If you’re trekking the wilderness with family and friends, who like to venture off on their own, it’s very important to maintain contact at all times. When I travel with my family and friends, especially out in great wildernesses, I will always split a pair of radios between groups; even if we’re staying relatively close together. There’s no easier way to ruin a trip than to lose track of a person’s whereabouts. Traveling prepared with a radio set can make all the difference for fun and safety. Even on road trips with multiple cars, you can have a lot of fun with two-way radios, and even discuss what you’re seeing, make upcoming plans and food stops, and even pass the time by playing games between vehicles.
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There are all sorts of pair radios on the market, though from my experience, there are too few with any actual quality and life to them. Most models are cheap and only work for five or fewer miles, and to be frank, tend to crap out well before they prove their worth and value. I like to look for the more professional models, used by law enforcement or hunters. I look for high mile range, a diverse channel count, weather scans and alerts, and a high quality build and company reputation. And with those ideals in mind, I wanted to talk about the X-Talker series by Midland.
Midland’s X-Talker T65VP3 two-way radio set is an ideal set for small groups, who will be traveling together but not obscenely too far from each other. They are GMRS two-way radios that advertise a distance of up to a 32 mile range. This is, of course, dependent on the terrain and line-of-sight, because if you have a huge mountain between you and your group, you may have a tough time reaching even five miles, let along 30 or more. The T65VP3 are camouflaged and built at a high quality. The ergonomic design fits nice and feels good in my hand, and the buttons are sharp and respond very well.
The X-Talker T65VP3s are packed with features, like a 36 channel load with 14 extra channels, and five call alerts, plus five animal call tones, and include 121 privacy codes, a rapid recharge via USB dock, and perhaps the most important characteristic for wilderness travelers, a weather system scan and alert feature. These are powerful two-way radios, built to last as a consumer product rather than a professional model, but I find their small, sleek design, and how lightweight they are as being a major plus on most pro pair radios.
The silent operation with vibrating alert is a very cool feature. There is a high and low power setting for greater range versus extending the battery life, and the body is a water resistent hardshell that seems to me like it can survive through some tough situations. The weather scan is a great feature, as it updates me of incoming severe weather, so that I have time to react appropriately. Though in my region, I did notice a lot of static from the weather station, but that’s probably because I was too far out. Thus far, I have no negative criticism for Midland’s two-way radios. They are a great design, lightweight and as I said, packed with all kinds of features.
If you would like to find out more about Midland’s radios, click here.
Article written & Photos by Brandon Scott / Eye & Pen
Midland’s X-Talker T65VP3 two-way radio set is an ideal set for small groups, who will be traveling together but not obscenely too far from each other. They are GMRS two-way radios that advertise a distance of up to a 32 mile range. This is, of course, dependent on the terrain and line-of-sight, because if you have a huge mountain between you and your group, you may have a tough time reaching even five miles, let along 30 or more. The T65VP3 are camouflaged and built at a high quality. The ergonomic design fits nice and feels good in my hand, and the buttons are sharp and respond very well.
The X-Talker T65VP3s are packed with features, like a 36 channel load with 14 extra channels, and five call alerts, plus five animal call tones, and include 121 privacy codes, a rapid recharge via USB dock, and perhaps the most important characteristic for wilderness travelers, a weather system scan and alert feature. These are powerful two-way radios, built to last as a consumer product rather than a professional model, but I find their small, sleek design, and how lightweight they are as being a major plus on most pro pair radios.
The silent operation with vibrating alert is a very cool feature. There is a high and low power setting for greater range versus extending the battery life, and the body is a water resistent hardshell that seems to me like it can survive through some tough situations. The weather scan is a great feature, as it updates me of incoming severe weather, so that I have time to react appropriately. Though in my region, I did notice a lot of static from the weather station, but that’s probably because I was too far out. Thus far, I have no negative criticism for Midland’s two-way radios. They are a great design, lightweight and as I said, packed with all kinds of features.
If you would like to find out more about Midland’s radios, click here.
Article written & Photos by Brandon Scott / Eye & Pen
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