Hand held gmrs Walkie talkies

[RAMXPLR]

Anyone found a set of hand held gmrs walkie talkies they’re happy with? I want some hand helds for spotters that work with my midland radio that’s mounted in the truck. Also, for family members hiking away from vehicle. The Midland ones on Amazon appear to give great reviews until you read further. Everyone actually seems to say they are crap?

 

[RoarinRow]

I'm happy with my Uniden SX377-2CKHS handhelds. Good for short distance and volume is plenty loud enough.

 

[Ubiety]

Love my Garmin RINO and have been using it for years. This thing has, by far, the best battery life of any device I have ever encountered. Super robust, GPS, etc.

 

[mep1811]

I've read this was a good GMRS hand held. This radio has 5 watts vs most of the little radios 2 watts.

 

[RAMXPLR]

I'm happy with my Uniden SX377-2CKHS handhelds. Good for short distance and volume is plenty loud enough.

Thanks!

 

[RoarinRow]

Thanks!

Most welcome!

 

[RAMXPLR]

I've read this was a good GMRS hand held. This radio has 5 watts vs most of the little radios 2 watts.

After reading the reviews of this one, including yours, I’m going with it. Spend more, get more. Thanks for responding to my question!

 

[Downs]

I've read this was a good GMRS hand held. This radio has 5 watts vs most of the little radios 2 watts.

Those do 2 watts on high and 0.5 watts on low. Not 5. But it's repeater capable, one of the only approved GMRS handhelds on the market that is IIRC. I've got one. It's good enough but don't expect 5 watts out of it. You can also hook it to an external antenna greatly improving performance. You can also computer program them to some extent.

The HAM and Commercial (UV82 and UV82C) variants of this radio do actually put out 5ish watts. Varies a bit across the spectrum.

Anyone found a set of hand held gmrs walkie talkies they’re happy with? I want some hand helds for spotters that work with my midland radio that’s mounted in the truck. Also, for family members hiking away from vehicle. The Midland ones on Amazon appear to give great reviews until you read further. Everyone actually seems to say they are crap?

I wouldn't count the midlands out too quickly. I think most people just expect too much from them due to unrealistic advertising and such.

I've got 4 midland handhelds, They work fine for what they are. Don't buy the cheapest ones you can get, and look into the info on them when you buy them. I've got a set of X-Talker T51As. They're USB rechargeable and FRS radios so they work well for handing out to non licensed people. We also use them around the house and property even though they're lower power FRS units because they're plenty for that. The USB charging feature is great for camp use.

I've also got a set of X-Talker T290VP4s, they are also pretty good. Decent enough range for a handheld. They only do about 3 watts on high power. Not a huge deal for what their intended use is. These are GMRS units not FRS, but they won't do repeaters, none of the bubblepack Midland units will do Repeater operation.

I've also got some old surplus Motorola handhelds you can find on ebay pretty cheap that I have programed for GMRS and GMRS Repeater use. This is the #radionerd option though and not something I would suggest a casual consumer get into. They are bombproof though and has the Motorola magic going on in them, just not user friendly as far as programing goes.

 

[mep1811]

Those do 2 watts on high and 0.5 watts on low. Not 5. But it's repeater capable, one of the only approved GMRS handhelds on the market that is IIRC. I've got one. It's good enough but don't expect 5 watts out of it. You can also hook it to an external antenna greatly improving performance. You can also computer program them to some extent.

The HAM and Commercial (UV82 and UV82C) variants of this radio do actually put out 5ish watts. Varies a bit across the spectrum.



I wouldn't count the midlands out too quickly. I think most people just expect too much from them due to unrealistic advertising and such.

I've got 4 midland handhelds, They work fine for what they are. Don't buy the cheapest ones you can get, and look into the info on them when you buy them. I've got a set of X-Talker T51As. They're USB rechargeable and FRS radios so they work well for handing out to non licensed people. We also use them around the house and property even though they're lower power FRS units because they're plenty for that. The USB charging feature is great for camp use.

I've also got a set of X-Talker T290VP4s, they are also pretty good. Decent enough range for a handheld. They only do about 3 watts on high power. Not a huge deal for what their intended use is. These are GMRS units not FRS, but they won't do repeaters, none of the bubblepack Midland units will do Repeater operation.

I've also got some old surplus Motorola handhelds you can find on ebay pretty cheap that I have programed for GMRS and GMRS Repeater use. This is the #radionerd option though and not something I would suggest a casual consumer get into. They are bombproof though and has the Motorola magic going on in them, just not user friendly as far as programing goes.

 

[mep1811]

I was wrong about the power output. The reviews I read were wrong about that. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Downs]

I was wrong about the power output. The reviews I read were wrong about that. Back to the drawing board.

It's not a huge deal. We're talking handhelds here and UHF, the 3 watt power difference isn't going to make that much of a difference other than sucking your battery dry faster. The ability to hook to an external antenna is a much larger advantage than 3 extra watts. And even most full on GMRS handhelds won't do a full 5 watts even if they're advertised as such.

Even on my Motorola commercial handheld radios I keep them turned down to low power (1 watt) 99 percent of the time. I can still talk plenty far on that 1 watt. I can hit our local GMRS repeater from nearly anywhere in the county with it.

Same for my mobiles. They're all programed for low power settings.