I just got these right before hunting season to keep in touch with my elderly father in an area with no cell service. While in use the batter meter always stays on full. After a couple days of hunting he tried to contact me. When the talk button is pressed the battery meter drains to low and the radio give a low battery warning and does not transmit or receive. When you let off of the talk button the meter goes back to full after a few seconds but still does not receive. This is with the supplied packs. Have not tried alkaline yet. This is could could be a big problem if you find yourself in an emergency situation thinking your batteries are good. Has anyone heard of or experienced this? I have written to Midland but no response yet. Thanks.
Larry
Those sales guys / ads / fluff… they always get ya… After three or four days, those rechargeable batts are drained. The meter may show full charge while in stand-by, but you pop the key to Xmit and the radio asks for the powered required which your radio no longer has.
Two choices… Charge and extra batt for that radio and replace it on day 2 or get a radio that can use AA batts and keep a boat load of AA’s them with you and replace as needed. What’s another 12 lbs. of alkalin… 
When I run my Kenwoods, the charger goes with me and I recharge every night. Not usually able to do that when yer in the woods lookin’ for Bambi, I know. But there isn’t a portable hand held that I know that will do the job after three days of use / idle time.
Thanks UM. I can charge them at the end of every day if I have to. I don’t want to though for several reasons. I seem to remember the manual saying wait till the batts. get low before you charge and I don’t want the nicads to develop a “memory”. I was hoping to hear from Midland that there was a known issue and a fix. So far nothing though. I guess some testing of alk. batts. is in order to see how long they last and if the batt. meter will work properly with them.
Thank you for contacting us.
Once the radios are fully charged they should last up 12 hours. It also
depends on the power level and how often you transmit. The initial
charge is for 24 hours and after from 8-12 hours. To check if it may be
the battery pack not holding a proper charger you can try using regular
AA batteries.
I had hoped they would address the part about the battery meter going back to showing full seconds after a low battery warning.
A Note… Those Radios hae NiMH batteries. They do not have the memory issue that Nicads had. Daily charging won’t hurt them.
Well that’s good new. Seems Like I should have known that already. Thanks for the info i feel better about nightly charging now.
you are welcome 