20 Best Cheap Walkie Talkie (2022 Updated)

I made the mistake of not doing proper research on these transceivers a year ago before buying what appeared to be a Baofeng UV-5R that turned out to be a dangerous, defective, and poor quality clone.

This clone was dangerous because it gave me a few annoying electrical shocks after its first charge or randomly while handling it. While trying to manuslly and program it with the cable and software it would transmit on its own without touching the button which could have gotten me into serious trouble.

Disappointed and angry I tossed the clone into the trash. After that first experience I wanted nothing to do with any cheap radio ever again. Not long ago a amateur radio enthusiast friend who I trust 100% told me to buy a Baofeng UV-5R for my first FM entry level transceiver while studying for my license.

So I did my research on various websites learning more about the Baofeng UV-5R. Reading many great reviews which still did not impress me. So I went and talked to more people I trust who are licensed amateur radio enthusiasts and got their opinions which were all positive so I ordered this one.

By all appearances and according to my research it is 100% genuine. I did my best to manually program it by watching videos on youtube because it did not come with the programming cable. Iam enjoying learning more about it and looking forward to getting my license soon so I can legally operate.

I would recommend buying this model for anyone who wants to get licensed. I would recommend this model as a gift to a friend who is licensed so they can have a backup. I do not recommend this model for anyone who has no respect or common sense.

I do not recommend this model to anyone who is not willing to learn because this transceiver is not a “walkie talkie” or a toy. If in the wrong hands this could be dangerous causing serious legal problems along with fines and jail time.

Reminder: you need an FCC license for each radio service that you use this radio for. It is NOT like CB radio. I wish that I had this 10 years ago. The Amateur/Ham radio 222 MHz band is not as well used as the others but when you need it it is nice to have a Rx/Tx with a decent power output.

Before buying this one I had 2 Wouxun dual band hand helds & used them very hard. This BTech Baofeng is better than the Wouxuns and my Alinco hand helds. The optional Li-ion higher capacity battery is icing on the cake during extended heavy duty use when you can not recharge.

Definately get the computer cable for ease in programming, especially if you have a lot of repeaters available to you. The extended receive (& Tx) is excellent during emergencies like hurricaines when multiple radio services become unavailable.

Those other radio services can be programmed in prior to emergencies. The memory capacity is sufficient for all the Ham radio frequencies AND the other services frequencies so you can be always prepared.

If you go to or live in a city with major events, like the Indianapolis 500, the extended FM radio frequencies go low enough to pick up the transmissions between the event broadcast truck and the TV or Radio station that is handling the broadcasts for the event (usually 72 to 76 MHz).

Antennas are available to cover multiple radio service bands simultaneously. I keep one extended frequency antenna on my BTech and in my car I plug it into my cigarette lighter socket and my car’s multiple frequency antenna in less than 60 seconds.

-N9MJB-.

This has got to be the bargain of the year. The radio is fantastic. I bought it as a back up handheld vhf for my yacht, cheap enough to not worry if it gets dropped in the sea or left on the table in a pub.

It was delivered all stuffed in a “jiffy” bag rather than a nice glossy printed cardboard box so my hopes were no very high but as I put it together I was impressed with the quality of the unit. All mouldings were properly finished and the complete unit feels robust and very well made even the charger and docking station are above average quality.

The instruction book is printed in pretty good English though it is in tiny print and is rather too concise for my liking. The buttons and switches are good quality and have a very pleasant feel when using and the beep reassures you that the input is working so on quality it is as good or better than the big names.

Then come the features!!!!! It is utterly brilliant, 2 way programmable ship to shore, FM radio for tunes in the cockpit, amazing sound quality for such a little unit, torch, strobe, voice activation and loads more.

The manual is not the best but after a bit of trial and a lot of error I worked my way round it all and programmed the main UK marine channels in on their normal numbers so CH 16 is the marine distress etc.

