Motorola T9500XLR 25-Mile Two-Way Radios

Not bad... but not great either...

It works perfectly with no obstructions, buildings, hills, etc... Quite flakey once you're no longer in the same vicinity...

Havent compared it to the cheaper options but I bought this one because of its range... I cant imagine the cheaper items performing any worse.

Motorola got quite a bit right with these 2-way radios: A classic design, easy operation, a very long range, little interference, a reasonable price, and not a lot of unnecessary or frilly features. The rechargeable battery pack that can be interchanged with disposables is a well-reasoned feature that I wish other vendors would use in their products.

What is lacking, however, is a modern take on ergonomics. With belt-clip attached, the radio is awkward to hold. For more than a few moments conversation, it gets annoying to have to hold down the "push to talk" button-- some sort of locking button (push to talk, push to stop) would have been nice. The inbuilt menu is not intuitive-- I hoped for a cell-phone-like interface considering Motorola's major handset business.

These are minor issues; but I did have one major quibble, which was my first spoken syllable was dropped when I first held down the PushToTalk button and started speaking. Perhaps I am too quick to speak, but I found myself having to pause and then start with a throw-away word to make sure the person on the other end heard my whole message. Otherwise, speech was clear and crisp in my tests.

These issues were enough for me to drop my rating from 5 to 4 stars, but caveats aside, the product works well and I can think of a lot of possible uses, so they are Recommended.

I bought these radios primarily to take on a family cruise & overall was satisfied with them. I was able to track down family members or communicate with family members that stayed in another room pretty easily. The hard part was either the battery running out (need to recharge daily), or someone not having the radio with them, or someone not knowing fully how to operate it (it's not difficult). Overall it's a good radio for what it's intended to do.

Years ago many kids in the United States longed for something that we called walkie-talkies, and many of us can remember going into Radio Shack and other stores, lusting after these products. When the CB radio craze hit the country, many of these kids could now indulge themselves with the same fantasies from the drivers seat of their cars, conversing with truck drivers or anyone else who would answer.

Today the walkie-talkie has been replaced by the two-way radio, a much smaller communications device than we had a decade ago, and almost all of these have ranges from one to two miles, making them handy for camping, hunting, cycling, hiking or just keeping in touch with the kids. Comparing them with cell phones, there are no per-minute charges, and there are places in the wilderness where cell phones don't always function.

Motorola makes some of the best handheld two-way radios on the market. The Motorola T9500XLR 25-Mile 2-Way Radios are probably the most powerful consumer radios you can buy, and it's important to make a distinction between consumer radios and higher prices professional or business radios, such as the Motorola CLS1110 Professional UHF 2-Way Radio, and then you have to buy two of those to communicate. Big difference, but pick the tools that you need!

The new T9500XLR has a rubberized antenna an claims a possible maximum range of 25 miles in the best conditions, but about two miles in urban areas. It really shines as a weather radio, with support for ten NOAA weather channels. The VOX hands-free feature works quite well, and its vibrating alert is a a good alternative to a ring alert when silent operation is necessary.

These two-way radios support all 22 FRS and GMRS channels, and there are 121 privacy codes per channel. They offer a backlit display, a channel scanning feature and 10 call tone alerts. You also get black and yellow faceplates along with Ni-MH rechargeable batteries for each one, and the set comes with a dual-pocket desktop charger.

The 25-mile range is a bit optimistic, but the printed material indicates that this is for line-of-sight communication, and that's in optimal weather. They note that the range is up to two miles in an urban setting, which seems about right, and is pretty adequate for a consumer two-way radio of this type.

Pros:

- Excellent range, just don't expect 25 miles in a city
- Good interference elimination, first-rate volume control
- Rugged, and the rubber ducky antenna seems sturdy
- Very practical dual-pocket charging stand
- Built-in Ni-MH rechargeable batteries 9 hours of talk time
- Also operates on 3 AA batteries for 27 hours of talk time
- Good ergonomics, either right or left handed

Cons:

- A bit large for small pockets
- Missing the rubberized bumpers that protected former models
- Slight delay when you press the PTT button


Please do note that GMRS operation requires an FCC license. You can apply online at http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/.

In summary, have found that this is a decent choice for trail or mountain biking, and is quite handy for neighborhood communication with kids. The NOAA feature is excellent, with better reception than expected.

The Motorola T9500XLR seems like a solid reliable piece of equipment. Once out of the packaging, the 2 units are charged via a cradle. I have used these in my neighborhood and overall they worked pretty well. First off, keep in mind these are not professional level radios, they are merely entry level units for home & family use. They are ideal for road caravans, amusement parks, shopping malls, cruise ships, etc. As other reviewers have mentioned, the voice over the speaker is "tinny" and using them in extremely loud environments seem impossible. The range is definitely nowhere near the claimed "25 miles". In a typical setting, you are lucky to get half a mile in the city and 1 mile in the country. Just remember these radios cost around $50 for the pair and you simply cannot expect professional quality at this price point. The NOAA radio feature worked as described and battery life was never an issue since they recharge with the cradle. Overall, I wish speaker and talk quality would be improved and maybe add a water resistance feature.