Decent walkies that aren't Motorola CP200 etc priced?

Jim Feeley

Jim Feeley

Veteran
I don't own any walkies. Easy enough to rent around here. But for two long(ish) projects I'll need 3-4 for a long time. And you know, with the UNSTOPPABLE MARCH OF TECHNOLOGY, I'm hoping there are some decent low-cost(ish) options.

I'm looking for:
Rain proof (ish)
Drop proof (ish)
2 mile / 3 kilometer range (with sometimes a wall or two in the way. not super-busy urban areas, but also not flat wilderness)
Good battery life (10 hours for sure; 1.5-2 days preferred, mostly on standby)
Rechargeable (with power station if not standard recharging connector)
Good-enough audio quality
UHF/VHF I guess?
License requirement not a deal breaker.

Google's helping a lot. But maybe Motorola T600 or T800 line (which run about $100 US/pair). Or are all of those inexpensive systems pretty crappy?

What do you all think?
 
I’ve never had stellar experiences with FRS/GMRS radios when distance was a concern. They’re great for smaller range coverage, but they just don’t hold up too well through multiple floors or outdoors over hills and through trees.

There are some lower-cost versions of the 4W and 5W business band radios, but YMMV. Even Baofeng and the like off Amazon have some knock-off versions of the Motorolas and Kenwoods, but I can’t speak to experience as to their reliability.

You might look at Midland or Eartec and some of their lower-cost business band 4W radios, about half the price (or less) of the CP200, and they seem to get decent reviews.

I don’t know, though… this seems to be one of those things where even a moderately-functional budget option isn’t a safe bet.
 
Jim Feeley said:
I don't own any walkies. Easy enough to rent around here. But for two long(ish) projects I'll need 3-4 for a long time. And you know, with the UNSTOPPABLE MARCH OF TECHNOLOGY, I'm hoping there are some decent low-cost(ish) options.

I'm looking for:
Rain proof (ish)
Drop proof (ish)
2 mile / 3 kilometer range (with sometimes a wall or two in the way. not super-busy urban areas, but also not flat wilderness)
Good battery life (10 hours for sure; 1.5-2 days preferred, mostly on standby)
Rechargeable (with power station if not standard recharging connector)
Good-enough audio quality
UHF/VHF I guess?
License requirement not a deal breaker.

Google's helping a lot. But maybe Motorola T600 or T800 line (which run about $100 US/pair). Or are all of those inexpensive systems pretty crappy?

What do you all think?
Click to expand...
Long time since I've bought any. Some years ago, I bought 12 of these:

eBay item: 225312320795

They were cheap, and are still working 100%. Replacement batteries can be had for a song. A variety of different headsets, full cover to the air pipe variety can be found for them. Also, if you are in a pinch, you can substitute the moulded factory pack with AA batteries if you have depleted your reserves. And after, must be at least 10 years, really can't complain about the price to performance. We've used them vehicle to vehicle, used them on sports, motor racing and entertainment shoots. Long downhill racing over a few miles they worked very well. Basically I bought them thinking if I can get a season out of them before they fail, that will do. Almost disposable at the price. But they keep on keeping on!

Chris Young

This is what they say about them:

"The Midland GXT-1000-VP4 boasts maximum power with X-TRA TALK, allowing for up to 36 miles Xtreme Range in optimal conditions (typically 2 miles or less in urban conditions). The GXT1000VP4 is a full-featured radio that includes everything you need! This value pack includes rechargeable batteries, a desktop charger with AC wall and DC vehicle adapter, and a pair of headsets with boom microphones.

The Midland GXT-1000 supports a total of 50 channels - 22 standard GMRS channels and 28 extra channels. Each standard channel supports 142 privacy codes.

The GXT-1000 is also a weather radio, with 10 NOAA weather channels and Midland's Weather Scan + alert technology. If severe weather is entering your area, the GXT-1000 can proactively alert you! Hands-free operation (with 9 sensitivity levels) is supported, and the hands-free feature is made simpler by the headsets included with this value pack! Other features include a vibrating alert, dual channel watch, selectable high, medium and low power modes, and channel scan. The GXT-1000 also has 10 call alerts, vibrate alert, and an SOS siren.

The GXT-1000 is JIS4 water-resistant and durable. This radio is designed to be used in all types of weather! The Midland GXT1000VP4 is also certified lead free. A 3-year warranty is also provided by the manufacturer on this model.

