When choosing two way radios for the freeriding we need to look on these properties such as range, battery life, size, weight, handsfree option, waterproof and durability. Mentioned range is the one of the aspect which we will be interesting in. The range is different when using european and american radios. European radio communication agree to use radios in free range which is free of charge PMR 466Mhz with output power max 0,5 watt, unlike from american where are 2 watts and their frequency is different working on 462MHz, so they don’t cooperate with european PMRs and you can not combine europeans and US’s radios. So these radios are not allowed to be marketed.

So why choosing american two way radios? Even if european sellers offering range 6 km before 3 km you need to relise that the change had to be done in another way then inceasing the output because of the limit 0,5 watt which could not have been exceeded. Selecting americans radios is the right choice. US radios with output 2 watts and more can offer range from 12 miles up to 26 miles and more. In spite of the range decripted in the manual you can’t caunt on it coz in a city or any other overbuiled areas the range is decreasing rapidly up to 80%! On the other hand in mountain conditions we were positively surpised in a long distance for example when one rider was still on the mountain and the other one on a freeway heading home. All this mean to take these informations with caution. This range statement has been measured in ideal conditions like no rain, mist, snowing on a flat surface etc.Ok, so now finally to the test but only to the specifications which are offered from all the sellers in the test. All radios have 22 channels where every channel has 99 subchannels, vibra call, melody ringing, handsfree opportuniy, illuminated display, QT minimalization of interference, keyboard lock, NiMH charger which you can replace with AAA or AA batteries. For our test we have selected 3 we tested US radios in which we describe their properties and summarize the good and bad. The radios are Motorola and Midland.

As a first radio in our hands was Motorola Talkabout® T5950. The first impression was perfect. Small size fits in your hand was one of the aspect what we liked on the first sight. With the batteries we did not have the same feeling so we replace NimH blocks for AA batteries.   The range in a city or any other overbuiled areas was very weak and fell down to 80%. How was already mentioned if you are in a city or in a building don’t caunt on range more than 1 km. That is why we were  quite dissepointed. In the mountains was the situation with the range much better  but also we bacame conscious not to expect any miracles. Anyway they had much better output power then european’s PMR. These two way radios acted stable without any problems, easy to control and with all rider on the one side of the mountain with no problems at all. The problem appered when one of the rider was behind the mountain or in another valley so the signal was getting to that rider very rare.

Therefore we decided to look for another type wich was Motorola talkabout®SX 700 R, offering 2 watts of output power the range up to 12 miles. Unfortunately no progress was made on this one and sometimes we had the same feeling like with the previos ones. The break event point finally came with Midland GXT710, where the power was significant and where other radios did have a signal these worked quite well. Very good control, sucket for handsfree were placed separetly for microfon and headphones so you can add unofficial accesories in contrast with Motorola where everything was in one socket and worked only with Motorola accesories. And one more thing which was not mentioned. In case you dont want to take your glove off everytime you want to call someone over the radio, hadsfree is the right choise for you.

Even If we have mainly good experinece with Midland I would not throw Motorola away. Brand Motorola has in its portfolio many products and is one of the major producers of the way radio in the world.   With first produckt from this company we had very good experience and I am not afraid to use them today. If you guys have any other experinece with this type or any othere please shere you experinece with on at our chat forum.

At the end we dare to choose new products on US’s market of two way radios. These little describe a resume.

As you can see the new  Midland GXT950VP4, is above all. For 70 USD you get all the accesories and very powerfull radous for that great price. On second place is Cobra microTALK® CXR920, which is also offering great output power, but the size and ipposible to replace batteries , playing against.  On the third place is Motorola T9650RCAMO, which is draged behind bacause of the power and also lithium batteries are much better then NiMH.´but on the other hand wide range of accesories.

And finally at the and of the day it is time say where you can get these? The easiest way is to bring them from US but for those who dont have this chance I would recommend ebay.com.

David Knybel