A fine 2-way radio-but stay away from water!

I originally bought this radio so I could stay in touch with my 7 year old son at the park. While I have thought about these radios before for other purposes (hiking, mountain biking, shopping) I never really saw the need until my son and I became active volunteers at a local park. Now I use it while geocaching, mountain biking and hiking.

First of all, don’t waste your money buying one of the radios that have a limitation of “up to 2 miles”. Spend the money and get one of these “up to 5 miles” range ones.

Second, know their limitations. Ideal terrain would be out in the open with no hills or power lines, or any kind of blockage. For example, our church is roughly ½ mile away, and it’s pretty straight. Reception is clear, if both radios are in a straight line. Once a user heads into the parking lot of the church, reception degrades terrible (There is a hospital between us and the church). Another example-looking outside my front window is a small peak about a 2 mile walk from here. To get to the trail, I need to walk slightly uphill about 3 blocks by other homes. Reception, gets worst and worst as I get further and further from the house, but as soon as I clear the homes and start climbing on the trail and have a clear view of our house, reception is great. But as soon as I get to the top and start heading over to the other side of the hill, reception degrades.

Third, stay away from liquid water (Snow is okay, as one reviewer has already stated). My son has accidentally dropped 2 of our radios in the creek at the aforementioned park. Both times the radios were removed immediately and batteries removed and radio left to dry. While both radios later started working again, it was over a month before that happened.. These radios are cheap enough so you can always buy a spare or two in case you hit water (might be wise to carry a spare or two if you are going to be near water and are in need of them).

Third, don’t waste your money on the units that come with the Nicad recharger. Buy a Nimh charger and the batteries for it. You’ll find lots of uses for the AA rechargeable batteries at home (trust me), while you’ll find no use for the low lasting nicad power pack that comes with some of the radios.