Help with weather radio

Can anyone tell me what I should look for when buying a weather radio?

We have a place at the lake in Nebraska and know that it is important to know when bad weather is moving in.

I have looked online but have no clue as to what I should make sure that it has and this will be a present for the hubby.

Thanks.

A couple of questions:

1) Do you get good AM radio reception at your place?
2) Are you looking for a radio for in the house or would a hand held unit combined with an FRS two way radio work better?

I have a set of Motorola T6400WX FRS radios that I use when I head into the hills to do some hiking and camping. The two way radio is handy if you want to stay in touch with someone else in your party but range is limited and terrain can block your signal. I also use one of them around the house when bad weather is in the area to keep tabs on new weather alerts. My set came with NiCad batteries but they didn't last very long, about two years after I bought them I couldn't get either battery to hold a charge for more than an hour. Fortunately the handsets also work on AA batteries so these radios are still working fine 8 years later.

We get both AM and FM radio and this will be at the house.

Many of them say they are certified is there any merit to this?

I know there are cell phone apps but our cell coverage is spotty there some days it is real good others just ok.

I am mostly wondering is a $30.00 unit ok or should I be in the $50.00 - $80.00 dollar range?

For the most part I do not think we will need to have more that 8 counties.

Maybe this site will be helpful to you:

http://www.ambientweather.com/weather-radio-reviews.html

Lots of information and good guidance on what to look for and selecting the right radio for your needs.

Thanks OPT. I know this is for mountaindollar but i have some motorola radios and forgot about being able to get weather alerts.

otisptoadwater wrote: A couple of questions:

1) Do you get good AM radio reception at your place?
2) Are you looking for a radio for in the house or would a hand held unit combined with an FRS two way radio work better?

I have a set of Motorola T6400WX FRS radios that I use when I head into the hills to do some hiking and camping. The two way radio is handy if you want to stay in touch with someone else in your party but range is limited and terrain can block your signal. I also use one of them around the house when bad weather is in the area to keep tabs on new weather alerts. My set came with NiCad batteries but they didn't last very long, about two years after I bought them I couldn't get either battery to hold a charge for more than an hour. Fortunately the handsets also work on AA batteries so these radios are still working fine 8 years later.

I find the hand held units to be handy and they can be plugged in to an AC adapter so if you don't have batteries on hand you can still listen to the radio, at least until the power goes out due to bad weather. I keep a pair in my bug out bag along with a fresh supply of batteries.

I also understand why people want to have a weather radio in their homes, I just happen to find the handheld unit combined with an FRS radio a good multitasking tool. Companies like C.Crane sell a good variety of WX radios http://www.ccrane.com/radios/weather-radios/ C.Crane offers a wide range of WX radios but there's not much in the middle of the price range so your choices are in the $30-ish or $150-ish range.

When I'm looking at new hardware I try to approach the process using this model:

1) What specific problem(s) am I trying to resolve?
2) What tools are available, regardless of price?
3) Of the capabilities that are available, which ones are must haves and which ones are just nice to have?
4) Narrow down the tools to the ones that do what I need them to do and coincidentally have a few nice to have features.
5) Down select from the smaller group by price and capabilities.
6) Develop a top three list and research reviews on those products, then settle on the best product and buy it.

otisptoadwater wrote: Maybe this site will be helpful to you:

http://www.ambientweather.com/weather-radio-reviews.html

Lots of information and good guidance on what to look for and selecting the right radio for your needs.

Thanks for the link will do some reading.