Customer Reviews

Motorola MR355R 35-Mile Range 22-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Pair)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I purchased these radios after extensive research discovering they are the best 2 way consumer radio motorola makes. once they arrived i charged them fully and followed the instructions to the T. Tested them in the country with nothing in the way of the 2 radios and they didnt make it past 4 miles. in the small little town i live in of 150 people, the radios managed to cut out after 3 blocks and no more communication. also the operating temps of these radios are insane. 20 degrees F and they shut down and refuse to transmit. i was using the hi power channel transmitting at 2 watts as well as the hi power ptt button. called motorola and they told me that they dont make them even. come to find out they hired a company giant international to build them. motorola only builds their business class radios is what they told me. i returned the items to amazon as they did no good. i mentioned that i would at least want to get 1 mile out of a 35 mile radio. guess not. im now trying out the much better looking midland gtx1000vp4 with a transmit power that ranges up to 5 watts! hoping to have better luck with midland. take my advice and dont waste your time with these supposed top of the line latest motorola radios.. they are more than a joke. i purchased a pair of cheap $20 midlands for kids to use in the woods and they worked better...in colder weather (by the way midland operates in -22F).

The newest, most exciting feature is the GMRS repeater operation. A repeater is a special base station that simultaneously receives and retransmits a signal from a mobile or portable station to extend the range. As a communications back-up it can fill the void.(GMRS FCC License Required) The current license fee is 85.00.

During disasters such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Katrina and the September 11th attacks and countless other emergency situations, what is one of the first things to go down? Communications. Cell phones are useless, and landline infrastructure/internet is the next to go. FRS,GMRS in the simplex mode (radio to radio) are a unobstructed line of sight communication device. I do take issue with the 35 mile claim on many of these simplex units. It won't happen unless both communicators are "HIGH ON SEPARATE MOUNTAIN TOPS" As previously mentioned, the GMRS Repeater operation will extend your range to acceptable distances.

Many areas around the country have privately owned GMRS Repeaters. A repeater directory may be found on this web site: [...]

If you are looking for a walkie-talkie like I had in the 70s for short range communications (FRS) then save your money and purchase one of the 29.00 units.

I worked in the telecom industry portion that has, among other things, hand-held radios. I know how they work; I know the physics behind each segment of the radio spectrum; I know the technologies, etc., etc.

That said, I could never give any of these kinds of "FRS/GMRS" two-way radios a five-star rating. None of them deserve it, nor, given the limitations placed on this radio type by the F.C.C., could any of them deserve a rating better than "mediocre", or "average". That is the limitation of this kind of power in this part of the spectrum. And it is true for any of these radios, regardless of what brand name is on them, although for quality, surely Motorola is the best of their type.

THIRTY-FIVE MILES? Ha! Maybe, just maybe, in a total vacuum, at a temperature of absolute-zero, you could get one of these radios to communicate 35 miles, but not anywhere on this planet that I can think of. Be realistic and you'll be satisfied. But if you expect 35 miles of range, or even 20% of that, you WILL be disappointed. I bought a pair of these radios, and I am as satisfied as I can be. They are good for what they are, at the price you pay.

But, if all you really need is a radio that CAN communicate for a distance not to exceed, say, two miles, then these radios are certainly the best of their kind I've ever seen. So, take them for what they are worth, and believe me, these Motorolas are hands-down the best of their kind. But none of these radios lives up to their advertising, and never will. It is simply not possible at the rated power in the alloted portion of the radio spectrum.

I researched these radios on multiple sites and was surprised by the wide range of opinions. The biggest criticism seemed to be lack of range. The other hunters on the deer lease used various Motorola radios with satisfactory results and for ease of communicating with them I decided to purchase them through Amazon. We hunt in central Texas on an approximately 5000 acre ranch, with mixed terrain (woods, fields, flat and hills). These radios seemed to be more than adequate when communicating with the other hunters. The rechargeable batteries seemed to provide more than enough stand-by time and the ability to supplement them with standard batteries is a plus. The only reason that I didn't give them five stars is the short period of use. While I may find other issues over time and with more severe service, these radios had good range in the field.

I bought three pairs to keep in touch with my kids and other family on our ski trip. Suffice it to say that when these radios got cold they simply did not work. I could hear the others (using other models) but could not transmit. Useless in my opinion. FYI it was below 30 deg F where these were used. I also had pair of Midlands and they worked fine all the time but could not get the Midlands to talk with these Motorolas even on the same channel/sub with Motorola Qt disabled. All of this resulted in a very frustrating experience.

Otherwise, the Motorolas have good volume and clarity but to me reliability is everything. Range seemed to be about as good as the Midlands I was using (GXT1000VP4.

Lastly, the included earpiece and corded mic was tough to use as Motorola put the mic right next to the button, so care had to be taken when pushing the transmit button to not cover the mic.

I will be returning these and looking for another solution.