Dual watch works well as does the scan. This unit packs a raft of features. The range is good on the low power so I have never needed high power but I am sure it will be equally impressive. For just over 20 this has to be my Best Buy so far this year, the only way it could be better would be if they did a waterproof version, but an aqua pack works fine especially with the voice activation.

Buy one (or two) and I promise you will love it.

I bought 4 of these at the same time. ALL radios have less than 4 hours use- TOTAL power on time. All battery packs have been replaced within the last two months because of their natural life cycle. They suddenly locked up for no reason.

All packs have been charged appropriately, and all settings have retained themselves without pack batteries installed, making me believe the onboard memory batteries are still ok. Given the fact that all four of these locked up within a month of each other- if not on the exact same date and time- I believe this to be a planned obsolescence feature built in to the radios themselves.

I have tried all available low level troubleshooting I found online. Outside of this issue, menu navigation is painful, the open key has a miserably long swell time before transmit, making it difficult to hand these off to a novice user.

They get frustrated and despite repeated reminders, tend to start talking before the 1-1 5 second delay in transmit, making the whole usability far worse than expected. A well oriented hunting or other group may not have this issue, but be aware that there is some learning that should take place.

The included earpieces are next to worthless. A specially bought, better made earpiece or headset works FAR better, especially in VOX mode, which is all but unusable with the stock earpieces. The radios themselves are of appropriate levels of value for the price, at least until this lockup tool place.

Given that the most used unit may have transmitted less than 20 short messages and been powered on for something on the order of four hours total- and that they have been kept dry, 99. 5% of the time used indoors.

this issue is supremely irritating, disappointing, and, it rendered these unusable, completely unacceptable and worthy of sourcing from another company. I am ticked right now.

I read many reviews. I was aware range is an issue. I have been operating the radios in the FRS mode. Obstacles like walls and buildings absolutely reduce range. When I am using the radios at distances to a mile with few obstructions the sound is clear.

So far I have not exceeded a mile. My range in a car talking to my wife in a house is reduced to 1/2 a mile at best which is not bad (IMO). Knowing this should help you understand that the range numbers are all inflated and you shouldn’t expect results close to the stated maximums.

I bought the radios because my wife and I are moving to a remote area with very limited cell service. I intend to stick to FRS unless I require the extra power of GMRS. The $70 license fee for 10 years does not bother me.

The radios are a great value, home charger, car charger, ear phones for much quieter operation, and the options for customizing sounds, vibration and privacy are vast. Both Midland and B&H were quick to respond to my few questions.

Again, no complaints.

When I got these I of course charged them. One showed charge complete, the other did not even after 3 days. When the first was done I pulled it off the charger. After a day I moved the other to that side to see if there was a problem with the charger.

It still didn’t finish charging. Then I needed to use them and the one that didn’t finish charging was dead within minutes. I opened it and pulled the rechargeable battery out and reseated it. The other radio worked.

Later I put them both back on charge. The working radio showed full charge immediately even after a day of use. Impressive. The other radio still wouldn’t charge. I put them away until two days ago when I put them both on charge to use yesterday.

Once again one didn’t charge but the other did. I took the good radio to use but when I turned it on it showed low battery then shut down. I opened it up to use some AA batteries and found that it not only already had AA batteries but they had exploded because they weren’t rechargeable.

This was the first time I opened this radio so this supposedly new unit shipped to me with a bad rechargeable battery in one and standard AA batteries in the other. Because I hadn’t needed the radios for months I can no longer return them.

Not happy.

Not too bad. Definitely not a 20 mile range. However, I was able to speak chat a few miles out in an area full of hills and trees. I’m actually pretty impressed by that. For the cost, it’s a good deal.

The battery life seems pretty good so far. Range is reasonable. I like that they have the NOAA setting on them. The seem pretty durable as well. Overall, a good purchase. Very lightweight for a bug out bag or just to carry.

Signal remains very clear until out of range. No choppiness like some other brands. Recommended. I actually bought 4 just in case. These may come il be pretty useful down the road for anyone. Shipping was pretty quick and easy.

