Midland 50 Channel Waterproof GMRS Two-Way Radio – Long Range Walkie Talkie with 142 Privacy Codes, SOS Siren, and NOAA Weather

10 reviews for Midland 50 Channel Waterproof GMRS Two-Way Radio – Long Range Walkie Talkie with 142 Privacy Codes, SOS Siren, and NOAA Weather

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Don Lance – 07/02/2022

   Very good radios, but be aware about battery limitsI have used these radios for over a year now on several different trips. Most have been weekend outdoor trips away from any recharging options, and also 1 week-long trip in which the radios were used daily but with the ability to occasionally recharge.I am very happy with the quality of these radios. They are well-made, the audio quality is very good, and the features cover almost everything that a “normal” GMRS/FRS user would need. Also note that they are not repeater-capable, but most “normal” users probably don’t care about using repeaters. (These are radio-to-radio “simplex” only.) They have performed well even in some heavy wilderness areas. Of course range depends on your line-of-sight environment factors, but in general you can get 2-3 miles on average (longer if you have less obstructions).Please note that to use these radios with the GMRS channels (that is, to transmit and communicate with others over GMRS at 5W), you need to get a GMRS license. As there is no test and the price recently dropped to $35, this should not be a problem. But if you don’t have one, add this to the cost of the radios and get it first before the radios.There are 2 things that I haven’t been happy about and it’s the reason I dropped my rating to 4 stars. First, the instructions to use and how to setup for use are rather complicated. The instruction manual that comes with it isn’t written in a way to make it easy to understand, so you will be reviewing and experimenting with it for a while. The menus on the radios can take a while to learn because there are many settings that can be confusing.The second issue is the battery life and charging options. Battery life seems to be “maybe” 8-16 hours depending on how much you use it and what power you are using (L/H). The battery indicator on the radio really doesn’t work… it will say full charge and then will suddenly drop in a few minutes when the battery is almost depleted. When the battery is dead, your options are to place the radio back into the charger or replace with another fully charged battery. And you can’t re-charge that depleted battery while using the radio with the new battery, because the battery MUST be in the radio to recharge! There is no separate charger for JUST a battery. So a “battery rotation recharge plan” is not an option with these radios.This won’t be a problem for most day trips and when you have the ability to recharge the radios at the end of each day. But an extended multi-day trip with limited or no recharge options is a problem unless you have a few fully charged extra batteries on-hand. Note you can use multiple AA batteries as a backup and these last longer… but the radio’s power will drop from 5W to 2W with AA’s and so this will limit your range.For one multi-day trip I placed the radios in the charger with the car adapter while traveling to keep them charged up. I also had them turned on in the charger for occasional communication while traveling, and it seemed to work. I’m not sure if that’s best for these radios, but it did work during the trip with no ill effects.So overall — I think these are great radios for day trips for “normal” people and I would buy them again for that purpose. If you require radios for an extended multi-day trip with limited or no recharge options, you may need to reconsider these or purchase extra batteries. A really good option would be if Midland could provide a separate charger for ONLY the batteries without requiring the battery to be inserted in the radio to recharge.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Nozama – 01/31/2014