We when hunting in Colorado and my hunting buddy and myself found this particular model a good one. We understood it was a walkie talkie and not a short wave radio and expected it to preform as a walkie talkie and it surprised us. We were in the mountains approx. a mile apart at times and were able to reach each other. If there was a problem we just moved our location a bit and were able to contact each other. For the price I would buy it again.

This is truly a great device. It has vibration feature, allowing you to keep it silent when needed. The ring tones are also not too bad, it got a few phone like ones. But the animal ring tones may only useful if you are in hunting.

How far it can reach? They said, 35 miles from one end to another end of two-visible high places could be possible. That claim could be true but I couldn't have chance to test that. Practically, suitable for hunting, camping, hiking etc. Never get lost or separated from your team. Also, while I was driving a car and my partner in her office, i could establish a communication within a distance of up to 2.5 km in an unleveled surrounding environment that has lots of trees, buildings.

The charging cradle is US based and I need to use a plug converter for that. However, the cradle I have is faulty and never been used. Too costly also for the seller to fix this because I am living in Australia. I don't really bother about it since I can use mini USB cable, charging at plug, computer or 12V car cigarette fuse.

Another interesting point is that, you can use new 3-AA rechargeable batteries if the existing packaged one is faulty. If turn on 24/7, it can last for two weeks or more without a need to recharge. I turned on the device for a few minutes a day and that really conserved the power.It is hard to know exactly how many months (one or two) before I need to recharge the batteries again. When the battery power finished, I just need to recharge e.g. via 12V car fuse for several minutes before I could send a signal.

Design is excellent. Has an LED as a torchlight in emergency situation. A bit bigger than latest mobile phone, but very light. I wish to have something like this but a smaller one which comes with AAA batteries. This is a two way radio pair. If Motorola could put together FM radio, MP3 player, camera and simcard slot, it could be one of a gadget that everyone on-the-go must have and that shouldn't be called radio anymore!

I use it in a shipyard with wide open spaces and a few large steel structures (ship hulls and crane gantries).

Reception
The reach is ok, about 600 meters distance is the farthest we've tried to go. You get a little static here and there, but the voices are easily identifiable and understandable. You never get the stated distance, although the operator in the tower can easily be heard from over 3km away.

Sound Quality
The sound quality is good from corner to corner, even when users are in their thick steel crane chassis or ship hulls.

Versatility & Added Features
The radio can receive NOAA alerts, it vibrates, it has silly animal sounds for alert tones, it has an emergency button, it has repeater channels, and it has a flash light. The vibrate and light are quite useful, the NOAA and animal sounds, less so. As for the GMRS repeater channels, you need the license to use the GMRS channels plus the repeater owner's permission to use his repeater. In return, this radio has the potential to reach MUCH FARTHER than even business radios costing 8 times more.

Peripherals
It comes with a wired headset and includes a belt clip, battery pack, charging cradle and adapter. These are ok peripherals, although the adapter is a plain 110V adapter, where I'm more used to getting an autoswitching 100-240V adapter with my electronics.

Motorola MR355R 35-Mile Range 22-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Pair)We use these on a small farm, distances under a mile. I bought this model because of pessimistic range estimates in reviews. Indeed, communications do seem to fail around here (hilly) in less than five miles, but work fine on the farm. Easy to use, but not to wear. In a pants pocket, fabric pushes buttons and the thing squawks: duck calls, etc. On the belt, it's prone to fall off (four times with two people in only a few weeks). Once a cow nudged it off. Once a weed whacker harness pushed the button and disconnected the unit from the belt hanger. Once the same harness pushed unit and hanger off the belt. Every time it fell in grass, where the black and camo color scheme makes it very hard to find by sight. (I'm trying to train everyone to wear it ONLY turned up loud enough to be located by sound.) That last time, after we looked in vain, it lay in the grass under a banana tree for several rainy days. It must have gotten soaked. Then we found it, I dried it off in the oven at 120F, then charged it, and it's going fine. Hence five stars! My other beef is that I am always accidentally bumping the sound knob, turning down the sound. One solution: I can remove the knob easily. The worst feature passes quickly: an awful clam-shell package.

I've had dozens of different FRS / GMRS radios over the years, and I picked these bubble pack units up specifically because they are repeater capable. Any commercial grade radio that supports transmit / receive offsets is in the couple hundred dollar range, so I wanted to give these a shake. You really can't touch the amount of features when you consider the price. Being able to have the weather alert activated while still using the unit for communications is a plus, and I know it's only a 50 cent feature, but the flashlight it a nice little addition too. If you are expecting 10, 15, 35, who knows how many miles they all advertise, then you will be disappointed unless you are both on nearby mountaintops. This is line of sight communication folks. If you want a radio that's full of features and is reliable to boot, then I'd recommend. KEEP IN MIND - You need a GMRS license to transmit on some of the channels this radio supports.