2-way radios on ship

[Pacha]

1) How well do they work?

2) Which ones work best?

3) On the ones that use AA batteries, how long do teh batteries last?



Pacha

 

[bnickle3]

....and used Cobra two-ways. They worked wonderfully for us. We put brand new batteries in them the night before leaving, and used them quite a bit, so changed the batteries three days later. They were not on the whole time; we were pretty good at remembering to turn them off when they weren't necessary. The set of two cost us about $25 from Best Buy.

Brenda

 

[DisneyKids]

We use the Motorola Talk Abouts and have had great luck, as well. We survived on one set of batteries each but I would have at least one back up set. Keep in mind, they do work well but if you are trying to reach someone on a different deck, end to end, ... you may have some difficulty (steel structure). This wasn't bad, at all, from our experience.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

The quoted battery life our radio's has was something like 20-30 hours (on, not in used) or about 2 hours talk time.

 

[disneylarsen]

Target has the ones with the Mickey design on sale for $29.00.
Has anyone had any experience with them?
Dawn

 

[Cap]

We used Motorola Talk Abouts. They worked fine for us, except when my wife "forgot" to turn the radio on. I brought the charging cradle and we just stuck them in the charger each night, so had no problems with batteries.

 

[dizmomof2]

We also had the moterola Talk abouts. They were amazing. The only trouble spot for us was in Studio Seas. I had a little trouble with static. We even used it when I was still on shore in Key West and my DH was in our cabin! We had 4 of them for a party of 6 adults. Everyone around was wishing they had them as I was able to quickly locate my party at any time.

We took the charging cradle and recharged them every night. No problems with them running out.

The Mickey shaped radios: Check how many channels they have. We had to change our channels because others were on it and the silly thing went off all the time!

 

[ZebraStripes]

I've got the Moterola Mickey ones. Haven't used them on the boat, but use them around house. Daughter has been 1/4 mile away in the woods and reception was very good.

 

[Pacha]

Which mtorola talkabout model were they? Saw that they have a few different ones.


Pacha

 

[Cruise04]

We used the Motorola's as well (can't remember the model) but they are the ones with subcodes so that we had "our own" channel. We would give one to our teen and then we had one and they were very handy to have. We could keep in contact and late at night as she was heading back to the room from Common Grounds she would call and let us know so that I knew she was on her way and would be walking by herself. Also gave her a sense of security should something happen (not that it would but it made her safe). There were a few times that we would be in the restaurants and she would try to reach us and we had some problems - also found problems reaching us in the internet cafe. We were on the aft side of the boat.

We also brought the chargers and just plopped them back in each night.

 

[DisneyKids]

The Mickey models have 14 channels and NO privacy codes so you "could" run into a conflict. I think all of the Motorola Models are similar as far as how well they will work. Ours have the 5 mile range, as well. Might work durning those few "static" times. But, to use those channels, you need an FCC license (US) and I have no idea how that would work at the various ports (non US). The 2 mile worked fine so we never worried about it.

 

[Pixie Mom 3]

Thanks for the great info we will be taking our motorola talk abouts on with us in March... I was a little worried about letting our kids 10&11 wonder about the ship with out us....

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Just don't rely on the radio's to insure that you stay in touch with the kids. There are too many things that can cause you to lose contact:
1. Someone changes to the wrong Channel/Code (get radios with the the feature that allows you to LOCK the Channel/Code).
2. Something can get in the way (being too many decks away and/or being on oppisite sides of the ship).
3. Batteries go dead (and no-one has noticed yet).
4. The volume accidently gets turned all the way down or the unit accidently gets turned off. How the volume changes and how to turn off the unit widely vary. Accidental turn-offs are best avoided with units in which a button must be held downs for a certain amount of time to turn it off. Accidental volume adustments are best avoided by units that change the volume by the press of a button, so it takes severel button presses to significantly change the volume).
5. Radio gets misplaced.

You need some alternate back-up plan (for example, kids should make sure to check-in at the top of every hour, if they can't reach you be radio at the top of the hour, then they should meet you at a designated spot).