Two-Way Radios Reviews

I was hopeful but greatly disappointed. Couldn't even communicate with family less than 1/2 mile aways with cracking, hissing and cutting out. No hills, electrical or other interferring objects. Greatly dissatisfied. Even more dissatisfied that I have to pay shipping to return something that doesn't work to begin with. This has been an all around discouraging transaction that makes me leery of internet purchases.

Summary: I give the radios 4.5 stars, and the charger only 3 stars. The radios compare favorably with high-end FRS radios, but at a mid-range price. (For what it's worth, I've never seen an FRS radio I would give 5 stars.)

I bought this set for me, then gave them to my nephews for Christmas. (I plan to buy myself another set soon.) The sound quality is excellent, and my nephews have used them with no dropouts while hiking and camping in the mountains (on Boy Scout outings).

The radios are designed as fairly traditional "walkie-talkie" radios, with a knob for volume and with the PTT on the side rather than on the face, so your don't talk to your thumb (as on those with the PTT on the face of the radio). Other features are accessed via menus and the LCD display.

The display is clear and easy to read, with one exception. The top row of indicators is very close to the upper bezel, so you may have to tip the radio away from you to read the top row.

The radios have only one call tone, but that's all that's needed. The digital coded squelch (DCS) and the more common CTCSS tone squelch make it easy to ignore undesired signals. (When using DCS, remember to wait 1 second between pushing the PPT and speaking, to allow the other radio's receiver to recognize the DCS.) The CTCSS codes are the same as on all the other radios with Tone Squelch, so they are interoperable. The DCS codes are uncommon, but are great when using just the 75515 and/or 75517 radios.

The VOX works well, but takes some practice to use properly (as VOX always does). Setting the VOX level is a bit finicky--it's done via the menu system--but it seldom needs to be changed once set.

The advertised "1694 codes" is actually the standard 14 channels, with 38 CTCSS codes and 83 DCS codes ( (38+83)*14=1694 ). Sometimes marketing dweebs just have to turn information into gibberish.

What's missing? A "silent" or "vibrator" ringer option in place of the audible call signal. Also, the charger is not "smart". It doesn't detect full charge and switch to trickle-charge, so you can't leave the radios in the plugged-in charger. Instead, charge them up, then unplug the charger to use it as a simple stand. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a smart charger for these radios. (Doesn't mean there isn't one, though; just that I didn't locate one.) The radios also lack the "voice security" (voice scrambler) offered on some FRS radios, but the only practical purpose of that "feature" is to encourage people to transmit "private" information to the world.

We took these radios to Disneyworld, and they worked great. My friends had cheaper models, with less codes, and their radios were awful in comparison. While they had to listen to Everybody;s transmissions, we were tuned in to our two radios only, like a private line, clear and easy to hear. However, when we tried to call and hear messages from our friends, I did have to deactivate the squelch (to get it back to the basic channel, without subcodes and digital subcodes), and I heard Everyone's transmissions as well, and that quality was substantially lower. Since the trip, I have sent the radios with kids on bike rides, and used them while shopping, to speed things up by sending the kids off for a loaf of bread or gallon of milk, and meet me at aisle 5. Works great.

First, it only took a few days to be delivered. It was easy to program per instructions. I went on-line to get the SAME county codes and it was simple to do. Instructions are very good with the radio. The first time there was a weather advisory, the tone was loud and could be heard just about everywhere in my residence. I like the fact that you don't have to hear the weather all the time. Just hit the bar and you have the weather. It was everything I expected it to be. It's definitely a good product to buy for bad weather alerts and warning.

The radio has good reception even though I live in a hilly area, but what I really, really like is the "SAME" function so I can get some sleep when there are alerts in localized areas a hundred miles from my home. With my old weather radio I would be awakened dozens of times a night even though the storms were nowhere near causing a threat to my area. The only alternative was to turn the radio off and that might have been a hazardous thing to do. Well worth the price for peace of mind and a more restful nights sleep.

A couple weeks after I bouught this radio, it woke me up in the middle of the night with a shrill alarm. I had forgotten about it but was relieved to know it was working. It was very easy to set up although I did not go through the programming to block reports from other areas. It appears that this would be fairly easy and I'll do it if the alerts become a nuisance.

