What's a good set of walkie talkies?

[Plain Old Jim]

Want to purchase a good set of walkie talkies. Too poor to just go out and read lebels and buy....then be disappointed. I heard there are those that have multiple frequencies which are good because if you own a pair of only one frequencies you run into a lot of interference or others in your same area using it. I don't know what the good features are to look for. Clarity, distance, moving in a car, power, battery life, work off battery or cig lightera? Wife had cancer, like to keep n touch wit her when we traveling in separate vehicles, or when out lake fishing, me on lake and her on shore. Any body got good advice would sure appreciate it. Like I said, I can't afford to make a lot of mistakes in purchases these days. Have a common name and in today's world other criminal records attached to me in error. Still out there so unable to find work. Ended up just drawing Soc Sec early and don't get it for 4 months. Any help greatly appreciated.

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Plain old Jim, I'm Plain...and I'm old.

Motorola.

Jeff

[D. Micus]

motorola talkabouts--i have about 8 of them.they keep coming down in price, very portable, most have a built in noaa weather alert, recharchable batteries and a charger. you can't go wrong.

[Fly_Fisher_12]

I have a few Motorola Talkabouts, they work just fine when I go fishing, hunting, hiking, etc. And they are at good price nowadays. Rechargable batteries w/ charger, great little radios.
-Fly_Fisher_12

[DaleW]

Plain O.J. - likewise I have a set of the Motorola's; seems the pair was list priced for something Like $59.95 and I got them for a close out sale at half priced. There have been a lot of improvements and reduction in cost for these kind of radios in the past few years.

There are really two different catagories of radios for these hand held types that are easily available. The first is the "FRS" band radio (Family Radio Service Band), which was set aside by the FCC for families and sportsman. These require no FCC license to operate and have up to 1/2 WATT of power. This is what I have and I have gotten up to about three miles of transmission on the open highway, providing it's flat country. About half that whan I'm fishing and camping, depending on the terrain. For what I do they work fine and I just use plain-jane AA batteries.

The other type is the GMRS radios (General Mobil Radio Service) and they do require a FCC license - they have anywhere from 1 to 5 watts of power. Their range is said to be up to 7 miles; a friend has a set of them and he can get 5 miles on the open road and about twice the distance in the woods as my FRS radios. Cost here is competitive with the lower powered GMRS vs the FRS radios; the higher the power output, the higher the cost. There are some folks who are using these GMRS radios without a license, saying there are not enought FCC cops to possibly check out everyone. That would be a call you would have to make. And, like I said, for what I paid and for what I do, the little Motorola FRS radios do just fine.

[PaulM]

I've had the Motorolas since they first came out. Good product and as someone else mentioned, they keep dropping in price. A few of my friends own some Cobra models and they also work fine. Check Amazon for some good prices. Also a good general review site is. [url=http://www.epinions.com/:aa109]http://www.epinions.com/[/url:aa109]

Local Office Depot had Cobra's on sale for $9.99 with a $10 mail in rebate, I bought a pair.....$.037 cents for a stamp makes um the best.

[Plain Old Jim]

Wow. What a great place for information. This is like on demand Consumer Reports. Also multiple comments allows one to weigh comments. I think it's better than Consumer Reports. Thank you all for taking the time. uh.....I fortunalely don't have to weigh the pros & cons of operating a radio without a Fcc license. I have one....since about 1968. Thanks again.

[RonMT]

My son bought me a set of them after I had the surgery as I have to be real careful to not fall in. I think he got them just in case LOL. They are Uniden. You can be herd as far as 6 miles with them and they also have Weather alert from NOAA on them. They have a recharge tray that both of them set in. I just leave them in it and they are charged when I need them. They sure work well. Sorry I do not know what he gave for them as the were a presant. Ron

PS: Here you go I looked them up for you. [url=http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Uniden-22-Channel-GMR-2-Way-Radio-Value-Pack-GMR855-2CK-/sem/rpsm/oid/106642/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do:b1fab]http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Uniden-22-Channel-GMR-2-Way-Radio-Value-Pack-GMR855-2CK-/sem/rpsm/oid/106642/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do[/url:b1fab]


[This message has been edited by RonMT (edited 06 March 2005).]

[This message has been edited by RonMT (edited 06 March 2005).]

[stonefly71]

I have some that have all three on one and talked with the fcc and also uniden is who makes the ones I have and they are good for 3 miles. I use to have a Motorola hand held raido when I was a firefighter and yes it had a licens there are many out there that have all 3 and it don't take to much if you wanted to get everything you need to be up to snuff. But the FRS is ok till you get some kids just playing on them but mine has 8 frs channels to go thru. Later Matt p.s. mine was 12.99 each.

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To each there own !