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Ergonomically, they feel very good in your hand, and have decent battery life. The radios are VERY intuitive and easy to use, and have excellent receiver sensitivity and Xmit range. A steal at the current price. I've been a longtime Ham Radio, shortwave, and scanner enthusiast, and have owned many many handheld transceivers throughout the years, including 5 pairs of GMRS/FRS radios. I've owned this set now for a few months, and they work better than more expensive sets I own.
In an urban environment, you are lucky if you can get one or two miles. The device consumes different amount of current during different operation modes, as shown below:- While transmitting: 400mA- While receiving: 50-100mA (depending on volume level)- While idling: around 15mA.If you do a lot of transmission, a set of alkaline cells is likely to run flat in less than two hours (because alkaline cells are very inefficient at high current). They are also very inexpensive (around $20 for a pair), so one may think of them as just toys for kids, But in fact they can be used by kids and adults alike - provided that you start with the correct expectation.First of all, forget about the manufacturer's claim of '12-mile' range.
The manufacturer claims an average battery life of '20 hours'. My advice is to buy some good quality rechargeable cells, such as the Kodak AAA NiMH 850 mAh, to power those radios. But again, this is under a s[ecial test condition of '5/5/90', which means 5% transmit, 5% receive, and 90% idle time.
Those Uniden GMR1235-2 2-way Radios are so compact, you can easily hold both in one hand (see my Customer Image). The sound quality is quite decent - similar to an AM radio.Next, this thing is a battery-eater if you use disposable alkaline cells (three AAA per radio). That way, not only will you save money on batteries, you can even get longer run time per charge.
That is only possible under the most optimistic test condition (transmitting from one hill top to another with clear line-of-sight). With this limited range in mind, this walkie talkie set can still be very useful in many places (such as in a National Park, or a large shopping mall).
Only negative was that there is no built in chargers. I haven't tested at long distances since I primarily used it when we were travelling on a cruise ship (where you can't use cellphones). Only takes regular batteries. These are great for the price. sound is pretty clear.
I would recommend children two way radios for this as the power from Matel products seem to last longer I tried alternative batteries but the power just burns through in 10 minutes.However this is fun for the kids as an interactive game. to install batteries you need to have strength or an adult withstrong figures to pull the back off. Once the batteries in, the power does not last more than 10 minutes using AA duracel.
We do get some interruption on occassion, but we are quick to change channels. These work great - we use them to communicate with the guys in our warehouse.
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