You can listen to the local NOAA announcements anytime by pressing a bar on top. Otherwise it remains silent until a weather alert sounds it's alarm.

All in all I am quite happy with my choice and readily recommend it.

It doesn't work as claimed. 3 miles is all you can expect to get out of it on the best day.

Cool, but dosen't work 8 miles apart.
works up to 4-6 miles apart on sunny day with little obstrucions like trees, houses, bulildings, etc.

My hubby and I got these as a Christmas present and I have to say they have been a nice gift.
We hadn't had a chance to really test them until recently, and we were both impressed with their performance. We haven't tested the range out in the flat, wide open, but we were able to get a range of about 2 miles in the moderate hills, trees, and buildings in town.
The NOAA Weather option is pretty nice, especially when you want to get a quick, area-specific forecast. The weather alert feature would also come in handy to let you know when bad weather is coming your way.
The reason we chose these specific radios was because of the good reviews from others here at Amazon, and I'm happy to say that they steered us in the right direction. There are other features that might have been nice to have - vibrating alert, or hands-free headphone/speaker set - but these radios contained the most of the features we were looking for. We're not disappointed.

i give it a 5 star because it gets great range. i measured it once and it got 5 and a half miles with hills. this radio exceads the ordinary radio by far. i have one and my dad has one and we can talk back and forth 2 miles with some obstructions. i think that the batteries work a very long time, i've gotten 5 hours out of them with the rechargable batteries. i got 2 mile radios about 4 christmases ago and they made barley half a mile. these are very good radio's and i would recomend them to anyone.

THIS RADIO IS THE BEST RADIO I EVER USED.

ITS RANGE IS GREAT AND EVERY THING COMES IN REALLY CLEAR.

IT USUALLY HAS A RANGE OF 2-3 IN THE CITY AND 5 MILES IN THE OPEN COUNTRY.

THE MOST RANGE I EVER HAD WAS 16 MILES.

THIS RADIO-- AUDIOVOX 1525 IS THE BEST RADIO I EVER HAD.

IT WORKS FINE IN THE CITY AND BETTER IN THE COUNTRY. I GET 2-3 MILES IN THE CITY AND 4+ IN THE COUNTRY.

THIS RADIO IS CLEAR AND HAS ALOT OF GREAT FEATURES.

Quality is decent, though the on/off volume knob feels cheap. Good range in the suburbs. Included belt clip a plus. Will only take the FRS-EM8 and the FRS-EMC8 earbud microphones

I bought this radio to communicate with my family in the ground floor of my apartment and the quality was exceptional. I even used it to tap radio transmissions and this can perform very well in bad weather conditions also, If u want to buy a radio , I personally suggest GO FOR IT!!!

I got them a couple of months ago and they are so cool. I have used them on car trips and campouts. They seem to be made very well. And for this price I think they are amazing.

You willbe surprised to see that (2) one pair of these are located at iwon.com shopping area for sale at the price of $69.99,and if you have some of those cash points for playing their games that you no nobody ever won, the price goes from $69.99 less $13.00 cash points to cost you $56.99 and that is for the pair of the walkie talkies, not for just one as is this one.Since this is listed as Single, don't be mistaken, make sure you are buying a pair of them, otherwise you will be verymad with amazon.com Also,tell them here tolowertheir price alittle.LOL

Tired of yelling for the kids or your better half? Looking for them in the mall, in the house or at the camp site. Then this is for you! I've been a radio hobbist for years and these little radios are neat! You can use over 340 'channel' combinations on 4 AAA batteries. But here's the rub, the batteries only last 24 hours or LESS total time. The range is pretty good for only 500Mv (about one-half watt) in the city I can go about 3/4 of a mile. Clean clear communications, no static and a neat 'call' button feature. For a family this is a great little radio. Don't expect to get the 2 miles as claimed, unless you are in the desert on open field. Get the rechargable battery packs and charger, you'll need it!

I recently purchased one of thies radios and it was exactly the one i was looking for. the size is great. it is the only radio that i can fit in a pocet without looking like i have big hips. all of the feachers are great to like the water resistant frame, the channle lock and the back lite. But the most importand thing is the channles and privacy codes. All of my frends got somthing with 14 channles and 38 privacy codes and i was stuck with a one channle radio. so I bought this. I think that it is the best radio anyone could ever hope for.

