When Hurricane Michael made landfall a couple weeks ago and made its way north through Virginia where we happened to be parked with our RV at the time, we ended up in the campground bathhouse most of one night as the then-tropical storm threatened to blow our rig over. The power went out of course, and we felt so stupid for not having an emergency weather radio to track things.

Next time, we’re going to be more prepared with the Midland ER210. This portable emergency radio can be kept pretty much anywhere without getting in the way, and when you do need it, it’s super easy to carry around by the handle and it works exactly the way you’d want, as noted by Wirecutter:

When the NOAA issues a weather alert, the radio’s loud, audible alarm and flashing display will make sure you notice it, fast. And when that happens, you can press any button on the ER210 and it will switch on to your favorite NOAA weather channel to give you the news. If you fail to turn on the radio before a minute goes by, the ER210’s weather memory indicator will flash every five seconds to let you know that an alert has been issued. So even if you were out of the house when the alarm went off, you’ll still know that some ugly conditions are headed your way.

The rubber buttons on the front of the radio are nice and chunky so you can use them with gloves on if you need to, and its rechargable 2,000 mAh battery pack can be juiced back up with the built-in crank or the included solar panel. The LED flashlight on the front can put out 130 lumens of light, and you can use it as an SOS strobe that flashes a Morse code distress signal in times of dire need.

The Midland ER210 is $50 on Amazon and worth every penny. Never again are we going to be caught without a radio in our emergency kit.