I really appreciate these reviews and all the useful info on this forum! I’ve been reading through the forum since July but just signed up to post a week or so ago.
I bought my first FRS/GMRS back in 2004, but haven’t used them all that much outside of a few hunting trips and traveling across country with 2 cars. I am a Cobra man, so far. I have 2-PR135s, my first radios; 2-PR145s; 2-PR4750s; and just ordered a pair of LI-7200s. I would have bought the CXR900, but I’m on a strict budget right now and $35 for new 7200s was too good to pass up!
I really enjoy reading the field tests by jwilkers and others. I’ve done a bit of testing on my radios and the 135/145s will only go about a mile from car to house under ideal circumstances, flat land, few trees, few electrical wires, few houses. Basically 1 mile line of sight before it broke up. I wouldn’t expect much more from a half-watt with a tiny antenna. I haven’t used those radios since 2005.
Last year, I tested the PR4750s my father in law gave us on a long distance move. Car to car reception was crystal clear up to a half mile or so. We never got further apart to test them beyond that. A month or so ago I tested them from car to person in a fairly well populated area with a lot of power lines and fairly flat land. We could communicate up to 4 miles, although it wasn’t perfectly clear the last half mile. I was very surprised to say the least! So, when I was reading the reviews on the newer Cobras, and thinking about the 3 vehicle move we’re going to make next month, I decided I’d get either the LI7200 or CXR900. Price is what helped me choose the 7200. I should get it in within a week or so and will do some testing on it, to see if it out-ranges the older PR4750 in the same area. More importantly, it will be nice to have instant communication between our three vehicles while on a 1600 mile move.
Well, I got in the Cobra LI7200 today and tested them out from house to car on about 1/2 battery power. Here in the city, they tended to have a maximum range about 1/4 mile further than the older Cobra PR4750, that being about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 miles, depending on where I was driving. I did drive to a rather high point on the other side of the valley and was able to get a little over 2 miles from car to house. Tomorrow I’m going to try some car to car range testing out in the country. Granted, I’ve never owned any high quality commercial GMRS radios, but this is the clearest “bubble pack” radio I’ve ever used.
I have to say that I really like these radios-battery life is excellent, comppact size and great range. I did a little comparison between motorola mr355, puxing 777 and cobra li-7200. The cobra had the best range by far…just my observation!
We used our LI-7200s on a 1,600 mile move a week and a half ago and they performed flawlessly with crystal clear reception between vehicles at distances of up to 1 mile through some very cold and inclement weather. On a full charge, the batteries lasted over 12 hours for two straight days. I am one happy customer and will definitely go for another new set of these or either the CXR900 the next time I’m looking for some radios!
i have been looking @ the Cobra LI-7200 and the Midland GXT-1000-VP4. i am leaning towards the Cobra, however one question i had that might be the deal breaker is if the LI-7200 has the capability to be charged via DC car charger like the Midland model. i do alot of car camping, and go for weeks without a power outlet…
I just bought this radio and it has been discontinued. I hope it performs as expected. I expect 3 miles across water and am hoping for 5-6 if possible. I only paid 38 bucks, free shipping, for the pair. I’m quite happy if they perform even close to what people have stated they got on here.
I’m not sure if they make DC chargers for these or not, probably not. Right now, they are the best value in bubble pack FRS/GMRS radios, unless you do need a unit that can be charged by a car outlet.
Does anyone know if its normal for these little radios, when probably fully charged, to not have the red led on the charger be lit up when they are plugged in? When they were new I plugged them in and they lit up nicely, but now, after having sat in the charger a few weeks they’re both out and if you take them out and plug them back in, no change. Still nothing. They went out a couple of hours after I plugged them in when brand new and haven’t been on since.
Is this normal? Does this indicate a charged battery or a problem with the charger itself? The manual doesn’t state anything. The radios are the Cobra LI-7200. Thanks!
Thanks man! After I’d used it all day, like 10 hours, it did show as charging for a brief period. It really does seem like these radios are that good. It’s amazing! We tried them for the first time this weekend and they worked fairly well, not talking to each other, but to other radios with only a 12 mile range so they weren’t doing real good but they did do well considering. I am not super happy with the audio but again, I never talked to the other radio, only the other one so I don’t know why the audio quality wasn’t that great. But all in all very nice radios.
I’m not sure what to do with the charger I have coming in.
New user here. By the way, big thanks to jwilkers for the nice reviews of these radios! - kinda hard to find quality info out there on this stuff.
From what I’ve gathered, the Cobra 7200’s are one of the better radios for range. I’ve been using some older Midland GXT-450’s for years now (decent but not great) but would like to upgrade for a bit more power.
However, I’m not liking the proprietary battery on the 7200’s. I have come to really appreciate the versatility and convenience of Eneloop cells (Ni-Mh). And also being able to drop Alkalines into your radio in the event of an emergency, etc. is very nice.
So I was wondering - does it look possible or feasible to rig up an AA or AAA battery tray in place of the standard lithium battery? It looks like it just needs about 7.4 volts which equates to six 1.2v cells. I’m a bit of a tinkerer so I don’t mind a challenge. I don’t think this kind of mod would violate any FCC laws. Of course, I realize you couldn’t use the stock charger, but I’ve already got a charger for my Eneloops, so no big deal.
The Lithium Ion batteries cannot be overcharged for safety. The charger will refuse to charge a full li-ion.