gmrs-frs two-way radios

I bought 2 pairs of these radios because of their great price. They are built well, and are easy to use. All the features you would need, and they are more compact and powerfull than Motorola's. On the downside each set came slightly unadjusted, which caused them to squelch every 5 seconds. Midland handled it well by walking me through a simple process to readjust them over the phone. With the great features for the price I would buy them again.

Quality
I had these for about 2 weeks. Where shall I start: Maybe to say that they are very handy and the overall impression is that you have a rock solid product of quality in your hand. The manual that comes with it explanes everything clearly and in 10 min you are set to go. You've got all the options of connection external accessories, like intercom and Headset/Mic Jacks (VOX); which I personally don't need.

Manufacture defect - and how to fix it
I have to tell you though that this is already the second pair I got and the new ones I got had exactly the same defect like the first pair. The squelch of just one radio was adjusted too sensitive, so that it would turn itself one every few seconds without receiving a signal.
Because I didn't want to send the 2nd pair back, I call the TechService of Midland and they talked me through. Here is the simple procedure to adjust squelch sensitivity which worked perfectly well for me:
- Losen the 2 screws on the back of the radio and another 2 in the battery compartment
- pull off the on/off switch by simply pulling it vertically of and away from the radio (you don't have to twist)
- pull the back of the radio carefully off (don't rip off the wires that are connected to the front part)
- put the batteries back in the batterie compartment and turn the radio on
- in the middle of front part of the radio you will find 3 screws; the closest to the on/off switch is the one to adjust the squelch
- turn the screw slowly to find the spot where the squelch turns itself on (the point where the hissing sound turns on)
- from that point turn the srew 1/4 of a rotation clockwise
- Put everything back together and ... you are set.

Battery size and operating time
To me a more important aspect to consider is the kind of batteries you wanna use. I do have some other gadgets like a GPS, torches and a GameBoy ... wich all run on AA Batteries and I wanna stick with one kind of rechargeable batteries. I'm not very much of an electrician but I'm pretty sure that the 3xAA at 1.800mAh (NiMH) give you the edge over the 4xAAA at 700mAh (NiMH). On an camptrip I had them on for over 30 hrs at High Power, was talking regularly and they didn't give in. If it helps any they drain at 65 mha (for the electricians of you). The Battery extender you can forget about. You have to switch manually to 'low power' which reduces your transmitting range dramatically. But range is what you wanna have in the first place otherwise you would have bought yourself a FSR radio. So I don't see much use in it.

Transmission range
The most important category is the range to transmit and receive signals. The power they operate at is 2 watts, a considerable advandtage over the equaly solid build Motorolas at only 1 watt (only the more [spendy] Motor. operate at 2 w). I ran several test on them. The result is that in an urban area -me driving in a car between buildings and my wife in the house- we were able to communicate at a distance of 2mls. The same situation, only me in the car in the open field, it was about 4.5mls. The most impressiv performance though is in the straight line of sight. My friends on the campground and me in the car (w/o any external antenna attached to the radio), I couldn't believe my ears when I tried to contact them 6.8mls away and picked up strong and clear signals (all distances exactly measured by GPS). This proves that the company-claimed 7mls over sea is not exaggerated. The signal quickly deteriorates to under 2mls thought, when mountains are in between.

Price and recommendation
Finally the price: I'm absolutely sure that you won't find any better for this price. I would ever buy 'em again even considering the minor factory defect.

Everything I wrote about this unit one year ago is true, just that they are not built to last. I used them every other weekend while I was riding my ATV. OK lot's of shaking and dust but still I had expected them to last a bit longer. First the clip, than the speaker button - both of them fell literally apart.
Hard to find a quality unit. Other manufactures are not any better. I do believe that those FSR and GMRS units are generally built cheap. O.K. considering the price you still might wanna give'em a shot.