Best wind-up radios for UK homes
DRAFT: This product guide, its products and prices is waiting for review. Figures and wording may change before launch.
You may already own a radio that works without mains power, such as a battery kitchen radio, a portable radio or the radio in your car. Be Ready advises keeping an FM (frequency modulation) radio that runs on batteries or a wind-up handle, and writing down your local station frequencies. If you want to buy one, look for clear FM tuning, simple controls and more than one way to power it. We have not tested any radios yet, so the picks below are placeholders.
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Our picks
Placeholder: wind-up and solar FM radio
Best for most homes
You may already own this. an old kitchen radio or a car radio works too.
- Tested in hand
- No, not yet. We have not used this product ourselves.
- Test notes
- DRAFT: Not yet tested. When it is in hand we will check how easy it is to tune to local FM stations, how long it plays after a set amount of winding, and whether the controls are clear in low light.
- Good points
-
- Winding means you are not relying only on spare batteries
- A solar panel, if fitted, gives another way to top it up
- Things to check
-
- Winding takes some effort, which may be hard for some people
- Check the box says FM, not only other wavebands
- Built-in rechargeable batteries wear out over the years
See Placeholder wind-up and solar FM radio at Amazon UK (affiliate link) Price when checked: £19.99 on 29 October 2026.
Placeholder: battery FM radio with headphone socket
Best for simple controls
You may already own this. many portable and kitchen radios take ordinary batteries.
- Tested in hand
- No, not yet. We have not used this product ourselves.
- Test notes
- DRAFT: Not yet tested. When it is in hand we will check how clear the tuning and display are, which batteries it takes, and how easy it is to change them in dim light.
- Good points
-
- Uses ordinary batteries that you can store with your kit
- A headphone socket lets you listen without disturbing others
- Things to check
-
- You need spare batteries, and it is worth checking them now and then
- Some battery radios are digital only, so check it has FM
See Placeholder battery FM radio with headphone socket at Amazon UK (affiliate link) Price when checked: £14.99 on 29 October 2026.
Placeholder: wind-up radio with torch and charging socket
Best if you want several features in one
You may already own this. a separate torch and a charged power bank do the same jobs.
- Tested in hand
- No, not yet. We have not used this product ourselves.
- Test notes
- DRAFT: Not yet tested. When it is in hand we will check whether the torch and charging socket are useful in practice and how much winding each job takes. We will only report charging results we have measured ourselves.
- Good points
-
- Combines a radio and a torch in one item
- A charging socket may let you top up a phone in a pinch
- Things to check
-
- Charging a phone by hand-winding is slow and tiring
- More features can mean more fiddly controls
- Read the manufacturer's instructions before relying on it to charge a phone
See Placeholder wind-up radio with torch and USB output at Placeholder retailer (affiliate link) Price when checked: £32.00 on 29 October 2026.
A radio is one of the simplest ways to hear local news and advice when the power is off. You do not need anything fancy. The best radio is one that everyone at home can switch on and tune without help.
What to look for
- FM tuning. Be Ready advises an FM radio. Some radios only pick up digital stations, so check the box or listing says FM.
- More than one way to power it. Ordinary batteries, a wind-up handle, a small solar panel or a mains plug all help. Two or more is handy.
- Controls you can use in the dark. Large buttons or a simple dial are easier than small menus, especially for older relatives.
- Ordinary batteries. If it takes batteries, common sizes are easy to buy and store. Keep a spare set with the radio.
- A comfortable handle. If someone at home would find winding hard, a battery radio may suit them better.
- A headphone socket. Useful at night, or if you share a home and want to keep the noise down.
- A size that suits you. A small radio is easy to store in a kit box. A bigger one may be easier to hear across a room.
What you probably already own
Before buying anything, look around your home. Many people have a battery radio in a kitchen, shed or spare room. Old portable radios and clock radios with a battery backup can work too. Put fresh batteries in and check it still tunes to FM.
The radio in your car can also help. Only use it with the car outside in the open air, never with the engine running in a garage, and remember it uses the car battery.
A mobile phone can show news, but it needs charge and may lose signal or internet in a long power cut. Most phones do not have a built-in FM radio. That is why a separate radio is worth having.
If you are building a kit from what you already own, our guide to building a starter kit from what you own walks you through it. You can also tick things off with the
Answer 7 quick questions and get a checklist sized for your home, with costs.
How we will test
Nothing on this page has been tested yet. The picks above are placeholders, and we have not used any of these radios.
When we have radios in hand, we plan to:
- tune each radio to local FM stations in different rooms of an ordinary UK home, and note how clear they sound
- wind each wind-up radio for a set time, then time how long it plays, writing down exactly what we measured
- change the batteries and note how easy it is in dim light
- ask someone who has not used the radio before to switch it on and find a station without help
- check the instructions are clear and easy to read
- compare anything the manufacturer says with what we found, and only quote the manufacturer’s own wording
We will record the date of each test and update this page with what we actually found. For what to do when the lights go out, see our guide on what to do in a power cut.
Common questions
Do I need a wind-up radio, or will a battery radio do?
Either is fine. Be Ready advises an FM radio that runs on batteries or a wind-up handle. A battery radio is simple to use. A wind-up radio means you are not relying only on spare batteries.
Why does Be Ready say FM?
Be Ready advises an FM radio and suggests you write down your local station frequencies. Keep the list with the radio so anyone at home can find the right station.
Have you tested these radios?
Not yet. This is a draft page and nothing on it has been tested in hand. We will update it when we have tested real products.
Related guides
Prices change often. We show the price and the date we last checked it. Read our editorial and testing policy to see how we choose products.