Home > Consumer Reviews > Midland ER102 Emergency Radio

I hope I can give you some useful information about this radio and give you new ideas on simplifying your emergency items. I have been reviewing emergency radios for too many days, I think for most of us we want something portable for emergency AM or FM weather information and NOAA information and alerts during a loss of power that might last for a few hours or several days, I'm not looking for equipment to survive without power for months in the wilderness, just keep in touch and out of the dark during the emergency. I was considering the Eton RH500 (cool factor) but after reading about all the Eton radio models, I could not help but notice one serious concern with all of them, most reviewers said the Eton radio reception was not very good indoors... which is where I'm going to be during bad weather; an emergency radio without excellent radio reception has little value in my opinion. I opted for the Midland ER102 and I am very pleased. I like having the Dynamo feature, but I do not put a lot of value in it as my thinking is that all the emergency products I purchase must use AA batteries; they have a shelf life for 6+ years and they are cheap... aprox. $10 for 24 name brand batteries at W. Mart... The idea; one battery that fits everything! As for this radio; I live outside of the city and the AM and FM reception inside my house is excellent even without extending the antenna it picks up well, I can pick up 3 NOAA weather channels, two of them loud and clear, and one NOAA channel loud and clear without extending the antenna. Some reviewers complain about sensitive tuning; as for the tuning... the tuner is an analog (not digital) tuner with a digital display and it scrolls very smoothly (all the emergency radios that I have found use analog tuners.) To get clear reception it is not necessary to hit your station exactly (but is easy to do), as with analog tuners we have always tuned into the general area of the station then moved the knob back and forth until the station is clear, you never thought about it being sensitive since you just listened for the best spot without observing a digital display. Is the dial sensitive... no more than any other analog tuner, it might seem that way if you are looking at the digit to the right of the decimal point while rapidly scrolling, however a light touch when fine tuning and I find the tuner actually easier and much quicker to tune than if the display was the old analog type display other emergency radios have. The 3 LED flashlight is surprising bright, the backlit LCD display is very bright, AC adapter is included, the alarm is easy to use and it's kind of neat to look at the display and see the current temperature constantly displayed. I will note that I have a newer Nokia cell phone and although the radio comes with several adapters mine was not in the mix. Again this is not important to me as I don't want to crank the Dynamo for 5 minutes to make a very brief call.... Better idea; buy a portable emergency cell phone charger that fits your phone. This $5-$20 device (you guessed it.... works on AA batteries) will allow you to start using your phone within 30 seconds of plugging it into a dead cell phone and talk say 2 hours on one AA. If you want to go all out you can purchase Lithium batteries which last longer than Alkaline and have about a 15 year shelf life. Storms and power outages are stressful enough and lots of work, I say keep it as simple as possible... and a bonus, all my stuff fits easily in a small drawer in the kitchen.
My 3 watt LED flashlight (about 80 lumens) lasts 2 hours on high, my Sylvania LED Mini Lanterns (L562) last up to 200 hours on 4 AA's and they are as bright as many large lanterns, and this Midland Radio all use the same cheap AA batteries.... $20 buys 48 AA batteries and will last me a long time, how about 72 AA's on hand at a cost of $30.... I can go for weeks.

Excellent AM/FM and NOAA weather radio reception. Decent sound for a small unit. Easy to use.

Some of the items in the Technical Details section on Amazon are incorrect:

1. There are only 7 NOAA weather channels.
2. The cable for the cell phone charger is not USB, it is a 3.5mm 2-pole connector with standard in-line plug adaptors for some cell phones.

The manual states that to charge the internal battery pack from the AC line or hand crank the "Power Selector" has to be in the "AC/DYNAMO ON". You need to either turn the volume all the way down or put the "Alert Type Selector" in "Alert" in the WX mode. The power has to be in the "OFF" position to charge a cell phone from the AC adaptor or hand crank.

The LCD display "Backlight" switch is in a funky place on top under the carrying strap so you tend to turn it on inadvertently. It shuts off after 3-4 seconds.

Awesome radio. Works as described very well. For those who can't seem to adjust the frequency properly in the AM band...all I can say is "give me a break". It takes no effort at all to gently adjust the control to the exact proper channel no matter what band you choose. IF you can't adjust the frequency properly then knock the rating of yourself, not the radio! And anyone buying this radio will in all likelyhood already KNOW that there are only 7 NOAA channels. I have a Midland handheld CB/Wx radio and it DOES have 10 available channels for Wx/NOAA even tho only 7 are used. Best radio of it's kind that does what you are buying it for superbly. My only concern is that either the unit does not have an alarm mode where the radio is in sort of standby mode but if a NOAA warning is issued an alarm goes off alerting you and then you can tune to the Wx bands to hear it. That's how my base unit (Midland) works. On this radio it seems you have to be listening to the NOAA computer voice audio to be able to hear any alarm.

I have done a good bit of searching before getting this emergency radio. There are many choices out there for this type of radio. After reading many reveiws I picked the Midland 102. "Features" prevailed over weight. I will also be using this radio for backpacking/camping trips. The reception is great. Even indoors with the antena down it gets great reception. It's not the smallest radio. It is small enough to fit in my backpacks upper cover pocket. The LCD display is great. Along with the other many features it has. Tells Temp, alarm clock, weather alarm that can be set to silent flash warning. Light is small but ideal for searhing for something in a pinch. Three differnt ways too power the radio is great. I tested the lentgh of life with power on board before having to use the crank. It was atleast two days of near constant use. Or close to eight to ten hours. After cranking for three minutes. The radio played for close to an hour. The sound quality was exceptional for the speakers size. When holding the unit in your hands it won't feel like a cheesey piece of plastic. So far I am quiet pleased with the Midland 102. The only reason for four star rating is I can not attest to it's durabillity since I have only had the radio just over a week. If you get this unit you will have made a decent educated purchase, that was worth the effort in finding an emergency radio for your family. Hope my reveiw helps you out.

I bought this to replace an Eton FR300. No amount of cranking on the Eton would give me more than a few minutes of use. The Midland after a few minutes of cranking lasts for days. I still recommend the AC adapter for a full charge. It also has better reception of weather channels.