FIRST IMPRESSIONSThese radios are not suitable for long-range communication as advertised (Talking Range Maximum 36 Mile) or for critical use in emergencies. However, these radios are adequate for other types of scenarios: Communicating with neighbors on your block to relay information, talking with employees in different parts of a store, coordinating volunteers at a school event or church function, helping a friend move and staying in touch between vehicles.POSITIVESThese radios are an okay pick for casual, non-radio users looking for basic and simple radio communications across a home, yard, park, or office setting. They are easy to hold and operate. Powering them on or off requires a deliberate press-and-hold, which helps prevent accidental shutoffs. The Push-To-Talk (PTT) button is responsive yet requires enough pressure to avoid accidental activation.Navigating the menu is fairly straightforward, and setting privacy tones (CTCSS) to limit interference is easy once you understand the interface. The button lock feature is especially useful when handing the radios to kids or less experienced users, preventing unintentional setting changes.NEGATIVESThe radios lack a backlit display, making them difficult to use in low-light conditions.Menu abbreviations like “rB” for Roger Beep and “Bp” for Silent Mode are not intuitive and essentially require a manual or trial and error. Unfortunately, no manual was included in the box, and a search on the Midland website turned up nothing for the exact model, only slightly similar models (T51VP3).The call button emits a long, loud warble tone when pressed, longer than necessary and potentially disruptive. A brief tone triggered only while the button is held would have been more user friendly.Charging is another weak spot. While the radios include proprietary rechargeable battery packs, they only come with a single USB-A to dual mini-USB cable. That means both radios must share one charging source. This is not ideal if two users want to charge separately. A dual charging base or two individual cables would have been far more practical.TRANSMISSION RANGE CLAIMSThe advertised range of 22–36 miles is extremely misleading. These are Family Radio Service (FRS) radios, limited by FCC regulations to 0.5 watts. Even in ideal, line-of-sight conditions (like transmitting from the very top of a mountain and nothing in between you and the receiver), such distances are not going to be possible. In typical real-world conditions like urban areas, neighborhoods, etc., you are far more likely to see 1/8 to 1/4 mile, maybe up to 2 miles if you are lucky.OVERVIEWThese radios are decent for users who want no-frills, short-range communications and do not need advanced features. They are easy enough to use and durable enough for basic tasks, but the price feels a bit high for what you get (currently $59.99 as of 6/4/25). Also, keep in mind FRS is open to anyone, so shared channel usage and interference is always a possibility. If you are expecting long-range coverage or mission-critical reliability, look elsewhere. These radios perform fine within their limits, but physics and FCC rules still apply.

We have found the walkie-talkies that will work for us!! These came charged right out of the box! Super clear and ready to use!The sound quality is amazing. The working distance is about 1/4 mile before they start getting static. When compared to another set I have, these are hands down superior.The only things I don't like are 1) they use a mini USB charger and 2) the call button is louder on your radio than your partners’. But these are things that I’m willing to work with because all of the other features make the stand out better than any others we have!Overall, these are awesome! Highly recommended!

Well, these two walkie talkies came in a bubble wrap package, with two rechargeable batteries and a charger cable that charges both, but no box or instructions, so to be honest, I found that to be a bit odd. I don’t know what the reason for that is, but I’ll go with it anyway. I put three AAA batteries in them and they operate fine, those are what I choose to use because if they run low on batteries, you can simply replace them with more quickly and easily. Just carry an extra set with you and you’re good to go. This is a very big plus if you keep them for emergency scenarios, and in my opinion they get high marks for that reason. Well thought out. I found no problem getting them up and running. Just match your channels together, hit the call button and talk. Loud call button, but that’s a good thing. 22 channels are available without any programming, very easy and very quick.if that’s all you want to do with these, then these are it for sure. The build quality is very good, as with all Midland products I’ve ever owned and still use. These are very good little communicators and I think everyone should have these for emergency communication because these days, you just never know.

My 1st thought is that your use case is foundational for consideration of this product. This is definitely an entry-level unit for walkie-talkies. They rubbed me the wrong way out-of-the-box as they had no instructions included, so it was a figure it out yourself situation until I decided to search online and eventually found and downloaded an owners manual. At that point I was able to get them operational at a basic level. My use case was for communications when away from home when phones didn't work. They work fine for this purpose. As long as the distance wasn't too far and there wasn't much of anything in between structure wise. They weren't charged much out-of-the-box and it took almost 6 hours to get them fully charged. One nice feature was that the charging cable allows you to charge both of the units at the same time. They seem to be built quite well as they were dropped multiple times even on some hard surfaces and they still worked fine. There are certainly other privacy features available, but none of those really applied to my use case. I recommend these only if you have a use case similar to mine