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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
from New Hampshire on 10/18/2008
We're using these in the home in a care-giving situation where the patient needs to be able to communicate with the caregiver if needed. The Batteries in these at best lasted 8 or so hours when we first started using them and now they won't go through the night. I put a full charge on them all day yesterday and they didn't even last 4 hours until I had to put the AAA akalines in.
Also, the talk button is black and hard to see. Why not make it orange and the 'mon' button black.
from TUCKER, GEORGIA on 10/9/2008
I PERSONALLY WOULD NOT BUY THIS RADIO EVER AGAIN.ALL BECAUSE OF THE BATTERIES GOING DEAD SO FAST.
The batteries that came with the radio were dead when I bought them. I called the store and they said I could bring back everything and get new ones. For what? different dead batteries? I decided to buy replacement batteries online, which worked great for one month. After that, the batteries would run out 4 hours after the start of our shift and by now the batteries last for about two different comminications and they need a recharge. This tells me that the radios are power hungry which makes the radio system useless
from arizona on 9/19/2008
Just need something around the neighborhood when the kids ride their bikes up the street. Decent reception, but battery pack lasts only 90 mins on full charge.
The fully charged batteries last only a couple of hours. Not impressed - I'm going to try to take them back for a refund.
We have 8 of these units at our school. We went to Radio Sharck to order replacement rechareable batteries and found that they are not available. We could by regular AAA, but this means that we have to keep a constant supply of these batteries on hand. It should have been noted at the time of purchase that the rechareable battery is not available. This means that we will have to purchase other radio's for our needs.
Oh My Gosh! i love this walkie talkie. it is the best invention ever in the history of inventions!
I think the Wakie Talkies are great. I highley recommend this item.
This radios battery is really bad. It dies way to quick. But other wise its a pretty good radio.
Battery life is horrible. I have to leave in toolbox with charger as do other techs on the line. Range is only around 2 miles (as I expected not as good as a CB radio). The radio does hold up well during several falls on concrete. The parts guys have trouble with the range when communicating parts prices to our techs. Our service writers hate it as they are furtherest away from both the techs and parts department.
This is the onley walkie talkie talkie I trust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I use the radio to keep up with my Grandson, Thing is it won't last a half day turned on not even talking on them ...THEY SUCK AND DON'T BUY THEM...
Great
Wonderful!
the walkie's worked well when traveling in a "convoy" with husband right behind my car. didn't work when we went hiking in the woods. we could see each other but couldn't hear anything, and ended up screaming to each other. and the battery life sucked too. one held the charge , the other didn't. what a wast of money.
Greetings...
The belt clip is absolutely useless - It almost seems designed for you to loose it...
Button placement is useless - you can't grip it reliably without pressing any number of OTHER buttons.
Forget about any headset other than the ultra-cheap useless - since it uses a NON-standard jack and requires an adapter - that RS doesn't stock - unless you buy the ultra useless headsets. That's $40 extra - for a pair. No other accessories, no boom mikes, just the ultra-cheap, flimsy spiderwire, hard plastic mono earbud that won't stay in your ear without taping it there - What kind of a moron designs a PTT button ON the microphone - opposite the flimsy little plastic vox/ptt switch that breaks the very first time you use it? RS!!
The Vox is so sensitive even on 5 that it's useless in anything but a silent room. Outside? In wind? Forget about it...
10 miles? Try 3 at best - under perfect conditions. And I mean perfect - Desert with NO other EM sources - direct line of sight across a shallow valley - At 2.5 miles - the reception starts getting scratchy - at 3 it's almost intelligible - after 3 - useless - and that's on the strongest hi setting...
Since there are NO covers, or even a servicable belt clip you end up sticking it in your pocket - where the buttons get pressed randomly - screwing up just about any channel or other settings - again, making it useless - unless your idea of a functional unit means always carrying it in your hand...
The ONLY good thing I have to say about these useless things - The batteries on both units actually lasted 2 days of continuous use!
But I'm still returning them...
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
For those experiencing short battery life, try lowering the TX (transmit) power. Your battery life will definitely improve significantly. Also, those who are upset about not getting very much range, like 10 or 18 miles. You will most likely never get that kind of range with out the use of a GMRS repeater. Unless you are on top of a mountain, like Stone Mountain. It is a marketing scam that I don't agree with at all. They do that to sell you these radios. Also, a GMRS license is required from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It currently costs $85 for 5 years and covers any and all over your relatives. Best of luck to all you folks out there.
I got this as a gift for my 19th birthday. I haven't used it much, but I have practiced with it a few times, and so far it's great. It's got a 10-mile range, which is 5 miles more than what my old Motorola TalkAbouts could reach. I usually use two-way radios to keep in touch with whoever's trainwatching with me, and use the call tones when I spot a train down the track.
