Two-Way Radios Reviews

The radio is OK, butI have a beef with the false advertsing. The bubble pack trumpets "FIVE-MILE range." But the owner's manual --which you can't read until after buying and opening the bubble pack (a jackhammer would be helpful for this) -- says "range UP TO FOUR MILES" And even this is conditioned on "clear, unobstructed terrain."

I belong to a hunting club where a group of 8 of us use this model and have used them for 3 years. I personally own 4 G-11s. This radio is well made (made in Korea not China as with almost all other brands). It has excellent sound both in and out and using 4AAA batteries has at least the same range as my Audiovox 1535. The option to use 3AAs will reduce your range. Our radios see heavy use during the hunting season and they've held up in bad weather and at least one took a 7 foot drop without damage. The only units that needed replacing were lost not broken.

I recently purchased the G-11 (pair) and must say that, for the price, they are well worth the money. After searching around for a pair of GMRS radios with similar features, the G-11 by Midland was by far the lowest priced. After field testing the ability of the G-11, I found it's performance acceptable even under less than perfect conditions when taking into consideration it's power output (2 watts max). For light recreational/business use, this radio is the one!

This two-way radio is a very good asset if you are taking trips or going to amusement parks. The Weather feature is a great addition and is very useful with its weather alerts. However, the batteries wear out fast, it doesn't have a two mile range like Motorola says, and there was no need for the eighth weather channel since NOAA doesn't operate on that channel.

I purchased this radio along with several of my friends, who purchased the 6320 model. We all think they were a great investment. We have used them to keep in touch while on road trips, on the ski hill, and most recently on an adventure out to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon. My radio performed wonderfully. I was outside of Zion and could still communicate with the other members of the group that were in the park. I am not sure of the range at that point (at least a mile) but I was impressed. Ocasionally there would be some difficulty in communicating but that was when I was in a crevice and the terrain was interfering. To be expected in a rocky area I also experinced a similar occurance at the Grand Canyon, but again the walls of the canyon were interfering and then there were other times when it worked fine.
I do not have a lot of confidence in the belt clip and was able to purchase a holster for the radio (on clearance from [a store] for [money]). The holster was for a different model but with a seem ripper and a big hole punch I was able to move the elastic strap to securly hold my radio.

After a little work and frustration setting it up, I am not only pleased I'm amazed with the quality of the reception of the 6300.
My 10 year old son rides a dirt bike and has taken his FRS with him. I have had no trouble reaching him about a mile away although we live in a relatively wooded area. We have done a test to locate the boundries of the radios reach and am well pleased. Great Buy!

I bought them for Boating and have had pretty good luck they seem to be pretty durable. Reception is pretty good on the lake. Never use any of the bells and whistles just the radio. I think they are overpriced personally...The T6310 is a pretty solid all around radio.
Scott

The good.

I got a pair of these for Christmas and have used them while out Kayaking and to keep track of where people are hunting. The terrain is 100-150 foot bluffs leading down to the river and full grown hardwoods covering the 1000+ acres we were in. Reception broke up some at the bottom of the bluffs, but was crystal clear on land. Transmission and reception distance was checked using a GPS and two miles through the woods is the limit. The F.M. radio feature was nice I sat and listened to music paddling and during lunch. Whenever someone would talk the F.M. radio would stop and I could hear conversations clearly. After a second or two pause the F.M. radio would start playing again. It also stops when you transmit. I set the default display for the clock and ended up being very convenient and will likely be left there. The alarm clock/radio feature does work so you can leave one more thing home when you travel with it. If you are used to setting electronics up things are relatively easy considering this is a multifuntion device. The hardest part was figuring out what the two way settings were actually used for as this was my first FRS radio. The NiCads evidently did the trick, I used it all day and the display indicated more than half a charge was left.

The bad.

The belt clip is O.K. on a belt, but if you want to clip it on your upper body so you can just push the button to talk back you will have to work to make it stay in place. I did not like the vox feature as it was too hard to make it transmit even with sensativity set high. The earbuds will have to go and be replaced with the unit that hooks on the top of the ear. I had to keep my stocking hat on all day and rolled down to keep the ear buds in place. The only other thing that I noticed was whenever you recieve or transmit the E.L. backlighting automatically comes on and times out slower than the timer for the F.M. radio to come on and you get to listen to the interference caused by the backlighting module.

The ugly.