Advertised to have a 35 mile range, you must understand that this is quite optimistic. It might be true from the top of a mountain to the flatlands, but any intervening structure will seriously degrade the useful range.

Across suburban terrain which is quite flat but heavily forested and clustered with homes and electrical lines, we find the effective range to be about a mile. Nice units for use in closer quarters, but not 35 miles.

Well made and have a quality feel. If you are over 60, get a magnifying glass to read the instructions!.

These radios are perfect. We live in a rural area where the local electric co-op is not very reliable. Wind, rain or snow, we always seem to have a power outage of some type. The radios have a AM/FM radio so you don’t have to sit in silence, a NOAA weather rasdio to check on the outside storm and of course, the 2 way radio in case I go outside and can talk to ther hopuse.

My wife is disabled and I take the radios out when I mow my 10 acres so she can contact me if anything is going on inside. Could be a lifesaver. I recommend these radios to anyone.

I bought these package due to its profile and as a fan of GXT1050. I had 6 total. 2 were dead after 10 yrs of normal uses. It works better than my Garmin Rino 650t. Mostly hiking and hunting. Some road trips in the mix.

These new units suck and waste of money. It cost almost the same. Same hunting spot, these unit was hard to hear with all the static. I cannot even read what my partner say while the GXT1050 has no issue on their other trips.

My Rhino 655t preform better than this. Wish I can return and exchange. I cant believe all the 4 & 5 stars. Probably city and road. Not recommended for hunting in your normal deer hunting ground.

We purchased these radios for a three family, multi vehicle, vacation. The radios made it easy to communicate from vehicle to vehicle, coordinating fuel and food stops and bathroom breaks, when cell phones do not have signal.

These radios are also easier to operate than a cell phone when you are on the road or in traffic, trying not to get separated. The range is obviously not 36 miles, but the range they do have is very functional.

I would estimate it to be a little over 2 miles, and probably more without any obstructions in line of sight, such as New Mexico’s long unobstructed highways. We also purchased the optional microphones, and that made communication even easier.

No fumbling with trying to find the radio, or dropping it when you do find it. The microphone clips to your shirt or seat belt, and allows you to keep full concentration on the road. I would definitely recommend these radios to anyone who is not expecting 36 mile range as the packaging claims.

And they were just plain fun to use.

Bought this for our small business because our regular radios were also being intercepted by unknown chatter from everyone else. We have been using the Midland Radio FRS Business Radio Bundle for a little over 2 weeks now and so far on semi-private, it has been wonderful.

We haven’t had any interference, no one talking back to us like we are talking to them, and we all feel so much safer and more private. Bundle was easy to charge, program and use. The dual chargers (we got 4 for the 8 radios) works great because there are two of us in each location too.

Thank you!!!.

The quality of this product is not great. I had to return them to the store because the button on one stop working. The return policy for Cobra is not threat great either. They will only replace the item with another one of their horrible items instead of giving a refund.

The range on the radios are not accurate. They’re only good for about 50 yards. I would not rely on this product for hiking or any wilderness adventures.

Range is deceiving. I have not purchased the radios but sell radio communications equipment. The 28 mile range advertised should have an *If one person is on top of a mountain and the other person is in the valley below with a clear line of sight.

The radios are most likely 1 or 2 Watts max which will give varying ranges depending on what is in between the two radios and if there is any interference on the frequency being used. Talking from car to car on the highway or across the yard to around / in the house is the most suitable use.

Please do not purchase expecting 28, 10, or even 5 miles in most situations. I am sure they are fine for what they were made for, just don’t want anyone falling for the pipe dream of a 28 mile range.

So I’ve owned and used these radios for about a month now and have tried out most all of the features and found them very user friendly. The first thing most people want to know about is the range. First of all, ALL radios sold have exaggerated claims on their maximum range, period! In a perfect setting maybe they will work for 28 miles but you will NEVER be in a perfect setting.

