The tiny Motorola hand held walkie talkies seem very affordable. It would be nice to have free communications service in case my wife and I got separated. Is anyone aware of a review of the models out there, or have an opinion on features to look for. I'm happy with the two mile range that most advertise. Any insight from anyone would be great.

There are quite a few sites dedicated to FRS radio, here's a page http://members.tripod.com/~jwilkers/frspage.html I found on google.com.<br><br>I bought a packaged pair of FRS radios at Radio Shack for about $50 (cheapest I could find). I figured these would be something useful to have at hand in an emergency when other means of communication are not available. I've noticed a lot of noise and traffic when testing them in the city. Definitely not something you want to be divulging "secret" information over unless you have the capability to encrypt. I would suggest getting a pair of multi-channel models by one of the more reputable FRS manufacturers if you plan on using them regularly.

I have a pair of "no-name" frs radios that work well enough to have fun with in the country. These radios work in the vhf range and have a VERY limited line-of-sight range. They are low power. If you live in a flat area such as Kansas or some other mid western state you might have a two mile line of sight where you actually get the advertised usage. Here in New England there is no-way to get two miles away from the other radio without having a hill intervene. I have found that they work admirably well if one of them is at the top of a mountain or ridge. <br>I finally bit the bullet and got my HAM lisence KB1HIC so I could get something with a bit more power. A typical VHF handheld transmits with something like 10 times the power allowed in the frs radios. You have access to a much broader bandwidth so you can usually find a frequency that is quiet enough to let you converse. There are often repeaters available to Hams for free that allow these radios to transmit great distances. This works because the repeaters are located on hill or mountaintops and usually re-transmit your signal at much greater power - up to 15000 watts. (enough to fry your head if you did that from a handheld). Repeaters often have connections into the phone system that allow you to make phone calls from your handheld. All in all if you are in a populace area you will have access to repeaters quite a way into the wilderness and if you are relying on any handheld in a truely remote area you will find that the week power of the frs radios to be inadequate.<br>There are weekend classes available in most places that teach and test you on the basics ending with you getting your lisence that weekend. I can personally attest that it is possible to pass these tests even without preparing for the class ahead of time.<br>Prices for a good HAM handheld range from 150 for a used single band unit which still gives you greater frequency usage than the frs units and much more power all the way up to 500 for a high end unit with access to 4 bands and the ability to listen to many more including TV, AM, FM, Police, Weather, FAA, Military, NOAA, NASA ...<br>For my money I went with a 400$ unit because of the ability to listen on many bands, the smaller form factor and the lithium battery (Kenwood F6A) Works great and the audio portion puts out a high quality sound. The couple of frs radios are now used by the 7 and 5 year old daughters for fun.

We had been using Midland Alan PMRs and Albreiht for about one and a half years. They are cheap and effective if you know what you use them for. Never except very good communication in the city. But out on the flat areas you can reach two miles. On a hill it works very well as long as you are on the same side of the hill. From hill top to hill top range is more than 2 miles. On the sea we have reached 3 nautical miles with two midlands with full batteries. But if you are somewhere with lots of communications on the air the range is lost and you recieve lots of interference even in distances less than hundred meters.<br><br>They work good enough in shopping malls etc.<br><br>If you are looking for privacy in your communication you should buy one which can tone the frequency (encryption). Most can run on AA or AAA batteries and that is an adventage out on the field for us. <br><br>We are running a project here with the radio hams to set up an emergency network of repeaters for these radios. Radio hams will monitor channel 1 and 3 for PMR446s in case of a disaster. <br><br>Their ranges are mostly equal for different models but the structure of the antenna is important. The bigger it is, the better it works. The antennas are mostly not very strong in the structure so it should be an important point for your choice. <br><br>The best buy I can suggest is the ICOM. Sturdy body, Folding antenna, vox etc. and the ICOM reputation makes it a good job. Unfortunately they came into market here after we bought ours.<br><br>I have also tried the Motorolas they were OK but very vulnerable. <br><br>

