I got the official word today that the Midland GXT5000 has been discontinued. I know there was some excitement about this product because business quality GMRS radios are a rarity these days. Maybe we’ll see a different radio like this from Midland in the future, but no guarantees.
You can check out this blog post from our website for (slightly) more information.
Sad. Promising if not very expensive radio. Kudos to the people at Midland for innovating.
You guys are kidding right? Maybe the radio is built to throw on the ground and go underwater, but it won’t perform any better than many other FRS/GMRS radios out there. Midland is the big liar in radio advertising. They now claim to have a 52 channel FRS/GMRS radio, impossible by FCC law, unless you make a whole bunch of channels that are the same as the fiirst 22 channels and just add a PL tone to them, which they did and all this means is you talk over everyone else on the same channel but can’t hear them.
As for the 36 mile claim, ain’t going to happen unless someone climbs a big hill or mountain and talks to someone on another hill in exceptional conditions. But then to have that happen you would have to make an appointment!
GMRS radios could talk a long ways over just barely better than line of sight if they had screw in antennaes and you could plug a better antenna into them or run a coax to an antenna higher above the ground. Some old midland radios did this till the FCC caught them and told Midland they were illegal.
Thanks for your post! I completely agree with much of what you said, but I think if you took a closer look at the Midland GXT5000 I think you’ll agree that it was a superior product compared to most of the FRS/GMRS radios on the market today. As you mentioned, the big plus was its “business quality” design. By this I primarily mean that it is built to be durable. Business radios are built to hold up to daily use, whereas “bubble pack” FRS/GMRS radios often have a cheap plastic feel and are made for occasional use like weekend camping trips and such.
We hear from GMRS enthusiasts who are looking for better quality radios, and the GXT5000 would have been a better option for a lot of these guys. Several years ago major radio manufacturers like Icom and Kenwood produced 15 channel GMRS-only radios, like the TK-3101k or F21GM, that were identical to business models and offered removable antennas that allowed for significantly better performance. Unfortunately models like this aren’t available anymore and many GMRS users have started buying true business radios and programming them to GMRS frequencies - a questionable, at best, practice from a legal standpoint.
I’m completely on board with you on the deceptive marketing practices. The range claims are insane and I’ve ranted on that subject many times. As a retailer we suffer at times because of these claims as they set unrealistic expectations and cause unhappy customers. I thought things had leveled off at 36 miles, as that was the maximum claim for the last few years. Now, however, Uniden is pushing the envelope with “50 mile” radios. I ranted a little on this in a recent episode of our podcast.
Hi I am new to the forum but in my research I see that Midland is taking advance orders for a national backorder of the GTX5000 scheduled to be filled by mid may, so it does not appear to be discontinued in case you are interested.
As a side question, can anyone confirm whether you need a license to operate this radio?
I believe that Midlands info has not been updated on their website as of yet. We got a definite confirmation from Midland a few weeks ago that it will definitely not be produced any longer.
As a side answer, yes. GMRS radios require a GMRS license to operate. The good news is that this one license is valid for every member of your family.
TWRS-01 - An Introduction to Consumer Radios
However, the FCC is contemplating a change to the GMRS to allow license by rule, which means that you would not need to obtain one to operate GMRS radios.
TWRS-56 - Update on the Proposed Changes to the GMRS
Keep in mind that it is still a proposal under consideration and has not been implemented. It’s a hot topic with some, and a sore one with others, but it’s still interesting to watch.
Thanks for the info Rick, and sorry Anthony and Danny for misinformation, just trying to be helpful:), you guys are clearly on top of your game.
I am a GMRS License holder, I would be very intersted in a co. that would market a GMRS only radio.
Is there any KNOWN reason that the FCC let radios be made that have both FRS and GMRS.? When GMRS requres an authorization to use the channals.?
Just called midland sales team, they are bringing the radio back on the market! took them a while to recover from the flooding they had in the factory…
Thanks for letting us know. We are currently checking to confirm this from our contacts at Midland and as soon as we get the final word we will let everyone know.
Okay, the official word from Midland is that there will be a limited number of units shipping this autumn, however they are not for retail sale. We were also told officially that they are unsure if it will ever return to market.
bleh, now i’m wishing i spoke with a manager. Sounds like that sales lady didn’t know what she was talking about or didn’t communicate the full story. Jeeze, getting my hopes up!
I Want one:)(2)
as soon as they come out!
@bilko1
Judging by the fact that Midland has said this over the years and misrepresented what they told me…I guess chances are now pretty low.
Well, for anyone interested, i just got 2 gxt-5000s in the mail today. I phoned up midland a couple weeks back asking to get put on the list and poof, here they are. Anyone who wants one, call their direct sales extension which is 261. The extra batteries are still in production but they said to call back late October and they’ll have a few to sell me. Taking them on a trip this weekend - they will replace my stupid 2 watt radios from Motorola - boom!
Maybe I got in right at the right time? idk.
Any update? How do they work? Are they worth the $? etc…
Thanks for any info.
WHY, did they still put the FRS into this? Wasn’t the org. only GMRS?
It was always a 22 channel FRS/GMRS radio.
We have received official word from Midland that it will return mid-December.
They work awesome, imo well worth the money. I question why they needed an SOS and call button on the side. It would have been AWESOME to add some repeater channels in there like the Motorola talkabout but whatever.
In response to you Rick, they have been shipping since September…just needed to get the order in early 
I got my 2 end of Sept…like i said - I just called them direct.
I’ve just put an order in for a dozen of them plus extra batteries, I was a bit late for the December shipment but I got in on the Jan/14 one.