio, also Midland, Model WR100. There are others available online.
Are there any pluses or minus, things to look for or things to avoid?
Seems like an important product which deserves some research.
Thanks for any input.

The wr100 was recommended to us last year. Easy to set up and battery backup. I think we bought it at Best Buy.

One thing to think about with a wind up.....how long does a charge last? I've not had good experience with wind up flashlights. They worked for a short time, then wouldn't hold a charge. The company replaced them, and again, the same thing.

A weather radio with battery back up, in case power is out sounds better in my estimation....especially if the storm happens during the night and you don't know for sure if your wind up radio is fully charged. I've got a Midland WR-300 with SAME Digital Weather/All-Hazard Alert, plus AM/FM Alarm. Got mine from Amazon.

When the tornado struck, we didn't have a weather radio, but did have tv on, it had been a rather stormy day, and I remember Tony Manolfi from WESH declaring, "If you live in The Villages, take cover NOW!" Boy, was he right!

I got my Midland WR 300 at Wal-Mart for about $30. It was very easy to program with the S.A.M.E. code for whatever county you want. I programmed in the codes for both Marion and Sumter counties. It is not necessary to take them to a fire station for programming - just follow the easy instructions in the manual.

My Midland is A/C powered and has the 9 volt battery backup.

Last week, it sure got a good workout with the weather warnings. The red warning light was on, the readout said Tornado Warning, and the alarm announced what was happening in the area.

It gave me a good opportunity to stand in the middle of the golf course to try and do a video clip of a tornado for YouTube. :jester: (Oh come on now, that was supposed to be funny!)

Were you holding your 9-iron up in the air to get a close up of any lightning, too? :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Bill

I was told the safest club to use during a thunderstorm is a 3 iron. Even God can't hit a 3 iron! .... :laugh:

I was in TV last week during the tornado watch/warning and I remember the news report stating to have your emergency radio and supplies readily available. I'm thinking what the hell am I to do. I didn't have a flashlight, matches, a lighter and certainly no emergency radio...I did have a very nice bottle of merlot that got me through the evening, however.

On a serious note, I was completely unprepared. There were no emergency radio's to be found after the storm and based on recommendations, I purchased the Midland WR300 from Amazon. Oh, and I added a bottle of merlot to my emergency kit.

Better get the I.V. hook-up option for that, just in case the going gets really rough! :a20:

Bill

I bought a Weather Tracker by Eton at Radio Shack the day after the storm. They have a selection. I already have two oil lamps and several flashlights, and an emergency flashlight that plugs in the wall and comes on if the power goes out (got that at Ace Hardware, Radio Shack didn't have any).

My Midland WR100 (earlier model, I guess) came from Ace Hardware in Southern Trace in June 2009 for about $40. Never have had any problem with it, although it did seem extra "talky" last week!

SWR
:beer3:

I have a question for those who had radios last week: When did they start alarming for a tornado WARNING (not a watch)? I have mine set to alarm only in the case of a warning since I feel that I don't need or want to be woken up in the middle of the night for a watch, which is all too common and immediate action is not required. I also have mine set for Sumter County only.

Last week, my amber "watch" LED lit up but the warning LED and alarm did not go on until well after the storm had passed by. Also, we never did receive any kind of call from the Sumter sheriff emergency notification system even though we have both of our cell phones registered. Whereas in the past both emergency notification methods were quite good, I now feel a bit more vulnerable to a middle-of-the night tornado.

The difference between the WR-100 and the WR-300 is that the latter adds the ability to turn certain lower level alerts off.

For instance you could turn severe thunderstorm watch alerts off while allowing severe thunderstorm warning alerts.