Quote:
Originally Posted by jdhunz
We have Midland GXT1000s and they are pretty well built. Waterproof-ish and fairly compact. Great sound and easy to use.
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If you are doing only FRS/GMRS I would highly recommend the Midland GXT100s. In expensive, high quality, compact, no extra holes in your truck and does not require an FCC license in the US. Canada is different.
Not that anyone checks it, but that particular mobile unit requires an FCC license and there are people out there with nothing to do. I think $75 will get you that, no test required. My advice is to be legit, pay the $$ and use your call sign.
I have the Midland GXT1000 and a Baofang BF-8HP. I use the midland in rural areas for group comms and only use the Baofang on licensed Ham frequencies, which not everyone has, but in a pinch I can usually get to someone somewhere if I have a repeater.
A mobile GMRS will have a better antenna with a tiny bit more elevation and does transmit at 15W vs 2W handheld. However, more transmit power means they might hear you, but you can't hear them. Also 100W doesn't go through a mountain, it's all relative line of sight at that frequency.
In the end mobile GMRS doesn't really buy you much. Receive will be exactly the same. But you have the ability to source more power and use repeaters that mostly don't exists.
If you buy a programmable radio, like the Baofang, they are not FCC certified for GRMS (back to people with nothing better to do) they don't sound any better even at higher power levels nor do they have better range (about .5-1 mile urban) than the Midland handhelds. Seriously. It's because the Baofang is inexpensive and has a crap speaker.
Best of luck and stay safe.