Okay, just when I think I’m about to decide on a purchase, something prevents me from pulling the trigger. I’ve read about the various models available for two-way radio communication and need some direction. I was seriously leaning towards the Tri Square TSX300 but am slightly worried about durability. These will mostly be used at a lake home - especially to hand to the kids as they set off in the rowboat for a fishing expedition. While I don’t expect them to take a dunk, they will get knocked around a bit. Right now we hand them a cell phone but a two-way would be perfect. I also wasn’t excited about paying for an FCC license. Lastly, I didn’t know how crowded channels got during a weekend at the lake. Any advice from anyone using them for similar purposes?
The TriSquare would be ideal for what you are describing. No license required and no crowding on the channels due to the Spread Spectrum scheme allowing for 10 billion “virtual” channels. One could expect over 100,000 units to be used within range of each other to operate without interference or eavesdropping. I doubt you’d ever run into a situation that has that many units operating at the same time.
My five and six year old daughters and I use them regularly, and they have been dropped a few times, but they’re still chugging right along(the radios, not the girls).
And, at about $30 each, if one goes overboard, its less than a cell phone. The radio could be waterproofed by putting it into a zip-lock bag and still be usable. I’ve done it and if you leave enough air in the bag, it will float.
I haven’t yet done my review, but would readily and heartily recommend the TriSquare.
Zip-Lock bag,never thought of that but I guess it would work.
An addition to that,you could tape around the opening to make sure it doesn’t open up and then tape another bag slightly filled with air or a balloon so it would float if it was knocked into the water.
There are also specialty waterproof radio bags (and ditch bags) available on many boating website you may want to look at, some even have floatation features. Just google “ditch bag”.