In addition, I think it has a great design. The burnt-orange on black color is very creative. Buy this product today and ignore the negative reviews!
these are exellent radios but watch out for the batteries going after a couple of weeks and i'm still trying to get replacements if you use regular aaa batteries they will last you about five minutes before you need to recharge them - if your using ni-lon batts other than that i'm happy with them they also work very well with a headset on vox...
If your not looking to use for more that 4 hours at a time, I wouldn't recommend this product, but other than that its a wonderful product with great reception!
Junk! Battery life is horrible. Lucky to get a few minutes of talk time.
from Tampa, Fl on 4/2/2008
We bought 3 set of these to use with family and the batteries last less than two hours
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I just got this about 3 days ago and I'm already lovin' it! So many cool features that is perfect for me, the tech guy :-)
These radios do not hold up for even a four hour time period without going dead. I would not recommend these radios for business or personal use.
If the batteries they come with didn't suck, I would give them 5 stars.
Power setting not easily accessible.
Durable Radio but it would be nice if the thing had a high low button on it, kind of by it's self.
The manual needs a copy off the FCC rules for both FRS and GMRS and A GMRS license application with it.
People need to KNOW you just do not use ANY channel. I would personally like to see 2 things,
1. The return of FRS ONLY radios.
2. the new XRS service RADIOS on the market at a reasonable price.
I enjoy the radios and my GMRS License.
I like the fact of using a walkie talkie but the battery life does not last long at all. I had the walkie talkie on the charger for 2 days and they still don't last that long.
from Islip, NY on 11/7/2007
The battery life is the Achilles heel of an otherwise good unit. The radio is made by UNiden and takes the Uniden BP-40 (supplied battery) and the BP-38 (700ma battery pack). The BP-40 is HIGHLY recommended, but will cost around $22 [@]. Of course, alkalines or Ni-MH AA batteries will give this radio the juice it needs for decent runtimes.That being said, the unit itself is fairly decent...
I went through 2 sets of these both pair had poor battery life one set under 20 minuteson a full charge. [...]
from San Francisco, CA on 10/14/2007
I got the older model of this radio is almost the same as this one expect it black and the battery life last at least 20 hours. The reason why people are saying they last 4 hours is either because they overcharge them, don't charge them long enough, or they don't charge them long enough for the first time.
The radios are horrible, the walkie talkie just drains the life out of them, it is a shame i cant take it back either, the batteries in other radios are good but the radio was waste of time and money.
from j,mo on 10/6/2007
[...] can't buy the battery backs anymore. three weeks old and battery packs dont hold charge. do not buy
from Traveling the US in an RV on 9/23/2007
The volume and talk buttons are right across from each other and is hard to push only one at a time.Lots of good features,but the batteries only last about 4 hours at most,on standby.My set of Midland LXT303,not as good range but they last 24 hours on 4AA batteries and regular use.If they would come out with a better replacement battery,I would be very happy.
from New Braunfels, TX on 8/20/2007
Purchased 28 units for a school campus, some had long battery life, while others had a half day. Great signal, it has to travel through many stone walls and school has metal roof. Drove 8 miles down the road and still had crystal clear transmission. RS needs to make the battery life more consistent.
These do not work well together or especially with any other unit..... the batterys do not stay charged please do not waste your money
Short battery life in these units makes them virtually useless for boating... Plan to pack a lot of extra batteries.
from High Point, NC on 7/16/2007
We bought 14 of these to use at work and the batteries only last on average two hours(not very useful for a 10hr work day).
I purchased a new set of the GMRS/FRS 2-Way Radios Model No. 21-1926 to use on our return trip from Washington State back to Missouri.
The Batteries seemed to hold a long enough charge for our use communicating back & forth between vehicles.
With any Electronic device as an example with a 2-Way, I do see room for improvements, where the Radios could possibly have a DC Jack to plug up to a cigarette lighter to save on the Batteries & an external antenna jack for a little bit of extended range in vehicles.
The reception needs some fine-tunning plus battery-life is a major issue. But its a great product.
Like everything about the radios except does not hold a charge. Charge lasted only 2 hours.
Off in hill country where we go 4x4ing in a pair of vehicles in wich 1 person is the test dummy to make sure we both don't get out and get stuck the reception is about 1/3 - 1/2 a mil wich is horrible by the time the person in the back makes a call that they are stuck and would need help the leader is long gone and out of range. These were by far the worst ones I have seen yet. Also the battery life is disputeable it lasted about four hours of wich we hardly talked. My opinion.... don't buy unless you plan on being able to see the person you are talking too.
The radio is good for its durability and the reception but the battery life is awfull the triple AAA recargeable batteries don't last more than a half hour of little use. Can't turn off power robbing light too, it comes on when you press any button when you lock out the radio. Only a great buy if you get this for less than 10.00 on sale.
radios are great for what i needed but the battery life is junk. use radios twice in 3 hours and the batteries went dead. with dead batteries i might has well have 2 cans on a string
bad sale im not really happy