I did initially buy the 6320 but returned it as the description of the features in the Cabelas catalog is wrong. It costs more and does not have the F.M. radio built in. Too bad! I would have paid the extra money just the get the amazon green cover. It is just my opinion but the 6310 which is the model I like the best is also the worst color. Such is life.

Would I buy it again? Yes. Will I recommend it to my friends? Yes.

This is another great FRS radio from Motorola! The features on this radio are amazing. There are so many new things included in this radio that are not in any other radio on the market. Infact it's more than just a radio it's a personal entertainment and safety package.

New Features in the Motorola Talkabout T6310:

1. FM Radio

2. 7 NOAA Weather Channels

3. Clock

4. Stopwatch

5. Evesdropper Eliminator Codes

Other very nice things: 10 call tones, scan, channel lock, roger beep. The LCD screen is also amazing. It has lots of icons and is backlit with a greenish blue light. The T6310 Talkabout also has many new accessories that previous models did not have including the ability to plug into a 12V car socket to power it and new headsets. The only bad part of the radio is the belt clip is not designed very well. It will stay on your belt and the radio will not fall off, but it tends to be a little loose. Buying a belt carrying case will solve the problem. Over all it is a very nice radio and is loaded with new features.

I find myself somewhat of a communication freak and just now started my FRS journey. I have used CB for quite a while and was impressed with how well these units worked. I can't discuss price but I could'nt beat what I paid for them with any other brand. 5 stars for the price.... The price did make the units lack in features..3 channels and I wish that they came with a variable squelch, oh well. Nice beep identifier and call tones though. Mkes it easy to tell when its your unit calling you 3 stars for features. I am not sure how other units work as far as distance goes but, I decided to jump in the car, turn the tape recorder on, and drive to my wives work. Turning off the squelch of course. I figure it is about 2 miles away. I could'nt belive I could still hear! Barely but I was there. Anyway so far so good. 5 stars for distance. I like 'em and think anyone not willing to pay more or on a budget to go for it and don't be scared by the low price. It's worth it.

I bought a set of these for instead of the more expensive 14 channel ones.

Benefits - Theses radios are small, light-weight, and easy to use. My set uses only 3 AAA batteries (not 4 as stated in the technical description). The antenna folds down and it can easily be stored in a front pocket or clipped onto a belt. The sound quality is good (though I haven't tested the 2 mile range).

Drawbacks - This set has limited channels (2, 8 & 14) so it can be difficult to find a vacant one on trips to amusement parks, shopping. Unfortuanately, they are so easy to use the kids want to play with them all the time (not just when we need them).

I would recommend them for anyone who is looking for a set to communicate infrequently. If you are going to use them a lot, pay more for more channels so you have more options.

Purchased these for Christmas Gift. They are by far the best items you can get for the price. Great quality, very clear with a two mile range (And I live in the Mountains). Ultra compact with fold down antenna's, Call button sounds like a phone ringing to get the other party. You can even listen in on CB channels and talk with other folks if you want by just a push of a button. Glad I bought this item and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it for anyone wanting a good reliable two way radio for family or kids. Dan in Western NC.

Im very pleased with the radio, I did have several problems shortly after the purchase(4months) 1- the Display became very hard to see. 2- The battey charger died. I contacted Audiovox tech. support, they had a flat fee for repair with exceeded the purchase price of the radio. I deal with alot of communications equipment and feel the warranty is way to short, if I remember it was 30 days and isnt the industry standard..1 year.

I read all the sales ads. They didnt tell me much about the radio. Here are some facts.

15 Channels, 1st 7 are FRS, last 8 are GMRS.
There is a Scan function, although it scans slowly, it works nicely.
Distance and Reception is EXCELLENT.
Its possible to program for CTCSS, if your other radios are capable, this could be useful.
Power switch, volume work great.
Vox didnt work well for me, maybe if I was in a non-quiet environement. There are 3 settings, hi/med/lo, I had to use hi, and still yell into the mic before it would activate.
Transmission was very clear.
You are limited to the programed channels, there is no way to include the 'left out' channels or even swap some of them.
You must manually set each channel for Hi power that you want to be on high. (default is low).
There is an emergency button on the radio (?useless?).
Antenna is better than I thought it would be. Ac Adaptor is bigger than I thought it would be. I came with 5 rechargable batteries, they seem high quality. You have to flip a switch to charge the batteries??? Thats right, and the batteries must charge for about 24 hours. I dont mind doing this, but shouldn't they charge automatically?
This is wall mountable, and the mounts are the standard slide on slots you would see on any other small unit.
The display has large characters on it making it easy to read, but as the sun goes down, it gets harder to read. There is a backlight, but as you push the 'out of the way' button, the light only stays on for a couple seconds. The items on the display are informative though and the other lights on the unit are useful.
Weather channels worked great, but I had no doubts here.
There is a lock button, so noone can change channels accidentally, I like it.

