Radio Reviews

Problems:
Battery door didn't fit tight. Pushed hard and it still stuck out as if poorly manufactured. The first day I used the radio, the battery cover fell off somewhere and now the radio is useless unless I wrap rubber bands around the body to keep the batteries from also falling out. Motorola's excellent battery cover on its first Talkabouts misled me when buying the T6250 into thinking this too was well designed. I wouldn't buy another one.

It also didn't receive transmissions from other peopled' FSRs. I've had the older Talkabout 250 and the newer T6250 both turned on but only the 250 would receive those transmissions.

Don't buy this radio; Motorola discontinued it for some reason and I suspect we've identified two of the reasons.

Sure, some of the features are nice. But the flaws make those benefits hard to enjoy.

It's a common rule of thumb that, when others claim that 'theirs is just as good as or better than...', chances are that they're comparing 'theirs' to a widely acknowledged benchmark in performance and quality; so it is with FRS radios that claim to be 'just as good as or better than' a Motorola. Considering the price (and compared to numerous lesser quality radios on the market), there's really no reason to compromise by purchasing an FRS radio made by anyone other than Motorola. In particular, the T6220 packs an abundance of useful features into a user friendly package. For those of you (myself included) who were growing weary of FRS radios looking like they were designed by Dr. Seuss, there's no confusing a graphite black T6220 as anything but 'communications equipment'. A reviewer's comment about the microphone being poorly placed (and subject to being covered by the user's thumb) is, in my opinion, a non-issue; I have a 'regular' sized adult hand and - even when I try - it's difficult to entirely cover the microphone port when holding the radio as you would during use. Transmit audio is above average and receive audio is average for a two-way radio in this price range (if a received signal sounds 'mushy' when using a T6220, chances are it's because the person at the other end is talking too close to their microphone). If there was to be a legitimate criticism of the T6220's design, I would say that it would be of the battery compartment cover and its latching mechanism. The cover itself fails to achieve a tight fit against the lower portion of the radio when in the 'closed' position; as a result, there seems to be an inordinate (1mm approx) gap between where the lower half of the cover meets the main body of the radio (a problem which has nothing to do with battery type, since it occurs even when there is no battery installed). But this is, after all, a non-commercial/non-military radio; for its price, Motorola has provided everyday users with a terrific product that's clearly a 'notch above'.

I've owned several Motorola radios in past and these are best yet. Rather than repeat things mentioned in other reviews, let me add a few new things.

First the weather radio thing is really handy. It's nice while driving to be able to get the latest forcast and severe weather update.

Second, the QT (QuieT6000) feature is deluxe. If you are using these things in a congested area, like theme parks, even with all the channels and codes you may find others on "your" channel. What the QT feature does is give you another layer exclusivity. If your curious about how this works you can read about it on Motorola's web site.

Thirdly, the vibrate feature is nice for a call tone. When you're at a noisy themepark, this comes in handy.

Lastly, and very importantly, if you are using rechargable batteries with this radio, be sure to change the settings on the radio to indicate this! Otherwise your radio will give you low battery warnings after only 2 hours of use (and you'll think your rechargables are going bad). It took me a while to figure out what was going on.

All and all I love the radios and would highly suggest them. And I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes plain black radios (I'm one of those function over design guys, I guess).

...KP

Problems:
Battery door didn't fit tight. Pushed hard and it still stuck out as if poorly manufactured. The first day I used the radio, the battery cover fell off somewhere and now the radio is useless unless I wrap rubber bands around the body to keep the batteries from also falling out. Motorola's excellent battery cover on its first Talkabouts misled me when buying the T6250 into thinking this too was well designed. I wouldn't buy another one.

It also didn't receive transmissions from other peopled' FSRs. I've had the older Talkabout 250 and the newer T6250 both turned on but only the 250 would receive those transmissions.

Don't buy this radio; Motorola discontinued it for some reason and I suspect we've identified two of the reasons.

Sure, some of the features are nice. But the flaws make those benefits hard to enjoy.

