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>