Best Wind Up Torch UK: Honest Picks and Crank Reality
Last updated: 21 October 2026
A wind up torch is the only light in your house that works with zero preparation: no charged battery, no spare cells, just a crank and your arm. That makes it a sensible last layer of a power cut plan and a poor first one, because the honest maths of dynamo charging is that a minute of winding buys you minutes of light, not hours. This guide assesses the wind up torches and crank radios actually available on amazon.co.uk, tells you plainly what cranking delivers, and picks the models whose build quality justifies a place in your kit.
| Pick | Model | Why | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Overall | Sangean MMR-88 DAB+ v2 Emergency Radio with Torch | Sangean is a serious radio manufacturer and the MMR-88 is the premium take on the crank device: a proper DAB+ tuner for local updates during a long outage, a usable torch, and three ways to put energy into it, mains USB before the event, then solar and crank during it. In an extended power cut the radio matters as much as the light, because it is how you hear what your network operator and local radio are saying when the mobile network gets patchy. | Check price |
| Best Value Crank Radio Torch | Duronic SDAB1 Hand Crank DAB+ Radio with Flashlight | The SDAB1 covers the same jobs as the Sangean, DAB+ radio plus torch plus crank and solar charging, at a friendlier level, and adds Bluetooth for everyday use so it is not a gadget that only earns its keep once a year. Duronic is a UK based brand with an established line of wind up radios, and the four way charging means the crank is genuinely the backup rather than the plan. | Check price |
| Best Wind Up Lantern | Duronic Hurricane Wind Up Rechargeable Lantern | Most crank devices are torches, which light where you point them and nothing else. The Hurricane is a lantern, so the same cranked energy goes into lighting a table or a room corner where people are sitting, which is usually what a household in a power cut actually needs. The 5W hand dynamo is at the stronger end for the category and the three modes let you trade brightness for time. | Check price |
| Best Budget Crank Radio | Duronic Apex Wind Up AM/FM Radio with Torch | The Apex has been a fixture of the category for years and does the essential double act, radio plus light, from crank and solar with nothing else required. For a glove box, a caravan or a second kit upstairs it covers the bases at minimal cost, and its long track record on amazon.co.uk gives a clearer reliability picture than the sea of unbranded alternatives. | Check price |
What a wind up torch is genuinely good at, and what it is not
A wind up torch converts your effort into light through a small dynamo and a rechargeable cell. Its one unbeatable quality is independence: it cannot be caught flat the way a rechargeable lantern can, and it cannot be defeated by a drawer with no spare batteries in it the way a conventional torch can. As long as someone can turn the handle, there is light.
What it is not is a main light. The physics is unforgiving: a hand crank generates on the order of a watt, so even efficient LEDs give you a low output beam for a short period per winding session. Budget listings on amazon.co.uk typically claim around eight to ten minutes of light from a minute of cranking, and Goal Zero published the same order of figures for its crank equipped lantern, one minute of winding for roughly ten minutes on the lowest setting. Those numbers are honest, and they tell you exactly where this category belongs: the last layer of your lighting plan, after a rechargeable lantern and a set of battery powered lights.
How we chose the best wind up torches and crank radios
This is specification research against the listings and manufacturer pages, not a bench test. Three filters shaped the picks. First, availability on amazon.co.uk confirmed at the time of writing. Second, honest capability: we excluded products whose listings make charging claims that the physics of a hand dynamo cannot support, and we repeat only figures the maker or listing actually states. Third, a preference for established brands, Sangean and Duronic here, over the rotating cast of unbranded lookalikes, because in a category this cheap the main thing you are paying for is the odds the device still works in year five.
You will notice the picks lean towards crank radios with torches rather than bare torches. That is deliberate, and the next section explains why.