It's a common rule of thumb that, when others claim that 'theirs is just as good as or better than...', chances are that they're comparing 'theirs' to a widely acknowledged benchmark in performance and quality; so it is with FRS radios that claim to be 'just as good as or better than' a Motorola. Considering the price (and compared to numerous lesser quality radios on the market), there's really no reason to compromise by purchasing an FRS radio made by anyone other than Motorola. In particular, the T6220 packs an abundance of useful features into a user friendly package. For those of you (myself included) who were growing weary of FRS radios looking like they were designed by Dr. Seuss, there's no confusing a graphite black T6220 as anything but 'communications equipment'. A reviewer's comment about the microphone being poorly placed (and subject to being covered by the user's thumb) is, in my opinion, a non-issue; I have a 'regular' sized adult hand and - even when I try - it's difficult to entirely cover the microphone port when holding the radio as you would during use. Transmit audio is above average and receive audio is average for a two-way radio in this price range (if a received signal sounds 'mushy' when using a T6220, chances are it's because the person at the other end is talking too close to their microphone). If there was to be a legitimate criticism of the T6220's design, I would say that it would be of the battery compartment cover and its latching mechanism. The cover itself fails to achieve a tight fit against the lower portion of the radio when in the 'closed' position; as a result, there seems to be an inordinate (1mm approx) gap between where the lower half of the cover meets the main body of the radio (a problem which has nothing to do with battery type, since it occurs even when there is no battery installed). But this is, after all, a non-commercial/non-military radio; for its price, Motorola has provided everyday users with a terrific product that's clearly a 'notch above'.

I've owned several Motorola radios in past and these are best yet. Rather than repeat things mentioned in other reviews, let me add a few new things.

First the weather radio thing is really handy. It's nice while driving to be able to get the latest forcast and severe weather update.

Second, the QT (QuieT6000) feature is deluxe. If you are using these things in a congested area, like theme parks, even with all the channels and codes you may find others on "your" channel. What the QT feature does is give you another layer exclusivity. If your curious about how this works you can read about it on Motorola's web site.

Thirdly, the vibrate feature is nice for a call tone. When you're at a noisy themepark, this comes in handy.

Lastly, and very importantly, if you are using rechargable batteries with this radio, be sure to change the settings on the radio to indicate this! Otherwise your radio will give you low battery warnings after only 2 hours of use (and you'll think your rechargables are going bad). It took me a while to figure out what was going on.

All and all I love the radios and would highly suggest them. And I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes plain black radios (I'm one of those function over design guys, I guess).

...KP

Problems:
Battery door didn't fit tight. Pushed hard and it still stuck out as if poorly manufactured. The first day I used the radio, the battery cover fell off somewhere and now the radio is useless unless I wrap rubber bands around the body to keep the batteries from also falling out. Motorola's excellent battery cover on its first Talkabouts misled me when buying the T6250 into thinking this too was well designed. I wouldn't buy another one.

It also didn't receive transmissions from other peopled' FSRs. I've had the older Talkabout 250 and the newer T6250 both turned on but only the 250 would receive those transmissions.

Don't buy this radio; Motorola discontinued it for some reason and I suspect we've identified two of the reasons.

Sure, some of the features are nice. But the flaws make those benefits hard to enjoy.

It's a common rule of thumb that, when others claim that 'theirs is just as good as or better than...', chances are that they're comparing 'theirs' to a widely acknowledged benchmark in performance and quality; so it is with FRS radios that claim to be 'just as good as or better than' a Motorola. Considering the price (and compared to numerous lesser quality radios on the market), there's really no reason to compromise by purchasing an FRS radio made by anyone other than Motorola. In particular, the T6220 packs an abundance of useful features into a user friendly package. For those of you (myself included) who were growing weary of FRS radios looking like they were designed by Dr. Seuss, there's no confusing a graphite black T6220 as anything but 'communications equipment'. A reviewer's comment about the microphone being poorly placed (and subject to being covered by the user's thumb) is, in my opinion, a non-issue; I have a 'regular' sized adult hand and - even when I try - it's difficult to entirely cover the microphone port when holding the radio as you would during use. Transmit audio is above average and receive audio is average for a two-way radio in this price range (if a received signal sounds 'mushy' when using a T6220, chances are it's because the person at the other end is talking too close to their microphone). If there was to be a legitimate criticism of the T6220's design, I would say that it would be of the battery compartment cover and its latching mechanism. The cover itself fails to achieve a tight fit against the lower portion of the radio when in the 'closed' position; as a result, there seems to be an inordinate (1mm approx) gap between where the lower half of the cover meets the main body of the radio (a problem which has nothing to do with battery type, since it occurs even when there is no battery installed). But this is, after all, a non-commercial/non-military radio; for its price, Motorola has provided everyday users with a terrific product that's clearly a 'notch above'.

