Customer Ratings & Reviews

The radios work great if you are within 1/4 to 1/2 mile apart. Anything outside of that range and they get very spotty, and they will not work at all outside of 1 mile. This was tested on flat land with no obstructions, other than some trees. Within short distances they do work quite well, and the batteries last quite a long time. I would 100% recommend for short distances, but not for anything over 1/2 mile.

We have a micro-ranch in the Foothills of the Rockies in Colorado. Just a shade under 12 acres and in a semi-mountainous terrain. Our metal shop is at the far end of the property and we have no issues talking from inside the shop with all doors closed to the far end of the property. I really like knowing that the 16 year old son and 14 year old daughter can be out on the ATV's with these units instead of their $700 phones if anything comes up. It's also nice if they need something to take care of property or tend to the animals, they can call ahead and we can have whatever they need ready to go for them. While I can't vouch for the advertised 23 mile range, I can attest that for our unique needs, these are nice little units. In all, I would recommend them if you have the need. Disclaimer: This product was provided free, or at reduced cost, for the purpose of reviewing the product. Nevertheless, the above review, be it positive, negative, or anywhere in-between, is a 100% honest review, and the price paid played absolutely no part in my review.

Tried using this a couple of blocks away from my child's school. I thought it was a good way to communicate with him during the LAUSD strike. It's very reliable, it's compact and I thought it's something that my child could bring. I did not have any concerns with the distance performance, at least on a 600m distance-- no buildings whatsoever. I'm still to use it in my near camping trip, while on the road between two cars and in no signal zones. So far the usb charging and the size makes it easy to carry. It is not made of super high quality materials but the way it is designed makes it sturdy enough to be carried around without worries. I like it and I think every household should have one in tow for emergency purposes.

So I grabbed the Cobra MicroTalk 23 Miles/22 Channel two-way radios for a couple different uses. I had no intention to replace anything like a cellphone, as that is obviously a more sophisticated device in comparison. The main reason was for hiking. I also grabbed them for road trips when we are using two cars. Lastly, they are fun for the kids to use and are an excellent back up way to communicated should other means go out. I have been on a couple hikes with them. One in a more remote area, and it worked when I had ZERO cell reception. That was awesome, as you never know when an emergency can happen. I was well within the 23 mile range, so I cannot attest to the distance it will go in this environment. Regardless, I was impressed and it passed the test for my specific needs in this manner. To simulate the road trip, I tried the radios a few cities over. I was about 12-14 miles away from the house, and they worked. I have to admit, there are a TON of things that could interfere with the signal. Thinks like elevation, buildings, towers, and basically anything you would encounter in a normal real world suburban environment. Test two passed. The kids? They play with them and as you well know kids are not exactly “easy” on things. Mine are no exception. They stand up to the test. They have been dropped (not hard or from a great height) and they are fine. These are too expensive to have as a toy, but I don’t mind they using them on occasion. They are holding up well regardless. The locking keypad is a great feature, one I specially like as having been in law enforcement for 19 years. I cannot tell you how many time I have heard radios accidentally keyed over the years, more so with older model radios. People say some pretty interesting things when they think nobody is listening! Voice activation is another cool feature some people might like. I don’t see myself using it, but I know some might like it. It requires an optional $19.99 hands-free set. Good price for what you are getting, should that be something you want. All in all, this is a great set of radios. It fits the bill well for me. I see them as being great for a small business fleet or on the high end of personal use. Either way, I highly recommend them.

So far so good. I like the standard USB to dual mini cable, so you can plug both radios to charge, OR just use the charging cradle for both powered by one mini-usb (coming from standard out with the included power adapter). Though I haven’t really tested this in a 21 mile radius as it specified, I did test it with me and my friend as we were jogging around a huge park. All communication is clear. This would be a great addition for camping or hiking adventures, and it’s rechargeable. I will use these when me and my family goes to a reunion type trip overseas shortly next year, when we go walking around villages and so on.

I use these to stay in contact on my 11 acre property that has terrible cell phone service, and they do the job perfectly. They work great even when calling from inside one building to another or if one of the handsets travels 1/2 mile down the road to the mailbox. The batteries last all day easily and the included charging stand makes it easy to keep them charged. There are many channel and security settings to choose from but they also work great right out of the box without any tinkering. I do not use the "hands free" feature but it's there if my needs ever require it.

I am a bit disappointed. I got these walkies for hiking trips or severe storm outages. They don’t work that great. No way they get 25 miles. They don’t do well over a mile distance. I have been testing for a few days and thought mine were defective, but turns out nobody is getting the listed range. I like the different frequency settings, the size, and the cradle charger. But I don’t think these perform up to the descriptions on the packaging and on the Best Buy site. As such, I can’t recommend them.

