Two-Way Radios Reviews

My first CB radio. Works very well for on highway use and NOAA weather anywhere...really anywhere. Not the top model but good for a first CB radio, for someone who doesnt want to pay over $100 but still get a decent radio. I would recommend this item to anyone, except professional truck drivers. I run a firestick I antenna and it works well. Good for highway info and directions. Be sure to purchase an SWR meter, or get it tuned by a professional, to ensure that your radio is tuned correctly, else you could burn it up. CB radios are NOT plug and play devices.

Good mid range cb for intermediate user--- great features and speaker placement.

This CB radio is a great radio, especially for the price. I'm sold on it--feature for feature, it's a much better deal than the more expensive models. It arrived in great shape, much earlier than I expected. Shopping Amazon is so easy, just a click and it's done!

Great product for use in my industry of running cabling in homes. The sound is clear, and finding an available channel is not a problem. I have two problems with the units however, that prevent me from giving it five stars. The location of the talk button is obviously an issue, the other is the design of the volume control knob. It is larger that it needs to be, and located on the upper corner, and it is too easily snagged on things. I have had to replace or repair the volume control knobs frequently. It should possibly be located to the side, with only enough of the dial exposed to adjust the volume.

Great quality everywhere else however. Dropped and sat on, they keep on transmitting!

I honestly think that 5 stars is too low of a rating. We have been using the talkabout 250's for years (while Duck Hunting) and in my opinion, they are an invaluable outdoor tool. Not only do they afford us the opportunity to alert others in our group that Ducks are coming their way, but we can also talk back and forth during the slower mornings. Our hunting trips usually last (on average) about 4 hours and I can get at least 4-5 trips out of a single set of batteries. That's hardly a 'battery eater' as far as I'm concerned. And for us, a 2 mile range is PLENTY enough. Needless to say, I am a big talkabout 250 fan and I would advise any Duck Hunters to look into getting a few of these

A friend of mine has 13 year old twins and never knows where they have gotten off to. She mentioned to me she was thinking of getting some 2 way radios to try to keep track off them. So I bought her these for Christmas. She seems quiet pleased with them, the kids do not share her joy. These also work well inthe mall or when at a big outdoor event. They fulfill there pupose and are smallenough that they can go in a purse or knapsack with little bulk from them.

This is the best for the money. I successfully used these at Disney World. The DCS codes cut off the first word, so you have to "learn" to use it, but it did come in handy for crowded airwaves (no other radio's I know of have them). The CTCSS codes are a little better and are compatible with other FRS radio's. My daughter left one outside all night through a thunderstorm. It was soaked. After emptying the water, drying it out all night and replacing the batteries it worked just fine! (and she didn't have to spend her allowance on a new one). Makes me feel good about using them for skiing this winter. There is only one call tone and it's a little annoying. There is no vibrate alert. One set of batteries lasted the week at Disney. If your not using them everyday, I see no need for the charger. In all, great for the money.

I got 3 of these Midland 75-515's for family bike trips, but I've found that they're useful for much more: trips to the mall, skiing, all kinds of situations. I had previously bought and returned some other FRS radios, because I found that they lacked some necessary features (like call tones). What I like about these particular radios is that they have a large number of subcodes (38 CTSS codes and ~83 digital squelch tones) that screen out other peoples obnoxious comments (go to an amusement park and you will NOT be able to use FRS radios unless you can screen out moronic profane comments). The channel lock feature is a must also. Despite all the features, it's pretty simple to use (my nine year old has no problems with it). They're also really small, which helps when you have to carry one on a bike all day. The range is somewhere over 1.5 miles outside on the road, with only trees blocking your way. From car to car, it's probably about 3/4 miles based on my limited tests. So, the obstructions in between senders affects the reception, but overall, I was pleased with the range and clarity of the sound. In my opinion, I got a lot of features for the money, and the radios are very useful

Review of the Midland 75-515 FRS Transceiver

This unit has a nice "Walkie Talkie" look to it. I have been disturbed by the unusual designs of many radios. I am glad Midland decided to keep with the more traditional look.

Upon powering up the radio, it indicated its awakening with a prominent tone. The LCD display is large and easily viewed. The only trouble I had was viewing the upper part of the display, where the CTCSS and DCS mode indicators are. Other than that, the display is VERY well laid out and easy to read.

Volume levels are pretty darn loud for such a small speaker. Receive audio qualiy is pretty good. It is easily understood.

Range checks: This unit was detectable 1.5 miles away with my wife inside our house and myself in the car. Effective communications were possible with one mile distance between us. In a mobile environment, I consider this range to be VERY good for an FRS radio.

