MIDLAND GXT900VP4 2 Way 22 Channels plus 20 Extra channels Radio Reviews

• Great radio

  
  By A2YLARR26S7K0R on 2008-07-30
  I thought this would be a good product, but it exceeded my expectations. Unlike many of the other GMRS radios on the market, the audio on this one is very good. This one is not so small that you will lose it. This is my third pair that I've owned, and they have extremely good range compared to the others I've tried. I have been very happy with them. They also have very good belt clips unlike many of the other brands. The voice scrambler works very well. I would highly recommend this product.
  
  

• No Real Performance Improvement...just addition of bells and whistles

  
  By AH16FXT2FGZXW on 2008-08-28
  Instead of re-typing the problems that I have had with this radio, I will just copy/paste the email that I wrote to Technical Support at Midland Radio. In summary, the first pair of radios had a defective PTT button. I got a replacement pair. Also, the accessory output volume level is not high enough to use a speaker mic or any other sort of external speaker. In-ear boom mics, such as the accessories provided with the radios, work fine b/c they are in your ear and do not require a high volume level. Not being able to use speaker mics with these radios is unacceptable. Keep in mind, I tried 6 different speaker mics (one of which was a Midland branded dual-prong speaker mic). See my email to Midland Radio below:
  
  "Hello,
  
  Due to the end of the work day at my job, it conflicts with the hours of your tech support #, which is why I am writing an email instead of calling. I recently purchased the GXT900VP4 from Circuit City. Upon opening them out of the box, it appeared that the PTT buttons on the radios were not the same. On one of the radios, the PTT was normal and when you pressed it, it "clicked" giving you the feel that it was being depressed. The other radio has a PTT button that did not click, and was rather mushy when depressed. I returned the pair of radios to Circuit City and ordered a replacement.
  
  The replacement radios arrived a few days ago and the PTT buttons were normal. I took Midland speaker mics that I have from other radios and the XT511 emergency crank radio that I have, and I went to go for a bike ride. I tested the radios with the Midland speaker mics before I loaded up for the bike ride, and I realized that the volume was extremely low. I turned the knobs up on both radios and tested them out, and again the volume was VERY VERY low. I took the speaker mics out of the radios and tested the volume without the accessories and just using the radios' internal speaker. The volume was fine. Thinking that my speaker mics were bad, I went and took other dual-pin speaker mics that I have and gave them a shot. They too had extremely low volume and you could barely hear the transmissions. I tried the radios by themselves and the internal speaker was fine. I took the vox ear piece boom mic that came with the radios and they were at an acceptable volume level. This was probably due to the fact that they were directly in my ear. Is there a reason why speaker mics do not work with these radios? Was the output volume limited on the accessory jack?
  
  Not really understanding why two sets of these radios were defective, I returned the replacement radios to Circuit City for a refund. I wanted to bring these 2 issues to your attention so that your product engineers could hopefully fix the issue. It would be great if speaker mics could be used with these radios, so hopefully in the future a fix will be made and I can purchase the revised version of this model (GXT900VP4). All that has to be done is increase the output volume in the 3.5mm accessory jack. On another note... I have a friend who tested the Midland GXT900VP4's (5 watt radios) against an older model of Motorola GMRS radio (T7400, only a 2 watt radio) and he claimed that the range comparison resulted in equal range performance. I am not able to agree or disagree with him, since I did not have a chance to test out the range of the radios since I returned them after the 1st issue with the PTT button, and the 2nd issue with the output volume on speaker mics. Shouldn't these radios go a longer distance than radios with a lower power output, especially since these radios were rated by the FCC with an ERP of 5.33watts? I know there are many factors that result in transmission range, but over double the ERP power should result in at least some sort of noticeable increase in range.
  
  I am a loyal customer to Midland Radio and have been for a while now, and I must say this has been the first disappointment with one of your radios. I look forward to hearing back from you regarding these issues that I have come across and I hope to see changes to the radio so that I can purchase a pair to suit my needs. Thank you for taking the time to read my email.
  
  -Josh G."
  
  

• Good basic radios, but do not exactly live up to their title!

  
  By A122U0CWMTC8CK on 2008-08-19
  The radios are fun and basically work as described, except:
  - They are not waterproof. We accidentally dropped one into the lake, for a second, in about 1 inch of water. I ended up opening the radio, and drying it off with a hairdryer inside. It did work after that.
  - The 30 miles, mmmm, maybe 3 miles is better. Throw some trees in, and it does not even give you 1.5 miles. On the lake, I did manage to get about 3 miles, line of site, with no problems. I think it can do more, but I wonder if it can do 30.
  