   awesomeI think these have good features for a ‘bubble pack’ FRS/GMRS-only radio, I can’t speak for the long term quality or reliability because I have not owned them long or used them much. I initially got another set that barely transmitted – so I had to return those, but the replacements I got are working good.Unless you have a nice ham HT that you like, I personally think everyone should have a pair of these:*they have the ~highest power that bubble pack radios have*the charger can plug into a house outlet or it can plug into a car 12v plug (if the power went out you could recharge these radios via your car 12v plug and keep them running for about a week or so I figure)*they can plug into a house outlet with the battery removed so you can keep it on listen/scan mode all the time around the clock without worry of overcharging/overheating the battery, great for neighborhood watch/security use*bubble packs in general are so easy to use anyone can use them without any learning curve*they run off 4 AA alkaline batteries as well as the Ni-MH rechargeable battery*they seem to run off 4 AA Ni-MH rechargable batteries as well, I tested it quick but did not do extensive testing so don’t quote me on this*you can use headsets with themThey have 3 power settings (low, med, hi), low is .5 Watt, so I’m assuming med is at least 1 W and hi is at least 1.5 W, but I’m not sure exactly, I think hi might be 2W, it could be more or less than that, I’m just guessing. But it’s probably about the highest power that any of the ‘bubble pack’ FRS/GMRS-only radios offer. The antenna is longer than some other ‘bubble pack’ radios, I think for the FRS/GMRS frequencies it needs about 6-inches minimum, so any radios with those real short antennas are not going to have as much range.It comes with Ni-MH battery packs but they’re only 700 milliamp hours (which only lasts ~14 hours with just listening & no transmitting), but you can use 4 AA alkaline batteries for somewhat longer lasting battery charge time (at least twice based on what I read on the internet). I wish it was designed to work with AA rechargeable batteries, I tried putting 4 AA rechargeable batteries in it and it did work, it transmitted well at least 3/4 mile, but I did not test it extensively so I can’t guarantee anything because the rechargeable batteries put out less voltage than regular Alkaline batteries.The radios will work while simultaneously being recharged on the charger. Also, you can put them on the charger with the battery removed and they still work, they work on AC power alone with no battery installed, so you can leave it on 24/7 plugged into the wall without overcharging the batteries. The charger/docking base is not an “intelligent” charger so it doesn’t automatically know when the batteries are done charging so you have to manually unplug it when you think it’s done charging. I don’t really know how long to charge the batteries for, the AC adapter puts out 300ma & 9 Volts, which the charger base converts to 225ma & 12+ Volts so theoretically it should take about 3 hours to fully charge one (700mah divided by 225mah = 3.11 hours) or 6 hours to fully charge two at the same time, but the instructions say 12 hours (referring to charging two at the same time I’m sure), so I reckon it takes less than the recommended 12 hours. Just thinking, you could plug it into one of those ‘lamp timers’ so you wouldn’t have to remember when to unplug it. It has a battery life indicator on the display and when the battery is low it beeps periodically.These radios have a scan feature but it takes a full 15 seconds for it to scan through all 50 channels, so you might miss a transmission if it were short. It will also scan just 2 channels of your choosing (called “dual watch”). Channels 23-50 are for Midland brand radios only, they really just reuse channels 1-22 but with hard coded ‘privacy’ tones, so they’re not really extra channels per se, as one could use one of the 22 real channels with any chosen ‘privacy’ code and that would be the same functionality. I wish it did not even have these “extra channels” because it makes the scan feature take a long time.I understand why ham operators should have a license – so everyone knows what they’re doing and is not being annoying to others, but as far as GMRS channels (15-22) requiring a license I personally think it’s just another tax. Channels 1-7 are license-free at .5W, but require a license to use up to 5W, these Midland radios will work at hi power on these channels even though you’re supposed to have a license, although I don’t think anyone could technically be able to tell if you were using more than .5W or not. Channels 8-14 are license-free and .5W only, these Midland radios will only work at lo power on these channels. Channels 15-22 require a license and you can use up to 50W with other high powered radios. I do understand why there are low-power-only channels (8-14), so that people that don’t need anymore than .5W will have less traffic/congestion.As far as range goes, on hi power, I tested them to go 1.5 miles, with clear reception, it may have been working further than that but it started to cut out shortly beyond that distance. On low power the only test I did was at 3/4 mile and it did work well but there was some static in the background. I tested them on a winding road with mostly flat terrain and lots of trees & fields. One radio was inside my car while driving, and the other was inside my house at desk level.I recommend either these Midland radios and/or an inexpensive ham HT (handheld transceiver) radio for my neighborhood watch group. I like the idea of a ham HT such as one of the Baofeng or Wouxun models for their higher power (~4 W) and better antennas and better transceiver quality and additional ham frequency bandwidths. I want to be able to have them plugged into an electrical outlet 24/7 around the clock so I’m going to buy a “battery eliminator” accessory and an AC to DC power supply. I wouldn’t simply leave the ham HT radio on the charger with a battery in it, it might eventually overheat.