Also, we were in communication with myself inside the grocery store about .25 miles from the house... Perfect communications was a result while shopping. These units can communicate well between buildings.

Power output is 500 mW ERP, verified by FCC test data. This applies to use of fully charged alkaline batteries. We used the nicad rechargeables for our tests.

The battery life as listed, is pretty good. I have yet to have had my rechargeable go dead, and I've used the radios a bit. although I do admit some charging time.

Intermod and other interference: We experienced no intermod. In our area, though, this is not unusual. We are out of the range of many dirty pager transmitters and such. My computer did interfere with this radio to a small degree... again not surprising. Personal computers commonly interfere with UHF receivers.

Features and evaluations of such:

DCS: Digital Coded Squelch comes to FRS!! This system is the latest in selective squelch systems. It is reported to be more efficient than CTCSS. We used it in our tests and it performed perfectly, even at maximum range.

CTCSS: In case you want to communicated with units without DCS, CTCSS is there for you to use. As expected, the CTCSS system worked perfectly.

Our "home channel" had additional traffic when we were conducting our tests. Our communications was not interrupted by the other signal.

SCAN: This radio can scan for active channels, and clear channels. I would have like to seen a way to lock out unneeded channels; but you can set a CTCSS tone, or DCS code, which will allow the scan function to skip over that channel, unless that code has traffic. With that in mind, the radio scans whatever characteristic you have programmed with that channel. This is useful if you want to scan your group's channels and thay have CTCSS or DCS set.

BABY MONITOR FUNCTION: This function will sit and listen for any noise in its range, sound the call tone and transmit for a period of time, then go to receive mode, and back and forth. It does work as indicated, but we have no use for it (until we get a young 'un). However, it could be useful in many other ways, such as listening for the doorbell, or the microwave beep to go off. Use your imagination...

END OF TRANSMISSION TONE: AKA Roger Beep. It is there, if you wish, and can be turned off if you do not wish.

BATTERY SAVE FUNCTION: during recive, except for scanning, sort of puts the radio to sleep until it receives a signal. Good for unnecessary drain on batteries... Problem though... It takes about a half second or so for it to wake up, so it is likely you will miss the first word or so of your communications. The delay is a bit short for my tastes. Too bad you can't turn it off.

5 MEMORY CHANNELS: This allows you to set up a channel and keep its characteristics set. While this radio holds any Tones or Codes you may set for a channel permanently, the memory function allows you to store the same channel as a memory location. You could have channel 1 as your primary channel, with a differtnt DCS or CTCSS tone set. Too bad this radio doesn't allow memory channel scan.

VOX: This unit allows voice activiation right out of the box. with or without a spaeker mike, you can talk hands free. Good to mount a radio on the sunvisor :) With a selectable sensitivity and selectable delay setting, the VOX on this unit is the best I have seen so far. If you use VOX, this radio can't be beat IMHO.

BATTERY STRENGTH METER: This is a 4 segment LCD that will give you your battery charge state.

TRANSMIT/RECEIVE INDICATOR: Will display the appropriate icon. It will indicate when a channel is receiving a signal, so you can see actibity on another CTCSS or DCS code.

ACCESSORY JACKS: These units have TWO sets of jacks! You will be able to plug almost anything into this radio.

CHARGING CONTACTS: The radio can be charged with a desk charger OR an AC adaptor type charger.... Versatile!

FINAL COMMENTS:

This radio is a clear Winner!

It has a nice look and feel, good sound quality, and range. Plenty of good functions. I have in the past, heard of problems with this series, however, I have discovered NO flaws whatsoever in the operation of these units. The multiple accessory/charging jacks are unique to the industry and allow for greater flexibility. Kudos to Midland for a job well done.

I bought these for a trip to whistler. My buddy alrady had a couple of older motorola units that were compatible with the fv500's. Overall, battery performance was acceptable and lasted more than a full day of use at top volume. Range was pretty impressive, but no where near advertised specs when there were buildings or mountainous terrain as obstacles. Works as expected and a great value for about $20-$30.

Loads of fun with the kids, easy to use, even with my 6 year old.

I get 3/4 mile range in the clear (in town).

Best feature is the recharger!!! No more batteries to buy...

I have been a firm believer in Motorola radios and cellphones. These radios work great! They have batteries with no memory and charger, which is the way to go. The range is good with some interference, which you would have with any of these radios. I have found uses for these radios that I would have never thought of.

