Motorola TalkAbout T5720 5-Mile 22-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Pair)

• Set of 2 AA battery-powered TalkAbout radios with accessories
• 5-mile range, 22 channels, 38 privacy codes
• 10 audible call tones, talk-confirmation tone
• Audible low-battery alert and battery meter
• Voice activation (VOX) when used with optional accessory

Okay...forget what you've heard. FRS/GMRS is very limited range. You 'might' get 3-5 miles over water or open terrain, but typically much less. 1/2 mile is quite typical for ANY 500mw, 1 or even 2 watt radio. Due to the small antenna, wattage is not much help. In fact your position is the key factor, not power! Other external factors can effect range, which is why one person can't get range, while another can. Here in Queens, NY I get 1/2 to 1 mile. My friend's radios get the same. Over water on my sailboat I get MUCH more range and that's what I wanted them for. The range advantage using GMRS is small, compared to my set of regular FRS radios.

Included nicads are nice but a bit tough to get out when you want to switch to standard batteries. The charger allows you to charge just the nicads...nice. The display is hard to read when you look directly at it for some reason. Angle the unit and it's fine. These are not the smallest units around, but fit well in an adult hand and appear to be sturdy. Overall, very good units at this price point.

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I have lots of experince with 2-way radios. I bought a 0.5W T5200 model long itme ago and it was a great radio. Then I lost it and got the expensive T5820 (1Watt), which was a very bad choice (see my review on it). I gave Motorola one last chance, and got the new T5720 recently (1 Watt). Great Radio. Works well, small, easy to operate, good price and superb sound quality (unlike the T5820). Go for it.

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This is my first radio, I bought it last week. Used it over the long weekend in Lake George, NY. It was really useful to talk to my friend to find parking or ordering food. As cell phone coverages was not good as you go 3 to 4 mile north from village, this radio helped us a lot. I bought a AA battery model because I have bunch of NiMH (not NiCd) rechargable batteries (used for my digital camera). NiMH is FAR Superior than NiCd batteries.

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This product works very well if used in the manner in which it was designed.

Boaters, this is not a marine radio, and don't expect the Coast Guard, Sea Tow, or even other boats to be monitoring these channels. Today's marine VHF radios are small enough for even a Jet-Ski or the smallest dinghy and have appropriate waterproofing.

If you want to cover a farm, country club or large industrial or office park, spend the extra money on a proper business radio. Also, wherever possible, a vehicle-mount (truck, tractor, golf cart) radio with the right antenna will reach much farther and sound much better than anything hand-held.

Who should buy this radio? Skiers and snowboarders, bicyclists, hikers, campers, hunters, any groups of people who may tend to get separated beyond shouting range. Video production, stage and ligthting crews who can find this a low-cost, easy-to-use substitute for Clear-Com systems. Obviously they will need to use headsets to keep the sound from getting into the audience or audio track, and those who need to keep their hands free, like video camera operators will prefer the VOX headset. It would have been nice if they sold these as a package, which would be cheaper than buying them separately.

This type of signal is by nature for line-of-sight transmission only, and not like CB, and will not go around large mountains or "skip" like lower-frequency radio signals.

This radio is built ruggedly with the kind of quality we got familiar with on the older, bulkier Talkabouts. As for the menus, I would suggest you keep the manual close at hand until you get the hang of navigating though the commands. I like the pushbutton-release belt clips.

I bought the NiCd version of these radios, which Amazon also sells, and it came with a handy charging stand and works well as long as you remember to charge it up before using. :-) Those of you who choose the AA-powered version would be well-advised to get a nice set of NiMH batteries and charger, even though Amazon has great prices on alkaline batteries.

Overall, this radio is very worthwhile and satisfactory.

I bought this to communicate with friends for a cruise in Mexico. They did not work well on the ship, at all. Basically you had to be 50 feet away for them to work.

Even in Mexico, while on land, they were not very good.