**5** mile 2-way radios?

[wheeler]

Somewhere I've seen FRS radios that supposedly have a **FIVE MILE** range, as opposed to the usual 2-mile range. I think this would be a HUGE benefit (you could be at different parks and still talk to each other!) They were not Motorola, but looked very similar and they were around $70 per pair. Has anyone had, or heard of any experience with these ones? I think it would be worth the extra $$ for a 5-mile range.

 

[Poohnatic]

I bought the Motorola 5 mile radios for Christmas (40 each at Target). We tried them out before our trip in Feb and got a 3.5 mile range in hilly terrain. My kids, unfortunately, liked playing with them and lost one in the disaster area of my house! We picked up an Audiovox 5 mile range (30 bucks at the super wal mart in Kissimmee) and used that with the one motorola...it worked pretty good.

I found that when I walked up to Melody Hall to get stuff, once inside the building, we couldn't communicate, but other than that, it worked well. My suggestion for anyone with these is to get the earpieces-sometimes it's hard to hear what is being said when it's clipped to your pants!

Ironically enough, my husband decided a few weeks ago that he wanted the upgrade on my cell plan and now we've got free mobile to mobile, kind of making the FRS's useless for now. When my kids are a little older, we'll end up using them within our community.

Suzanne

 

[tink2dw]

The best 2 way radio's I have found are the Disney Themed ones!! We bought them as a pair at Best Buy for $39.00.

We used them at DL. They worked great!! I had rented an Offsite ECV, which I had to drive from our hotel on Katella thru the side Entrance thru the parking lot to the wheelchair ramp, while Dh and Dd took the car to the main Entrance and parked near the ramp where I was. This was in about a 6 to 8 block area with tall structures around and we could keep in contact.

I don't think they would reach from park to park at WDW though.

This weekend we used them at a Log home Show from the RV in the parking lot to the inside of expo center and they worked very well. Even thru the building!!

But what does knock them out is electrical stuff like Traffic lights.

 

[idontknow]

A word of warning........if you are talking about the GMRS radios, you will need a lisence to use the GMRS channels. When I bought ours at Best Buy, they called Uniden infront of me and wrote down the spacifics for the radios. They said that it would be $75 for a 5 year lisence. Now, they did not tell me what channels were GMRS, so we've been using all of them.

 

[Poohnatic]

The motorola's have 22 channels--the first 14 are FRS, the remaining 8 require the license. I haven't gotten around to getting the license yet, but it's not a problem...DH's and I tend to use channels in the lower 14.

Suzanne

 

[wheeler]

Poohnatic,
So the 5-mile range ones can be used at no extra "liscencing" cost on the first 14 channels, and still work for 5 mile distances (approximately)? Now, do they have subchannels? Because in my opinion, the 14-channel-no-subchannel radios are useless at MK & EPCOT especially....there are constantly people on all 14 frequencies 24 hours a day. The subchannel makes a huge difference.

 

[addie]

Boes anyone know for sure if they work from the parks to the resorts?

 

[megaelch]

we have used the 5 mile radios this march but usually you get only a decent contact within one park... with all the buildings and radio services Disney uses it was not possible to talk from OKW to Epcot as an example ( od DTD ).
So if you plan to use them to stay in contact within one park they are great and we did use them all the time, but for anything else you might want to use cellphones !!

Stephan

 

[tink2dw]

The Disney themed 2 way radios have 14 channel with 38 subchannels so you only hear your own conversaions. We only had break throughs 2 in 7 days. That was because the radios were really really close to one another.

Here is a link that shows all 3 types of Disney 2 way radios
And on sale for $34.99 !!
http://commerce.motorola.com/consum...Monthly&cm_pla=PrivateSale&cm_ite=PrivateSale

 

[Poohnatic]

The motorola has 38 subchannels. The audiovox has more, however, that was a desperation purchase. We were able to communicate in the car from over by Fantasia Gardens back to the All Stars. That was probably the furthest we tried the whole week.

Suzanne

 

[ncbyrne]

We have Motorola T6400 Talkabouts (GMRS 5 mile range). They work really well within one park, but we couldn't get reception from park to park or from park to resort. Had break thrus 2 times. And the funny part was that the other people using that channel had the same name!

 

[addie]

tink2dw,

On the website it says that: "Designed to fit comfortably in small hands, the Motorola Disney FRS two-way radios are perfect for families with children ages 6-12."

We will have 6 adults, do you think these are two small for adult, do you feel like you are holding a kids toy?

Also, were the calls, and Rogers, loud enough that you could hear them while you were walking through the park or in some rides?

Thanks!