New here - In the market for good walkie talkies

FRS / GMRS Radios
1

Hi everyone. I’m new here and I’ve been lurking and reading for about a week. It’s amazing what I’ve learned reading up on stuff. Thank you!

But I felt I should come clean and register, and also I’d like to be registered for any questions I might have.

About a week ago my wife informed me she thinks we need to get a pair of good walkie talkies. I’m a geocacher (serious hobby) and she’s a museum/curio shop/knick knack hound, so we thought we would combine our activities. We live in Albuquerque and there are a lot of places to see around the state. Unfortunately that also means that cell phone coverage isn’t always reliable.

What we plan to do is have me drop her off in a small town, like a ghost town, to wander around and look at stuff, and in the meantime I plan to head out with my GPSr and find a few caches. The problem is that I don’t always know how long it’ll take, and she doesn’t always know how interesting it’ll be for her, and how long it’ll take her. Enter the walkie talkies.

I’ve looked at the mainstream budget low-powered FRS units that Wally World sells for $20/pair, and those just aren’t going to cut it. We will be in various terrain and at distances up to a few miles from each other. There could be gulleys, canyons, hills, trees or buildings in the way. We need something with a little more “oomph”. So I’ve been reading the reviews on the GMRS radios as well as the new Tri-State FHSS radios.

I don’t want to spend a fortune on a commercial grade Motorola UHF walkie, or anything even close to it in price. It would be overkill. I’m looking at maybe 60 bucks for the pair. Maybe a little higher if there’s a good reason, but no more than $70.

The result is that I believe that the Cobra LI-7200 2-radio value pack is just what the doctor ordered. It seems to have the best range, is not that expensive, and has a massive Li-Ion battery pack for outstanding battery life. Perfect! Short of launching my own comm satellite, I think it’s the best I’m going to be able to do.

My second choices were the 900 MHz Tri-State (100 or 300) or a Midland GXT-900.

I’ve also heard of MURs as a lower cost alternative, since there won’t be any license fees. Is this realistic for my needs, and if so, are there decent MURS radios available at a reasonable price?

Does it seem like I’ve come to the right conclusions?

2

What kind of range are you looking for? This could help narrow it down.

3

I think the hills will be more of an issue than the trees.

4

I’m new here as well. Have you considered the Motorrolat talk-about 9500’s? I don’t know much about them, or the others you mentioned, but I have heard some good things about them.

Anyone here either way?

5

Oh, I spelled “Motorola” wrong in my last post. I’m an idiot.

6

Don’t feel bad. Some days I swear I’m typing drunk while wearing gloves:eek:

7

Anyone?

Anyone at all …:confused:

8

i have midland g-11 and love them. they have a very rare feature, and thats a removable external antenna. you can take off the stock antenna and put on a longer, higher gain one. an antenna is way more important than wattage (although both matter) and will get you good range for the buck if you upgrade. although i admit the upgrade might bump you out of your price range all together, its a high end beginners radio. upper middle class if you will :slight_smile:

9

I have a pair of motorola talk about radios i purchased from target and they work great.
i have been getting 2 mil minimum and about 9 miles max in town.

Most of the time the range is 9 miles unless im in a building or car. i also live in a part of
ca that has alote of mountains.

Note: make sure to get the 18mile ones

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