Great entry level FRS radios

I have used FRS radios on many occasions for communications with my work, and because I am involved in plenty of outdoor activities where they are a great convenience. Never before have I actually owned my own set. I recieved a set of the T4500 FRS radios as a gift a few months ago, and have found them to be very good for their purpose.

Appearance/Ergonomics:

The first thing I noticed about these radios was their size. I was quite excited to have a set of radios that quite literally will fit into a small shirt pocket (Depth 1.0" Height 4.5" Width 2.0"). Because of their light weight, 0.13 lbs (without batteries) they easily clip onto your belt, or shirt without getting in the way. This is especially good for hiking where bulky radios can be an annoyance at best on a long journey. The buttons on the radio are arranged appropriately so that they can all be used easily with a quick motion of the thumb. I have big hands, and even with the small size of the unit I still find it easy to manipulate the buttons even while concentrating on the hiking path.

The screen on one of these handsets is small, and displays basics for the radio. If you are looking for extensive input from the screen on a radio these units may not be for you. You do get the channel number displayed, but it lacks a battery indicator, "Talk" indicator or volume indicator. I haven't found that to be a problem for myself and my recreational use, but some may want to have more detail if they are using their radios more intricately.

I am not too pleased with the battery compartment for these radio units. They do a good job of keeping the batteries inside, unfortunately too good. First, the belt clip needs to be removed from the unit, after which I always seem to have a hard time with "Popping" the battery cover off, which usually ends up in me having to use a small coin, or knife to get it open. Thankfully battery life is really good so this is doesn't have to happen very often!

Use/Functionality

Overall battery life for these radios has been exceptional to this point. These units operate on 3 AAA batteries for each unit, and never seem to run out of batteries! I have used these radios more than frequently in the last few months, and have only had to replace the batteries once after about a total accumulated time of around 20 days.

With my particular pair, I do not have the ability to use the GMRS band channels. I believe this is because they were purchased in Canada where different standards exist for this type of radio communication however I'm not completely certain. The unit offers FRS bands from 1 - 15. I have only ever had a need to use the first 4 channels that are offered and have never experienced a problem with the quality of communication within around a 3km range even in relatively dense forest.

Sound quality is excellent with these units. Holding the unit around 1ft away from your mouth when talking seems to work perfectly for communicating. Motorola has incorporated a rather large "output" speaker which is more than loud enough to hear under moderate noise conditions and has an easily configurable volume level. The audible "Roger" sound that occurs when you are finished talking is polite, and serves its purpose effectively. There is only 1 available call tone with these radios which is a little annoying, however I have found that I rarely use this feature, and it hasn't inconvenienced in any way.

General Consensus

These radios have more than served their generic need for my use. I don't imagine they would be appropriate for someone who uses their radios religiously for their job, or for critical purposes, but will serve the average recreationalist just fine. Apart from a few things that I would change about their design, their size, and great operation more than makes up for the inconvenience.