Thursday 1 September 2011

2 Way Radio - handheld, 2 way radio


I currently own a set of Motorola, two other sets of Midlands and this is the newest addition to my already favorite Midland radios.



This model is different.

The designing is very details and clean looking. Nice, bring LED displays with orange back lighting. This new model gets a new 'much better' roger deep compared to older midlands, which used to be a dragger. Now, it's shorter deeps which I thought was much clean and professional if you're quick talker.



With it's maximum range of 36-miles, when tested, it did get longer range than other typical radios. When I say longer, it's usually around 1-2 miles in the city.



The size is decent with longer antennas with it's range, and that's what you need for better range. With smaller body and smaller antennas, you end up sacrificing a lot as far as its performance and the range.



Overall, this is a excellent, newly designed, two-way radio.



** Note; one other review commented that he used VOX option for baby monitoring but it's actually unrealistic. VOX only picks up close up voices, nothing away unless you're really shouting out. and you probably don't want to place this radio right next to baby's mouth. Not working!! But it's very useful when driving in the car with the ear piece which is included in this purchase. hands free talking is really helpful. Midland GXT760VP4 36-Mile 42-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Pair)

I bought these hoping that they would have more range than the 20 mile Cobra CXT225 that I got from Walmart for $34 last week. While I'm fully aware not to expect the advertised range (usually divide by 20) these performed worse than the Cobra. Aside from that, the supplied phone/mic apparatus for each is more than worthless.



Compared side by side same conditions as the Cobra CXT225 these were very noisy even close up during transmissions while the Cobras were pleasantly quiet. Midland noisy with somewhat fuzzy voice - Cobra clear of noise and very clear voice.



Midland units were big, bulky and heavy while the Cobras were light, small and comfortable to hold. I ride my GoldWing with a bunch of Ham guys and they have modified radios that will TX on the GMRS frequencies. They remarked how clear the Cobra was and asked if I have "noise cancellation" on them. They don't. They said the Midland was noisy like my experience Midland to Midland.



You can get earbud/microphone sets for the Cobra on eBay for just $5.00 each. I'm keeping the Cobra - light compact and clear.



In the many years I have dealt with Amazon, this is the first item I ever returned out of hundreds of items bought. Not Amazon's fault, just not a good quality radio from Midland.

Received these radios yesterday and did some testing today.



Range: (very clear up to 1.5 miles)

With all radios of this type the "32 miles" is a best case given perfect conditions. My wife and I bought them to use when driving two trucks while moving cross country. For this we will need at most a mile range. Using the high power setting and the GMRS band we were able to get close to 2 miles range. This test was done with me in an office building in an industrial park and my wife driving into the city in an SUV. Transmissions started to have a lot of static after 1.6 miles and were lost just before 2 miles.



Headset/mic: (what you would expect)

The provided headset/mic (2) that comes with the radios work fairly well for a cheap headset/mic.

Fits on either ear and is reasonably (although not incredibly) comfortable.

Sound quality is what you would expect for an included headset/mic.



VOX: (works like all VOX)

Like all VOX this takes a little time to turn on and start sending. We found that saying "Call <name>" used enough time so that the beginning of our message was not cut off.



Roger Beep: (LOUD)

The beep is quite a bit louder than the background voice (when using the provided headset).



Weather radio:

Although this is an extra for me, it is kind of neat and works well.



All in all these are exactly what I expected and I am happy with them.

I have used the Motorola T9500 and lower priced models from Midalnd (LXT410 etc). These have by FAR the best range. I am getting over a mile from vehicle to vehicle in a suburban environment. The Motorola T9500's are good for @1/4 mile and don't seem to have as good voice reproduction. Don't waste money buying another model, then being disappointed and upgrading to these later. Buy these first.

This radio set is perfect for travelling, or for the purposes that we bought the set - which was for our child's 'spy' set! The headset pieces are very well constructed - better than any 'play' set that can be bought (which will only last a day or two). This is such a great value, I highly recommend! - Handheld - 2 Way Radio - 2-way Radio - 2 Way Radios'


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