By Harold Merton

When the Y2K scare came along a lot of people ran out and boughtemergency gear so they could “hole up” if they had to.

We didn’t buy into the con of the Y2K thing because being Macintoshcomputer users we were not the least bit concerned about our computerscrashing, that had been thought of in the original design of the Macs.

However there were some great products already on the market when theY2K thing came about. One of them was a solar rechargeable lantern,flashlight and AM/FM radio combination by SunGear. It was supplied to usby Omega Electronics of Downsview, Ontario.

Sometimes it takes a thing like the Y2K scare to get people interestedin products that are already on the market and I am sure this happenedwith this one. You might not normally consider a solar radio orflashlight but when the “bug” was coming we noticed a lot more than wemight have. This product however is ideal for camping because you don’thave to worry about batteries.

We tried out the Omega R23, a compact little rig that runs on solarpower, optional backup batteries or with a hand crank dynamo that willgenerate enough power for you to listen to the radio or use theflashlight for a reasonable length of time.

While very light weight, the unit we tested had a lot of features.Besides the AM/FM radio, there is a powerful flashlight that will remainon constantly, blink and there’s even a siren function as well. The unithas a built in NiMH battery that will operate the radio or flashlight upto 24 hours or the siren up to 3 hours from a full charge, says themanufacturer.You can install optional C back-up batteries that will power the radiofor up to 15 hours or the flashlight up to an hour and if you choose touse the hand crank dynamo it will operate the radio up to 40 minutes andthe flashlight up to 5 minutes. In order to get full run time for thehand crank you crank in a continuous clockwise direction for 3 minutes.This may not be something you care to do but if you are out camping andyour batteries die you might be quite happy to do three minutes ofexercise to keep yourself in light and radio.

The SunGear can be used for everyday or emergency use and makes anideal addition to your camping gear. You can toss one into a cupboard inyour RV knowing that whenever you pull it out it will work. They aresold by some of the major stores in Canada and for the name of one nearyou call Omega’s toll-free number in Downsview at 1-800-668-7881.

Omega Electronics, 200A Norfinch Drive, Downsview, ON M3N 1Y4

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