Home > Consumer Reviews > Motorola T289 AA 2-Way Radio (Black Chrome)

I just received a pair of these, and they are more than what I expected. I bought them for a overseas trip. The batteries last longer than other FRS competitiors. I have researched FRS radios for the past two months and these ones meet the best compared to their counterparts for compact size,lightweight, durability, reliability, ease of use,and overall appearance.

The transmission of up to a 2 mile range is excellent-it surpasses. The channel scan is easy to use and locks you into the best frequency. It has so many extra's than the other frs competitors. I would not consider the cheaper motorola's because they are bulkier and some models use more batterie life. They also don't have the additional bells and whistles which are pertinent if your are a serious investor and want quality.

I could not beleive how small these radios actually were-like a smaller sized cell phone. You could fit it in a small sze waist pack(just let the antennae stick out of the side zipper for transmission, with your wallet and keys and still have room. I also purchased the earbud/transmitter ..., then you don't have to pull the radio out everytime you want to chat, and you can protect the radio from being stolen, damaged, etc. Get your waist pack somewhere else, don't waist money on the frs ones.

They are VERY Durabale-my kids dropped them and no losses. The earbud/microphones worked great as well. Kids pretend they are in the secret service with the ear buds and enjoy hours of play.... Prior to purchasing the recharger, I used 3 AA standard duracell batteries and they lasted about 30 or more hours. They make great XMAS GIFTS!

Another money saving idea-turn your radio off and establish a check-in time say 1 hour or so away to save on batteries. You will be pleased with these radios, it's worth the few extra bucks and the earbuds are great for when you are at noisy places and don't want others listening to your conversation.

Good Luck with your decision.

I originally bought a pair of these to keep in touch with buddies at concerts, when snowboarding/hiking/camping, and to keep in touch while in separate vehicles on road trips. They've worked wonderfully and have lived up to every expectation I've had. They're great for car/boat shows and outdoor events like art or craft fairs. They come in very handy if you're doing any kind of wiring in your house or office. I've used them countless times to run wires through the attic at home and across the roof at work, it's very helpful to be able to talk to the person that's feeding the wires, and especially when one person is working at each end of the wire (no more yelling at the top of your lungs). This 289 model is worth the extra price, it's significantly smaller and has more features. If you're on a budget though, go with the 250 model (or even cheaper the FR50 or 60), it's still a wonderful radio, and they all work with eachother. Motorola is soon coming out with a new line of radios, the 6300 series which have a new design, a stopwatch and alarm built in, and also an FM radio tuner on some models. On a sidenote, if you're the extravagant gift giving type, give your adolescent son/daughter/nephew/neice a pair of these as walkie-talkies, they'll love you forever.

I finally found the best FRS for under [$]! The quality on these units are the best. Best reception, best transmission range, best looking...& so on.

I tried out both the 289 & the 250. Both very exceptional FRS. I really did like the 250, but since it did not have a channel lock, & call button, & was a bit bigger than the 289. About the 250 though, one of my daughters did drop that FRS & it survived! No lose of communication, or anything. Pretty tough little FRS. I hope the 289 can take drops just as well. I am returning it b/c the 289 has the features I am looking for.

My family & I went to Disneyland today, so it was a great testing ground for these FRS. I noticed many people w/ FRS at the park. But only a few times did I get somebody not in my group on the same channel. Only lost reception when my wife was in an inside attraction, ie-Indiana Jones ride. For the most part, outside reception was best. We were able to communicate even if we were in different stores in the park, where there is not much radio signals. I really like that the 289 has 14 channels & 32 sub channels. Also it has a built-in VOX feature. I did not try this out at Disneyland, due to the fact that it is pretty loud there & it will activate the VOX feature. I was able to clip it on my Backpack, using a Body Glove cover & strap. So it was close to hear incoming calls from my wife. Weight was never an issue. They are pretty light, seems pretty durable also.

Only gripe I have is when I had the 289 inside a Body Glove carry case. I like the Body Glove b/c it protected the 289 to a point, & kept it clean. Only real gripe is the clear plastic by the buttons. The clear plastic is a bit stiff, so most of the time, I had to really push the buttons to make it work. A bit of a drag, but since I set the channel & volume, I really do not have to mess w/ the settings. I only messed around w/ the settings to test them out. ...

We were in the market for a pair of FRS radios and I had two slight reservations about the Motorolas:

1. I thought the price was a little bit high compared to some of the other brands.

2. I wasn't really sure how I would like the "Push To Talk" button being in the front center of the radio.

I'm really glad I decided to go for the 289's because they are VERY cool radios. The PTT button is not a problem at all. These things are so small you can reach the button easily with your thumb(or any other finger) with the radio in almost any position. As for the price, I think the Motorola 289's are built very well and are probably worth the extra(if any) you have to give for them.

I didn't think the radios worked all that great at first because they were not real clear. That was only because they were too close together. As soon as we got the radios separated they were just awesome. Loud and clear for almost two miles with me in the car and my wife in the house.

We've only had the radios for a short time but I don't know what I ever did without them. Used them last night to install a satellite dish on the roof.

The only thing I didn't have much luck using was the scan feature. I had them set to scan two channels and it would never see any transmissions on the second channel. I think it's probably only because I need to read the book and figure out exactly how to set them up. There are lots and lots of features on these babies. Some of the features I will probably use all the time, some I will try once and never use again.

Have to just say that I would highly reccomend these to anyone in the market for FRS radios. They work GREAT and they are the coolest looking(IMHO) radios on the market.

Our T289s arrived from Amazon the day before we were to use them at a weekend trade show at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It ony took me part of one afternoon to learn all of the basics, and the rest of the weekend was 'learn-by-doing', with the help of the incredibly simple instruction manual. We caravaned down in two vehicles with a radio in each, and were able to find parking near one another, which expedited our move-in. Once we got into the event center, we saw -dozens- of this make and model of radio being used by the other conventioneers. During sales lulls, I occasionally played with the scan feature and in fact, during one of those passes, happened to hear a couple of friends of mine that I'd been hoping were there!

(The one small drawback over the weekend was that it was the last weekend in March of 2001, and if you remember, there was a tremendous solar storm -- this made the range of the radio somewhat limited, but did not hamper the sound quality nor the ease of use. However, since then, we have had no problems with establishing a long range between radios or finding a quiet frequency, even with the tremendous subspace chatter that is always present in the SF Bay Area. )

The T289 has already become a very neccesary part of our shopping expiditions, as it has streamlined the process of being able to keep up with one another without having to adjust to each other's walking speed and / or shopping habits!

And yes, they are the COOLEST-looking gadgets around.

If you're going to invest in two-way FRS, go ahead and get the Talkabout 289. It's got all the features you will ever need, and it's a very reliable little contraption. Heartily recommended!