Freeplay's Devo winds Crave right up

In the early Nineties, Trevor Baylis, a former underwater escape artist with the Berlin Circus, invented the clockwork radio, a landmark "Why on Earth didn't I think of that?" moment. He was inspired by a news report on how HIV was spreading like wildfire through Africa because there was no way to broadcast health information with no reliable power in vast swathes of the continent. Eventually, the Freeplay radio was manufactured in South Africa, and the first model was presented to President Nelson Mandela. With massive publicity, it became a huge success. Baylis went on to become 1999's Pipe Smoker of the Year (and no, Crave hasn't been smoking anything it shouldn't, it's all true).

Freeplay still exists, and continues to set a fine example as a humanitarian business, making ecologically sound products and providing them to isolated communities in the Third World. It also makes consumer products, like this Devo digital radio. The Devo is wind-up powered, with a mains plug in case your arms get tired, and an old-fashioned tuning dial to receive FM broadcasts.

However well intentioned its makers, the Devo isn't perfect. A 1-minute wind at a speed that came close to exhausting Crave's puny arms only gave us digital radio for about 3 minutes, and the unit's grey and dark-check plastic looks cheap. It's quite light, but it doesn't have a handle. Unlike the PURE Oasis we looked at recently, it doesn't feel as though it would stand up to much outdoor punishment, and it's not waterproof, which is a severe weakness in something that would otherwise be ideal for a camping trip, for example. It's not cheap either, at £100, and the winding up's high-pitched whining, er, wound up other members of Crave.

It does make a pleasing sound when charged up, though, with excellent reception and a good-quality speaker. You needn't rely on the clockwork mechanism away from the mains, as it includes a rechargeable battery. It's available online now. We wish more companies were as moral as Freeplay and we feel very mean criticising its products, but in this instance, the implementation doesn't match the quality of the idea. -NH

Update: a full review of the Freeplay Devo is now live here.