I've owned several Motorola radios in past and these are best yet. Rather than repeat things mentioned in other reviews, let me add a few new things.

First the weather radio thing is really handy. It's nice while driving to be able to get the latest forcast and severe weather update.

Second, the QT (QuieT6000) feature is deluxe. If you are using these things in a congested area, like theme parks, even with all the channels and codes you may find others on "your" channel. What the QT feature does is give you another layer exclusivity. If your curious about how this works you can read about it on Motorola's web site.

Thirdly, the vibrate feature is nice for a call tone. When you're at a noisy themepark, this comes in handy.

Lastly, and very importantly, if you are using rechargable batteries with this radio, be sure to change the settings on the radio to indicate this! Otherwise your radio will give you low battery warnings after only 2 hours of use (and you'll think your rechargables are going bad). It took me a while to figure out what was going on.

All and all I love the radios and would highly suggest them. And I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes plain black radios (I'm one of those function over design guys, I guess).

...KP

Problems:
Battery door didn't fit tight. Pushed hard and it still stuck out as if poorly manufactured. The first day I used the radio, the battery cover fell off somewhere and now the radio is useless unless I wrap rubber bands around the body to keep the batteries from also falling out. Motorola's excellent battery cover on its first Talkabouts misled me when buying the T6250 into thinking this too was well designed. I wouldn't buy another one.

It also didn't receive transmissions from other peopled' FSRs. I've had the older Talkabout 250 and the newer T6250 both turned on but only the 250 would receive those transmissions.

Don't buy this radio; Motorola discontinued it for some reason and I suspect we've identified two of the reasons.

Sure, some of the features are nice. But the flaws make those benefits hard to enjoy.

It's a common rule of thumb that, when others claim that 'theirs is just as good as or better than...', chances are that they're comparing 'theirs' to a widely acknowledged benchmark in performance and quality; so it is with FRS radios that claim to be 'just as good as or better than' a Motorola. Considering the price (and compared to numerous lesser quality radios on the market), there's really no reason to compromise by purchasing an FRS radio made by anyone other than Motorola. In particular, the T6220 packs an abundance of useful features into a user friendly package. For those of you (myself included) who were growing weary of FRS radios looking like they were designed by Dr. Seuss, there's no confusing a graphite black T6220 as anything but 'communications equipment'. A reviewer's comment about the microphone being poorly placed (and subject to being covered by the user's thumb) is, in my opinion, a non-issue; I have a 'regular' sized adult hand and - even when I try - it's difficult to entirely cover the microphone port when holding the radio as you would during use. Transmit audio is above average and receive audio is average for a two-way radio in this price range (if a received signal sounds 'mushy' when using a T6220, chances are it's because the person at the other end is talking too close to their microphone). If there was to be a legitimate criticism of the T6220's design, I would say that it would be of the battery compartment cover and its latching mechanism. The cover itself fails to achieve a tight fit against the lower portion of the radio when in the 'closed' position; as a result, there seems to be an inordinate (1mm approx) gap between where the lower half of the cover meets the main body of the radio (a problem which has nothing to do with battery type, since it occurs even when there is no battery installed). But this is, after all, a non-commercial/non-military radio; for its price, Motorola has provided everyday users with a terrific product that's clearly a 'notch above'.