I used them in a huge factory building with lots of walls and machines in the way and they worked without any issues and have a nice loud volume too. We used them for 8 hours solid at a time and the battery life was barley down to 3/4.

They could easily be used for several days without charging. Now for outside use. My nephew and I tested them in a typical urban neighborhood for a little over a mile before they started to break up a little in transmission.

This was with many, many houses and trees in between us. Second test was in nearly perfect line of sight. Again over nearly a mile and 1/4 the sound was good and just starting to break up a bit. We also tried them while out mountain biking in the woods with elevation changes near 200 feet and had no problem talking in a 200 acre riding area.

For what I paid for these I am very happy with them. They have decent features and work like they should. If you need more range then use your cell phone, but for most recreational uses I have encountered they work great and have exceptional battery life.

If I had 1 complaint it would be that the charger needs to be plugged into a powered USB port to charge. I rarely have my computers on for more than an hour or 2 at a time so to charge I found a cheap wall plug in USB power supply that cost like $5 to use as a standalone charger.

Already have a set, picked up the additional to add to the kids emergency bags now that theyre old enough. Since this model is tested and works well for our specific needs I decided to match them. In terms of usage these are not high end and not long-range, and the batteries arent great, but these units accommodate alkaline cells which is handy for when it counts.

For the price they are rugged and hold up well to saturation and extreme moisture conditions and they tested reliably within planned retreat perimeters. Overall these are great for our intended purpose, but be sure to thoroughly assess YOUR specific needs when considering any comms product.

Good walkie talkie the 37 mile range max isn’t even close I made it max about 5 miles and it would cut in and out with only obstacles being a few trees on mostly flat farmland. For close distances they work really well worth the money but the range is far from 37 miles.

Lightweight and easy to hold buttons feel pretty nice when you push them not cheap or flimsy. Easy to use all of the functions such as privacy codes and weather if you read the directions.

The only gripe I have with these radios is getting the battery cover off. It’s like they super glued the covers on. Otherwise, these are great radios. 🙂

Overall, product works, is intuitive, clear sound, and effective. I bought it before going on a camping trip and it saw a lot of use out in the mountains with no cell signal. The kids used it a lot to satisfy their imaginations, dropped it into just about every substrate, and the radios just keep trucking along.

My group was never too far from each other, so range never became a problem. I had 1/4 mile range before blackout in a suburban environment during a SoCal summer morning. I did not expect it to be so short ranged as i was hoping to get at least 1 mile, but it’s what it is.

Planes fly at 40,000 ft, which is 7. 5 miles and already higher than mt everest, so advertising 16 mile max vertical distance is unrealistic and likely unattainable.

I got these as a replacement for my trusty Motorola Talkabout FV500s (sadly lost one in a hay field. Those were great radios, but of course are no longer made. ). The Talkabout T265 has been a great replacement and has some extra features.

I have used the T265 for boat-to-shore communication when sailing on a large lake (The lake was about a mile across and I had no trouble with range) as well as for team spotting at model aircraft competitions (The hilly field is about 1/4 mile across and the signal was clear).

The headphone/mic jack is a nice feature that has worked for me so far, and the included case is really nice and sturdy. My old FV500s had a knob for volume control instead of the buttons on the T265, but the buttons were not hard to get used to.

All-round, these are a great set of walkie-talkies.

Motorola T265 Rechargeable Emergency Preparedness 2-Way Radio – Orange First of all I would like to say I love the look of these. They are orange and come with a camouflage carrying case. These are perfect for hunters! We are not hunters though but I still like them.

I love the fact that they are rechargeable, rather than eat thru a ton of batteries. So far we have only tested them at home and around the neighborhood and every time they picked up fine. There is suppose to be able to pick up each other at a distance of 25 miles.

Havent been that far out yet to check but don’t think I would ever need to use them at that kind of distance. We are planning on using these on a upcoming cruise in October. Will be much easier to use and cheaper than using our cell phones to contact family members on the boat with us.

