Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this radio for use on an upcoming road trip and will be continuing to test it over the next few days. Here are my initial findings. Good quality, versatile and works with 6 single use AA batteries and on 12 volt power point in my truck. Handheld antenna is limited as expected but good for short line of sight communication and weather. Obviously not for use indoors or in a vehicle. I will be testing this unit with a magnetic mobile antenna this week and report findings. ATTENTION: There is an issue with the rechargeable battery pack and some brands of batteries. I ordered Amazon Basics and they did not work even though they were charged. The battery charger also did not work, so I had to charge the batteries in a separate charger. Midland was kind enough to send me a replacement; however it too did not work. I spoke with Cheryl in Midland customer service and she advised that they are aware of the issue and are working hard to solve it, but they have discovered that 8 nimh AA Energizer brand batteries appear to always work. We had a good laugh, but I agreed to give them a try, and she is correct...battery pack and charger work just fine. She asked me to report my findings to her, which I will certainly do. In the meantime, I discovered the problem with other brands of batteries and have a fix. Here is what I did: 1. Open the rechargeable battery pack and set aside the half with the circuit board in it. 2. Orient the other half with the small silver contact square at bottom right. 3. Locate the raised divider rib between the top and second from top battery cradles. Follow it to the right where it turns upward (see "before" photo). 4. Note that the portion extending upward is between the the battery stops (lower stop for first battery and upper stop for second battery). 5. The portion of the vertical rib needs to be trimmed to be flush or nearly flush with the battery stops. I used an x-acto knife to trim it. 6. We are talking about less then a millimeter to trim. (See the "after" photo.) 7. I did this for each end of each rib. This allowed the Amazon battery (which is just a bit larger in diameter than the Energizer) to seat against the battery stop and not the raised rib section, which was preventing the positive terminal of the battery from touching the battery pack contact. After inserting the other 3 batteries, I tested the voltage between the small square silver contact at bottom right of of the case (+) and the (-) contact at top right of shell. My reading was 5.74 volts. I then reassembled the battery pack, installed it on the radio and it now works perfectly. I will report this manufacturing flaw to Midland in hopes the supplier can correct the issue.