Wind up torch vs wind up radio: buy the combined device
A bare wind up torch solves one problem. A crank radio with a built in torch solves three: light, news and a trickle of phone charge. In a short power cut the radio barely matters, but in a long one it becomes the most valuable function in the box, because local radio and operator updates keep working when your router is dead and the mobile network is degrading. The UK government's preparedness guidance specifically suggests a battery or wind up radio among the items worth keeping at home.
For UK buyers in 2026 the DAB+ point matters more each year as local stations migrate from FM. That is the practical argument for the Sangean MMR-88 or Duronic SDAB1 over older FM only designs, and worth weighing before the lower cost of the Apex settles the decision: Check price on Amazon.
The honest maths of crank charging
Here is the arithmetic every buyer of a crank device should see once. A hand dynamo wound at a steady, sustainable pace produces roughly one watt. A modern smartphone battery stores somewhere around twelve to fifteen watt hours. Even ignoring conversion losses, recharging a flat phone by hand would therefore take well over twelve hours of continuous cranking, which no one will ever do. Real world crank charging, with losses, is worse.
So read the functions this way:
- Light: genuinely workable. A minute of winding for several minutes of low light is a fair trade when it is the only option.
- Radio: good. Radio receivers draw little power, so a few minutes of cranking buys a useful listening session.
- Phone charging: an emergency gesture only, enough to help a dying phone place one call, not to restore it. If phone charging in outages matters, that job belongs to a power bank or a portable power station, charged in advance.
None of this makes crank devices pointless. It makes them what they are: the layer that cannot fail, kept behind layers that perform better.
Where a wind up torch fits in a UK power cut plan
The pattern that works in practice is three layers. Your first light is a USB rechargeable lantern, bright, pleasant and cheap to run, covered in our guide to the best rechargeable lanterns for power cuts. Your second is disposable battery lighting, AA and D cell lanterns and stick on lights that wait in a drawer for years without attention, covered in battery powered lights for a power cut. Your third is the crank device from this page, which backstops the other two and adds the radio.
Keep the crank device somewhere fixed and known, give it a USB top up when you remember, and let the crank be what it is designed to be: the reserve. For the complete picture, including heat, food and water, start with how to prepare for a power cut and work through the emergency kit list.
What to look for when buying a wind up torch in the UK
If you shop beyond the picks, apply these filters.
- USB charging as the primary input. The best crank devices are rechargeable devices with a crank backup. If crank and solar are the only inputs, every use starts from a disadvantage.
- Solar as a bonus, not a plan. The small panels on these devices trickle usefully on a windowsill over days, but a UK winter windowsill is not a charging strategy.
- DAB+ on the radio if you are buying a combined device, for the FM switch off that is steadily emptying the analogue dial.
- A brand with history. Unbranded crank torches at the bottom of the listings are often the same handful of designs relabelled. Some are fine, but you cannot tell which from the listing, and the established names cost little more.
- A dedicated SOS or beacon mode is worth having: flashing output stretches cranked energy much further than constant light.
Compare the current crop here: Check price on Amazon, or go straight to the strongest combined device: Check price on Amazon.
The picks in detail
Best Overall: Sangean MMR-88 DAB+ v2 Emergency Radio with Torch
DAB+ and FM radio with 20 station presets, built in torch with SOS function, hand crank and solar charging, 850mAh built in battery, USB A and USB C ports, can top up a phone
Sangean is a serious radio manufacturer and the MMR-88 is the premium take on the crank device: a proper DAB+ tuner for local updates during a long outage, a usable torch, and three ways to put energy into it, mains USB before the event, then solar and crank during it. In an extended power cut the radio matters as much as the light, because it is how you hear what your network operator and local radio are saying when the mobile network gets patchy.
Worth knowing: The 850mAh battery is small, so phone charging from it is a gesture rather than a rescue. Stock and pricing on amazon.co.uk move around between listings, so check the current one carefully.