We use to live near the southeastern NC coast line. All of our family is there. With Hurricane Florence just coming thru that area I wish some of my family would have had these so they could have stayed in touch with each other when the power and cell phone towers were out for days.

These would have been perfect. I think I will be purchasing some of these to use as gifts for the upcoming Christmas holiday. With hurricanes coming thru that area every year or so the radios will be greatly appreciated!.

The radios were primarily bought for two reasons: 1) staying in touch on the road in different vehicles (using ivox!) 2) staying in touch with the kids when hiking/ walking national parks. A great alternative to mobiles – free (as in no license required, no costly service plans and next to nothing running costs) and very easy to use.

The reception on the radios is great and you can clearly communicate and understand each other, and has a much more extensive range than the usual “toy” walkie talkies or bluetooth radios. Worth noting that the range significantly decreases in heavy urban environments as the signal has difficultly penetrating buildings, so these are best used in open environments where you have line of sight.

Build quality is good, easy to hold, still operate successfully when wet, nice rugged design to survive small drops. I would say the only disadvantage is the charging cable, where I would have preferred a charging station.

Power – approximately a working week in standby, and working day of talktime (depending on the number and length of conversations).

Pros: When walking the dog my sister can’t keep up with the speed of my wheelchair and the dog, often getting separated. This allows us to keep in constant communication at all times even if we can’t see each other.

Perfect for outdoor use being ip67 waterproof. Invaluable and paid for itself already. Cons: Signal sometimes could be better in built up areas ie housing estate but in open parkland/areas no problems.

Out of the box one of the 4 units has exhibited a noticeable white noise pulse in the sound output while in RX mode (both in the loudspeaker and earphones), happening approximately 4 times every second for aprox.

50ms. The communications can still be heard, but the noise is distracting, specially in silent environments. This same unit has a problem in the screen controller, displaying random segments of the display quite often.

It does not affect operation of the radio though. Both issues are small enough to live with, and do not justify the trouble of a return. They give bad indication of the quality control in the devices manufacturing.

On test fields the range has been the expected – highly affected by obstacles such as buildings, but great in the outdoors. The package comes with some accessories, but most are not very usefull in practice.

There’s also abundant plastic packaging in the inside. Why use so much plastic when the outer case is already protective enough? The radio’s themselves seem durable q. b. , showing light scratches from normal usage after two day trips.

I would not swear for their durability for repeated daily usage. Battery life has not been an issue at all, it has never dropped from the maximum 3-bar measurement after a full day of light use.

I bought these to use at the shooting range to talk to my partner. They worked great, and because of this we did more talking than shooting! No annoying beeps or other noises. They are very sensitive.

I am going to try them next time I have the Rzr out, as this seems like it would be a great setup for riding.

These work like a dream! However, I shoot Left handed and just cant get down far enough to be able to get a proper sight picture without pulling them to the side, exposing that ear. Its been a hassle with the Walker Muffs alone, now add another 1/2 to 3/4 of plastic blocking you.

If youre working range, these cant be beat! If youre a lefty and dont work around the range, it might not be a prudent investment.

I bought 6 of these a week ago thinking about how cool it would be to communicate with each other while riding our ATV’s. While it does work, each time you get done speaking or listening to another person speak you hear the “Roger Beep”.

Extremely annoying. We went for a 4 hour ride and most people just turn the walkie talkie off because of how loud and annoying the sound is. If the beeping sound could be turned off, they would be great.

Fitting in the first two AA cells (standard Duracell alkaline) worked OK, though they fit tightly. The third cell was such a tight fit – both length- and width-wise – that it was very difficult to insert.

Radio then came on, but third cell quickly grew *very* hot — too hot to touch — before we could pry it out again. (Suspect that pressure of cell in holder may have caused a short circuit in the unit.

) Yes, we know how to orient AA cells, that was not the problem. AA cells were not swollen or otherwise abnormal when inserted. Unit did not appear to be damaged, just not usable. Its manufacturing date code is W1918, model CMXZRAZF333.

Unfortunately we are trying it out past its warranty date, after it sat in our house for a year, so can’t return it.