  The weather feature is great, and automatically alarms to bad weather, in the boat this was a great feature to have. I like the scramble and encryption functions, you are on your own on a FMRS frequency. Nice desktop charger, place them there every night, and they are ready for the next day.
  
  All in all, great for the price, but they are not waterproof and I don't think you can get 30 miles out of them.
  
  

• Does not work with other brand radios

  
  By A29COXBRJDS0BJ on 2008-09-03
  Could not transmit or receive messages to/from other brand (mostly Motorola) radios. Audio very faint when using speaker-mic. Contacted Midland tech service and they could not resolve problems. These problems appear to be design defects.
  
  

• NIce radio $85 extra to get FCC license!!!

  
  By A2LOMQLOC0QF21 on 2008-09-20
  This radio worked as expected and well but, try and do things the legal way and expect to pay an additional $85 for the FCC required license to use these. I looked around through all of the reviews and no where was this mentioned. I guess everyone else used them without the legal right from the FCC.
  
  
• Reliable Emergency Communications -Bettter than Cell Phones!
  By A37EFTIQYBKOGW on 2008-09-29
  WE selected and purchased these radios for use as part of our physical plant's disaster recovery and business continuity plan. They were affordable, accessories were readily available and extra batteries were also readily affordable, and (assuming that we might be facing a nuclear threat) they were small enough so that many of them could fit in our lead-protected vault to avoid having them rendered useless by the ensuing EMP (electromagnetic pulse) accompanying any nuclear explosion, and in our simulations of Nuclear, CHemical and Biological warfare, these devices performed as well if not better than Government-graded devices from Motorola -and were at one-tenth the price. In my opinion, two pairs of these, plus four extra sets of batteries should be a part of every family's disaster preparedness kit - right next to your duct tape and window film. We all hope nothing happens, but if it should, it is a great comfort to know that you are not alone, and it is a sure bet that if major transmission towers are knocked out, the civil and military authorities will be monitoring these FMRS frequencies for signs of individulas needing medical attention, rescue, or repatriation.
  
  
• Not worth it
  By A1NAGY36FKTGX3 on 2008-08-14
  Distance is very poor. Maybe one mile on land and 1.5 miles on the open water. Takes time to get to understand how they work. Disappointed
  
  
• gmrs gxt900vp4
  By A14PE6RZV9Z9IB on 2008-08-16
  this gmrs is much better than a c.b.radio. i think everyone should get rid of their c.b. and go to the gmrs.there is no squelch and it scrambles your conversation.
  
  
• Very Pleased
  By A9A92N6K4KF1I on 2008-08-17
  My family and I went on vacation to Steamboat Colorado (Awesome Place) and we all kept in touch by using the Midland GXT900VP4. This made keeping track of kids and each other great. My wife would go into town to pick up some things and if I would reminder her to pick something up with the two way radios. Using our cell phones to keep in touch would have been a pain because I had family there from all over the U.S. (Lot of different area codes) and the Midlands made life much easier during the vacation.
  
  
• MIDLAND GXT900VP4 2 Way 22 Channel Radio
  By A20BEI7DJ1QJ8T on 2008-09-07
  I've always been OK with CBs, then I was introduces to this newer technology. I was blown away by the crystal clear transmission and receive capabilities.
  
  Incredible range of useful features, a great buy.
  
  
  
• Best there is even though "30 Mile Range" isn't possible on Earth
  By A2F71799TFJ9SR on 2008-09-12
  Best there is (now in year 2008) even though "30 Mile Range" isn't possible where I live. I live in suburbs and got 5 miles at best on max settings. The weather scanner is a nice feature that beats waiting for the news on tv hands down and I dare say better than using the internet.
  
  
• Excellent 2 way radios for my motorcycle group
  By ARDJ7AQNJ702V on 2008-10-14
  I have used 2-way radios to communicate with others in my motorycle group for a few years. The Midland GXT900 is advertised as a 5 watt unit and showed excellent range, durability, and easy interface with my Starcom. Range on these consumer 2-way's is subjective, so I can only state that it works as good or better than past 2 watt units I have used. I have recommended the GXT900 to several motorcycle accessory dealers over the Cobra LI7200 due to the Cobra's battery saver mode interfering with the Starcom interface by muting the speakers. When you plug any accessories into the Cobra it automatically reduces the GMRS "Hi" power to "Med" power. The Midland stays at full power in GMRS mode when the accessories are plugged in. Battery lasted much longer than prior units I have had. I ran one unit for 2 days before recharging.
  