They are a good size and the charger is compact. However, not quite sure on the 6 miles as advertised - most channels get static and other people talking at less than 1 mile away.

At about $15 shipped these radios are certainly worth the price and function as an excellent intercom between houses on the property where I live. They also were useful at a recent convention held at the LAX Hilton where they communicated through 6 concrete floors!
However the claim of a 6-mile range has yet to be substantiated and appears to depends largely on a clear and completely unobstructed line-of-sight.
In reality the practical range is more like half a mile to a mile and then only when using the GMRS channels; FRS channels have a hard time reaching beyond 200-250 yards in urban use!
The belt clips supplied with the units are practically useless as they grip poorly but did help point up the durability of the units: I dropped one out of my pocket onto rough pavement going around a corner on my motor scooter at about 25mph and after retrieving the radio (thankfully NOT run over) discovered it not only held together and functioned perfectly, it did not even show evidence of any cosmetic damage!
The supplied battery packs take and hold a charge from the drop-in charging cradle approximately 3 times as long as alkaline batteries.
The radios themselves are feature-rich yet relatively uncomplicated, and includes squelch sub-codes for each channel which aids in clear communications and a scan feature that's handy for monitoring multiple channels.
These units would be entirely suitable for keeping in touch at swap meets or sporting events or between vehicles driving cross country, but don't expect to talk across town with them.

I live in a typical suburban subdivision, absolutely indistinguishable from the hundreds of thousands of similar neighborhoods around the US. I give one of these to my kids and let them go to the parks, their friends' houses, etc. I can reach them easily and they can reach me. The reception is great for us, but we haven't tried it over about 3 miles.

I bought 2 of these radios a few days ago. I am not sure how the idea got around that this is a 1/2 watt unit, because it is a 2 watt unit, and it DOES require an FCC license. The manual and the FCC registration says it is a 2 watt unit. I was very skeptical of this radio, because it seemed like I was getting alot of radio for less money, but I am glad I bought it now. We are getting around 1.5 mile range in the neighborhood, and about 2.5 miles out in the country were there are less obstructions. My father has 2 motorolas (5100 model). We tested these units against the Unidens head to head. The Uniden GMRS480 sounded much better than the Motorola 5100s every time. The secret is to not hold you mouth too close to the radio when you speak. No need to speak loud either. The Uniden's were not "tiny micy" sounding at all. I would have given this unit a rating of "5", but I must tell you that the thermometer is not very useful. I believe that it cannot get a correct temperature reading when you are holding the radio. It can be around 40 degrees outside, and if you are holding the radio, it will read in the upper 70's. I guess if you sit the radio down and don't touch it, it may get a "true" temperature reading. The SCAN function works, but is kinda weird in my opinion. You have to hold down either of the up/down channels for several seconds to get it to scan. Therefore, you actually change channels 1 thru 15 many times, and then the unit goes in to scan mode. Also, you can't use the radio while it is on the charger, which really disappoints me. But the batteries (NiMH), lasted us on the farm on one charge, Sat, Sun, & Monday, with the unit turned on all during the daylight hours. By Monday evening they still had 2 out of 4 bars left on the battery meter. The weather band is good, it picked up the NOAA channel about 50 miles away. Seems pretty weather resistant, but I try not to get anything wet that is electronic. Good thing that the radio is simple to figure out and use, because I could have written a better manual. You can download the manual from the Uniden web site before you buy it. It is only a few pages. The folks at Uniden have been very helpful in answering my questions. They have responded to every email I have sent them. I recommend the Uniden GMRS480, but since it is GMRS and 2 watt, it does require an FCC license.

First of all, sorry for my english.

I agree with most of what have already been said here, I've tested the unit and seem to have a very good long range coverage, for me I could say that easily triples standard FRS coverage. One feature that has not been described here is an useful monitor button that when you hold it for a few seconds it cancels the squelch and keep it that way (doesn't have to keep pushing the monitor)and that gives you add'tnl coverage. At long distances signal could be poor to break the squelch but if you open the line you could clearly hear the other party. When using any radio in adverse circunstances try to get into high and open places, if you get onto a building or a mountain you would be impressed the coverage of the unit. I use this mainly for vacations at Isla de Margarita and from my apartment I cover all Porlamar city and it's surroundings and even talk miles away with a small mountain in the middle.

