ok, my two way radios died

[tiptoen]

Getting ready for our cruise I was checking my radios. They seam to be dead. I really didn't like these anyway. Audiovox GMRS. I had another set of cobras before that was only FRS and they worked better.
My question is what radios are you happy with as I am on the search for new ones before we leave for the Raddison Saturday?
Tip

 

[MarkRG]

We have the Disney ones they are cute, the only negative about them is they are bigger than most. But I kind of like that. They do have the one feature you want to make absolutely sure whatever one you get has: descreet channel! Not only the 14 frs channels, but you'll have programmable 'descreet channels' that will block out crosstalk from anyone else. Otherwise you'll be very lucky to get much of anything understandable across.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Ours didn't work very well on the ship, especially on the inner part of it. It worked good at WDW and on the outside of the ship. I should have saved my $$$ for something else....Just my two cents.

 

[MarkRG]

That IS one thing to keep in mind, the ship is mostly made out of metal and will cut down distance reception the deeper you are inside. The limit for ours was about the Atrium(deck 4,midship) to Topsiders(deck 9, aft) That would improve say if I was out on the veranda(deck 6 aft) it could then reach to Deck 9 forward. However, on Castaway Cay they would reach from the Family beach to the Adult beach.

And my personal opinion after using products by all three brands would be in this order:

Best - Motorola or Disney(Motorola makes 'em)
Ok - Audiovox
Beyond Bad- Cobra

And remember to look for the private/descreet channel feature!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Ditto MARKRG... No reception from ESPN sports bar to our 7000 level stateroom.....and I swear it was on!!! LOL

 

[tiptoen]

My first radios were FRS only Panasonics. They worked fairly well on the ship except for a couple of places. On our last trip I upgraded to GMRS because of the supposed extra power. As I said the Panasonics worked better than the higher powered and higher priced Audiovox radios. I still like the idea of having radios and was wondering if any brands and models were better than others. I can't find the Panasonics I had before or I would just buy another pair of them.

 

[Grumbo]

WE have the Motorola FRS with the side channels on top of the regular channels. Best for privacy.
They were on sale for approx $44 U.S. per pair and gave decent reception from the 2nd deck stateroom to most of the ship. Also good on Castaway Cay and WDW.
Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[MarkRG]

A small note the Disney ones are FRS.


Here's a link: Motorola website link.


And one thing to remember it's not just vertical but horizontal distance that counts here- straight up you are lot closer then at opposite ends of the ship. I would no more expect a radio on deck 2 forward to work to deck 9 aft than a radio from the ground to top deck of 50 story skyscraper. It is straight line communication and the amount of ship between you is a lot greater horzontally than vertically.

 

[Padre Disney]

ours didn't work very well on the ship either and they worked even worse after my son dropped one down the stairs at the Key West lighthouse.

 

[Dean]

You should be able to get the 5 mile Motorola one for around $45 each or so (without rechargeable) or the cobra ones for that or less with the recharger and batteries. I've seen both the 5400 and 6400 Motorola's at Office depot for that price range (may have been after rebate though) and the 5200 for $25 each. I suspect it was the radio quality and not the range that caused the problem noted above. Still with so much metal, don't expect them to work everywhere on a cruise ship.

 

[lbgraves]

Their Disney & Cobras went 75% a couple days ago. I have a Disney set that I would offer to send you that I got at 50% but DH doesn't think we need them. I don't think they would get to you in time though.