This Midland GXT-1000-VP4 value pack includes two Midland headsets with boom microphones, a two pocket desktop charger, two rechargeable batteries, two belt clips, and both home and vehicle charging adapter!"
 
I'm in the UK, but I sell a lot of radios, and hire them out. Motorola are popular, and often 'asked for', but the plain simple fact is that while they are tough and reliable, so are plenty of other brands. Distance is not a manufacturer based feature, but a physics one. Power output is not as meaningful as people assume. 10W is quite a bit better than 1W, but the difference between 8 Watts and 10 is hardly measurable. The two things that make a difference for range are that the horizon on flat land, or sea is only 4 miles or so, and radio waves travel in straight lines. So holding them up in the air can add a mile or two. In the pocket, range is shorter. There are differences between VHF and UHF, but pretty well nowadays on portables - range is about the same.

I've been selling and hiring cheaper radios, and Chinese ones are worth a look - even though many of the cheaper Motorolas come from the east now.

Have a look for Retevis RT29 and RT29D - these are very tough, very reliable and the batteries last a decent time. Never had a faulty one yet.

The US and the UK have similar legislation. The real cheap radios work on unlicenced and unprotected systems. Our PMR446, the US GMRS and FRS systems. Power output is capped and the disadvantage is that you can cause, and receive interference from others. Commercial radios operate in different bands and need proper licencing. Here you can choose what are known as technically assigned frequencies - allocated by the Government to give in busy cities, better resistance to interference by other users, and in my part of the country, no sharing channels at all. This costs £75 a year for the system (not per radio) or you can get a licence for a shared range of frequencies for £75 for 5 years - so not expensive.

The Retevis radios can have desk chargers or 6 way chargers, and the analogue versions are very cheap. A digital version is also available. While providing many extra gadgets and features, they also have the capability to cause interference to audio systems. The digital waveform is able to leak into unprotected systems more easily than analogue - a bit like when your phone makes that annoying burbling sound - interference wise.

All non GMRS/FRS/PMR446 radios need programming. Motorola seem very unhappy with allowing users access to the software. retevis software is free and easily available - so you can program radios yourself if you know what you are doing.

For my preference - the important features of a radio are weight, battery life between charges and the ability to work after you drop them. I look favourably on Motorola, Icom, Kenwood, Retevis and a small number of others. What do you get for the money? Not reliability any more - they're all good. You get extra facilities. Motorola and Kenwood have some very clever radio systems, but the others still have things you will never use.

There are a few new ideas on the go. Spread spectrum and long range - You can now buy radios that mesh together - every radio listens, and anything it hears, it forwards on. Taken to limits - if you had one radio down a straight road every 5 miles, and you had ten radios - the ones 50 miles apart could talk to each other. Or, if you have a smaller site where you have some dodgy locations - inside metal buildings, or perhaps areas with lots of metalwork - you get dead spots. Areas where no radio works properly. With these mesh systems, somebody in the dead area only has to get to the next radio to work perfectly.

That's a quick trip through radio differences. In practical terms, if you want just two or three radios, you can buy almost anything. Just buy proper brands. You will see baofeng radios everywhere. In the US, they're usually not approved for what we're talking about here. They actually work, but don't survive drops and have a zillion gadgets that mean a few random button presses stop them working, unless you understand how to put the settings back. people tell you they're rubbish - but you can get one for the price of a couple of happy meals! What do people expect?
 
I've had a couple of Blackbox Pocket radios for some years now, they can be programmed to work on the same bands as CP200's and they are so much smaller on my belt, I found them helpful for longer run jobs. I've never used their more typical long range radios, but have had a decent experience with the Pockets.

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I got offered the same radios Charles mentions with different branding, but turned them down because I simply don't have any Windows XP computers to program them with - Windows 10 and 11 certainly will not run the software. The sample they sent felt pretty decent in the hand and I would have bought them, but without modern software it's too risky.
 
paulears said:
I got offered the same radios Charles mentions with different branding, but turned them down because I simply don't have any Windows XP computers to program them with - Windows 10 and 11 certainly will not run the software. The sample they sent felt pretty decent in the hand and I would have bought them, but without modern software it's too risky.
Click to expand...
A friend gave me an old PC laptop to manage the programming software for those radios. I'm incredibly inefficient at anything Windows-based but I muddled through it. Hardly ideal though.
 
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