These radios function as advertised and is functionally equivalent to most other handheld radios. The form factor is solid, and the menus are easy to follow. Make sure you go through the instructions before you need them.

Most of the time consumers of handhelds are within close distance. If longer distance/higher power is needed, a larger and more expensive kit should be selected. There’s only so much you can get with three AA batteries.

Radios are made well and lightweight. sound quality is not the best i’ve heard but good for the price point. Range is very good obviously this totally depends on the terrain. I did get some interference that I am not sure where it came from.

Also for some reason mine rang for no reason i am not sure if that was another radio in proximity or a flaw. The weather channel worked flawlessly and I could definitely see the benefit of this while hunting/hiking or snowboarding to keep in touch.

This would also work well for large shopping centers if you did not want to use your data. The belt clip is solid and held on well. A very nice feature is you can recharge these (with included batteries) or use standard batteries.

These are fine for leisure like around a camp site but Bought these for work very easy to use and clear audio. Worked straight out the box so no setup needed. My only issue with these is the battery life isnt as good As I was hoping.

They lasted from first switch on 8am to about 230 pm so 6 12 powered up. With 3 AAA BATTERIES x 2 being used everyday thats a lot of money in batteries. Now looking for some rechargeable ones. Its the first set Ive bought and used so maybe I was expecting too much.

My wife said they would be good to use On a Cruise ship so looks like Im going on a cruise soon. Ffs.

Absolutely brilliant walkie talkies for the money. It just goes to show that you dont need expensive alternatives. I bought these for our two sons to play with during a recent camping trip and we kept the third one, which made it really easy to keep in contact with them as they played.

The hand sets are robust and well made with good sound quality. Theyre also very easy to pair. Absolutely recommended.

Grandkids 9 and 10 years have wanted Walkie Talkies for quite a while but I found the huge range of Toy Talkies with varied prices and reviews mind boggling. In the end I went for a good well known brand with a fair price tag, adding rechargable battries and a charger to my order.

I am amazed at how good these are, my grandkids ride their bikes with these on lanyards and using the clip provided attach to clothing to easily speak to parents while out in the local countryside. Fun and practical, well made seem quite rugged not waterproof, great quality sound, easy to set up, handy size for all the family set of 3 would highly reccomend for an active family.

Dont know the range of these but they have worked in Mountains, forest and built up areas with no problems and even between cars May treat myself to a single for when I go out with my daughter and family then it wont matter so much when I get left behind.

Good quality radios as expected from Motorola (especially at the price point). I love how the rechargable battery and dual-USB charging cord is included. The radios features are great. A little hard to drive at first without the manual beside you, but once setup it’s pretty easy to work.

Would prefer if you could toggle bluetooth on at startup (have to turn it on each time the radio is powered on), but guessing this is a battery saving feature. App is easy to drive and great for keeping tabs on location and the messaging feature is convenient in locations without cell reception.

Bought these radios for backpacking. I was recently on a road trip and traveling with two vehicles. 3/4 of a mile while driving on I-5 was the furthest range I was able to effectively communicate with.

Anything beyond that, the transmission was broken and had lots of static. Battery life was less than 12 hours. Other than that, the radios did a fine job. If you’re going to purchase these radios, just know they only work if you are less than a mile apart on flat unobstructed ground.

WALMART – do your employees huff bath salts???? PLEASE FIX your DESCRIPTION of this ITEM. does it really weigh 0. 05 lbs ? NOOOOOO Assembled Product Weight 0. 05 lbs IS it really 0. 25 inches wide? no, long? no.

High, NO. —- FIX YOUR PAGE WITH CORRECT info. Assembled Product Dimensions (L x W x H) 2. 50 x 0. 25 x 1. 00 Inches ——————– WALMART gets ONE start. but the product may deserve 5. I won’t know until I make a purchasing decision based on FACTS, not their LSD delusions.

