Midland G30 5-Mile 15-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio

by Midland

Product Details

Product Manual [332kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005AK7H
• Item model number: MIDG30
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Midland G30 two-way radio was designed to be the world's smallest and lightest 2-watt GMRS/FRS radio. It's not only small, but it has a rugged construction and a host of great features. It includes 15 channels with 38 subchannels for 570 privacy code/channel combinations.

The G30 is shock resistant and waterproof for outside use. It has channel scan, and a backlit LCD screen for anytime operation. The radio also comes with a key lock that allows the user to disable all front key controls, preventing new operators for accidentally changing any set codes. Some other features include a rechargeable battery pack with a desktop charger, a flexible screw-on antenna, and a belt clip.

This Midland radio comes with a limited one-year warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sent mine back, August 6, 2001

By 

R. Rice (TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Midland G30 5-Mile 15-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Electronics)

I really wanted to like the G-30, but in the end I returned it.

My family has a number of FRS radios which we use at shopping malls, trips to the zoo, big conventions and outings to amusement parks. I wanted something with a little more "oomph" and on less crowded frequencies, so I got a GMRS license. In looking for a smallish GMRS capable handheld, I gave the G-30 a try.

First. This radio is advertised as FRS/GMRS which is misleading. This is not an FRS radio, it requires an FCC issued GMRS license to operate on any of its channels - even the first seven which are shared with the FRS radios. Keep in mind this radio does not work on FRS channels 8-14. The ... advertising blurb omits mention of the fact that a GMRS license is required. This is not a big deal since it only involes an online application at www.fcc.gov and the payment of a fee. No test is required.

There are some good features to the G30. Small size - on the same order as many FRS radios. I can see my wife agreeing to tote one around. Simple operation - given that this a simplex only radio, this is definitely a set and forget kind of radio. A few key presses and you can easily set the channel and ctcss tones. Rechargeable batteries and drop in charger are included.

Now the bad. Poor quality belt clip. The belt clip popped off if the radio is dropped because it fits very loosely into its bracket. The belt clip does not inspire confidence that it will stay put during normal use.

Non-rugged design. I managed to drop the radio about 24 inches to a wooden floor while sitting at my desk. I expected the case to crack, although it did not. The plastic used in the case seems unlikely to me to survive a drop from wist height onto concrete or stone. Although I was not expecting industrial bulletproof construction, I was hoping for a radio I wouldn't be afraid would break if my 7 year old dropped it or my 3 year old tossed it out of the grocery cart.

Although the radio is advertised as "water resistant" there is no reason to believe that it really is. The manufacturer does not appear to have taken any particular precautions to keep water out.

The biggest problems related to the way its features were implemented. Scanning is available on this radio. The problem is that the radio pauses only a very brief (non-adjustable) time after a transmission ends before resuming scanning making it possible that the radio will have resumed scanning before the reply comes. Also, there is no way to jump to a channel found by scanning.

For example, suppose you set your radio to use channel 11. if you set the radio to scan and find a conversation you'd like to join on channel 5, you would have to reset your radio to channel 5. Pressing the transmit button puts you back on channel 11, not channel 5 where you were just listening.

Also, the squelch setting is non-adjustable as far as I can tell. The radio I received seemed to have squelch set a little low, resulting in random electrical noise breaking squelch on a regular basis. Note the ... description says that squelch is adjustable, it does not appear to be so and the instruction book makes no mention of any way to adjust squelch.

While I did not rigorously measure this, the radio appears to be susceptible to overloading from strong signals on adjacent frequencies. A strong police department transmitter (not on a GMRS frequency) would often be heard on my radio.

The radio takes a battery pack, rather than individual cells. If you ever need to replace the battery pack, you would have to buy a replacement pack, rather than individual cells. Given that this radio is enjoing what appears to be limited distribution, a replacement battery pack may be hard to come by in a year or two. (granted it is possible to have battery packs rebuilt, and this one should be easy to rebuild).

In the end I decided that there were enough things I did not like about this radio that it wasn't worth keeping.