Overall, I like the radio. It can be used easily right out of the box. Or you can spend a little time setting it up, just for fun. Transmission, reception was very clear. The limitations of the availible frequencies are acceptable, as long as everyone who tries to communicate with you knows about your channel limits. Again, very simple and easy to use. Workmanship and Quality was better than I had expected.

This is an excellent unit for the money. With BNC antenna
connector, external antenna can be utilized and Motorola speaker
mic #50225 can be used in provided jacks. Also unit may be
installed in vehicle as it is powered by 12 volt DC. Overall,
unit is a great buy!! Five stars plus!!

great radio with alot of features and toys. compact size makes it easy to carry and operate. a little disapointed in the reception doesn't hold the chanel your on very well no matter where you are. all in all im pleased with the cb radio.wish cobra made a case to protect it.

I HAD THIS THING FOR ONE DAY AND IT TURN MY LIFE AROUND I GET UP TO 5 MILES RANGE ON THE RADIO THANKS ALOT COBRA FOR MAKING A GREAT RADIO 10-4

i had this radio for 1 day and it is the best i have ever had
the noise reduction unit helps me pick up signals from up to 5 miles not four Five miles it is the best investment to buy two rite away!

I find this item to be small and compact. Light weight and easy to use. I love the weather station feature and the VOX hands free capability... without having to purchase an accessory! And the range, this is definitely NOT a kids toy. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the location of the "talk" button. Not that I have a better suggestion... but I think it's just a little awkward. But overall a great value for the money.

Weather feature is great.
Very Compact.
Most features used and neccessary-not like higher models.
Great scan feature.
Very easy to use.
I love the easily detachable clip feature.

Motorola no longer builds this radio. Buy it used here if it's available. Motorola really blew it by not continuing to make this item. Cobra and Audivox quickly moved in to fill some of the voids left by the exit of this item from the market. Maybe Motorla thought it had other customer information on the features that most people want. The result: every other Motorola consumer 2-way radio, except for the t7200 (much more expensive), has fewer features, is much bulkier, and in most cases, inferior, to this unit. For example the t5950 has NOAA weather channels, but no alert for severe weather bulletins. Why take away such a basic complementary feature? I don't get it.

I preface this review by stating that I purchased this radio primarily for its weather radio feature (not many others have it) and I use it only on FRS channels so far.

This radio has an unparalleled wealth of useful features for its price. I have found the following features useful, and you'll have to pay more to get them on another radio.
--Voice scrambling: Good but it takes time to adapt to it.
--Scanning: An awesome feature; scans all 22 channels quickly.
--Weather radio: Excellent. I get three channels in the Chicago area.
--Range (FRS): In an outer-suburb setting you do get 2 miles.
--Vox: Hands free does work but it takes time to adapt to it.
--Batteries: Uses 3 AA batteries. Other manufacturer's comparable radios take 4 AAA, thus representing a bigger expense over time for batteries.
--Size: Comparable radios from other manufacturers are much larger than this unit.
--Shortcomings. Battery case does not seal totally, but it has not fallen off during my use. The PTT button is on the front, though it has not been as much of an inconvenience as I thought it would be.

I upgraded to this from the Motrola 5420 (sold in pairs), itself an excellent FRS radio. I have found this unit to be equal or superior in all comparable respects (except for the PTT button on the front, and battery lid sealing), and I have yet to upgrade its use to GMRS--the license costs $75.00 per household for five years.

As I was recently out in a remote area with a team of 8 people performing a month long task, we needed to communicate. Where we were there was no such thing as "roaming" for our cell phones, but luckily, the town had a Wal-Mart. For 50$ a pair, I decided to buy 2 sets of radios so teams could communicate with each other.

