Awesome in every way
These radios are awesome. I took them to Jamaica and they performed wonderfully all along the beach into the hotel, and elsewhere around town. Battery Life: Lasts for days if you are just listening, otherwise transmitting will use up power. My girlfriend used them to gab with her friend for a full hour on the maximum power setting before they got low and had to be recharged. They are rechargable and the dock is easy to use, so you don't have to feel stingy about using them since you can just plop it on the dock. Range: Great range. I took them to Negril's 7-Mile-Beach and they worked fine from several miles down the beach to inside the hotel where we were staying. These radios have a power setting, so ensure you are on "H" (high) power to get the maximum range. Back home, I was able to go through buildings and obstructions and hear clearly a mile or two away from my apartment. NOTE REGARDING RANGE: the "36-mile" range is only for ideal conditions, e.g. you are both in the middle of an empty desert on a clear day, perched on top of a cactus with tin foil wrapped around your head. Nobody really gets the full listed range of any radio and you should understand that when purchasing. However, radios tend to use the same "ideal condition" numbers, so a 22-mile radio will be less powerful than this 36-mile radio. If your goal is maximum power you can still use this number to compare the power levels of different models. These particular radios have a diagram on the back of the box listing some shorter ranges you can expect in the woods, urban areas, etc. Clarity: The other party was always clear as a bell. They really sound great. Sometimes I would her other walkie-talkie users on the channel and they didn't sound as good, so I think the clarity has to do with a good microphone in this device, as well as the high power with which they transmit. I never had any choppy or unintelligible transmissions from these radios. I wish my cell phone sounded this good. Physical form factor: They are bulky compared to small cheap radios, but not so bulky that they don't fit in a pants pocket. I don't know how durable they are since I haven't broken or damaged one, but we did use one in light rain and it was fine. (I haven't tried the included headsets). Ease of Use: This was the best point to this product. I suggest sitting with the radios and reading through the manual, trying out the settings. This only took me about ten minutes. The manual is clear and the menu system is intuitive (basically, just keep pressing the menu button to scroll through all the options. To exit the menu at any point, press the talk button). Ease of Use for someone else: Before I gave a radio to someone else I first activated the key lock, which disables all buttons except for Talk, Call, and the volume/power knob. This way my friends and girlfriend could easily use the radio without having to really learn anything. They weren't able to accidentally change channels or butt-dial a configuration change which would have cut them off from the group. All in all I'm thrilled with these radios. I've gone through several walkie-talkie sets over the years and these are by far the nicest I have encountered. Read more