We purchased this for use while skiing. Before the case, we put our portable radios in a pocket. This meant that when someone called, you had to stop, pull out the radio and try to communicate. Having the radio on your arm is better, because it's more accessible. However, the solution has its problems. The arm band holds the radio, but it twists around on the strap and around your arm, so that, while engaged in vigorous activity, it's not staying still. It's better than grabbing it from a pocket, though.

Very good product. A plus in additional eqipt. Holder supports any situation. Great for beach or park.

I strongly recommend this carrying case to anyone with a TalkAbout.

The case grips the Talkabout securely, is easy to access, and allows the radio to be reinserted without too much trouble.

The only flaw I have found is that the elastic band with the Motorola emblem runs right across the tone button. It doesn't exert enough pressure to engage it by itself, but if you bump something it does have enough pressure to hold the button down. It will set off the tone until you remove the radio from the carrying case.

I used this case every day for 7 weeks this summer and was very pleased with it. I would buy it again without hesitation.

I purchased this radio new on Amazon for about 26 bucks delivered; not a bad price for any CB that is in working order, new or used! So there is value here! The first radio I received was defective; the receive section totally lost it's sensitivity after a few minutes of turning the radio on, and it was easily replaced with a fully functioning one. As one who enjoys "big" rig equipment, the compact size in this case allowed me to install it within the space beneath a removable tray in my car. Using a good quality extension speaker did the trick; but the radio has surprisingly good audio quality and volume from its internal speaker. An added bonus that NONE of the sellers; even the manufacturer ever mentions is that this rig does have an RF Gain control, a feature NEVER seen in a radio at this price point. Another thing I am impressed with is the fact that the squelch control actually works properly; set it for a particular threshold, and it will allow signals to pass selectively based on the FULL range of differently received signal strengths. It seems that the radio has some sort of "fuzzy logic" that allows a signal to break the squelch and remain received even as the signal fluctuates under the selected threshold to some degree. Most squelch circuits, even in high priced equipment, operate miserably in this regard. So with the other features presented with this radio, ease of operation, good TX & RX audio, the nice size package, and the price - you simply can't go wrong!

I have been into CB radios since they first came out. I also have 50 year experience as a ham radio operator and an electrical engineer. I have never had a better CB radio. I purchased a second one just to have in years to come as a spare. I use it every day-it has very low crosstalk from high power CB transmitters nearby on the Interstate.
Can't beat it for the $

Jay

Surprising quality for this price range, my son uses this around town to talk with his buddies and it works just fine! Worth the purchase price and then some. And it's fun with a PA horn installed under the hood too!

The problem is the reception range, which is miserable. Clear reception is for only a couple of hundred feet, provided there are no obstacles. The signal disappears completely at about 1/2 of a mile. However, in the Magic Kingdom park of Disneyworld in Florida, we had difficulty maintaining any communication at all, probably due to a lot of buildings and steel structures around. Therefore, I consider these units as not a real communications devices, but rather just children's toys. Also, in this case, clearly, you get what you pay for: the item is cheap and it works like a cheap item.

The Motorola Talkabout T5420 is a great radio if your looking for an inexpensive way to keep in touch. Like most radios, don't expect this to get to 2 miles, more in the 1-1/2 mile range. When I was hiking mount modadnock I got about a mile of these which is pretty good considering all the trees and rocks. My freind also brought along an Audiovox FR-540 Radio which also had a 2-mile range but proved to be better becuase of its clearer voice, smaller size, and got a bit more range than the motorola's. (I'd reccomend those if you don't want to get a license but want a good radio). I've also noticed that these radios sometimes having a longer range (and clearer voice) than my freinds 5 mile version, and a clearer voice. Overall, a good product well worth the money!

Purchased two and they are working great! We use them to talk between cars on the road. Excellent value.

We got these for the kids at Christmas, and have had no problems at all. They are easy for the kids to use, and seem to be built much more solidly than many low cost products. The display is easy to read, and controls very easy to operate. We have not changed the batteries since Christmas (5 months now), although they have not been used for long periods of continuous operation. I have no idea how many total hours they have been used. My wife and I use them to stay in contact with the kids at home when we walk in the neighborhood, and find them to be quite clear at about 1/2 mile. We live in a rural area with very little other interference, but found that at Grandma's house in town that it was sometimes hard to find a channel that someone else was not using. Overall this is a very good value, and works well.

