Best GMRS radio?

C

Creek Henry

New member
Now that my son and young nephew hunt with us I need to keep in touch with them in the field. I"ve used some frs radios before but haven't been thrilled with them. A little more range would be nice so gmrs seems the way to go.

Any reviews.
 
I use a Garman rino 530HCx. Yes they are expensive but it does GPS and has your maps and is a radio too plus you can sync them so everybody has the same maps and you can see where each of you is on the map....,plus you can see where anyone else is using the same series unit. I have had mine for a few years so it no longer is the current model but still compatable.



https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/handheld/rino-650t/prod521048.html
 
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Make sure youi know the range of the radio in the area that you will be. That's especially important with mountalins !
 
All the published ranges are wildly exaggerated. If you were stood on a mountain top looking across a lake to another mountain top with a clear LOS & perfect atmospheric conditions then they might be valid.
You'll also need an FCC License to use GMRS & that ain't cheap!

Having said that I've been impressed with the Midland GXT650, which I've been using for a few years.
Good:
Range (not 25 miles but I did get almost 8 in wooded hilly country).
Display
Keyboarding ability.
features (including Low power FRS channels)
Runs on either its own rechargeable battery pack or "AA" non-rechargeable batterys.
(It will run on "AA" rechargeable too, but the low battery warning is always on).
Came with accessories like car & A/C chargers, earbuds, mic boom earbuds & so on.

Not so good:
Vox is slow
Speaker is small & fairly quiet.
Belt clip is weak, (But removable)
MENU button is too easy to hit accidentally.
A bit gimmicky (animal call call alert tones) & so on.

Accessorys are available including boom mike/ headset witch is hands free, or my preference a "surveillance mike earbud" which is way better IMO.

(Image is (C) wogpotter 2013)
DSCF1013_zps89e2d2ac.jpg
 
I don't recall a GMRS license being particularly expensive.

All of the packaged, dedicated GMRS radios are about the same, power-wise.
The Baeofeng UV5 series radios are small, cheap, and are higher power than the packaged units. You would have to program in your GMRS frequencies and tones. You can also program in National Weather Service freqs and local ham radio freqs in case of emergencies. Check Ebay. They are about $35 each. There are other UHF business radios available that are programmable for GMRS.
Higher power means (a little) more range. Good antennas and higher vantage points mean (a lot) more range.
 
8 miles is pretty good, and depends on line of sight: If you're a mile apart separated by a big ridge, you may not hear your son.

They will run 25+ miles if you're both top of mountain tops that are 25 miles apart.

They are all limited power, and unlike CB radio, it's hard to find an amplifier for them. For about the same price you could get a HAM license and go to more power in a friendlier band, likely some that have repeaters.

But if you're getting 8 miles, you doing better than 90% of the other users.
 
Yes, it was way better than a hand held CB (with a "5-mile range") that I used the previous year in the same area.;)

That, in all honesty is how I rate them, if CB gives me say 1 mile & GMRS gives me 8 its better. Neither will usually live up to the "factory best case" spec.
 
Noice

Nice..
But I got a package deal on 2 5watt Midlands for $80. We'll see how they work. If they are a fail, I may go the vhs license way. Hopefully this set will last with my son using them LOL
 
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