Rechargeable Long Range Two-Way Radios with Earpiece 6 Pack Arcshell AR-5 Walkie Talkies Li-ion Battery and Charger Included

I was VERY pleasantly surprised at the quality. With the low pricing, I expected cheap junk. They are not junk. These are not a top-of-the-line old-style Motorola brick radio, but they seem very durable to me. I bought the 6 radio set and was very happy to get a full 6 charging cradles that will charge the battery whether it is attached to a radio or not. I don't actually need 6 radios. But I wanted to have a few charged spares in the car glove box and one or two near the kitchen door for those times when you reach for a radio, but didn't put it on the charger. Having multiple radios AND multiple chargers means I can have charged and charging radios in all the convenient places. People always want to know about the range. The range at which these, or any radio, can communicate depends heavily on what is between the two radios. If you are trying to talk through a half mile of forest, that's a different environment from a half mile of dense neighborhood (my environment). If you are communicating around a lake or a flat parking lot, you might have a surprisingly long distance. In my neighborhood, we achieved about 3/4 of a mile with one radio in the bedroom and another driving around in a car. I'm pretty impressed. These radios operate in the 400 MHz range, where there is less other radio users than some other frequency bands. For me, this means I can hear the person I talking to, not a bunch of others. These radios have an antenna that will unscrew from the body, leaving an industry-standard connector that you could, if you wanted to, add an external antenna, like a magnetic rooftop mount on a car. I have not investigated the seller's claims of 50 CTCSS tones and 105 CDCSS tones. I have no doubt that these radios include this feature, but software is required to activate and set up these features. The software is apparently available from a third part as a free download. A programming cable is required. The programming cable (less than $10 here on Amazon) and the software do not come with the radio. A belt clip and an attachable earpiece with microphone come with each radio. The belt clip requires a small screwdriver to install. You must remove 2 screws in the back of the case, put the belt clip in place and replace the screws, about 30 seconds of work per radio. I was looking forward to the VOX, or Voice Operated Transmit, feature. I tried for about 10 seconds to get this to work and am impatient, so I moved on. The literature that comes with the radio states that the software (mentioned above) will allow setting the sensitivity of the VOX feature. I have not tried this yet, but I will. This radio appears to be sold under several brand names. Not uncommon, I think. I believe this radio is sold as Arcshell, Baofung and Kenwood. Perhaps others as well. Overall, I am extremely happy with this purchase and believe these radios have good quality, features, accessories and performance. I think this is an OUTSTANDING value. I would not hesitate to buy more.

I bought two sets of these radios (for a total of 12) to communicate with a team of folks hosting an event at a site about one square mile in size, all of whom would be constantly going in and out of multiple buildings. In fact, we'd rarely be anyplace on site with a clear unobstructed line of site, which most of radio models seem to require for clear communication. I am happy to report that the two sets synced perfectly with each other straight out of the box, no adjustment needed. And they worked exceedingly well with crisp clear communication regardless of whether folks were inside or outside. Other perks were that we made use of the extra available channels so small groups could have their own separate, semi-private conversations as needed while leaving the main channel free. The radios are very sturdy and well made. You also get verbal prompts from the radio when you power it on, whenever you switch channels, and when you need to change the battery--which lasted quite a long time considering how much I used it. We didn't use the included accessories, but I definitely will attach the belt clips before I use them again as those would definitely have come in handy. I highly recommend these radios if you have a large group you need to communicate with and if your site has lots of obstructions like buildings you need to navigate. For this very reasonable price, this is a great deal.

We bought these for a kid's party, but have used them on many other occasions. The batteries are rechargeable and last easily for an entire day, (depending on how hard they are used), but my experience has regularly been all day. Worst case they recharge quickly and can even use USB in home or car to charge. Each walkie comes with it's own charging station. As for the range we have used them as far as about 1 mile. Not sure if it will make the advertised 2 miles, I cannot say as I have not had to test them that far out. The antenna unscrews for replacement or other connections. I like that they each come with an ear pieces which works well. In my opinion, these are solid walkies at a great price.

I have included my original post below for clarity. I had originally given the review 4 stars because of one did not work (but I didn't try to return b/c others were fine and we needed to use that next werkend). The seller noticed my review and reached out to me about the radio that did not work and the one that had static. They instructed me to swap the battery pack from the static radio which solves the problem for the dead radio (works perfectly now). As for the one the other, they are shipping a replacement to me already. I never contacted the seller but they are clearly watching reviews to make sure customers are happy and that their products are working well. I'm very impressed! Before, I recommended the radios because they were great but now even moreover because the company is the type that really cares about their producers and services! I couldn't be happier. I'll update the post as we continue to use the walkies. Original post: Title: Nice but 1 was broken They are nice quality and most worked well. When unpacking, we tested each. One did not work at all and one other creates a bit static (but still works). I never contacted the seller because we were planning to take the working ones hiking that weekend and I didn't see an option to just return party of the order. I'm may try to contact seller and will update if I can return the broken walkie talkies. They shipped in the quoted time.

These things are AWESOME!!! We used them for the 1st time at our 40 acre Venue. They were a game changer for our event and staff communication.

These are convenient and easy to use. We use them when on car runs with our group. Talking is clear with no static. The 3* review is because they absolutely do not have a 5 mile range. The most we have had range wise is a mile and that was shotty. Battery life and design are both great but the range was the main reason we went with this one and it did not come through.

REVISED REVIEW: I originally gave the walkie set a 3 star review and with in the week the companies customer service contacted me. After a short conversation they were more than will to help me out with a few new walkies and headsets. Customer service is very important to me. I will be buying a few more walkies for my next season for my crew. PREVIOUS REVIEW: I got a set of 6 for my crew for this season. I have a Christmas tree lot and I only need them for the few weeks between thanksgiving and Christmas. I will say they do work at great distances and when not using the head set the sound is great. How ever we have realized that the head sets are what we need so we don't have to dig threw our jackets to find the walkie. One other issue is one of the walkies changes its own channel so threw out the day it is saying out loud random channels and would hold on just one. I do need more walkies for my crew next year just not sure yet if I am going to stick with this brand. Also can't find anywhere online were to get just new headsets to get us threw the season.

As someone who has used walkie=talkies throughout my entire career in film production, I am thoroughly impressed with these slightly smaller versions of state-of-the-art Motorola professional units. Everything about these radios feels tight, solid and user friendly. I have only used them once -- for a large fundraising event in a huge park venue. But I was able to transmit and receive when I was over two blocks away in downtown Los Angeles -- with several tall buildings around me. A nice feature is the announcement by the radio of what channel it is set to when one turns it on. There are several advanced features that I will never used, so my review just deals with the basic talk/listen functions. Very good speaker/mic quality make for excellent sound quality. Controls were easy to use -- I was the only one with prior walkie experience, and the others easily mastered the key controls layout. As noted, I only use the walkies once, so I can't speak for long-term durability. But the units have some heft to them, and all components feel tight and secure. My only caveat would be about the headsets. They are nothing close to professional quality. I opted not to use one, as they do appear rather flimsy. The cable is very thin. I did test a headset, and it worked fine. I'm not saying they won't work well, but I question their durability. Over all, I highly recommend this Archsell model. I also purchased a 4-year extended warranty, at minimal cost, as I plan to use them for several years.