Customer Reviews

Motorola TalkAbout T5820 R 5-Mile 22-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radios (Pair)

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

 

 

I picked up a pair of these just before a long roadtrip thinking that we could use them to talk between cars, but on every point they came up weak.
Range: Even in GMRS mode these things couldn't talk between two cars no more than a half mile apart in clear sight of each other.
Clarity: horrible - I couldn't understand the speech most of the time.
Two other features that were troublesome were the inability to lock a channel/code combination and the big dumb volume control which invariably dialed down to zero every time we put the radios in our pockets.
Battery: I picked up the optional two-radio drop-in charger and the batteries were NiCd instead of the much better and longer life (and no memory) NiMH that everyone else uses and the charger was a dumb trickle charger, not a smart charger that actually told you when the radios were charged.
Conclusion: What a joke. If I were Motorola I'd track down everyone who bought these, apologize personally and give them a real radio and a real charging system. I'm going with Cobra next time, which is sad since my t6320 was such a great radio.

Audio quality is so bad, it's nearly impossible to understand the caller. I bought a pair and promptly returned them. My advice: save yourself the return postage and choose a different pair.

I am unfortunate enough to be able to review two sets of products. The first set I received, I returned because the radios did not communicate at all. One or both of the radios were clearly defective. The second set did work well at 100 paces or so. Actually we test them several times and the furthest we got them to work was less than 1/2 mile. As someone said, hardly the need to have to apply for a GMRS license. Another thing is the very tight fit of the rechargable battery pack. It is very difficult to remove the pack. The clerk pried one out with the blade of a knife and the other he used the same approach one uses to get ketchup out of the bottle. Finally, I can't help but pass on the advise I received from the clerk when I received the second set. He told me that if I was not pleased with the performance, to remove the rechargable batteries and use alkaline batteries. I admit that I have not tried this yet. It will not change my rating because one pays extra for the rechargable batteries. If this truly is a known fact as the clerk seems to imply, I will not reflect on the ethics of marketing a product where they charge you more for a feature that requires you not to use it for better performance. Overall, a very disappointing experience for a product made by a company whose brand use to stand for quality products.

I bought these to keep in touch with my friends snowboarding, and paintballing. I would have been better off paying for airtime on my cell phone instead of purchasing these. The audio quality on these are average to poor at best. They are not what I expected fom the Motorola corporation. A great disappointment.

Please don't buy this radio. It's range is about the same as an FRS and it's very hard to understand what your partner is saying. I have the T-5200 Talkabout radio wich is a much better radio.

I purchased a pair of Motorola T5820 radios to keep in touch with my children playing in the neighborhood. I was expecting a high-quality product from the likes of Motorola. Boy was I wrong! The audio clarity of these radios is terrible... to the point that you cannot understand the other party. Audio quality is muffled, muddy, and distorted. Also annoying is the fact that when you key the mic, there is a slight delay (~500ms) before the other radio's squelch is opened resulting in the first few syllables lost during transmission. Being an amateur radio (ham) operator, I am very familiar with the operation of hand-held radios. With these radios I found myself continuously saying "please repeat..." to the other party. Steer clear of these radios!

I bought a pair of motorola talkabout last year and wanted another pair this year. The reception of 5820 is not clear compared to the talkabout. The volume is not loud enough and there is a lot of static. My friend who bought the same pair had the same problem. Recommend to try other motorola series.

We have used Motorola FRS 2-way radios for a while and we've been very happy with them except we'd like a little more range so I ordered these radios to try the GMRS channels. I carefully read the instructions and my wife and I decided to try them out. We were disappointed because the sound quality is very poor and the range doesn't seem to be much better if it is better at all!. It appears that the speaker in this radio the problem. When listening to the old radios to someone using the new radios, the sound quality is good but when listening on the new radios (The GMRS radio) the sound quality is very poor and we are repeating our messages a lot. We might try to use them with earpieces to see if we there is any improvement in the sound, if not we'll try to return these radios.
Don't by these radios unless you want to repeat every message several times!

I got these for my son a couple of weeks ago just because he was being good. So anyway we went on a skiing trip and my wife and I stole these from my son. They were amazing. I went all the way on the other side of the mountain and I pressed call and in a minute she was on. It was great. I love this product and recommend it to anyone

I got these radios for a christmas present. Below are specs i noticed.

Pros:
They communicates within 5 miles.
They work with 2 mile radios on chanels 1-14(i think)
The work great in side, out side, and even in the car!
I highly recommend these wonderful radios!

Cons:
You do have to buy a $75.00 FCC licence.
When you first get them you have to do a 7 hour charge so that the NiCd batteries get condishound.
For the optinal head set, you have to use one of the head sets spificly made for the radio.