We were recently given two TID Radio M11 Waterproof FRS/MPR Radio to test out. These are essentially very small hand-held walkie talkies that are pretty ideal for the RV lifestyle. What did we think?

We’ve actually been fans of walkie talkies for a long time. In fact, I’ve been a user of walkie talkies of various kinds since I was a young lad and had CB walkie talkies I got from Radio Shack that I would use with a friend to see how far away we could be and still hear one another. I was pretty impressed with the distance those walkie talkies could go.

But today you can buy small FRS or Family Radio Service walkie-talkies that are very affordable and reliable and have other benefits such as being waterproof.

These small walkie talkies are actually pretty powerful with two watts of transmitting power on a frequency of 400-480MHz.

What is a walkie talkie or FRS radio

These are small, hand-held two-way communications devices. They enable users to keep in touch, sometimes over fairly long distances, and require no license or other special permit to use.

Some of these can have additional add-on components like microphones or headphones or combinations thereof. Many smaller security agencies have this type of device and have the single ear earpiece to give them that government agent look - it’s best if the wire to the earpiece is curly like an old phone cord. Then you’re truly authentic.

Why not use a cell phone?

So why not just use our cell phones? Lots of reasons.

Cell coverage isn’t consistent in a lot of the places we like to go. Walkie talkies are quick and easy - just turn them on and you’re ready to go. Walkie talkie’s form factor also just seems more convenient for this task.

What is FRS or Family Radio Service

The Family Radio Service (FRS) is a designation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) who governs the use of radio frequencies in the United States. Essentially it’s a radio frequency that doesn’t require a license and is considered usable for short-distance, private two-way conversations.

The FRS is authorized 22 channels in the 462 MHz and 467 MHz range, all of which are shared with General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) which requires an individual license for use.

In the box of the M11 Waterproof FRS/MPR Radio

In the box with the two walkie talkies were two wrist straps, charging cables and power adaptors and two belt clips as well as the user manual.

I also like that this charges with USB C because this is such a universal standard that most of us generally have something with this charging already. I’m really happy to see that we’ve finally figured out one standard connector for most of our electronics.

Other walkie talkies we’ve had used AAA batteries which just didn’t seem to last long and were always dead right when you wanted to use the thing. These I can charge in the truck as I also use USB C for our cameras, phones and so many other electronic gadgets.

How’d they perform?

We tested these in a variety of settings to get the results.

At the Elkhart County 4H Fairgrounds I took my Lectric eBike around to see how far I could get and still stay in contact with Peggy, who stayed at the camper. Essentially I had no problem across the entire fairgrounds keeping in touch which we estimate at about 1200 feet or so - a quarter mile. Ish.

Then Peggy hopped in the truck and went out to the grocery store. As you might expect, the fewer obstructions between the two of us the better. For example, when she was at the corner about half a mile away we couldn’t communicate as there were just too many trees and buildings between us.

But across Fiddler’s pond the signal was loud and clear.

As with any radio on the planet the ability for it to perform depends on how well the signal reaches the recipient and how much radio traffic there is. If you take these to Disneyland I would bet that a ton of people have walkie talkies so getting a clear shot at your people is more difficult than it would be at an RV rally.

But these were certainly sufficient for an RV rally - we were able to stay in touch no matter where we were on the fairgrounds property.

What we should have done is test these against the Motorola walkie talkies that we’ve been using for years, but we didn’t. Oh well.

As for battery life the included 1,000mAh lithium-ion battery seems to offer a lot of performance. We charged the walkie talkies when we got them and they’re still going strong several months later so battery performance on these is pretty darned good. Not scientific at all, but certainly accurate.

Other reasons we like walkie talkies

In addition to assistance when backing into a tight spot or just navigating a campsite, there are other things we use walkie-talkies for.

If you’re in a caravan with others, walkie talkies are great for keeping in touch with them. We have enough walkie talkies that we can give one to each member of the caravan so we can all keep in touch. This is great when exploring or touring an area.

In fact, during Covid, we used walkie talkies with friends who were expert tour guides and dispatched some great tour information from their vehicle to ours. But there are also advantages when exploring with others.

More features worth mentioning

Something these particular units also have is the ability to hear the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s radio broadcast. This taxpayer-funded service broadcasts weather updates based on where you are.

This can be useful for simple weather forecasts but can be particularly important if there are severe weather events, which seem to be more and more common.

Conclusions

We have several pair of walkie talkies including the Motorola Talkabout series which have been really reliable. These TID Radio units are literally a third the price and are much smaller.

These do have the ability to be hacked for the more nerdy among us, which is usually me, but I’m fine with them right out of the box, quite frankly. So I didn’t explore this functionality whatsoever.

But for $40 for two it may be well worth it to get at least one pair of these, maybe even more. These feel like decent quality, perform well and are very affordable. A good buy in our book.