We are not newbies to this type of items. I bought these for my kids because it was a three pack. Unfortunately, the charger they provide can only charge two at one time. We did have another micro usb charging cable but that isn’t cool.

I had read reviews that the coverage was far shorter than the 11 miles advertised. I wasn’t too concerned because I figured they would only use them around the house until my husband sent my son out for a bike ride around the neighborhood with one.

It didn’t even reach a mile out! These two huge flaws aside, the build quality is pretty nice. Be prepared when you buy. If you can live with these drawbacks, they are fine for the price. Otherwise, you can spend another $20 to get better range.

These FRS radios are good. They do what we had hoped they would do: Communicate with each other, especially our kid in and around the neighbourhood and while out camping. We can hear clearly, the radios are simple to operate such as adjusting the volume or changing changing channels, and having three handsets is an even better bonus.

The big thing to note is that these radios are Line of Sight meaning that in order to get that fantastic 26km range you and the other radio need to be able to “see” each other with no obstructions in order to get the advertised range.

Maybe the two of you are on hilltops that have no other obstructions between them or even in the flatlands of the prairies on barn roofs and you might be good. If you’re looking to try and communicate with your bestie who’s on the other side of town, you might not get what you expect with this particular set-up.

Bought for in home quick communication for health care needs. Pros: Speakers are clear and loud. Can pick up range a few streets away. Easy call/alert button. Battery lasts for quite a while. Cons: The usb plug-ins are not as convenient as a dock and there is only one usb cable with 2 charging ports so you have to supply a 3rd yourself.

The units don’t indicate battery levels.

Batteries died after about 3 hours of being left on. Charged them for 2 days but same thing again. Charged batteries on a different charge source but still no different. Either batteries are faulty and not holding a charge or units drain batteries too fast.

These units did not serve the purpose needed for as they were only used as an intercom system in a house.

Great radios. Just took these to New Hampshire on a ski trip. We had a lot of fun in the slopes. They work great. We are grateful to have bought them, while driving through Bretton Woods and the white mountains we didn’t have phone signal.

These worked great car to car. Awesome purchase, thought it would be for the kids, but we (the grown ups) have a great time. THey work as expected.

I bought these for a family camping trip, specifically for my nieces and nephews (ages 3-9). Pros: The battery life exceeded my expectations, they lasted a full day with constant use. Setup was easy enough, I locked them to the same channel and privacy/ctcss tone.

I set up one with the NOAA alert, which was useful to get inside before a bad thunderstorm came through. The kids loved the color choices. The range was about 1/4 mile through dense woods and gentle hills (that was the farthest we could test) and about 1 mile from one car to another.

Cons: The clip and battery cover are not very secure, they can fall off pretty easily.

My kids have been having a blast with these. Surprisingly, they have not fought over who gets what color, but maybe that will happen later. I have 4 kids so this pack was perfect and my wife and I can use the LXT500VP3 with them.

The radios are great for beginners like kids that don’t need any advanced features. When we received the radios, we added the AAA batteries needed and off they went. They have been pretty durable so far and I expect to get a lot of use out of them.

The range is pretty decent. I can send my kids to their friends house or the school and have clear communication no problem. We are avid campers that love to spend time at the lake. These allow us to send the kids to the lake to fish when they want while we cleanup or take a nap in the chair or hammock.

We can communicate with them very easily. The belt buckle makes it super convenient to have ready especially if they are fishing. The only downside is that I wish they had rechargeable batteries so I may need to get some just for these.

So far everything works as advertised. I don’t find that programing the BF-F8HP is that difficult as stated in some (many) blogs. Very nice the fact that batteries, antennae, accessories etc. are interchangeable with UV-5R.

A very good product for the money.

I already have an older UV-5R. I saw this for a great price & figured I would snag it as another back-up radio. I have no intention using it for the additional output power. I had two 3800 mAh batteries laying around & a spare antenna from my UV-5R.

I felt the need to put a radio to the the accessories. I am only using it right now to focus on listening to certain scanner frequencies when there is bad weather or other events. Everything sounds very clear.