We were out in a mountain range working 2 sites that were approximatley 3 miles apart, and communicating back to a "central" location (a building that we designated as the meeting area in the event all heck broke loose) another mile away. On the whole, we were able to communicate most of the time. It depended on where you were standing a tht esite farthest away and wether or not the person transmitting was using the boost, but for the most part we were able to communicate and I was rather impressed with these little 50 dollar radios.

I could think of a number of applications where these radios would be nice to have (skiing, scuba diving, family trip to the theme park, etc.). Uniden also has the step-up model which has the 'privacy' channels that motorola has, but there was not enough traffic to require sub-channels for privacy. These radios will communicate with the motorolas and with the motorolas that have sub-codes so long as the sub-code is '0'

FCC licensing is required for some of the channels that this radio operates on.

I purchased the UNIDEN GMR855 about a month ago and for the price they are just great. The range is about 1 3/4 mile in an environment of trees and houses. Beyond that, all I get is nothing, I don't really know if the claim of 8 miles is true as the conditions in an open area may have a lot to do with it. But it beats the old walkie-talkies of the 60s and 70s where you could only reach to you neighbors house across the street and all you would get is a static voice threw the speaker and you still have to make out what the hell they said! The Rechargeable NiMH base is great.... no battery replacement. I do wish they had a VOC microphone feature as like the UNIDEN GMR885. The large menu makes it easy to see. The buttons are nice, large and easy to press. The case is rugged.These radios are great for anyone looking for an affordable communication device with in there average range of a complex environment. I would like to see in the future a true 8 mile 2 way personal radios able to receive threw all conditions! There ya go UNIDEN... a project for ya!

I tested it in the real world. In around the houses and tree and wires it will work about 1 to 1.5 miles. Thats was it at best. In the open with a view of each radio, about 5 miles was it. That was over open water. Maybe if you were on top of a mountain and the other was on top of another mountain at 8 miles away with the power boost-maybe it will go the 8 miles, but i doubt it. But besides that i have used many brands of these radios, and this one seems to be better, for the price. I say if you really need to communicate at a larger distance, use your cell phone-- if you have a signal-HA! Can you hear me now- get it??

Well i have been using these now for a few days. I'm very pleased with them. For the price at walmart they work just fine. A license to run them- ya like who bothers. I see people using them all over without that license. Government is a little nuts asking for a license for a walky-talky.

I originally purchased a set of older FRS radios for camping and caravaning. Unfortunately, these radios were not very usable in the real world - too much noise, bad reception, and so on. A few days ago, I happened to find this Cobra 310WX, and I might as well throw the other radios in the trash. The Cobra FRS features not only the standard 14 channels, but also 38 subchannels - so you can be sure not to run into other conversations. You can even scramble your conversation so that only your family can hear you, using another Cobra radio. If I was using this radio at work, I can preprogram several frequencies into the presets. I can also scan all channels for traffic, scan just the presets, and even listen to two channels at once. Another great feature - 10 weather channels. Now, onto its' Nextel-like features - you can press the Call button, and your friends or family will hear either a tone or feel a vibration (it vibrates!) letting them know a conversation is about to happen. When you let go of the talk button - the other party hears a double-ding (so they know to answer). You can turn off all of these features, or turn them on selectively. I can't say enough great things about this phone. Few more things: really small, fits like a pager on your belt. Antenna swings out of the way, behind the radio. Optional batteries can be charged in the case - there are charging pads on the back. Learning curve is somewhat steep - but after reading the manual, the functions are well laid out.

I recently purchased a pair of these little radios for a hunting trip and I Love them! They are very handy! I was able to communicate with my friends easily and the range is really 1.5 -2 miles. The signal is very clear and the weather radio is a life saver! It started to cloud up on the second day while we were out in the field so I turned on the weather radio and sure enough there was a storm front moving in, we had plenty of time to get our rain gear on and get started back to the base camp before the storm hit. These radios also have many other useful features. The radio also has a vibrating call alert that can be turned on and off a privacy (voice scrambling) mode and a channel scan feature.I highly recomend this radio to anyone! We also used the radios to communicate from car to car while traveling to and from the field. I have several of the Cobra radios and this really is the top of the line!

I have used the Talkabout 250's for about 1 year. The 6310 performs just as well, and has many additional features that I find useful. Also, I get about twice the battery life over the 250.

The only drawback that I have found over the 250, is that it is not as easy to change channels. Also, the user interface is not very intuitive.

However, if you can use the extra features, the 6310 is a great radio.