We use this radios in our Winery and event Center in the Casablanca Valley - Chile. Our operation area is about 800 acres and 14 team members use this radios EVERY DAY (tour guides, management, front desk, security, wedding planner team). We worked with Motorola GMRS Radios before, but the battery life died just before 1 year of intense use. These Midland Radios gave us excellent result: great size, excellent range, durable, good quality, easy of use, good volume, easy to operate, great battery life, and have a good price. If I only could suggest any improvement, a incorporated flashlight would be very useful. As policy, we replace our radio equipment every 2 years, this is the 3rd time we stay with Midland GTX1000VP4 model !!
I have the GXT1030vp4 which is black and yellow. Comes with everything you could need including a 12v adapter for the charger base. Radios are solid and feel better than most consumer FRS/GMRS radios. I contacted Midland and these are their top of the line consumer radios. I researched many available brands and models and this GXT1030 shines. RX and TX is crystal clear. These are UHF radios so the terrain will determine the distance they will go. Remember 36 miles as stated is mountain top to mountain top unobstructed clear line of site. Reality around town or out in the woods is about 1 to 3 miles or more. Only disappointment is it would be nice if they used lithium rechargeable batteries with a smart charger. They use NiMH batteries with a dumb charger which means you need to remove the radios from the charger after 12 hours to stop charging. They do however allow you to use 4 AA batteries in lieu of the rechargeable battery pack that's included. The FRS channels will only transmit at low power (.05 watts) per FCC. GMRS channels transmit at high power and give better distance for TX and RX. To use the radios GMRS channels you must have a license from the FCC. Very simple to get on the FCC website. Just complete form 605 and submit and the license is usually issued within two days. License is good for 5 years and covers your entire family who use the radios.
Overall they are great radios with features for everyone. I would buy again.
First off let me say I looked and compared different brands for a couple of months before I bought these.. I live out in the country and needed a way to communicate with the wife and children.. Up on arrival we charged the units for a complete 24-30 hrs. Then tested them in wooded areas, down gravel roads and in hilly terrain. I must admit, in my area they work great.. I have gotten as far a 5-6 miles away down hills and in thick tree cover and still gotten reception. Pretty good reception. Very clear and loud. I will post more with continued use . But for now really impressed.
Wow, the first time I have EVER (I've tried about 5 models) heard clear voices on a GMRS radio. Seriously, went hiking for a few miles (trail was VERY curvy, but probably 1 mile as the crow flies) around hills and through dense forests at a local state park, and my Mom communicated very clearly, from base camp, with me the entire time. So happy I didn't get the cheapo ones again. Also pleased that this set comes with the battery packs and charger station.
My wife and I ride our electric assist fat tire recumbent tricycles several times a week. We also own a tandem street recumbent trike. When use these every time we ride the fat tires. Not quite as good as the easy conversation on the tandem, but a pretty good second. I suggest a couple of improvements. 1. Switch to lithium batteries. 2. Get rid if the wonky 2 prong headset and go to a standard cell phone jack. The fit of cell phone ear pieces is much better. The proprietary two prong jack, and no available 2 prong to standard cell phone adapter seems like greedy effort to increase profit like ink for an ink jet printer. Otherwise, sound quality is great, transmission distance is adequate and terrain dependent. Just a fact of radio transmission. It would also be nice if a nicad recharger came with the devices. As it is, I bought a back up set of nicads. I keep them with me when we use the radio. It is relatively easy swap the batteries. Trouble with nicads is that if you charge them prematurely, you ruin them. That means I have to take the swapped batteries out. Put the discharged batteries in. Charge them up. Swap out again so the original swapped batteries get fully discharged so I can recharge them to full capacity. All the swapping is a pain in the you know what.
Feature Product
- 2-WAY RADIOS - These walkie-talkies feature 50 GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) channels, along with channel scan to check for activity. The JIS4 Waterproof Protection prevents splashing water from having any harmful effect on it (splash resistant).
- 36-MILE RANGE - Longer range communication in open areas with little or no obstruction. Easy Voice and Sound Activation Transmission (eVOX) with 9 sensitivity levels for hands-free operation.
- 142 CTCSS/DCS PRIVACY CODES - The privacy codes give you up to 3,124 channel options to block other conversations.
- NOAA WEATHER SCAN + ALERT - NOAA Weather Scan will automatically scan through 10 available weather (WX) band channels and locks onto the strongest weather channel to alert you of severe weather updates. NOAA Weather Alert will sound an alarm indicating that there is a risk of severe weather in your area.
- INCLUDED IN THE BOX: Radios (x2), rechargeable battery packs (x2), boom mic headsets (x2), belt clips (x2), 120V dual desktop charger, AC adapter, DC adapter, and an owner's manual.
