Customer Reviews

Midland 79-290 Detachable Face 120-Channel CB

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

 

 

I waited 4 months for this radio, it looked wonderfull, but looks can be decieving. The raido fit right where I wanted it to go. But when I started using it problems became apparent. The controls were hard to use. The squelch and volume are on one stalk control and are hard to set with out moving each other at the same time. There is no noise blanking system. The squelch circuit is very quick to open therefor letting in a lot of impulse noise that would not be let though on other radios. Then the last straw, the latches holding the removable face plate broke! They were made out of PLASTIC! The radio is going back!

I was attracted to the features of this radio, but i should have listend to the reviews. The detchable face broke in a couple of months.

I recently purchased a new 79-290, (August 05). I have not had the unit long enough to make an accurate review about it, because the face plate locking mechanism broke almost immediately. (About 45 min worth of listening time, plus one operation of the face plate.)This failure renders the unit completely useless, which is the whole idea behind a detachable face security, to prevent theft. However, the weakness of this particular part of the unit is a major problem. Apparently, this is not a new problem. After checking around, there are quite a few occurrances of this problem. One reveiw I read was in december several years ago. Midland is not "On The Air" on this design failure. There were other quirks I noticed also, which matched the same descriptions as the early december complaints. I guess I was mistaken that Midland's QC people would have proactively solved this problem by now, they have certainly had enough years of time. If their engineers are not capable of correcting this problem, then here's a solution: Make the locking swing arm, or what ever you call it, out of metal, instead of plastic. I have owned several detachable face radios, and none of them ever had problems with the face doc's. Yours is an example of what you don't do. I was impressed by the small size, it's overall set-up, front facing mic port. The unit does have some other little oddities that I would change, but it's very usable. But this thing with the face plate is full turn -off. Midland, "TURN ON YOUR EARS", This could be an excellent unit.

This radio presents a real threat to the Cobra and Galaxy brands. I have worked on radios since the early 70s and have yet to find one of this quality at anywhere near this kind of price.
This is a $400 radio in both quality and features. Because it is controlled by a microprocessor it can be modified with the single touch of a few buttons, taking you from one band to another almost effortlessly. I normally tweak every new (and old) radio I get, but this midland operates so well I have decided to leave it as it was out of the box. Army signal school taught me well, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". This one's Definitely not broke.

After I get this radio back from the local shop it's going in a box and back to Kansas! 2 trips to the local shop in 2 years for the same problem: It won't stay on frequency. There's a loose component or a cracked board.

I love this great state-of-the-art radio. the features that it has are excellent. the feel that it gives you when the mic is in your hand is just top of the world. the mic has a heavy feel to it which is good because it makes it not feel cheap.