Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I like Midland products. I find that they are generally better than Motorolla's cheap radios. The FCC ID of this radio is MMALXT600PA. An Internet search for a test report reveals that max transmit power is 450mW on FRS and 740mW on GMRS. I use these around the house and they have great clarity. So far they seem to be great "cheap" radios. They came with rechargable packs, which is convenient for when the kids leave them on and let the batteries die. When these fail. I'll use rechargable AAAs. PRO: - Small, light and easy to use. - Good clear sound. - All sounds can be disabled, including the power-on beeps. - DCS or CTCSS tones can be used to reduce interference. - Radios really snap into the charging base. This is great. Much better than relying on gravity. CON: - The extra channels 23 through 36 aren't new channels. They are pre-programmed with a mix of FRS and GMRS channels with a digital or analog squelch tone. Confusing for someone using two different radio models. - Scanning takes you through these "extra" channels as well, so scanning through the 22 real channels takes longer. Low power FRS channels are 8-14. Radios set to these channels are restricted to 500mW, this is 1/2 watt. Not very much. This can also be a good thing, as nobody else will be transmitting with more than 1/2 watt. This means less interference. Use a CTCSS code to help block interference from other users. You will only hear people set to your tone. In the unlikely event that you are transmitting at the same time, you would hear them too. The GMRS channels also have a high power setting. I suspect that it is one or two watts. No way to tell this for sure, as they no longer state the transmit power of the radios. I have yet to test against another radio. Five watts is maximum for a hand-held of this type. A GXT1000 is capable of 5 watts. For comparison -- professional UHF radio with 4 watts can reach through 1 mile of densely populated area with lots of trees. If you spend more than $60 you might get 4 or 5 watts. Keep in mind that IF you had a 5 watt radio, compared to .5 watt, you'd get 10 times the coverage, but only three times the distance. This is because the power spreads out in a circle. Super tech tip: The best CTCSS tones to use.. Many people tend to use tone 1 because, hey, what's the difference.. But its frequency is 67Hz -- close to 60Hz power -- and it is relatively low and therefore slow to detect. Working in electric substations, I learned this for myself. For quicker detection, and to avoid interference, use a higher tone like 210.7Hz and stay away from multiples of 60. My favorites are 31-35. These are a good second choice: 25-27. Look up CTCSS frequencies for yourself and make your own choice. If I do any performance testing, I'll update this review. I have a great Midland GTX735 radio I can compare this one to. Good luck, -Chris Extra channels revealed! I went through the channels while scanning with another radio. Here they are: Midland Extra channel, True channel, CTCSS or DCS, GMRS or FRS: 23 1 38(C) GMRS 24 3 38(C) GMRS 25 5 38(C) GMRS 26 7 38(C) GMRS 27 15 38(C) GMRS 28 17 38(C) GMRS 29 19 38(C) GMRS 30 21 6(D) GMRS 31 2 1(D) GMRS 32 4 4(D) GMRS 33 6 7(D) GMRS 34 8 10(D) FRS 35 10 13(D) FRS 36 12 16(D) FRS Please excuse the poor txt formatting. They removed my "extra" spaces.