Kaito
Kaito Electronics is a small California outfit, based in Montclair, that has spent more than two decades on one narrow idea: radios that keep working when the power does not. Its Voyager family, from the pocket KA680 to the KA900 with Bluetooth and a recorder, runs on solar panel, hand crank, USB, AA cells or an internal pack, and pulls AM, FM, shortwave and the seven NOAA weather channels. The firm put a solar panel on a radio in 1998, added the dynamo KA007 in 2000, and has been a GSA supplier since 2003.
Sensible pick for preppers, campers, storm-belt households and shortwave listeners on a budget, since prices sit far below serious communications receivers. Anyone chasing weak DX stations will find the sensitivity modest and unit to unit variation real. Stock ships from a Los Angeles warehouse, and older models stay on sale beside new ones, so read the model number before buying.
Pros
- Five power sources including crank and solar
- NOAA weather alert on most models
- Prices well under communications receivers
- US warehouse, fast domestic shipping
- GSA supplier record since 2003
- Full shortwave coverage even on cheap units
Cons
- Modest sensitivity for serious DX work
- Quality varies between individual units
- Brief, sparsely written manuals
- Overlapping lineup of old and new models
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