Hey Lemmings. I’m looking for a decent budget walkie talkie.
My use case is pretty casual. Nothing crazy like survival situations or long-distance missions. Mainly for small hikes and some work communication where my phone isn’t ideal.
Criteria: • Budget: up to ~50€ (ideally a set of 2 or more) • Region: Europe (putting this here for shopping options.) • License-free frequency
I’ve been eyeing a few options: • Motorola 42. The blue kiddie vibe kinda puts me off lol • Retevis models seem to have decent reviews for the price • Jucjet 4-set for around 44€ looks tempting for the pack deal
Has anyone used these or got other recommendations? Rockie Talkie keeps popping up but it’s expensive and way above my use case. Cheers
Throwaway thoughts: I’m trying to decentralize my tech life away from my phone. Radio comms feel like a step in the right direction. Meshtastic is also on the todo list. Might even look into pagers soon.
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I am a Motorola fan. Used to use their VHF kit back in the day and it took a lot of abuse.
At work we have their averagely rugged yellow things T82 iirc that work out about €35 each
At home, for the goblins, we have a pair of yellow Motos T72 iirc similarly rugged €60 the pair.
Both models have good range and are easy to set up. Work ones do group programming so you program 1 bung the rest on programming mode and transmit the config. Boom. 10 radios programmed identically in less time than manually doing 2.
T82 extreme pmr goes for 84€ (2 walkies), standard goes for 72€… 36 each like you said.
Motorola is quite a recognised brand. If we are looking at “buy for life” stuff then it may be worth bumping up the budget for…
Would u say that the Motorola’s would outlast a chinese walkie like Baofeng? How long have you had the t82 for?
A baofeng 2-pack is 30€, so I’m just trying to figure out if a Motorola is the better investment…
The T82 extremes are what we use at work… We have 10 of them and, despite being used by generally incompetent users, seem to survive day to day abuse in a high school. We have had them for nearly two years and have no casualties yet. Other schools in the area also use them - with no reported issues.
I know a couple of multi-band, so not specifically pmr, Baofeng users but can’t comment on their ruggedness or longevity other than to say I haven’t heard bad things.
Another popular brand to look at might be Hytera; possibly a bit out of budget for you. We did look at those, instead of cheaper handsets, but price won in the end.
You may want to look into amateur radio (or you might not, it needs a licence after all).
I don’t really have any recommendations for you, but I would suggest you crosspost this to !amateur_radio@lemmy.radio
Thanks for pointing me to the amateur radio community. Will have a look around there.
Robot_Toaster is also pointing towards amateur radio so that might be the best “buy for life” solution in the end…
You’re better off buying a “real” radio like a Quansheng UV-K5 and programming it for PMR446.
Thanks for the comment. Was looking for real simple solution but for the price I might as well get something proper then.
As a complete radio noob, I do have some pc programming skills, how much time and effort would it take to mod it to pmr446?
U might have send me down an amateur radio hobby rabbit hole lol, cheers :)
Honestly I don’t know much about the UV-K5, I use a pair of baofeng uv-5r radios, because the k5 didn’t exist when I bought them. The k5 is apparently better with the option for full custom firmware and there isn’t much price difference.
For my uv5r programming was basically just a case of using a programming cable and a program called CHIRP, that looks a lot like a spreadsheet, to set the right frequencies.
Retevis can have quality control issues but I think they try their best and give a fairer deal than others
For my use case and price point that seems fair. I will keep them in mind
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F7opritxml8 This guy always does decent reviews of all sorts of products. This episode’s on walkie talkies. He doesn’t go super in-depth, nor does he ever do exhaustive selections, but I mean, there are too many product brands and knockoffs these days anyways. lol
I like his reviews because he just shows you the tests and results. No sales pitch while talking about tests, just results. You can just see what happens and come to your own conclusions on which option is best and why depending on needs.
Great video brother, thorough testing and no bs. Liked and subbed. The pxton performs very well for the price. I can’t find it on my amazon.region but I see a very similar model with a different brand slapped on… Baofeng, 2 for 30€… Very appealing.
As with many electronics these days, if you really need to make sure you’re getting something that should be good, look up exactly what chips/parts are in it and confirm their specs directly. If they’re not equal or greater than the complete product’s advertised specs, definitely run!
With that description, I didn’t even need the thumbnail to know you were talking about Project Farm. I’ve always liked his presentation and the ways he comes up with to test products
I recently bought the Motorola t605 h20. The sound quality and range are fantastic. The button layout UI is the stupidest, most unintuitive, mystifying garbage I’ve ever seen. So, unless you’re willing to thoroughly read their poorly written manual, remember all the secret little symbols and codes and what they mean in the sequence you’re supposed to apply them in, then you won’t like it either.
Hahahah damn, sry for your bad purchase. I hope this post makes a future purchase a bit better. Thanks for shortening the list :p
Motorola makes good stuff, a lot of which is fairly affordable, or Baofeng if you’re on a tight budget.
Another point for Motorola.
I’m having my eye on the t82. But you know how it goes with hobbies and new things. Maybe better to start out cheap and upscale if I find myself using it alot. Although Motorola might suite the “buy for life” credo better.
