Philips TAR1609 vs TAR3500: which Philips emergency radio should you buy?

Two Philips radios, one job

Both radios do what the government’s Be Ready checklist asks of a radio: FM reception from a set that runs on batteries or a crank. Both also tune AM, both have a torch and an SOS siren, both recharge by USB-C, and both take ordinary AAA cells when the built-in battery runs down. Neither has DAB. The differences are size, how long the main battery lasts, how quickly they top up a phone, and which one carries a water rating.

We haven’t used either radio. This comparison is built from Philips’ manuals, its datasheets and its UK product pages, and every figure below is Philips’ own. For the full write-ups, read our Philips TAR1609 review and Philips TAR3500 review; every set we track is on emergency radios compared.

Battery: 32 hours or 60, and a second line of AAA cells

The TAR3500’s main battery is the bigger one. Philips’ datasheet gives it as 5,200mAh, good for up to 60 hours at moderate volume; the manual puts that as 60 hours of continuous play at volume 5, on a scale that runs to 16. The TAR1609’s 2,000mAh cell is rated for up to 32 hours at half volume, so the TAR3500’s lead is real, though measured at a lower setting. Both take about three and a half hours to fill from a USB-C charger. Either figure covers several days of news bulletins if you switch off between them.

The AAA backup is what makes both of these sensible household radios. The TAR1609 runs on three AAA cells, which Philips rates for up to 12 hours at half volume; the TAR3500 takes four and gives no running time for them. A packet of alkaline AAA cells kept in the same drawer means a flat internal battery is never the end of the radio, without anyone having to wind a handle. Philips’ datasheet lists the TAR3500’s lithium battery as replaceable, though the manual gives no steps for swapping it; the TAR1609’s is built in. One practical note: the TAR3500’s manual says its AAA compartment opens with a tool such as a small screwdriver, which isn’t supplied.

One thing to know on the TAR3500: its datasheet gives the battery as 5,200mAh in the specification table but calls it a 2,600mAh power bank in the feature list. Philips doesn’t explain the gap. The 60-hour play figure appears in both the datasheet and the manual, so rely on that rather than on either capacity.

Crank and solar: last resort on both

Both manuals say to use solar charging and the hand crank only in an emergency. Philips publishes figures for them on the TAR1609 alone: 25 minutes of cranking at 120 turns a minute gives around an hour of radio, and an hour in sun brighter than 60,000 lux gives up to 30 minutes. That is honest and modest. For the TAR3500 Philips lists the crank and the panel but gives no output for either, so there is nothing to compare.

In practice the order of use is the same on both: keep the lithium battery topped up from a phone charger, fall back to AAA cells, and treat the handle and the panel as the backup to the backup.

Phones, water rating and weight

Phone charging is where the TAR3500 is clearly stronger. Its USB-A socket is rated 5V 1A, the speed of an old plug-in phone charger; the TAR1609’s gives 5V 0.5A, enough to keep a phone alive but slow to fill one, and its manual has you move the function switch to charge-out mode first. Neither replaces a charged power bank, which Be Ready lists as an item of its own; see power banks.

The TAR3500’s datasheet rates it IP55, which Philips defines as protection from limited dust and from low-pressure water jets from any direction. Its manual’s safety notes still say it shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing, and to use it between 0°C and 40°C, so treat IP55 as protection against the odd shower rather than a reason to leave it outdoors. It is not a rating for dropping it in water. Philips publishes no water rating for the TAR1609, so keep that one dry.

The TAR1609 is the one to carry. At 390g and 150 × 90 × 68mm it fits a grab bag; the TAR3500 is 670g and 186 × 103 × 77mm, with a long carry strap, and suits a shelf or a hook. The bigger set also has a 3W speaker against 1W, a headphone socket, a digital display and 40 presets, so it is the easier radio to listen to every day.

Which suits who

The TAR1609 suits most homes that want one radio in the kit drawer: small, light, and good for well over a day of listening between its own battery and a packet of AAA cells. It is the simpler set, and was the cheaper of the two when we checked; the live prices are in the box above. Pick it if a phone will be charged from a power bank anyway.

The TAR3500 suits a home that wants a tougher radio that shrugs off dust and a shower, wants it to run for days on one charge, or wants a faster phone top-up from the radio itself. It also suits anyone who finds a dial fiddly, since it tunes digitally and stores presets.

Whichever you buy, write down the FM frequencies of the stations you use for news, as Be Ready suggests, and keep a spare packet of AAA cells with it. Our guide to which radio works in a power cut explains why FM is the band that matters, and Philips TAR1609 vs TAR1659 covers the TAR1609’s twin model number.