Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATED REVIEW: 4/21/2016: I purchased four of these (two sets) in May of 2015. It is now April of 2016. All four of these radios, as well as our other radio equipment, is case-kept and well maintained. They're not left in dirty toolbags or dropped on job sites. In December, I had to contact Midland about an issue with one of the four radios. It simply stopped working. To their credit, they had me send them the radio and they replaced it. I paid shipping to them, but they paid shipping back to me. Turn around was decent; a few weeks I believe. Now it's April, and the second of four has stopped working. Speaker works, roger beeps work, batteries are fine - but it won't transmit on any of it's pre-programmed frequencies and won't receive on them either. It IS broadcasting something because it gives out a very unusual feedback signal on my computer speakers but not the same feedback as every other radio we have. It seems like it's just decided to operate on a totally different frequency. I'm currently working with Midland to see if they'll repair this unit as well. We purchased these for search and rescue usage and to work with personnel in the woods and during events.So far 50% of them have failed under ideal conditions. It it always possible that we just got a bad set of radios. That happens, but 2 out of 4 in less than a year leaves me wishing I'd purchased something different entirely. This isn't amateur mistakes causing these radios to malfunction. We are licensed GMRS users (WQWM407) and have a good amount of other radios that continue to operate great. We just purchased these because the reviews led us to believe they were a good radio for the price. When they DO work, they work fine. They have great range. We use them handheld-to-truck all the time, but when they fail, they fail with no warning and repairs take a few weeks from the manufacturer. My advice - choose something else. FREQUENCY INFORMATION FOR THOSE THAT WANTED TO KNOW: For those that are curious about frequencies and channels, I figure I'll save you the hassle of looking it up and figuring it out. The following chart shows the Radio channel (the number on the on-screen LCD) along with the actual frequency of that channel, the common name for that channel (so you can set another standard radio to match it) and the broadcast power of the channels. Looking at the chart below, keep in mind the following things. 1) Channels 1-7 are broadcast on FRS and GMRS frequencies, so they are limited to the 500 milliwatt power output (due to FRS limitations.) 2) Channels 8-14 are FRS only, so also limited to 500mw output. 3) Channels 15-22 are GMRS only, so they are broadcast at 5watts. 4) Yes, you legally have to have a FCC license to broadcast on GMRS in the United States. No, many people don't bother and do it anyway. 5) Channels 23-50 are simply preprogrammed GMRS channels with PL tones already programmed into them. I didn't bother to list the PL tones.. they're in the manual anyway if you want to look up the offsets, etc. Channel Freq Actual Ch Power 1 462.5625 FRS1/GMRS 9 500mw 2 462.5875 FRS2/GMRS 10 500mw 3 462.6125 FRS3/GMRS 11 500mw 4 462.6375 FRS4/GMRS 12 500mw 5 462.6625 FRS5/GMRS 13 500mw 6 462.6875 FRS6/GMRS 14 500mw 7 462.7125 FRS7/GMRS 15 500mw 8 467.5625 FRS8 500mw 9 467.5875 FRS9 500mw 10 467.6125 FRS10 500mw 11 467.6375 FRS11 500mw 12 467.6625 FRS12 500mw 13 467.6875 FRS13 500mw 14 467.7125 FRS14 500mw 15 462.5500 GMRS 1 5w 16 462.5750 GMRS 2 5w 17 462.6000 GMRS 3 5w 18 462.6250 GMRS 4 5w 19 462.6500 GMRS 5 5w 20 462.6750 GMRS 6 5w 21 462.7000 GMRS 7 5w 22 462.7250 GMRS 8 5w 23 462.5625 GMRS 1 5w 24 462.6125 GMRS 3 5w 25 462.6625 GMRS 5 5w 26 462.7125 GMRS 7 5w 27 462.5500 GMRS 15 5w 28 462.6000 GMRS 17 5w 29 462.6500 GMRS 19 5w 30 462.7000 GMRS 21 5w 31 462.5875 GMRS 2 5w 32 462.6375 GMRS 4 5w 33 462.6875 GMRS 6 5w 34 467.5625 FRS 8 5w 35 467.6125 FRS 10 5w 36 467.6625 FRS 12 5w 37 467.7125 FRS 14 5w 38 462.5750 GMRS 16 5w 39 462.6250 GMRS 18 5w 40 462.6750 GMRS 20 5w 41 462.7250 GMRS 22 5w 42 462.5625 GMRS 1 5w 43 462.6125 GMRS 3 5w 44 462.6625 GMRS 5 5w 45 462.7125 GMRS 7 5w 46 462.5500 GMRS 15 5w 47 462.6000 GMRS 17 5w 48 462.6500 GMRS 19 5w 49 462.7000 GMRS 21 5w 50 462.5875 GMRS 2 5w Actual Power Experience: I live in the country. I get a little less than a mile over open terrain in the Piedmont area of NC. In the hilly areas, I get less than half a mile. Expect that. The earth blocks signals pretty well, so mountaintop to mountaintop your range will be amazing. Valley to Valley.. well.. you won't get valley to valley due to the mountain in the way! Your mileage may vary. Another side note: The "Car charger" isn't a car charger for the radio. It's a car charger for the 2-radio plastic base it comes with. If you want to charge the radio in the car, you'll need the base to plug the charger into. The radio is designed to recharge a rechargable ni-mh using it's "chg" jack (located under the mic cover on the right side.) If you want to charge a single radio in the car ,but leave the base at home, you'll need a car charger sold separately here on Amazon. You can find that charger at: http://amzn.to/1crWZCu Overall these seem thus far to be solid radios. The battery power has so far been fine for my needs. You should know that the radio comes with a "battery pack" that contains three 700mah ni-mh rechargables in the pack. Thats pretty weak in terms of rechargable batteries, but it works OK for most usage. If you want to increase the life, you can replace them with any standard Ni-Mh rechargable battery, but it takes FOUR batteries if you do it that way. I run four 2600mah Ni-Mh batteries in mine so I've got about 5 times the battery life of the normal battery pack for only about $8 in expense... again, your mileage may vary. Hope you find this review helpful.