  One minor dislike is the charger light never goes out. There is a battery level indicator on the screen, and the manual states clearly how long to charge the units to full.
  
  
• Power and features there but not the best
  By A3OGPCWAPUJQY on 2008-11-02
  They've got the full 5W power that is so hard to find at a good price and they also have the good price to go with it. The features are great and numerous but there is one problem. When you press the talk (PTT) button you have to wait between a half second and a second before you can say anything! It drives me nuts and I had hoped Midland had fixed this when I bought these. I had tried Midlands around a year and a half ago but that drawback was too much to pull me away from my old trusty Motorolas. That and the then 16 mile Midlands couldn't compete with my 2 mile Moto's. These new Midlands are much stronger than anything I own but it drives me nuts holding a button waiting to speak! OR even worse, hand the radio to someone who is not familiar with this glich and they will cut off the beginning of their statement every single time. You have to be psychic to communicate with these at times. Even if you want to click the button to send a "roger" beep for confirmation instead of replying you have to hold the stupid button!!!! These are OK for a trip to Disneyland but if you want to use them regularly I would advise to try them first. These would get 5 stars from me otherwise but I feel being able to talk when you press the button is more important than weather alerts or vibrate features.
  
  
• My Opinion of the Midland GXT900
  By A3QMT4FOQM161Z on 2008-09-06
  They look impressive. The Weather Channel works very well.
  
  Set Up was very confusing. There are a lot of features that are simply not covered in the Owner's Manual. It took me serveral days to get two radios to talk to each other on a private channel. I still have two more to connect in.
  
  It would have been great to have a video tutorial showing the features and some different setup options.
  
  I am sure that once I get them all set to the same options, I will be able to use them.
  
  The range in a city environment has been a few blocks. I was expecting a larger range for this unit.
  
  
• Family friendly walkie-talkies...
  By A39L0WZRT54EDN on 2008-09-07
  Clear and resonant...the range is not as advertised...perhaps if you were on a tower with a clear view of another, distant, tower you could transmit/receive over the claimed distance.
  
  The best quality in this price range, without a doubt.
  
  Highly recommended.
  
  
• Solidly Built, Great Battery Life
  By A1EBAJIVU98DNZ on 2008-10-07
  I was pleasantly surprised with these units. They are not small: I have the GXT 550 units as well, and these are bigger with a larger antenna. They do not feel like toys!
  
  I have only used them once, but the sound level was good in a very noisy environment (sideline in a football stadium). I've only used them to about a 1/4 mile distance so far, but they worked very well across campus with lots of buildings.
  
  I am most surprised with the battery life. I accidentally left one of them on and it ran for about 30 hours on the rechargeable battery. That is much better than I expected.
  
  All in all, I recommend these as a good value on a quality product.
  
  
• walkie talkie fun
  By A3UBLX09BKK8IT on 2008-10-20
  Our Midland GXT900 VP4 two way radios have been a rather fun if extravagant present for our child. The instructions are, as others have reported, the pits, but we persevered and managed to get the things working. They've worked around the neighborhood, on forest hikes (I guess trees and mountains are not as big a problem as city obstacles??), and for treasure hunt games. A good motivator on long hikes, and with family members who like to go at different paces! Kids do have trouble holding the thumb button down hard enough and long enough, but they too can learn with enough practice.
  
  We've only had them a out a few times, so I haven't experienced the charge up yet. So far it looks like a good hold. The earbuds/mikes seem a bit cheap.
  
  
• Works GREAT for Motorcycles
  By A31CNUTFLIHUHD on 2008-10-28
  My wife and I use the on our motorcycles and they work great. They have a long range and work well in mountains. Keep on low power unless you are trying to reach out a long distance because they will use a lot of battery power.
  
  
• 2-way radios
  By A4TS494KAAES1 on 2008-11-08
  Amazon still offers a better deal for these 2-way radios. I bought them as a company purchase for some of our job site employees and they seem to really enjoy them. They are pretty durable.
  
  
• Welcomed clarity
  By A3Q0ZA5R5PBLFL on 2008-11-19
  Having had to return a Motorola T9500 Talkabout because of the tinny, hard-to-hear audio, I bought the Midland GTX900 in hopes that Amazon reviewers were right about its good sound -- and they were. The Midland's clarity was very much welcomed after having to strain to understand the voice through my two sets of Motorolas, and the Midland had better range at 5 watts than did the Motorola T9500 -- better range meaning audible (car to home) at four blocks in a village rather than two and a half blocks. I am pleased with it all the way around.
  
  

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