I've owned several Motorola radios in past and these are best yet. Rather than repeat things mentioned in other reviews, let me add a few new things.

First the weather radio thing is really handy. It's nice while driving to be able to get the latest forcast and severe weather update.

Second, the QT (QuieT6000) feature is deluxe. If you are using these things in a congested area, like theme parks, even with all the channels and codes you may find others on "your" channel. What the QT feature does is give you another layer exclusivity. If your curious about how this works you can read about it on Motorola's web site.

Thirdly, the vibrate feature is nice for a call tone. When you're at a noisy themepark, this comes in handy.

Lastly, and very importantly, if you are using rechargable batteries with this radio, be sure to change the settings on the radio to indicate this! Otherwise your radio will give you low battery warnings after only 2 hours of use (and you'll think your rechargables are going bad). It took me a while to figure out what was going on.

All and all I love the radios and would highly suggest them. And I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes plain black radios (I'm one of those function over design guys, I guess).

...KP

This weather radio is very reliable and works as promised. What is amazing is that it is so small, can be taken with you anywhere and yet still pulls in signals as well, or better than table top weather radios. Sure it will use some batteries, but if you are at home, you can just plug in an AC adapter. I can see where some could have difficulty setting it up, but once it is set up, it works great. There have been 3 tornado warnings in the past 48 hours, one of which was in the middle of the night. We were awakened by the alert and were able to move to our safe area.

I've only had this weather radio for a few weeks and already had two thunderstorms where I used it. It's a solid weather radio. The signal is great. It's easy to change channels. It has a bright blue backlit which makes it easy to see the screen in the dark. The S.A.M.E. is awesome although I could see where people could have a little trouble setting it. Oregon Scientific has very complete information on it though. All you do is go to an official NOAA web site, type in your zip code and it gives you a "SAME Code" and then you enter it in to the radio. It's similar to setting an alarm on a clock. If you don't know what a SAME code is, a SAME code is a code you enter for your town so that you only get warnings for your town and not just ones around you. When you get a warning, the screen will flash "Warning" and if you want it will set off a 110 decibel siren that will wake anyone up. I haven't had any battery problems. Whenever I don't need it I just have it in the stand (included) and have it plugged in. It's also very rugged and it's not afraid of a little rain. I'd suggest this product to anyone and think everyone should get one.

I love this company - Oregon Scientific. I had bought their photo frame as a gift for my father-in-law and loved it so much that I shopped for another gift for Father's Day and found this emergency alert monitor. It notifies you of severe weather, civil emergencies, child abductions (amber alerts) and a host of other life-threatening dangers. I have a friend with another model and his battery life is very short compared to this unit. We throw it in the car when we go camping, skiing, fishing - anytime we're away from home and need to know about weather or emergencies. It's a great product that we'll never be without.

I bought this because I wanted an extremely small radio with both AM/FM reception that was almost credit card sized for use on commuting trips on Amtrak. Overall, I am pleased, and at the price point--quite pleased. It runs on one AAA battery for a long time (replaced once in 1 year). It is small enough to hide in an inappropriate location (say, a classical concert) to hear a game :). Surprisingly good FM sound through the earbuds--the small speaker is not very useful.

Small downsides: uncomfortable, hard earbuds--recommend replacements with anything compatible; paint on radio case easily rubs off; and due to the size, analog tuning is trial and error. A digital tuner with presets would be a plus--but I note that similar sized radios with that feature are almost 2X in price. Overall, a very good, very small, low-power, "hideable" personal radio.

Frankly, I wasn't expecting much. I was looking for a good travel radio, and settle on this. It sounds much better than what you would expect for a 1" speaker. The AM reception is good, not great but that's only a small penlty for the size. I live in North Idaho and get the nearby AM stations up to 90 miles away loud and clear. At night I sometimes pick up KFBK in Sacromento and KGO in SF most of the time. On a SOny ICF-24 I get these stations consistently. The tuning is a little tricky. Battery life seems good, I've had the radio on for about 15 hours on a single AAA using the speaker turned up all the way, and it's still going strong. For the size and price this is the best radio going.