Best Value Crank Radio Torch: Duronic SDAB1 Hand Crank DAB+ Radio with Flashlight
DAB+ and FM digital radio, Bluetooth, four way charging including hand crank, solar panel and USB, built in emergency flashlight, SOS alarm
The SDAB1 covers the same jobs as the Sangean, DAB+ radio plus torch plus crank and solar charging, at a friendlier level, and adds Bluetooth for everyday use so it is not a gadget that only earns its keep once a year. Duronic is a UK based brand with an established line of wind up radios, and the four way charging means the crank is genuinely the backup rather than the plan.
Worth knowing: The torch is a convenience light for finding your way, not a room filler. As with all crank devices, radio listening per minute of winding is modest, so charge it by USB whenever mains power is available.
Best Wind Up Lantern: Duronic Hurricane Wind Up Rechargeable Lantern
Wind up rechargeable LED lantern with 5W dynamo crank, three light modes, lantern format that lights a space rather than a spot
Most crank devices are torches, which light where you point them and nothing else. The Hurricane is a lantern, so the same cranked energy goes into lighting a table or a room corner where people are sitting, which is usually what a household in a power cut actually needs. The 5W hand dynamo is at the stronger end for the category and the three modes let you trade brightness for time.
Worth knowing: Like every crank light it rewards a routine of pre charging and treats the crank as the reserve. The light quality is functional rather than cosy, so pair it with a warm rechargeable lantern if evenings matter to you.
Best Budget Crank Radio: Duronic Apex Wind Up AM/FM Radio with Torch
AM and FM radio, dynamo crank plus solar panel charging, built in torch, compact format aimed squarely at emergencies and outdoor use
The Apex has been a fixture of the category for years and does the essential double act, radio plus light, from crank and solar with nothing else required. For a glove box, a caravan or a second kit upstairs it covers the bases at minimal cost, and its long track record on amazon.co.uk gives a clearer reliability picture than the sea of unbranded alternatives.
Worth knowing: AM and FM only, no DAB, which matters as more UK local stations move to digital. Treat its phone charging, where present on a given version, as an emergency trickle.
Your questions, answered
What is the best wind up torch in the UK?
For most households the best buy in the category is not a bare torch but a crank radio with a built in torch. The Sangean MMR-88 DAB+ v2 leads on build and radio quality, and the Duronic SDAB1 covers the same jobs at a friendlier level. If you specifically want cranked room light rather than a beam, the Duronic Hurricane lantern is the pick.
How long does a wind up torch last after one minute of winding?
Typically around eight to ten minutes of light on a low setting, based on the figures stated in current amazon.co.uk listings and in Goal Zero's published data for its crank lantern. Brighter settings drain the cranked charge faster. Treat the crank as a way to never be in total darkness, not as a substitute for a charged lantern.
Can a wind up torch charge a phone?
Only symbolically. A hand crank produces roughly a watt, and a smartphone battery stores over twelve watt hours, so hand cranking a phone to full would take more than half a day of continuous effort before losses. A few minutes of cranking may help a dying phone place one call. For real phone charging in outages, use a power bank or portable power station charged in advance.
Are wind up torches worth it for power cuts?
Yes, as the last layer of a plan. They are the only light that works with no preparation at all, which makes them the backstop for the scenario where rechargeable lights were left flat and the battery drawer is empty. They are not worth it as your main power cut light, because output and runtime per winding session are modest.
Should I get a wind up radio or just a torch?
The combined device, almost always. The price difference is small and in a long outage the radio becomes the most useful function in your kit, bringing local updates when the internet and mobile network are struggling. UK government preparedness guidance lists a battery or wind up radio among the items worth keeping at home. Prefer DAB+ models for the long term.
Do wind up torches wear out?
The two ageing points are the internal rechargeable cell, which loses capacity over years like any battery, and the crank gearbox on the cheapest units. This is the practical argument for established brands and for models that also charge by USB: even with a tired cell, a USB charged device still works, and the crank remains the emergency reserve.