Keep in mind, that if you do not intend to scan and sturdy design is not an issue then this is an OK radio. I am just not sure that I think it is worth $... in any event. For only a little more, there are more capable and sturdier radios available.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works well --mostly..., July 13, 2001

By 

127.0.0.1 "Zeldar" (Gold Country, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midland G30 5-Mile 15-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Electronics)

Overall, I think this is a pretty good product. I have gotten over a 5 mile range over an unobstructed distance (mountain top to a cabin over 5 miles away). The charging time is very fast too. The included NiMh (no memory rechargeable) batteries are great.

The only problem I have had with the radios is that the Preferred Channel Scan (PS=on) renders the radios unreliable. This function is intended to allow you to set the radios on one channel and have them monitor (and receive) another channel in the background. If you turn this feature on, the radios will not consistently communicate. They will work about 60% of the time. Sometimes the green LED on the receiving radio blinks when the transmitting radio is trying to talk, but no sound comes out. The problem is that the person trying to talk has no idea they are not being heard! The manual says this (the blinking green LED) is because the CTCSS (sub channel) is wrong, but it is not actually the problem. I am working with Midland tech support to get it fixed, but they have been pretty slow with their response.

My main point is this: I think this radio is a good value and works quite well. The range is very good outdoors and the charger and NiMh battery combination is very convenient. Don't use the Preferred Channel Scan, though. You won't be happy if you enable this feature. Hopefully they will fix this feature so it works properly.

Now that I know about the problem, I am having good results with these radios.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Midland G-30 Radio, October 5, 2001

By 

CAC51 (Long lsland NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midland G30 5-Mile 15-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Electronics)

I purchased two of the Midland G30 radio's because of the two watt power, though I didn't expect to obtain the advertised five mile range. I found that almost all other FRS radios have a 500 milliwatt (half-watt) power. Also the 38 privacy codes for each channel and the GMRS channels (8-15) appealed to me as I didn't wish to hear other peoples conversations. Channels 1-7 are the common FRC frequencies, and 8-15 are the less used GMRS frequencies, so you can only communicate with FRC radios on channels 1-7. The radio does not work on FRS channels 8-14. I bought the radios for use in amusement parks and vacation. A week after purchase, I used them for both. The radios had no problem working 1.5 miles apart on Long Island going through buildings and utility wires. My son stood on our front lawn and I drove to several locations in town. Later that week we traveled upstate NY and I gave one to family members in another car. They worked well in traffic and I was very pleased to not hear any other conversations through the parts of New York City and throughout the 260 mile trip. The furthest me and the other car separated on the thruway was maybe 2 miles, but the radios sounded as if we were much closer. The battery power level remained high at the end of six hours. In upstate NY I easily got a 3 plus mile range on the water, and probably could have gotten much further had I traveled further. At 3 miles the reception was as clear as if I was 500 feet from the other radio. The radios worked well in an amusement park with one sometimes being inside buildings. However I couldn't be reached from a mile away when I was inside a supermarket. As I mentioned, don't expect any radio to get the advertised maximum range, but these radios are better the less powerful ones on the market. The radios have some type of scan feature, which I do not use, as I set both to one of the GMRS channels with a privacy code and leave them that way. I have heard some complaints about the scan feature, but I don't why people would want to skip around in the first place. For our vacation I purchased two less expensive, plain FRC radios for the kids to play with and communicate with their cousins. They worked well, but lacked power for distance, and those radios picked up a lot of other people's chatter. Some the of the downsides to the G-30's are terrible instructions-a lack of information provided with the radio's. I found the batteries came almost fully charged, so I was concerned when they became fully charged after only ten minutes. No mention of this is made in instructions, nor if they are one of those "memory" batteries. This lack of info caused me test the batteries and figure this out on my own. Also the belt clip is removable, which my directions fail to mention. Much more effort could have been spent on the booklet. Also, one of the radio's had a stripped screw on the battery door which caused me to exchange it. I would have preferred a more "rubbery" case like some of the Motorola's have and a better belt clip or belt holster. Other than this, I found the radios are pretty good. I carefully opened the package from the side with a razor and removed all the items carefully so that they could be returned easily in the event turned out to be junk. They didn't. I plan to keep them. In fact I am sending away for the mobile magnetic roof antenna and 2 "Y" adapters so that ear plugs can be used. The size is great, they easily fit into a shirt or pants pocket, they are much smaller and lighter than the "almost 2 watt" Motorola radios.