Freeplay DEVO

Author's product rating:   

Radio Quality	Good
Sound & Volume	Excellent
Range of Features	Average
Durability	Excellent
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Good standard DAB unit with the bonus of mains/hand recharging
Disadvantages:	No carrying handle

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Still not bought your first DAB radio? This should be your first!

Already into DAB? Then break free with this innovative go-anywhere, hand rechargeable unit from those clever people at Freeplay.

The Freeplay is a chunky but very compact radio, with inbuilt rechargeable batteries, ready to be used:

- On AC - which will also recharge the batteries
- On DC, with about 7-8 hours of DAB listening from a full charge
- On DC with no listening limits but the occasional hand crank!

DAB gives a range of standard and additional channels and a 'binary' listening experience - if you can hear, the quality is excellent; or you get nothing. No hiss (OK, the occasional Dalek gargling if you are on the edge of reception), just bliss.

The Devo has a fairly standard compact DAB display, and simple controls:

- Rotary on/volume switch
- Rotary channel select, turn to view channels, press to select
- Rotary FM tuning
- 'Info' button to choose between display modes
- Five buttons for one-touch access to favourite stations
- Menu button for set-up
- Scan button to rescan available transmitters and stations

The styling is distinctive and the feel robust, and the rubber feet (two on the bottom, two on the side - more on this later!) work well on household and outdoor surfaces. There's no carrying handle, but you can hold the radio comfortably in one (adult) hand.

Listening quality and volume are good - not best in class but much better bass tones than many cheap units. There are both headphone and left/right line out sockets, so this is a practical unit for out and about use and in conjunction with your amplifier.

The blue LCD DAB display is of the compact sort. It's clear and bright for its size, the only negative is that text does not scroll smoothly but jumps three characters a time. There's a compromise here: this unit prioritises a large speaker over a large unit, and that seems a good decision in normal use. Perhaps during your first week or two you will spend time reading programme info on the display, but really it's an activity more akin to reading cereal packets than surfing the net!

But we had better talk about the killer feature - the wind-up charger.

What's your experience of crank handle charging? Some cheap and cheerful examples - torches and the like - are fragile and temperamental. But Freeplay is totally devoted to this technology, and the result is best-of-breed.

The handle is comfortable, strong and positive. Holding the rubberised knob you crank, with a charging light showing that you are making a difference! Crank in either direction, faster seeems to charge quicker. And unlike some early Freeplay radios, you can charge and listen at the same time, although there is an inevitable whizzing sound which competes with your chosen station.

There is a 'but,' though. DAB from any manufacturer is power hungry. From a full charge I get about 7-8 hours of listening; from a minute of steady winding I get about three minutes of DAB listening (or about an hour of FM).

I suspect most people will do as I do, and look at the winder as a bonus and AC as the norm. The radio has a normal home where it sits on AC, charging as it plays. Then it comes with me to the bathroom so I can enjoy BBC7 in the tub, in the car so I get 5 Live Sport Extra at a picnic, in the suitcase for a long weekend. The wind-up means you never have to be without DAB radio, a way of extending battery life rather than a practical sole means of use. Though for FM it's totally practical never going near the mains.

You've been wondering about those feet on the side, haven't you? Well, the most comfortable position for cranking means putting the radio up on its side. In this position, the radio can stick straight up (which is the best position for DAB) and the feet protect the unit from scratches and mean you're less likely to drop it - a hazard of all wind-up devices!

A few more details if you are considering a purchase (I paid £100, by the way, and it's available now for £70-80).

The 9V AC adapter is included, and is one of the commonly used types. Plugging in while listening to DAB causes a momentary interruption - noticeable but not irritating; we have another DAB radio that has to be switched on again by hand if going from battery to mains use.

The FM radio is decent quality but basic - only the volume and rotary tuning dial are functional in FM mode. So no channel memories, and the display turns off in FM mode so no clock either.

The aerial is a standard telescopic sort: the most vulnerable unit on most radios but also very accessible so it would be easy to fit a replacement if the worst happened. The unit overall is light compared to many battery DAB radios, yet is reassuringly robust.

I have just one quibble: the lack of a carrying handle. I take it everywhere, and I'd appeciate a small handle, most naturally to be set in to the opposite side to the feet.

But overall this is easily my favourite DAB radio on the market, and comes with me almost everywhere. Thanks, Freeplay, for a welcome innovation!