Whatever “elbow grease” is, don’t get any on our brand new suede jacket. We hear codgers, coots, and curmudgeons cite this miracle substance in their rants against the sloth of kids these days, but we’ve never seen it on the shelves at Lowe’s. Besides, is elbow grease really adequate for dealing with the challenges of modern life, like deciphering your health plan, or weeding out duplicate addresses in a mail merge, or recharging the dead battery in your radio?

Ah, the answer to that last question happens to be on sale right here, right this very minute. The Eton American Red Cross Emergency Crank Radio kicks it old school, with a hand crank that can recharge the built-in battery in times of peril. At less urgent moments, the Ni-MH battery pack can also suck juice through a regular old AC adapter (not included), or you can go with three garden-variety AAs (again, not included).

Along with AM/FM transmissions, this radio also receives all seven NOAA weather channels and – get this – the audio from VHF television broadcasts. And just because there was some empty space in the chassis, Eton threw in a flashlight that doubles as an emergency strobe. The only way this radio could be more useful in a pinch is if it included a jar of elbow grease, but alas, you’ll have to provide your own.

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