I was looking for some light weight radios to communicate with my kids when skiing. I have a different set of 2 from a different manufacturer, but I wanted two more. These radios are compact and light weight. I compared them to my other radios in the woods across the street from my house. I could hear both radios clearly but these were a little less clear. The other radios I have are just more powerful, so they have a stronger transmit signal. The great thing is that they are compatible with my other GMRS radios. I took both pairs skiing and had not issues communicating with the rest of the family. Granted it was a small New England mountain, so it wasn't really stretching the capabilities too far. Overall these are a good set of radios, you just need to be realistic about what you will use them for.

These are OK for basic needs. I wouldn't recommend for a professional setting honestly as the range is spotty anything over a short distance and wouldn't be what I consider reliable. I don't understand the 23 mile range advertised in the name honestly. I thought these would be good for the shop as well as for hunting but they seem more like a kids set instead of a business or hunting set. The charging is spotty as well which is a huge problem for the shop, doesn't meet business needs if you can't count on a full charge or the ability to even turn it on.

Easy to setup and easy to use! They work as advertised too!

There is not one single thing that I like about them. Design - they are built very strange, almost childish. Size is not bad, but shape buttons position and display size and look are toy like. Quality - i tested them on very short distances (several hundred feet's) in single houses residential neighborhood and results are disappointing for me. All I was getting was lots of static noise followed with bad sound quality. Last thing is one dual charging dock for two radios - very bad move because each radio should have it's own charger (lets say two radio in two houses and two buildings, one of them will run out of juice) Pros: Size Cons: Everything else - Design, buttons, sound quality, charging dock.

These Cobra MicroTALK PX500 two way radios have decent enough sound, but they don't come close to the "ideal" 23-mile range in real life. Also, they are small and lightweight, which is convenient, but makes them feel a little bit like toys. Finally, the settings are more limited than other similar products, and having the push-to-talk button on the front can be frustrating. First off, I'll talk about range and sound. I tried these in city, suburban, and more rural environments, and at best (standing outdoors in mostly clear farmland with minimal buildings in the area), I was able to get these to work from a little over a mile apart. I get that there are lots of things that can reduce range, but 23 miles seems like a stretch unless you're somewhere completely flat and without obstructions. If you just need them for around a single building or small campus, however, the range might not be an issue. I got good sound quality from about 1/4 mile apart, even inside (different) buildings or vehicles. There are plenty of options for channels and "privacy" codes... although it's important to remember that these do not actually provide privacy. Anyone with a compatible radio can listen in on your conversation. The codes just make it so that you only hear others who have selected the same code. It's more like having a mute button for people who aren't part of your conversation. Helpful, for sure, but I wish they wouldn't call it "privacy." Next, settings. The PX500 settings cover only the very basics: You can select a channel, select your "privacy" code, and turn voice activation on/off and set the sensitivity. Unfortunately, you can NOT turn off the "over" beep (which transmits anytime you release the push-to-talk button), you do NOT get a choice of what tone to hear when someone presses the "call" button, and you can NOT scan multiple channels (which would be helpful if you're monitoring multiple teams, or suspect a colleague is set to the wrong channel), and can not scan multiple "privacy" codes (which would be helpful to hear who else is on your selected channel). These are fairly common options on other FRS/GMRS radio models, from Cobra and other brands. Finally, the physical design. The PX500s are compact and lightweight. On the one hand, that's a good thing. But on the other, they feel sort of cheap and delicate, almost like a toy. All of the plastic is hard and smooth, no rubberized edges that might protect against a fall or a bump. Most importantly, though, I found the location of the push-to-talk button very frustrating. It's on the front of the radio, near the top. Not on the side, like almost every other two-way radio out there. Anytime I had the radio is clipped to my belt or pocket, I found the button getting accidentally pressed as I moved about... picking up boxes, leaning over, etc. Don't even try putting these in a pocket. Also, in order to push the button, I had to position my hand so that my thumb partially covered the speaker, microphone, and display. Maybe this last part was an attempt to prevent users from putting their face too close to the mic when they transmit, but I just found it awkward and frustrating. I do think that the multiple charging options on the PX500s are a nice touch. There's an included base for drop-in charging of one or both radios, but each one also has a micro-USB jack on the side. This is still a pretty common connector for mobile phones and other electronic devices, so it's nice to be able to charge in the car or on the go without carrying a proprietary cable. Overall, these PX500s do the basics just fine: They transmit and receive decent quality sound on all of the FRS/GMRS channels. But they don't come close getting 23 miles range, lack some settings/features that I would have preferred to have, and have a counter-intuitive and fragile-feeling design. That's why I was disappointed with them overall, and would not recommend them to others.

These are a great little set of 2 way radios without a ton of bells and whistles. No crazy menus, good charging stand, excellent range. What more could you ask for?