Review of Midland LXT118VP 22-Channel GMRS with 18-Mile Range, Rechargeable

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After buying several 'kiddie' sets of walkie talkies for my grandkids, I decided to buy a real set. These were inexpensive, and the other reviews looked good, so I gave it a try. The kids love them! They are lightweight, durable, and have a fantastic range. We are never that far apart, but the cheap sets would be out of range very quickly. Also, the sound quality was horrible with the other sets. We have had a lot of fun with these, and have made up several games using them. Their favorite is Hide and Seek, where you give clues through the walkie talkies. I would recommend these, and am going to buy another set so all three children can have one, plus one for me!

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My only 'issue' is that the instructions did not go over how to 'alert' the other person that a message was

incoming. After some experimentation I discovered that two quick 'hits' on the talk button will 'buzz' the other

party that a communication was incoming.

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I bought this so my son could talk to his grandfather 1.5 miles away... Fuzz is all we can hear. My 5 year old is so sad. 18 mile range is far from accurate.

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The units worked well the first time, but the battery easily gets drained, and sometimes without any warning. It's not something that you can use on a daily basis.

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Most of the negative reviews about this product focus on the range or the belt clip, so I'll comment on those first.

The advertised range of any radio is always "under optimal conditions", which means unobstructed line of sight and dry air. Absorption from buildings, trees, hills, rain, etc. will cause loss, and there are other limitations as well. I agree that the limitations on range should be made more clear in the description to set the potential buyer's expectations. However, to be fair, it's a fundamental part of radio communication and not a problem that is specific to this product. We've only used them at distances less than a mile, and had no problems.

Belt clip removal is made clear in the instruction booklet. Pry tab upward with one hand, slide clip downward with the thumb of the other hand. Took me 15 seconds, 10 of which were looking at the picture in the manual.

There is a serious problem, which is (for those living in the U.S.) that you need an FCC license to operate GMRS channels 1-7 and 15-22. It's $85. I was not aware of this fact when buying this set, and I imagine many other folks are not aware either. Yet there's not a single mention of "license" or "FCC" anywhere on the description page. Of course your next thought is, just use channels 8-14. The problem there is that I bought these for young children, who can't yet be relied upon to make absolutely sure of what channel they're using. An FCC violation is not what they need!

For those who need to push the limits of range, an additional problem is that channels 8-14 are FRS channels with lower power and therefore lower range.

For the price, this product seems solidly built. If you know what you're getting, it's probably a good deal. But because of the critical information that was omitted, I bought a product I can't use for the intended purpose, for which reason it loses 3 of its 5 possible stars.

Update 15 July 2013: The included batteries show just over 300 mAh on my Maha MH-C9000. A good AAA NiMH is 700 mAh or more. Translation: These batteries are very low-grade. It would be better to drop the price and omit them, since the customer will have to buy real batteries anyway.