3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   bargain hunter – 12/11/2022

   works with our neighborhood CERT teamThese radios were recommended by our neighborhood CERT (community emergency response team) for use during emergencies and loss of the electric grid and telephone or cell service. The transmit is decent, although neighborhoods can have a lot of interference vs. straight line-of-sight, so don’t expect it to range as far as the spec’s say. The battery power is great, lasts a long time on a full charge. The radio has a lot of capability and therefore is a bit complex to operate/understand unless you’re using it a lot (which I don’t, but at least I have it tuned to our CERT-agreed frequency). One complaint is the user manual has very small print. You can find a PDF online, but if you’re on the go, you’ll want the pocket sized manual with you.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Angelo – 11/30/2022

   Great Distance in the woods and clearI am using these radios for hunting season and so far, they are great. I get about 1.2 to 1.5 miles out of them in the woods. I am very pleased at the range and clarity. I also like the sub channels that you can program so you can talk without others cross talking on the same channel. I tried the Motorola Talkabout T465 Two-Way Radio 2-Pack Before I bought these. The Motorola’s did not reach out far enough for me so returned them and bought these instead. I am glad I did. They are more powerful and reach out to where I need them to. I don’t use the earpiece and mic that came with them so I can’t say how they work or fit. I did try one on but its not very comfortable. But I don’t use the earpiece and mic anyway. The charger is great. You can use the charge bay or just use the USB cable to charge one. I like the charge bay best. A+ for me.

5. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Sam – 12/08/2022

   Good for backup useWorks just like a normal walkie-talkie, so it’s super easy for new users to learn. Range in my testing (typical American suburb area) was about 1 mile using GMRS channels and high power setting

6. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   bengia abo – 08/01/2014

   Not because it is the best among 2 way radiosthis is second purchase of this model. Not because it is the best among 2 way radios, but because the price is reasonable. Don’t expect to obtain a military grade set at this price.Pros: good looks, sturdy, battery life (others complained but i find it long lasting), lots of features (i havent explored many of them yet), good price.Cons: Electric AC adaptor went kaput on the first day of use. On request Amazon redirected me to the seller site which told me that the return period was over and that there is no way they can provide me with spares, even though i offered to buy one. I am using the car charger now, and it is working fine. This is what compelled me to buy a second set, all for the sake of obtaining an AC adapter. Range is nowhere near what they promised, but like i said you cant expect a military grade or professional grade 2 way radio at this price.

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Cliente de Amazon – 02/21/2020

   Muy buen productoSupero mis espectativas, se escucha muy bien, los uso en distancias cortas, no mas de 1/2 kilometro, en ciudad y con edificios de por medio y no tiene ningun problema, por el precio es muy recomendable. El paquete esta muy completo, sobretodo poderlo cargar en el coche, aunque la bateria le dura bastante tiempo.

8. 

   Rated 1 out of 5

   sathisha v – 07/16/2014

   helpfull informationworst experience with this particular model with in four days it got a issue in switch i mean to say it was not getting on and from day one it got a issue in battery so i requested to refund the money .amazon responded to ma refund request so quickly i was so happy i love to shop in amazon and i got ma money back with in 3 to 4 days im so much great full to amazon we love you .

9. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Xochitl Martinez – 10/06/2018

   Bienson buenos cumplen con su objetivo tienen varios canales de comunicación, traen audífonos cargador y accesorios para cargarlos en el carro, lo único malo que la batería no dura mucho.

10. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Juan Pedro castellanos – 12/21/2022

    Excelente equipoEscelente equipo, se nota la calidad que te ofrece la marca, el único inconveniente es que las baterías recargables de fábrica no son de un mayor tiempo de uso.