The vibrate option is very nice, when you'r fooling around malls nobody notes that someone's calling you cause when activated in cancels the ringer sound. Unit looks very sturdy.

The cons: Lettering on the radio tend to erase by the use and sweat.

Don't doubt getting this unit.

This radio is ideal for the money. I tested these radio's in the city and got almost 4 miles in range. I had one outside and my friend had the other one in his truck driving away from me. We were able to keep constant communication the whole time. He was driving through busines and residential areas. These will be great from car to car and out in the mountains.

I've owned and used a pair of the Midland GXT400 radios for about 6 months. I'm basically a gadget guy, but this has been my first experience with FRS/GMRS radios.

As an inexperienced buyer, I found shopping for two-way radios to be very confusing. There are *so* many options in terms of number of channels, number of privacy codes, different power levels of transmitters, etc. It can be quite overwhelming. It is difficult to determine what features will be useful to you and what features are not worthwhile. There aren't many web resources available. Heck, even Amazon lists about 100 different models of two-way radios. Pretty much all of the models have good and bad owner reviews.

How is the average consumer, who isn't a radio-head or wireless communication expert, supposed to ever make a decision? Ugh.

I shopped obsessively until I finally settled on the Midland units. The main decision factors for me were:

(1) This is the only model that claimed a 4 watt transmitter at the time. (Not sure that is still the case)

(2) It uses readily available AA batteries and not some crazy rechargeable battery pack, which would require me to pack yet another charger when I travel.

(3) The price was reasonable.

First, I have to say that I'm really impressed with the radio technology overall. FRS/GMRS radios really do work. These are truly a quantum leap from the old walkie-talkies you had as a kid.

Range -- As others have mentioned, forget the silly range numbers that are advertised on the package. You will be disappointed if you really expect to get more than a mile or two in real world conditions. The range all depends on the environment. In a city setting, you are lucky to get a mile. Out in the country you can get more.

Battery life -- I'm happy with the battery life on the Midland units. I use NiMH AA rechargeable batteries and I've used them all day, two days in a row and never seen the low battery sign. Granted, I didn't spend a LOT of time talking on them, but they were still on the whole time.

For doing car-to-car communication as you convoy down the road, they are absolutely fantastic. Don't expect to get much more than line of sight range, but the sound quality is excellent and it makes traveling in multiple cars much easier. You can plan stops, check maps, etc. without having to pull over or use expensive cell phone time. This is especially true when you are navigating in an unfamiliar city.

I've also used my radios on the ski slopes. In that environment, the range is much better. I've had good luck contacting friends who were spread out all over the mountain. I have not had any problems communicating with other brands of radios. I've actually been surprised at how far I'm able to reach other people under good conditions.

Having sung the praises of FRS/GMRS radios in general and of the Midland units in particular, I do have a couple of minor issues:

- One minor complaint is that the PTT (push to talk) button on one unit is a little bit tricky. You've got to give it a good firm push to transmit. The other unit is much softer touch.

- The menu system to do the settings is not completely self-explanatory. If you swap the batteries, the unit has to be completely reset, which takes a minute. I don't use the radios every day, so I forget exactly what each menu setting does if I haven't used them in awhile. I wish I could set it and then have the radio retain the settings until I changed them.

- The radios themselves are not the smallest available. They measure about 2.5" x 1.25" x 6". This makes them a bit too large for pocket size, but not overly large.

Despite these minor things, I still highly recommend the Midland GXT400 units. I'm happy with my purchase.

BTW... if you are an obsessive shopper, just stop now and place the order. I don't think you will be disappointed.

