Home > Consumer Reviews > Cobra FRS250GRY Grey Micro TALK2 Two-Way Radio (single)

These radios are the best that I have ever used. They feature 14 channels and 38 sub channels, that makes 532 different channels so even in the most crowded areas there is no problem finding an open channel. In the rare case that someone wanders onto your channel they will not be able to listen in on your conversation because this radio encrypts or scrables your voice. The radios have a tremendous range of two miles considering how small they are. At this price you can't afford not to have one.

We've been using the FRS250 radio for about three years now with no major complaints.

The radio offers the 14 FRS channels, and can optionally use the 38 "privacy codes" to suppress communications from other radios (assuming that they aren't using the same privacy code as you). By setting the privacy code to 0, you hear everyone's transmissions, regardless of their privacy codes.

Battery life so far has not been an issue. Though we haven't measured how long you can listen or talk on a channel before the batteries die, we have yet to run into a situation where a fully charged set of batteries has run out on us during use. A fresh set has lasted us a week at Disney World, for example, with moderate use (a few minutes of communication about a dozen or so times a day). Still, rechargeable NiMH batteries would be a wise investment.

Some of the more interesting features:

1. This model does voice-inversion scrambling (referred to as "voice privacy"), which reduces the likelihood of eavesdroppers: only other users with a Cobra radio and the "privacy" feature will be able to understand your conversation.

2. There is a "squelch suppress" button that will allow you to hear faint transmissions that would normally be silenced by the radio. Note that you'll hear tons of static too, so only use it when you need to.

3. A lock button, to prevent accidental changes in your radio's configuration. This is more useful than it sounds, particularly in environments where the radio can get bumped around.

Some caveats:

1. Cobra's marketing refers to the privacy codes as "sub-channels", which is a misnomer. The radio only has 14 channels, and these 14 channels are set by the FCC for the Family Radio Service. There is no such thing as a sub-channel. See the FRS FAQ for information on privacy codes and what they do.

2. The voice-inversion scrambling offers privacy only from casual listeners. People with Cobra radios or that have equipment to invert the voce signal will be able to hear you. It is a very nice feature, but it does not offer enough privacy for things that you do not want others to hear (your credit card number, etc.)

Overall, we've been satisfied. It would be nice if the headphone and microphone jacks were combined into a single jack, but this is a minor nit. The unit is less expensive than the equivalent Motorola models, and performs well enough for general use.

An electronics fan from New York State USA They are not good radios! they do not function right and always break. I'm from a company who rates diffrent dadios do not come out on top. Out of 350 radios tested it can out as 310th it is a waste of money!