Depends on how and where you plan to use them. We have the Motrola models with the orange trim. Tried using them at Disney last spring. Every channel was jammed with people just yakking. <br><br>The kids like to play with them but otherwise I find that the background noise in places where I would use them is so loud I seldom hear the alert tone unless I wear it at my collar.<br><br>Ours stay in the drawer at home and we never use them. Our kids are 5 & 8 so we do not let them wander too far out of sight. Maybe when they get in the early teens, I would feel comfortable allowing them to wander and explore more on their own at festivals, etc. They might be more handy then. <br><br>Growing up we just all agreed to meet at a certain location at a certain time and had few problems. We also have a "family whistle" that we use. If we get seperated, we just whistle. The other party returns the whistle and you move towards the whistle. Works well in stores when you get seperated and you never run out of batteries or have the volume turned down too low.

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>GarbageBandito asked:<br><br>"The tiny Motorola hand held walkie talkies seem very affordable... Is anyone aware of a review of the models out there, or have an opinion on features to look for."<p><hr></blockquote><p>I know of no reviews. Sorry. Opinions I have aplenty, though. ;-p<br><br>For a number of years, I managed three separate but interoperating staffs of Security Officers at a site which grew during my time there from 5 buildings housing 1,000 employees and contracotors to 17 buildings housing 2,500. Part of our duties involved interfacing with three Emergency Response Teams; Fire, Medical and HazMat. The total number of personnel who used radios as a regular part of their job grew during this period from 4 to perhaps, oh, I'd say 200, give or take a few dozen. At one time or another during this period, I or people I directly interacted with likely used just about every commercial or industrial brand of hand held "walkie talkie" style radio then available, including some that operated on multiple channels, scanned and/or relayed through repeaters. Certain of us also had telephone interface functions via integrated keypads on our radios. I've had many phone conversations on radios over the years, and called 911 more than a few times from them.<br><br>(Reading back over this thread:<br>I can only remember one ICOM radio among the throng. I didn't like it, but my single instance isn't much of a sample. Also, we were not using HAM freqencies, and I have no personal experience with them. The hams I have known have all loved it, though.)<br><br>Since the quality and reliability of our radio communications were obviously important to me, I grew to have strong feelings about brands, but, interestingly, not particularly about models. The variation from model to model was, in my experience, just about exactly as advertised, provided the brand was a good one. The variation from model to model among poorer brands was an extremely random thing, usually complicated by the general poor performance regardless of models. IOW, a good brand had reliably good models, which just about always did what they were advertised to do. Poorer brands were a crapshoot anyway, so it was hard to tell how much performance variation was assignable to specific models.<br><br>Which brand was good? Motorola. After a while, I simply wouldn't accept anything else for my department. I became a serious Motorola bigot, and argued budget over it with my boss more than once. BUT, my people's radios always worked, and well. (Of course, I had to make sure they were trained well enough to work the equipment... o_O ...but, that would be the case with any brand.) I found them sturdier than other brands, clearer in sound quality and usually better at distance.<br><br>(Again, reading back over this thread:<br>rastr, I'm curious. in what ways have you found Motorolas to be vulnerable? Water? Impact? Temperature? Something else?)<br><br>For myself, nowadays, I own two Motorola "Talkabout" T6320 handhelds (the green trimmed ones). The only real complaint I have about them is that the battery cover is held in place in, well, a "less than solid" manner. The covers are anything but waterproof, and I have to be careful with the radios when pulling them out of the battery charger. In addition to the FRS channels and normal alert features and customizable settings, they also have a bunch of other functions, including compass, temperature, barometer, altimeter, clock, stopwatch, and eight weather channels. They could easily have other features, too. I wouldn't know, because I have not taken the time nor invested the energy to find out.<br><br>Which of these features would I recommend you look for? Er,... I don't know... I rarely use them. I consider things like the stopwatch to be useless for my purposes, things like the compass as a possible (since it's a complex electronic device) backup to my normal compass and things like the weather channels a real nice feature to have. But that's because of the fact that the main times I use them are when I'm offroading in my Jeep or hiking with my girlfriend. If my normal activities regularly included being involved in atheletic competitions of some kind, I might end up considering the stopwatch a real nice backup in case my "real" stopwatch got misplaced or damaged. I don't know. I'd recommend that you just figure out what you're likely to use the radio for and how much money you want to spend and base your decisions on those criteria. If you just want a radio, then forget about getting one with fancy features and use the money you save elsewhere.<br><br>In my bigoted opinion, if you get a Motorola, you'll know you're getting a good radio, and that's what counts.

