Bad weather and power outages

When the power goes, the phone becomes a countdown timer. A weather radio is the opposite: the desktop NOAA model sits plugged in with batteries behind it and wakes for alerts you programmed by county, so a warning three counties away does not cost you a night's sleep. Programming takes one code, our finder gives it to you in two clicks.

The hand-crank radio is the drawer insurance. It charges from its crank, its solar strip or USB, holds a power bank that can top up a phone, and pulls AM, FM and shortwave.

Own both if storms are a season where you live: one to wake you, one for the long dark afternoon after.