Durham Radio TV Freeplay Commercial 2000

This old TV commercial features the BayGen Freeplay windup/solar powered radio. It was one of the few radios of it kind back then and was considered a breakthrough in technology. Newer self-powered radios do not use a spring. Instead the dymo generator is directly driven to charge a battery.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Baygen Freeplay
• solar radio
• wind-up crank power
• self-powered radio

[coondogtheman1234]

I must have one of these I want the clear one. do they still make these radios?

[DurhamRadio]

I don't think they have been made for about 10 years. You could try Ebay.

[Lachlant1984]

My mother bought me one of those radios in 1999, I have the red one, I still have it, unfortunately the springwound system has broken, but I believe the solar panel still works and i think I can still use the unit with an AC Adaptor, but what's the point when you can wind it up? I also have the FPR1, the first wind up radio, and I have the FPR-S360. I wish Freeplay still used the old springwound system and not the new dynamo system and a bloody rechargeable battery.

[DurhamRadio]

I think the new systems are more efficient plus they are more compact. Most of the new radios have a built-in flashlight too. You can still find old radios with the clockwork mechanism on Ebay.

[forrestry]

@Lachlant1984 I think I will always prefer the older clockworks. I ran my original radio for 11 years before I had to repair it. Old or new, everything breaks down sooner or later. I think I found the clockwork radios to be an ingenious design and I suppose I am just an old fashioned guy :)

[Lachlant1984]

That's as maybe, and perhaps the new systems are less likely to fail, but the older system didn't require any batteries at all, the newer radios have batteries which are rechargeable, but they don;t last for ever, and I personally don't much care for the new dynamo crank system, I personally liked the older clockwork springwound system much better, though I think it's more prone to failing.

[Lachlant1984]

They do indeed, the whole purpose behind the Freeplays is that they don't use batteries, but guess what? The new ones have RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES in them, they don't last for ever you know, the older clockwork ones didn't have batteries except the FPR-S360.

[forrestry]

I have a couple of the older original freeplay radios. I ordered two refurbished ones that turned out to be junk, but managed to piece one of the two together to make a operational one, and use other parts to repair my original one. It's a shame they still do not make the original design. The newer types pale in comparison.