Customer Reviews

Midland GXT760VP4 36-Mile 42-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Pair)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I currently own a set of Motorola, two other sets of Midlands and this is the newest addition to my already favorite Midland radios.

This model is different.

The designing is very details and clean looking. Nice, bring LED displays with orange back lighting. This new model gets a new 'much better' roger deep compared to older midlands, which used to be a dragger. Now, it's shorter deeps which I thought was much clean and professional if you're quick talker.

With it's maximum range of 36-miles, when tested, it did get longer range than other typical radios. When I say longer, it's usually around 1-2 miles in the city.

The size is decent with longer antennas with it's range, and that's what you need for better range. With smaller body and smaller antennas, you end up sacrificing a lot as far as its performance and the range.

Overall, this is a excellent, newly designed, two-way radio.

** Note; one other review commented that he used VOX option for baby monitoring but it's actually unrealistic. VOX only picks up close up voices, nothing away unless you're really shouting out. and you probably don't want to place this radio right next to baby's mouth. Not working!! But it's very useful when driving in the car with the ear piece which is included in this purchase. hands free talking is really helpful.

Received these radios yesterday and did some testing today.

Range: (very clear up to 1.5 miles)

With all radios of this type the "32 miles" is a best case given perfect conditions. My wife and I bought them to use when driving two trucks while moving cross country. For this we will need at most a mile range. Using the high power setting and the GMRS band we were able to get close to 2 miles range. This test was done with me in an office building in an industrial park and my wife driving into the city in an SUV. Transmissions started to have a lot of static after 1.6 miles and were lost just before 2 miles.

Headset/mic: (what you would expect)

The provided headset/mic (2) that comes with the radios work fairly well for a cheap headset/mic.

Fits on either ear and is reasonably (although not incredibly) comfortable.

Sound quality is what you would expect for an included headset/mic.

VOX: (works like all VOX)

Like all VOX this takes a little time to turn on and start sending. We found that saying "Call <name>" used enough time so that the beginning of our message was not cut off.

Roger Beep: (LOUD)

The beep is quite a bit louder than the background voice (when using the provided headset).

Weather radio:

Although this is an extra for me, it is kind of neat and works well.

All in all these are exactly what I expected and I am happy with them.

I bought these hoping that they would have more range than the 20 mile Cobra CXT225 that I got from Walmart for $34 last week. While I'm fully aware not to expect the advertised range (usually divide by 20) these performed worse than the Cobra. Aside from that, the supplied phone/mic apparatus for each is more than worthless.

Compared side by side same conditions as the Cobra CXT225 these were very noisy even close up during transmissions while the Cobras were pleasantly quiet. Midland noisy with somewhat fuzzy voice - Cobra clear of noise and very clear voice.

Midland units were big, bulky and heavy while the Cobras were light, small and comfortable to hold. I ride my GoldWing with a bunch of Ham guys and they have modified radios that will TX on the GMRS frequencies. They remarked how clear the Cobra was and asked if I have "noise cancellation" on them. They don't. They said the Midland was noisy like my experience Midland to Midland.

You can get earbud/microphone sets for the Cobra on eBay for just $5.00 each. I'm keeping the Cobra - light compact and clear.

In the many years I have dealt with Amazon, this is the first item I ever returned out of hundreds of items bought. Not Amazon's fault, just not a good quality radio from Midland.

I have used the Motorola T9500 and lower priced models from Midalnd (LXT410 etc). These have by FAR the best range. I am getting over a mile from vehicle to vehicle in a suburban environment. The Motorola T9500's are good for @1/4 mile and don't seem to have as good voice reproduction. Don't waste money buying another model, then being disappointed and upgrading to these later. Buy these first.

I've never owned a two way radio before and I bought these as my first pair. Overall I like them:

* I can put in AA batteries for emergency purposes

* The headsets are a nice addition (I used it to help out with a 5K race... I wore the headset with the handset clipped to my built while I was on my bike.)

* You can get 5 watts of power output on channels 1-6 (Legally you are supposed to have a GMRS license from the FCC before transmitting at 5 watts). It seems that most of the other two-way radios in this price range will limit the transmit power to just a 1/2 watt.

* It is nice to have a drop-in charger

* CTCSS tones along with DCS tones ("Sub-channels" is the terminology in the two way radio world...). The CTCSS tones make this radio compatible with most every other radio out there that has sub-channels (or "privacy codes").

The DCS tones is an added feature that makes these radios a little more unique if you are wishing for something more private (note: radio communications are inherently public... if someone knows what channel you are on and what tone you are using and they are in range, they can listen and transmit back. Most all two way radios use the CTCSS tones for the "sub-channels" and very few use DCS... so if you decide to use DCS tones then the likelihood of someone using their two way radio to listen to you decreases because most other two-way radios don't use DCS).

In comparing these radios to a friend's motorola two way radio, this one feels more solid, although somewhat bigger. The motorola had a swivel on the belt clip and this is a stiff belt clip. Personally I don't mind it being stiff, but some people may prefer a swivel (what I mean is that the belt clip on the motorola would rotate 360 degrees around the radio, kind of like windmill blades rotate around the windmill base).

In the end, I'm happy with my purchase, mostly because the option for the AA batteries the the extra transmit power on channels 1-6.

Researched to decide on best radios to get to use for our trips for 2 days. Ordered another brand, Kenwood,

but then changed and decided to try these first and decide if we need antenna to use with them. We took them

on our trip this weekend and used inside the car..........25 cars on this trip. The front of the line could actually

REALLY understand these radio's clear to the very BACK! That is usually unexpected as we've already tried several

other brands before this specific model. Very little static and then only in the mountains or over a hill. We are

extremely impressed with these and they were very very reasonable. Probably the BEST we've used. We will invest

in the antenna and they will be even better and NO License required!

This radio set is perfect for travelling, or for the purposes that we bought the set - which was for our child's 'spy' set! The headset pieces are very well constructed - better than any 'play' set that can be bought (which will only last a day or two). This is such a great value, I highly recommend!

I have owned/used several 5 watt radios similar to the Midland GXT760VP4. I recently purchased a pair of the subject radios. Insuring the units were set up properly so the radios would be transmitting at the maximum output, 5 watts, and using them in the desert in the southwest, I found the radios worked great for maybe two to maybe three miles. This was in a area away from any hills, mountains etc. I have also used 5 watt Midland radios in the mountains where the signal was sent mountain to mountain with no obstructions and was able to transmit and receive signals for maybe 5 miles at most. But I lost the signal once I started dropping behind the mountain and was not in a line of sight with the other unit. The radios work great for short distances but anything over a few miles will probably not happen unless you are on a large open lake, or line of sight in the mountains.

The product is good. It's better than my previous hand held radio. The performance on a 2-mile range is absolutely perfect. I'm using this equipment in the mall and it's effective.

While I take a daily walk of about 2 miles I stay in touch with the wife at home with these. We had a similar pair of Cobra two way radios and they were OK but one of the internal batteries went bad so I purchased these. What a nice difference, yes the specs on these are better than the Cobra but the difference in quality and clearness and extra power and range is obvious. Where I used to get fair to poor reception with the Cobra I now get great reception. I really like the replaceable batteries on this model, nice feature. I'm glad I spent a few extra bucks and got these, they are worth it.