The SR-1 is a great package combining good sensitivity and selectivity with good audio in a featherweight package. AM & FM reception are both quite good (although the ear buds are needed for FM since the wire serves as the antenna) with the ability to pick up AM stations several hundred miles away at night. The internal speaker sounds good considering the tiny size of this radio, but it's not room filling sound. The ear buds sound decent, but as other reviewers have stated there are better options available... but I'd only recommend it for music as news / sports sounds fine with the set provided. The only ergonomic problem with this radio is that it is hard to use some of the controls with the radio in its supplied pouch. Battery life is great and it only uses a single AAA cell.

Overall I'd highly recommend this radio as a take anywhere means of staying in touch with what's going on or to listen during a commute. It has been recently discontinued by Sangean so act fast if you're interested and find one still in stock.

I bought this yesterday. I really bought this to be a mini boom box for my kitchen. Here's what I discovered that I didn't like about the product:

1 - The sound is not so good. I bought an RCA (w/vertical CD placement) at the same time. The RCAs sound was much better.

2 - The Sony requires manual tuning of the radio. No presets.

3 - Manual volume control.

4 - The buttons for CD use are confusing. The play and stop buttons blend in with the other buttons.

I did like:

1 - The FM antenna. Better reception than the RCA. I live in a valley, so reception is difficult.

2- The rest of the features seem on par with others in this price range.

I recently purchased this item for my husband. We love everything about it! The tuning is excellent. Our favorite stations come in crystal clear and the speakers are flawless! It's well worth the price. I will be purchasing another for my son.

I just bought this clock/radio at a discount store. I have been looking for a clock/radio which is also a CD player, but haven't had luck in finding any that I like. I did buy an RCA item and it was terrible- it stopped playing the CD in the middle of songs and wouldn't start playing again. I exchanged it for another, and the same thing happened. So I looked at this particular model, but really didn't like the shape and didn't like the green numbers. The RCA I bought had green numbers and it was near impossible to read in the middle of the night. When I saw this model for $20, I thought it was worth a try. I am glad I gave it a chance. This clock/radio is GREAT. I love it already and have only had it for a day. The CD sounds great for a small unit like this. The analog tuning is better than digital for fine tuning in my opinion. The radio sounds great too. The green numbers are rather large and easy to read. I have tried it alot in the past day and it has been nothing but a "dream machine." Totally recommended.

I bought this yesterday. I really bought this to be a mini boom box for my kitchen. Here's what I discovered that I didn't like about the product:

1 - The sound is not so good. I bought an RCA (w/vertical CD placement) at the same time. The RCAs sound was much better.

2 - The Sony requires manual tuning of the radio. No presets.

3 - Manual volume control.

4 - The buttons for CD use are confusing. The play and stop buttons blend in with the other buttons.

I did like:

1 - The FM antenna. Better reception than the RCA. I live in a valley, so reception is difficult.

2- The rest of the features seem on par with others in this price range.

I recently purchased this item for my husband. We love everything about it! The tuning is excellent. Our favorite stations come in crystal clear and the speakers are flawless! It's well worth the price. I will be purchasing another for my son.

I just bought this clock/radio at a discount store. I have been looking for a clock/radio which is also a CD player, but haven't had luck in finding any that I like. I did buy an RCA item and it was terrible- it stopped playing the CD in the middle of songs and wouldn't start playing again. I exchanged it for another, and the same thing happened. So I looked at this particular model, but really didn't like the shape and didn't like the green numbers. The RCA I bought had green numbers and it was near impossible to read in the middle of the night. When I saw this model for $20, I thought it was worth a try. I am glad I gave it a chance. This clock/radio is GREAT. I love it already and have only had it for a day. The CD sounds great for a small unit like this. The analog tuning is better than digital for fine tuning in my opinion. The radio sounds great too. The green numbers are rather large and easy to read. I have tried it alot in the past day and it has been nothing but a "dream machine." Totally recommended.

