Motorola T5720 GMRS / FRS 2-Way Radio (Pair, Rechargeable Batteries)

Rating:
Summary: best for the price
Review: Actually can get up to ten miles line of sight transmission. In the woods, you get about two to three miles (depending on how thick). But of course they don't go over or through mountains like any idiot should know.

Rating:
Summary: best for the price
Review: Actually can get up to ten miles line of sight transmission. In the woods, you get about two to three miles (depending on how thick). But of course they don't go over or through mountains like any idiot should know.

Rating:
Summary: Motorola T5720 5 mile distance?
Review: Come on Motorola, you can do better..this model would make good for the kids in the yard to play with. Range is 1/2 mile if your lucky.. Need to change the range distance to that and get that 5 mile range of the package and spec sheet. Very discouraged with this model..

Rating:
Summary: Duff radios
Review: The radios are supposed to have a range of five miles, I have found the the farthest I have got on them is more like 1/4 of a mile, as soon as you go over a hill or behind a building you lose contact. Not very good at all. And they didn't come with batteries.

Rating:
Summary: What this is (a good radio) and what it's not (a magic wand)
Review: This product works very well if used in the manner in which it was designed.

Boaters, this is not a marine radio, and don't expect the Coast Guard, Sea Tow, or even other boats to be monitoring these channels. Today's marine VHF radios are small enough for even a Jet-Ski or the smallest dinghy and have appropriate waterproofing.

If you want to cover a farm, country club or large industrial or office park, spend the extra money on a proper business radio. Also, wherever possible, a vehicle-mount (truck, tractor, golf cart) radio with the right antenna will reach much farther and sound much better than anything hand-held.

Who should buy this radio? Skiers and snowboarders, bicyclists, hikers, campers, hunters, any groups of people who may tend to get separated beyond shouting range. Video production, stage and ligthting crews who can find this a low-cost, easy-to-use substitute for Clear-Com systems. Obviously they will need to use headsets to keep the sound from getting into the audience or audio track, and those who need to keep their hands free, like video camera operators will prefer the VOX headset. It would have been nice if they sold these as a package, which would be cheaper than buying them separately.

This type of signal is by nature for line-of-sight transmission only, and not like CB, and will not go around large mountains or "skip" like lower-frequency radio signals.

This radio is built ruggedly with the kind of quality we got familiar with on the older, bulkier Talkabouts. As for the menus, I would suggest you keep the manual close at hand until you get the hang of navigating though the commands. I like the pushbutton-release belt clips.

This NiCd-powered version of these radios came with a handy charging stand and works well as long as you remember to charge it up before using. :-) Those of you who don't like NiCd batteries can choose the AA-powered version, which Amazon also sells, and get a nice set of NiMH batteries and charger, and skip alkaline batteries.

Overall, this radio is very worthwhile and satisfactory.