I have a suggestion for one specific feature to look for...<br><br>I have a cheap pair of Audiovox radios. They feature a pushbutton ONLY interface. This includes the power switch. There lies the problem. You have to hold the power switch for a second in order to turn the unit on. This means that some electronics are always powered in order to check that button press. This unit takes four AAA batteries. Even when the unit is turned off, it will drain it batteries in a matter of weeks.<br><br>I suggest that you get a model with a sturdy on/off mechanical switch (usually part of a rotary volume knob). Also, if you plan on using these things a bit, then look for a unit that used AA rather than AAA batteries. The AA batteries cost the same, but provide twice the power.<br><br>And these radios are so popular that they are close to useless in places like theme parks. I have used these radios at Disney World before, and you pick up sooo many other conversations that it is annoying. Some of the better units have "privacy codes" I do not have one of these models, but they should help when the channels are crowded. If you plan to do most of your talking in the woods, then the privacy codes are not necessary.

My associates at Practical Sailor and Powerboat Reports just published a review of 7 FRS models from as many companies. The Motorola Talkabout T5200 rated highest and was a best buy followed by the Uniden Ecolink and GE Deluxe. They also tested Midland SpeakEasy #75-517, Standard SportTalk HX625A, ICOM IC-4008A and Cobra MicroTALK FRS 220. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that the innards within each line will perform about the same interms of sound and clarity, irrespective of the features that may be offered on various models. Also worth noting, GMRS units have 2 watts instead of .5 watt, thus far better range (and often less battery life). You need an operater's license for the more powerful untis, but it's just a formality, send in the form sort of thing.<br><br>Things to look for:<br><br>CTCSS (continuous tone-coded squelch systems) for less interference by artificially creating "channels"<br>DCS (digital coaded squelch) provides more "channels<br>Ease of changing CTCSS/DCS<br>Battery saver mode<br>Auto Power Off<br>Roger Tone (eliminates having to say "over")<br>Ease of changing channels<br>Ergonomics - ease of one-handed operation<br>Individual rings<br>Ability to cut of automatic squelch for max range<br>Smart Ring (confirms other radio is on, even if not answered)<br>Weather resistance<br>

In the test I read (maybe 9 mos ago) the Cobra radios came out best. At the time, their MicroTalk 3 was top of the line. Better range than motorola.<br><br>When I went to buy some, I had to have them RIGHT NOW (indoors cabling project) and ended up with some Kenwoods. I just used them at Disneyland. Here's what I REALLY don't like:<br><br>No Ringer! It has only voice. So if the other guy has the volume turned down (may be accidental due to rubbing on clothes), that's it, you can't communicate.<br><br>So make certain the ones you get have ringers that work independent of the voice operation.<br><br>What I do like is the subchannel capability. Another poster said he couldn't find an open channel. I told the kids we were using Channel 12, subchannel 12. No prob at any time. Maybe the real cheapies don't have subchannels.<br><br>So get subchannels. <br><br>If you look at the motorolas, with all their different plastic housings, colors, etc, they seem like more of a marketing/consumer operation that I prefer.<br><br>Bob.

(Again, reading back over this thread:<br>rastr, I'm curious. in what ways have you found Motorolas to be vulnerable? Water? Impact? Temperature? Something else?)<br><br>We used a pair (blue trim it is 200 I guess) for a while and we discarded them. Used on boat, hot summer day and out on the field in collapsed building exercise. The two different brands we use survived, and still operating.<br><br>I use Motorola GP640 professional radios at work, I have no problem with them :)<br><br>I am a fan of no brand but I use these kind of stuff so often and in harsh conditions and all I ask from the radio is to communicate when I push its button.