Customer Reviews

Kenwood TK-3101 5-Mile 15-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These radios are the best. If you go to Kenwood's site you will see that they are even up to Military specs. This means that one little bump won't make them useless. We currently have quite a few of them and use them alot. The only difference is that we take them to our local dealer to have our frequency put into them. Other then that they are the same radio. They work in all sorts of weather, have an average use time of about 4 to 6 hours with the supplied battery. Our dealer sells an upgraded battery that lasts us for days. In our city we still get over 1 mile range through mountains and buildings. Out side they work even better. You simply can't go wrong with these radios. The only downside is that they are hard to program, but that is if you need to. We just checked with our local dealer and he does it for us for $5.00. Again you just can't go wrong!!!

We have used these radios for two days now, and we are very impressed with the 15 channel capability. We were also impressed with the ability of this radio to outperform several Motorolla models that we have here. The 2 watt Kenwood TK3101 transmits and recieves farther than our 4 watt Motorolla radius radios. In fact, we have been able to communicate through 6 inch thick aluminum walls of a stability chamber with the other handeld being over 200 yards away. We do not know of any other radio with that capability.

I have used a pair for about 2 yrs. Outstanding units. Problem have you ever used a cell phone in a crowded environment? i.e. Ballpark? Amusement Park? The Fair? etc.. Not a very good choice, very hard to hear your party on the other end. But not with these. For the Small size, but mil-spec rugged, these have the best audio. 500mw more than ample. Their loud and beefy. They just sound cool. I used them at the local Fair and talked to a family member at home 15 miles away, repeater assisted. I use simplex and repeater frequencies. Go to your local radio dealer and get these programed or for those with more savvy get the hardware and software on the internet. Save yourself programing costs...

I have a set of 12 and i use them when we go hiking in Australia with my friends. We have got the radios wet and dropped them onto rocks but they still work like new. I could get 13km out of them on SIMPLEX!!!

The kenwood tk3101 is a great raido. It not a cheap like the motorolia talk abouts it is a heavy duty 2-way. It passes Military standards for heat,freezing,dust,moisture,shock,vibration and light rain.

I haven't had a chance to use this radio, it's probably fine. I have used a Kenwood ham radio HT for years, but seeing that this one uses NiCad batteries I had to throw in my 2c worth. Get some other batteries. NiCads are obsolete, they have very short lifetimes at anything resembling full capacity and must be discharged and recharged fully each time they are used to have any life at all. It is also a good idea to insist on a radio that will accommodate AA alkaline batteries if power isn't available for recharging.