Motorola T9500XLR 25-Mile 2-Way Radio Pair
by Motorola
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List Price: Our Price: $19.95 You Save: $60.04 (75%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Car Audio or Theater See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Motorola T9500XLR 25-Mile 2-Way Radio Pair
Customer Review: Looking for range? This will disappoint you.
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Motorola says these radios have a range of up to 2 miles in a dense urban setting. I'd say that's true if "up to 2 miles" means anything from one inch to 2 miles. We tested this in a variety of situations. First we used our home area, a typical suburban neighborhood with no structure taller than 2 stories. The signal was strong at one-tenth of a mile. At two-tenths of a mile, the signal started breaking up but was usable. By three-tenths of a mile the signal was gone.
Then we tested it at a small lake here in beautiful upstate New York. Motorola claims up to 10 miles on a flat, unobstructed surface like a lake. One of us stood on the lakefront and the other drove around to the other side of the lake, which is about eight-tenths of a mile across. The signal was clear and strong. We then tried the wide ends of the lake, two miles across. The signal was still clear and just a little less strong. I can't vouch for the 10-mile range, but I can give a strong thumbs up for 2 miles. We thought about trying the 25-mile test (illustrated as one on a mountaintop and the other down in a valley with no obstructions between them), but we would have had to drive to a location more than 50 miles away and we're trying to conserve gasoline.
As others have written, the interface leaves a little to be desired. Most but the simplest controls were not intuitive. I had to read the instructions, but that's not the worst thing in the world.
Others here have suggested favorable settings for good reception. The radios serve their purpose in those settings, I guess. I'd have to give this a mixed result--any kind of obstruction seems to cause a severe decrease in range.
Customer Review: 25 miles?????? Please
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
These walkie talkie's are ok if you don't read the front of the package or the descripion.
The good things about these radio's are that they are well built and they feel good in my hand and they even come with a spare pair of bright yellow faceplates.
Second, they have a nice clip on the back to clip onto your pants or where ever you want and comes off with a push of a button so that you can slip it into your pocket easily.
They also have the NOAA weather radio station where that guy with the monotone voice can tell you if you need to put the awning in on your RV before you go to bed.
From what I can tell that's about the extent of the good things. Right on the front of the package they claim that these radio's will work 25 miles from each other. In the directions it also explains why the radio's might NOT work. In fact it goes into great detail about towers and signals interferring. I live in a rural community of about 18,000 and my husband and I tried it in several places in town just to give the radio's a fair chance. There are no skyscrapers here. We also tried to get the radio's to work in the mall in Dallas and around the corner at my parent's house. No go. 2 miles was about as far as it would transmit. We even tried them out at our farm and it's so far out in the country we can't even get cable. 2 miles.
If all you want to do is talk to your spouse while he's backing the RV up then these are the radio's for you. That's about all I want them for.
Customer Review: "25-Mile" can be misleading
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Although I am pretty tech savvy, this is definitely one of those products where you really need to read the manual (but don't worry, it's not that big) to understand all the menus and functions.
If you're not familiar with radios like me, the whole 22 channels can also be confusing. Whatever you do, you don't want to be on the default channel 0 because that's pretty much where anyone can interfere.
The 25-mile* can definitely be misleading. If you're in a urban area, the most you can get is actually 2 miles.
By holding the + (with the cloud image next to it) for 3 seconds, you can tune into the NOAA weather service.
One thing I wish it had is if both parties end up pressing the talk button at the same time, it should make some sort of special beep/notification to tell that they're both being cut off. With radios, unlike cellphones, you can't talk simultaneously. However, the good thing is that you don't have to say "Roger" after you finish talking because the other party will hear a beep after you let go of the talk button.
These radios aren't anything revolutionary, but for what it is and the price, it is decent. The battery charger is definitely a plus.
Pros:
- Fits in pocket.
- Comes with rechargeable batteries and charging dock for charging both radios simultaneously.
- Vibration
- Scan for channels
- Hands free operation (iVOX)
Cons:
- 2 miles max in urban areas.
Customer Review: Range overstated
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Wow! 25 miles! You see this on the packaging and you think all is going to be great. Well, in suburban/urban environments, it's more like 2 miles or less. Now that's not bad, but better off bringing your cell phone when possible..
After about a mile, things garble up on both ends. I didn't experience interference on any channels, so perhaps the filtering channels were doing their job, but I didn't test these out in a resort area either. The menu system (UI) also takes a bit of getting used to. You've got to push a bunch of buttons to change channels and such. The button placement is good and the size of the radios are reasonable. Rechargeable batteries that are included are fine, though charging time is 10+ hours, a bit high even for modern day NiMH. Li-ion would probably raise the cost significantly. Also, no hands-free accessories are included like similar packages (adding about $20 the cost if you need to pair), though there is supposedly an iVox function (works like a baby monitor.)
Better off sticking with cheap FRS radios here if you just need short distances, and then there's no need for the GMRS licensing (though I'm assuming most people go without this, but technically you're supposed to pay $85 to the FCC.)
Customer Review: Terrible range.
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
RANGE TEST: The effective range of this device is far worse than it claimed. I got about half a mile before it started dropping off and only transmitted gibberish. About 3/4 mile and it stopped transmitting altogether. Switching channels did not improve anything. I guess if you use it within the same building then it could be very effectie. As a matter of fact, I have seen people used them in a Chninese retaurant and it worked really well for them.
So depend on what you need it for. But don't think you can use it for more than half a mile.
I will update this review as I test other features.