Toy-Sized...Adult-Approved

I got a pair of Midland FR75-507 radios in anticipation of a move that my wife and I were going to make, so we could talk between the U-Haul and the car while on the road. She spent a lot of time doing the "point and click" online money-getters, so we were able to order this $69 pair at no cost to us. This was our biggest reason for choosing this particular radio over products by Motorola and/or other makers, this and other reviews here at Epinions.

When we received the radios, the first thing that struck us was their size...or rather, their lack of size. These are tiny little things that a child could hold with no problem. The buttons are all made of soft rubber, and look semi-weatherproof, though the speaker grill would let any direct moisture in. All the functions are easy to learn and access through the 4 or 5 buttons on the radio.

These radios offer 14 channels on the Family Radio band, so you escape CB chatter and FM radio stations, not that those would be a problem. They also offer a "scan" feature of all channels, and are programmable to flip between two preset channels. There are jacks available for a handset or a headset. You can "call" on a frequency to get someone's attention, as well. One advertised feature of the FR75-507 is voice-activation. There is a tiny switch that selects low-sensitivity voice activation, high-sensitivity voice activation, or push-to-talk.

In our experimentation, the low-sensitivity setting is too low, and requires you to start every transmission with a long "Aaaah," like airline captains telling you what altitude you're at. The high-sensitivity setting is very sensitive, and the radio will transmit any nearby shuffling, sniffling or sneezing, or make the radio transmit constantly if you're in a car with normal background noise. We used the PTT setting almost exclusively.

In actual use, the FR75-507 works flawlessly. Voice is transmitted very crisply, with no static noticeable until you approach the limit of the radio's range. The speaker is rather small, but adequately loud as long as there's not too much background noise. The PTT button is easy to find and use, and you can set it up to bleep after you release it.

I tested the range of these tiny radios the day after we got them. I left one with my wife while I drove to work, and I took the other one with me. I noticed no static whatsoever for the first mile that I drove, and for the second mile it got progressively fuzzier. 2 honest miles by the car's odometer was the range of the radio.

I have to say that I'm impressed with these radios. They're toy-like in their size, but not in their performance. They transmit for 2 miles using a tiny 3" antenna, and are easy to clip on your belt or stick in your pocket. They run off three "AA" batteries, so you don't have to buy ultra-expensive battery packs, and they're inexpensive. I would recommend them for anyone looking for a decent way to keep in touch with their children, or between two cars on a trip, or between outbuildings on a farm.