These radio's are good for short distance communication. Don't expect them to work all the 2-miles as advertised. Most radio's won't work in that range if you & the receiver are both not in open with no interfernce around.
The radio's look very cool. And they work on 3 AA batteries. You can buy 4 Nimh rechargable ones for just 10 bucks at any target store or here.
The best part about these is that they don't have any antenna hanging out (to be broken with use) and they could be conviently hung with the clip they already have. They don't come with all kinds of fancy features, just the necessary ones.
Even if the quality is not the best, they have the best looks & comfort of use compared to other FRS's around.
And finally they are much cheaper compared to others, you can get one between 10 to 15 dollars at circuitcity or here.

I am very pleased with this pair of Uniden radios...The sound quality has been good; the call feature has a good tone; and the clip makes it extremely convenient to take along. I highly recommend this brand and model...they have and are serving me very well!

This CB is a very good buy. For the quality of it, the price is the best I've seen. I used it with the Cobra A1500 antenna. I found about 5 miles. Also, it is compact and fit in the console. The only problem was getting use to the squelch and RF Gain. This is my first CB and I am very happy with it.

Small in size but does a good job boardcasting.I added a good ant.Wilson Little Wil.I have a 03 Nissan Altima,it fit in the storage bin on console,great fit.The speaker does a good job.Good CB radio.

I had bought this radio at a Radio Shack store in town when we went to visit my dad in Indiana last Christmas. I had only bought it because my old Radio Shack cb I have had for about 8 1/2 years had died on me on the way there. I Bought the 520Xl and hooked it up to my SWR meter with my 3 ft Firestik antenna with magnet mount I had on the back, and right off, i never had to make an adjustment at all, because I had a SWR reading between 1:0 and 1:5. I used this radio on the way back, and was able to reach people up to 5 miles away, which was great! unfortunatly on the way back, I had to take my antenna off because everytime a semi passed us on the road, it would blow my antenna off the truck. When I got home, I took my CB to a cb shop near by and had it peaked and tuned, so now it gets 14 watts out instead of 7, and I can talk over 15-20 miles on a clear day. I did however switch antennas to a K40 3 ft antenna with adjustable sleeve that I had for years, and it works about the same. Get the radio, get you a good quality antenna like Firestik, K40, Wilson, or another good name brand. If you know somebody who can do it, get it peaked and tune, or take it to a cb shop and have them do it, and you will get somebody surely everytime you talk. Well worth the money, sorry about rambling on, but I felt if I shared experiences, it would help.

One more thing is that I know 4 truck drivers that have this CB in their trucks over a big Cobra, and they love the size and availability of the radio.

Get the Uniden 520xl, get a quality antenna, get a peak and tune if availble, and get talking!! You won't regret it.

I hope to talk to some of you soon. If you are ever on I-24 between Exit 110-121, give me a call and see if my radio is on. My handle is Hoosier in the South.

Its hard to beat the price. Most radios would cost more without a charger! But there is a catch. The radio output is 0.5W. Far less than the 2.0W allowed by GMRS. So this radio is only as good as a FRS radio with 7 extra GMRS channels.

But bare in mind that using GMRS radios require a license. If you are buying this for a child and not getting a license. It is like teaching him it is okay to break the law. And if you know what you are doing, why bother breaking the law for a half-baked GMRS radio?

What a pleasant surprise! Because these were so inexpensive, I was skeptical as to whether they would work for our intended purpose. We purchased these radios so that my husband could contact me from his workshop which is separate from our house. Except when he was running his power equipment, these radios came in loud and clear through several thicknesses of walls. The only reason I didn't rate these a "5" is because the instructions are terrible and took both of us to decipher. I'd recommend these to anyone.

I've wanted a pair of 'shopping radios' for a long time. They needed to be rechargeable and come with batteries and charger. They also needed to be the slightly more powerful GMRS radios, not the weak FRS. These fit all categories.

What I was not prepared for was the price. I found these on a shelf below the GMRS peg wall at Wal-Mart, with no price indication. All the other GMRS packages with batteries and chargers were priced at $59.99 and above. I took this package to the register to ask what it cost. When the man scanned it he said, $20.

Needless to say, I bought them. Now whenever my family goes anywhere--to the park, to the mall, wherever, I have one of these and my wife has the other. They have no problem covering an entire mall while remaining intelligible. Outdoors, they are even better. There is absolutely no way any other brand new $20 product can touch these.

Sure, you can spend hundreds and get GPS or greater range, better clarity or longer battery life (these are actually very good in the battery-life department) but will it be a hundred dollars better? Only if you have to have GPS. In that case sure.

If you are like the other 98% of us, these radios will satisfy you in all the ways that matter, and any extra money you spend on fancier versions will be wasted.