We had some off brand radios that we used when we convoyed to our weekend campouts. If we couldn't see the person in the car near us, they were just about useless. We found these GXT400's on sale locally and we tried a pair and were so impressed that our troop purchased a total of 10. We hand these out to all the drivers going on the campout and the clarity of transmissions and the range we are now able to achieve is astonishing. Is it the 12 miles advertised, no way, but, now the radios are actually useful. Our convoy can stretch out over a mile plus and all communications are heard and understood by all drivers. The clarity is amazing and especially welcome after using that other brand.
Once we get to camp, we sometimes split up into patrol activities and we hand a radio to the adult that is accompanying the patrol. We have hiked and been separated by up to 5 miles according to our GPS's and we were still able to communicate and coordinate troop activities. Keep in mind, this 5 miles was out in the boonies and there were no electronic or structural interference in the area. I don't think they will go much further than this unless you are in laboratory conditions of perfection.
Another feature that sold us on these radios was the NOAA Weather reception capability. When we are out and unable to keep up with television during changing weather, we can reliably count on the weather channels to keep us informed of pending storms that might need us to take action to protect the boys.
I think the best testimony is that when I purchased radios for my family activities, I bought exactly this radio due to the extensive experience we had during our Boy Scout outings.

I bought these not expecting the 12 mile advertised range. I have played the FRS/GMRS radio thing before. I know that none of them live up to what they advertise on the package! Unless your buddy is on a mountain & you are on another mountain facing him... and underneath you is nothing except a desolate desert. They are 4 watt radios. They sound great and are easy to charge and use. My package came with the optional headsets. Great for car to car transmissions. I live in Tampa Bay, FL. They reliably cover 1 mile easy, two miles is a stretch... but it can be done. 12 miles, yeah right. ... I have some swamp land you might be interested in. IN SUMMARY, the best GMRS/FRS radios I have ever owned, they are well built and reasonably priced. They work incredibly well... but THE POPE himself does not have a prayer of getting 12 miles out of these. 1 - 2 miles, yes. Maybe even a little more in really open terrain with no obstructions. THUMBS UP!

Having been a fan of Motorola FRS walkie-Talkies for years, I was looking forward to the extra power of the GMRS models. The Motorola T5720 was a major disapointment! I made a few range tests and found that the T5720 was not nearly as effective as my old Motorola T289 FRS radio - much less range, more noise, poor audio quality. Don't buy this product!

Hi! I'm the 37 year old again. Back to the story. Rachel, my daughter, and I went on the internet again with her lemonade money. Well, Rachel's the Computer Wizard and went on the computer herself. She yelled "Mommie! I found a good pair of walkie-talkies! Pretty Colors too!" I ran in and I thought they were junk like the "Elite Operations Officer Walkie- Talkie". I'm a sucker for the puppy dog face. Well, it turns out Rachel knew it. You know what happened next. We got the walkie-talkies and Rachel gave one to her friend Sulema and I was amazed at how well they worked. No statick. And whoever got on thier chanell, the two girls could go on an other one. Perfect and worth the money!

This product works very well if used in the manner in which it was designed.

Boaters, this is not a marine radio, and don't expect the Coast Guard, Sea Tow, or even other boats to be monitoring these channels. Today's marine VHF radios are small enough for even a Jet-Ski or the smallest dinghy and have appropriate waterproofing.

If you want to cover a farm, country club or large industrial or office park, spend the extra money on a proper business radio. Also, wherever possible, a vehicle-mount (truck, tractor, golf cart) radio with the right antenna will reach much farther and sound much better than anything hand-held.

Who should buy this radio? Skiers and snowboarders, bicyclists, hikers, campers, hunters, any groups of people who may tend to get separated beyond shouting range. Video production, stage and ligthting crews who can find this a low-cost, easy-to-use substitute for Clear-Com systems. Obviously they will need to use headsets to keep the sound from getting into the audience or audio track, and those who need to keep their hands free, like video camera operators will prefer the VOX headset. It would have been nice if they sold these as a package, which would be cheaper than buying them separately.

This type of signal is by nature for line-of-sight transmission only, and not like CB, and will not go around large mountains or "skip" like lower-frequency radio signals.

This radio is built ruggedly with the kind of quality we got familiar with on the older, bulkier Talkabouts. As for the menus, I would suggest you keep the manual close at hand until you get the hang of navigating though the commands. I like the pushbutton-release belt clips.

I bought the NiCd version of these radios, which Amazon also sells, and it came with a handy charging stand and works well as long as you remember to charge it up before using. :-) Those of you who choose the AA-powered version would be well-advised to get a nice set of NiMH batteries and charger, even though Amazon has great prices on alkaline batteries.

Overall, this radio is very worthwhile and satisfactory.