It looks OK from this distance
Manufacturer: anyone's guess? Chinese?
Model: M36Y9
Power: Dynamo or 2 x AA batteries
Made for: Cotton Traders Ltd
Approx Age: No idea?
Sold as: Used
Condition: Like new
Vendor: private eBay seller
Price: £4.95 + £1.95 postage
Shipped From; UK
Not the best design when it comes to switches
First impressions
Recently i have developed a taste for free energy radios.
The ones you have to put some effort in to get anything out.
Handcranking if you pardon the expression
Having already owned a clockwork freeplay and two dynamo freeplays i thought i would bag a few rip off designs.
One of the first to land my way was this thing...
Nice flashlight - Poor fitting outer casings
And to be fair it looked OK from a distance. But then it all goes horribly wrong!
Fact* Cotton Traders radio comes home...
An interesting thing about this radio is that it was made/commissioned by Cotton Traders Ltd, a local Manchester company who normally manufacturer high quality sports and casual wear. I have no idea why they branched out into crappy radios but this monstrocity should not be used as a measure of this companies normal merchandise. I have bought their rugby shirts in the past and found them to be the highest quality.
So the Manchester radio comes home - via Hong Kong or somewhere
The least said about the tuning and volume dials the better
Good Points
- Nice Colour?
- Compact
- Good AM reception
In all honesty there is very little to say about this radios good points. There just isn't any really.
I like the silver colour and i like that it's quite small and light.
AM reception is actually quite good if you like listening to AM (which i don't) the internal ferrite antenna rod must be of reasonable quality if nothing else.
Runs on AA batteries too....I wouldn't bother though
Bad Points
- Poor FM reception
- Poor quality plastic cases
- Poorly designed switch layout
- Weak and flimsy handle
- Hard to accurately tune in to anything
- Antenna is useless
- Lumpy dial operation
- Weak internal rechargable battery
- Poor flashlight
The list of bad points speaks for itself.
I could go into detail on every single point raised in the list above but i really cant be arsed. The radio isn't worth the effort. However a couple of things need a mention.
The bloody awful switch layout on the front of the unit leaves you scratching your head in bewilderment.
What ever possessed the designer to put the function switches in a recess where you can't get at them properly?
Changing settings can be a fiddly pain in the arse especially for those who have big hands. It wouldn't be such a problem if you only had to use the switches occasionally but unfortunately the on/off switch is located here so there can be no avoiding it.
It's a poorly designed feature.
The FM receiver built into this radio is a pile of dung.
Flicking through the local stations is a journey into Barron white noise with the occasional station breaking through. Only the powerful national stations stand much chance.
At first i thought the antenna had becoming disconnected inside the radio and was no connected but this was not the case.
Pretty useless really
The quality and accuracy of the tuning and volume dials are next under scrutiny.
Once again we find the same cheapo plastic at work.
Tuning the radio is not a pleasant experience. Moving the needle up and down the frequency scale feels lumpy rather than smooth and fine tuning is a lost cause.
Volume is approximate and can't be tamed properly.
Cost cutting here makes for cheap feel.
The cranking handle is a flimsy piece of crap
Above everything else the worst part of this radio has to be the awful cheapo winding handle.
One would expect this crucial part of the radio to be strong, sturdy and (with any luck) longlasting.
The handle used to generate the juice here is bendy, loose and runs unevenly when cranking. Not likely to last the month, nevermind a few years before it snaps off in your hand.
It's made from recycled yogurt pots by the looks of things. Very cheap, very flimsy.
Funny how the weakest point of the radio happens to be the most important in this case. Terrible.
👍👍
On the whole a rather disappointing radio when all said.
Like so many others it tries to mimic the free play dynamo radios and makes a pretty crap job of it.
FM reception is dreadful and although AM is a much better prospect, it wasn't the band i bought the radio to listen to.
The build quality is nothing short of shoddy and doesn't look as if it could stand up to a light breeze let alone an accidental drop.
I wish I hadn't bothered.