Operation is easy.

learning how to program this set up. a very good radio. nice design a little heavier. but that’s for your protection ! so it will survive some abuse ! this is a cool one for around S. W. Idaho !I don’t have a license yet so just listening.

is worth the bucks. enjoy if you get one.

Very sturdy, long range and clear audio, the reason newer models have failed to surpass its reliability

This radio is great if you have a group of staff who know nothing about radio comms and perhaps have no interest. Put it on a channel and off you go. Simple but professional level Communication what more can i say other than Motorola xt420 is built to last.

I would give it four or five stars for the two-way radio feature and one star for the weather channel. The two way feature of the radio receives very well. I have not tried to see how far it will transmit, but don’t expect anything more than a mile on handheld radios like this (unless you are on open water).

For a two-way radio, it has some nice features: 121 Filter Codes (don’t think of codes as Privacy Codes because nothing on these radios is private). Scan feature to scan all 22 channels. Dual Watch feature to scan only two specific channels.

Two-way reception is very good. Multiple call tones. Has an easy menu system with large characters. The easy menu could be helpful for those not familiar with radio menus, as some can be complicated.

Doesn’t eat batteries, 3AA batteries per radio. They claim it is weather resistant (not weather proof). Has a flashlight, but the brightness is very weak. Flashlight could be helpful for total darkness in a familiar setting.

Audio quality from the speaker is decent. The weather radio is useless. Don’t buy for a weather radio, as the reception of weather stations is very poor. Also, this doesn’t have alerts, It only has the ability to check the weather on a weather channel.

Again, reception of weather stations is very weak. You can’t turn off the keypad beep. After you press the PTT or any button, the radio beeps. There is no knob to set the sound level, only the keypad to choose levels from one to seven.

There is no jack for a headset/mic. There is no jack to charge batteries. This doesn’t come with rechargeable batteries. It does come with basic alkaline batteries (3AA per radio). Be aware that transmitting distance will be greatly reduced if in a vehicle or building.

Being in a vehicle or building will also reduce reception. Be close to other vehicles if you plan on communication with other vehicles during a road trip. These radios can be handy for road trips, as you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to answer or call.

Just make sure all the vehicles are close together. Remember that communications on these radios aren’t private.

I just picked these up yesterday and so far I am pleased. They advertise a range of up to 32 miles, last night I was listening to someone 47 miles from my location. I believe that I was picking up a HAM Radio channel though because the people using the radio were using their call signs.

Only down side is that it takes a little bit playing with it to figure out the controls. Still haven’t figured out how to put it on scan. Overall it was a good purchase.

It says it’ll go up to 3 miles in town with no line-of sight and interference. It will actually go 1 mile, I know I tested it. You pick up a lot of interference from baby monitors, other people’s radios, and other signals.

So know how to set your privacy setting if you want a private conversation. I have not yet tested these radios for the 32 mile they advertise. The advertisement is up to 25 miles out of town – no interference but no line-of-sight either, and up to 32 miles if you have line-of-sight.

Being as I am very much a person who wants good, long-range, equipment, I’m going to test these aspects this weekend. But so far, not bad.

These Walkie Talkies are great! My beautiful wife would have problems getting ahold of me while working in the yard, she would text me on my cell but get no response because I leave my phone in the house.

These are light weight and small so they clip nicely on my belt and the ring is loud enough for me to hear while mowing. Buy this product especially if you are an avid hunter, hiker , and love to camp these are perfect to stay in contact with each other.

The one Two-way does not change channels. so at this point we cant use it. we have half a dozen more of this same Two -way and they are excellent products Durable- clear. Also they do not communicate with the Motorola RMU2043 UHF Two way radios we have.

Our guys love these Radios! We are roofers and frequently work in places with little to no reception. This is great for communicating between our ground people and the people up on the roof. Great signal too!.

These are Awesome two way radio’s. For those that need the other two channels (it DOES have 4 channels), call Motorola and they can walk you through how to do it.