Description
Gear up for the outdoors without sacrificing communication with the Midland GXT1000VP4 GMRS Walkie Talkie. It is a waterproof radio that provides clear point-to-point communication, with superior reception, transmission, and sound quality. The GXT1000VP4 meets the JIS-4 standard of exposure to water, meaning it’s protected against light rain or splashing water from all directions on the radio. This radio features 142 Privacy Codes, 9 Levels of eVOX - Hands-Free Operation, a 36 mile communication range, 10 call alerts, SOS siren, and 50 GMRS channels (28 extra channels with pre programmed privacy codes) with easy button access. The whisper feature allows you to instantly contact a member of your party without disturbing others. The GXT1000VP4 has dual power options - 1 rechargeable battery pack per radio (Included) or 4 “AA” Alkaline batteries per radio (not included). The rechargeable battery packs take 12 hours to charge and provide up to 11 hours of battery life on a full charge. The Weather Scan feature finds the nearest NOAA broadcast to stay up to date with the latest weather and hazard information. The NOAA Weather Alert feature sounds an alarm indicating when severe weather could be present in your area. In addition, the GXT1000VP4 has a 3-Year Warranty. Midland Radio will replace any faulty radios within 3 years of purchase. This radio provides an easy-to-use, low cost, and reliable solution to long-range communication for any outdoor enthusiast.
Comes with ac and dc chargers for the dock. And the boom mic works great under earmuffs. Sturdy and durable.
We use these everyday in a harsh environment and after having a set of $550 ea Motorolas fail and need repairs time after time. We have gone back to these. One breaks about every 6 months. But are cheep to replace. And considering the environment they work in every day ( cleaning and televising sewers ) not too bad until they fail at the wrong time. I usually try to have a backup on the trucks at all times due to the crusial need for communication in my field.
I'd give it a five but they do seem to fail for all different reasons.
Also look into the belt case or chest strap if working around deep holes or high places the clip will slip off easily.
Issues we normally have;
Tx button fail
Tx fail
Mic on radio fail
Speaker fail
Screen fail
We use these radios because they are light weight, easy to use, and have great reception even on the 15 acres we have for our church grounds. We have not found an area that they do not reach, even inside the buildings of the church. We use them for Safety Team members along with Midland AVPH3 Headsets to be discrete.
Nice they come with a plug in charger and also a car charger adapter. They have had no issues at all. Great radios and headsets. We have ordered about 12 of them now and no problems at all.
My wife and I drove across country in two cars and used these to keep in contact with each other - they worked really well. We used the standard FRS channels and had no problems staying in range. Sound quality is fine. These radios do support GMRS too but you need a license; since we had tested out the range while driving before our trip, I didn't bother and just stuck with FRS.
Realistically I'd say the range with FRS on the open road is about 3/4 to 1 mile. Honestly, that's going to be totally fine for most people in any situation where you'd be using a consumer-level radio like this, whether it's driving two cars like we were doing, camping, hiking or whatever. You can always set up an emergency frequency to switch to on a GMRS band if you lose contact (or just get the license beforehand and use it all the time). But my wife and I never had to worry about it.
There is a little bit of setup involved for stuff like privacy channels, but it's nothing I wasn't used to from setting up other radios in the past. Real newbies might have a slight learning curve, but just read the instructions carefully - they're pretty clear and in-depth.
Battery life is reasonable, although more would always be better... there were one or two days on our 5 day trip when the batteries ran out literally just as we were pulling in to a hotel for the night. I'd say they lasted, on average, about 8-10 hours with moderate use, and with the radios on all the time. The batteries definitely are very low capacity and I don't really understand why that is, but they will last you through a full day of activity, and they are rechargeable.
The only thing I don't like is the included earpieces, which are uncomfortable to the point of uselessness. I don't have particularly big ears but I put mine on exactly how it's supposed to be and it was clearly just way too small. I got some other ones, but we ended up not using them anyway... it's honestly easier to just pick up the radio when you want to talk than to have wires hanging all over you all the time (and unless you want the other person to hear every sound you make, you still need to press a button to talk anyway). So for me it's not really a factor, but I do know that other people have mentioned the uncomfortable earpieces, so if that's important to you, it's a consideration.
I'm personally really happy with how these have performed for us, though. It's fun driving around with walkie talkies!
Got these for odd jobs around our property when open comms are important, and for back country camping trips. Range and clarity is excellent; noticed very little interference and excellent clarity at 4-mile distances. We haven't had the chance to try the 36-mile range claim, but I can tell you you will need line-of-sight for that to work; some mild terrain (limestone hills) disrupted reception at about 3 miles. Calls could still be understood, but static increased quite a lot. Whisper function worked ok, but we haven't really tasked it; just playing around. Dual watch (scanning for active freqs two at a time) worked pretty well, too. Battery life is outstanding; they come fully charged, and after a week or so of on/off use, we haven't had to recharge them, yet.
Loss of a star for the included earpieces; they're awful. They were so painfully uncomfortable, we binned ours before walking out the door. Look elsewhere if you need hands-free earpieces.
Overall, we love these things! Lightweight, easy to use, great range and battery life.
Works great for what I purchased them for. I wheel with a group of Jeep enthusiasts in the Mid-West. We usually don't get more than a few miles from one another while trial riding. The Group recently switched from using CB radios to FRS radios. We were all getting tired of broken CB antennas and bad grounds and thought we'd give these little handhelds a try. We were recently at the Badlands Offroad Park in Indiana and personally I was impressed with these little radios. Communicating with everyone in the group wasn't an issue. The terrain can be extremely hilly in a heavily wooded area and I even talked to a member that was still at the local campground. Probably a 2-3 mile transmission while I was in a mud hole in the woods. After a 10 hour day of wheeling the battery level only dropped one bar - which is impressive considering how much we used them. The only con I have is the size - they were pretty easy to loose track of while bouncing over rocks. I finally clipped it to my rollbar padding to keep track of it. Sure you are not going to get 10 miles out of them but for our purpose they worked perfectly!
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