I won't repeat everyone elses reviews. My message is this: I wanted to sit in my recliner with my laptop and be able to pick and choose what music was playing on my stereo. I didn't want to use the TV or another clicker to control anything. The Audiotron does a GREAT job! It has a http server built in and I can talk to it with my web browser, pick songs, play them, etc. No other software needed period.

You don't need to load/run any software on your song file server either. Any pc on your network can simply share whatever directory you like and the audiotron can see it and play songs from there.

Great product! I just wish it had 802.11b built in. I had to buy a Linksys WET11 to get wireless connectivity.

I love this device. I have it setup in my living room, connected to my stereo and to a Linksys wireless bridge. The Audiotron can play all of my MP3s from my computer, along with hundreds of internet radio stations, all wirelessly! The simple 802.11b wireless connection easily handles the audio transmissions without problem. The Audiotron has replaced my huge 400 CD jukebox as my most used piece of stereo equipment. Searching for songs is very easy, as the Audiotron can sift through MP3 tags with ease, finding music by author, album title, music type, song title, etc. Well worth the cost!

The lightbulb, the telephone, the automobile- pale in comparison to this invention. For true, (no, I mean TRUE...) audiophiles, there is nothing that can compare to the ability to dial up ANY song you are in the mood for. Think of any song you feel like listening to and it's there. What else could you want from life?

Tips: Remember, even though this unit is an "FRS/GMRS*" radio, you need to get a license to use it from the FCC. An FCC GMRS license is currently $75 for 5-years, and is available online. Dual FRS/GMRS radios require an FCC license even though you may only want to use the FRS channels.

Pros: Quality manufacturing, and good look-and-feel for such an inexpensive radio.

Many useful features (e.g., Scan, NOAA WeatherRadio built-in, VOX mode option [i.e., Voice-Only-Transmission...no pushing of "talk" button], Dual Watch mode [i.e., "watch" 2 channels simultaneously], Call Ringer selection [like on your cell phone]).

Fairly easy to operate (although you'll want to familiarize yourself with all its operations before putting it to the test in the field).

Removable belt clip.

Cons: Not rugged-ized. It's made of some kind of hard plastic, and has no rubbery outside covering. Although of quality manufacture, it may get banged-up more than a rugged-ized radio.

No battery charger I can find [even on the AudioVox website], and it has two metal contacts on the bottom that 'look' like recharger contacts. So, you have to use disposable AAA batteries, or charge your own rechargeable batteries outside the unit. [This 'con' is a nit, in my opinion.]

No other accessories (e.g., leather case, swivel belt clips, etc.) I can find [even on the AudioVox website] other than a generic set of headphones. [This 'con' is a nit, in my opinion, too.]

Conclusion: A very nice radio for the price.

*FRS = Family Radio Service. Best for use with your family on informal outings. No FCC license required for FRS-only radios.
GMRS = General Mobile Radio Service. Best for more formal use [although business use not permitted], like a road rally, or bicycle competition, or the like, and slightly longer distance. Requires an FCC license, and can only be used with your family and close relatives. Friends need their own license according to FCC rules.

For most people, an FRS-only 2-way radio is a better choice for an informal, infrequently-used "walkie talkie"; you get [nearly] the same functionality without the need to get licensed.

I recently purchased a set of the Audiovox 1535 GMRS radios and I Love them! The have a very good range aprox. 3-5 miles (depending on the terrain) they of course work Best if there is not a lot of obstructions. They have lots of COOL features. They have a NOAA weather radio, channel scan, five call alert tones. This is nice because if you have several people you can tell who is ringing.They also hav a dual channel watch so you can monitor 2 channels at once. I would definately reccomend these little walkie talkies to anyone. and Audiovox is a very good company. All in All I give them Very high marks I hope this review helps you

I am the head of a small search and rescue team. Of all the radios we have used, the Audiovox GMRS 1535 2-Way Radio has been the most dependable and most rugged. All of our radio have been put fully under water, berried in the mud, been through a dust storm, smashed against rocks, stepped on, run over, and have come out the other end working just fine. I am very pleased with these radios, and will buy them again!