Home > Consumer Reviews > Motorola T7200 2-Way Radio NiMH (Sunstreak Yellow/Single)

There are a lot of cheaper, lower quality FRS radios out there, but if you demand the best, the T7200 is the way to go. Keep in mind that this radio is a FRS (Family Radio Service) and GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) combination, so to operate on the GMRS/2-watt channels you will need to obtain an FCC license. Channels 8-14 are standard, 1/2 watt FRS channels. The radio is rugged, with excellent ergonomics. And just to wet your whistle the radio comes with two easily replaceable snap-in faceplates, giving you the choice of yellow, chamo, and dark green. It also comes with a very practical plastic holster which locks the radio in place, and it has a spring-loaded, swivel belt clip. This radio is Motorola quality all the way. I personally like the larger size of this model, because it offers better audio, a better feel, and is less likely to get lost. Speaking of audio, the T72000 incorporates digital processing which virtually eliminates static except on the weakest signals. The resulting sound is loud, rich and crisp. There are three codes of voice-inversion scrambling to enhance privacy. I stress enhance, because people with scanners won't understand you, but other FRS users with the scrambler feature might be able to monitor you. Two more great features are the option of NiMH battery OR standard AA batteries, and the signal strength indicator, which shows a numerical value from 1-9. The only complaints I have about this radio, trivial as they may be, is the channel scan rate is a little slow, and the red backlight is a little hard to read at night. Green or yellow would have been better. If you want a full-featured, professional-grade radio, the T7200 is a stellar performer.

I purchased these radios for use in a heavily wooded, hilly state park in West Virginia that has no cell service. They performed very well up to about 1.5 miles. After that the performance varied depending on terrain. Each of three families had one yellow radio in their cabin and we kept them on continuously for one week (much of the time in the charging cradle).

These radios can be used in voice activated mode without accessories, and hence can be used as a reliable baby monitor, for eg (although going 1.5 miles from your sleeping child may not be such a good idea). Turning off the tone-coded squelch (interference eliminator codes) seems to increase the range a bit since you don't miss weak messages. In rural areas you will be alone on the channel anyway. We also have a pair of motorola T5820 1 watt radios. Those radios, while smaller, had a range that was about half of the T7200s and had inferior sound (although more then passable). The T5820 did not have the eavesdrop reducer code feature so we turned that feature off on the T7200s as well.

Battery life on the T7200s using NiMH is as advertised (13 hr or so in standard use). The charging cradle works well for these radios. you can charge the radio while it is still in its belt holtster and you can leave the radio on so you won't miss messages. Note that w/o the charging cradle, you can't charge the radio and leave it in voice-activated mode turned on because you charge it through the headphone accessory port and that cuts out the speaker. So the cradle is really needed for extended use.

The main limitation of these radios is figuring out a use for them. In most places cell phones work better (if a little less fun) and are much smaller. we used the T7200s while tandem driving and that was fun. i think a headset would make them even better for that use (we did not have headsets).

In terms of size, they are definitely big enough that you are aware that the radio is hanging from your belt. I was able to play golf with the radio in the belt clip, however, without any problem.

I've had several two-way radios over the years. I use them mostly for car co-ordination when traveling in groups, at work when I go out to the plant and out into our 5 acre lot checking out trailers.

It's very easy to tell that this is one tough walkie-talkie. I like the fact that this model includes a rechargable nickle metal hydride battery, but you can pop in 4 AA batteries if the NiMH battery runs dry.

The display is large and easy to read. The display cover appears to be mineral glass and not the cheap plastic that I've been disappointed with on less expensive competing models. There is also a very noticeable difference in the sound quality and clarity as compared to my previous two-way radios.

Definitely a quality product, but at a price. If you use your two-way radios on a fairly regular basis, and you want it to last, this is a definite contender.

Now with other things out of the way, I would like to take time out of my night to write a consumer freindly review.

Design,
I think the T7200 radio is very stylish in Motorola's top of the line radios, the only drawback is the large size of the radio. The size helps protect the innards from shock do to dropping and does make the radio look more professional if your into making your friends awe at your new toys. The T7200 also has a very rugged antenna that would be highly unlikely to bust off if sat on or dropped.

Features,
The T7200 is from Motorola so you would expect since its from Motorola it would have tons of features that of which I would like to point out.

Channel Scan - Unlike other radios on the market Motorola has a scanning feature like none other. Not only do Motorolas scan channels, they scan the sub channels too! Which makes breaking into a conversation that much easier or as Motorola puts it "finding someone in your group that has pressed the channel button accidently and is to dumb to know which channel they are sposed to be on" (sarcasm added). I am very pleased with this feature because it can scan through all the 30 channels in about 6 seconds and once an active channel is found the radio takes .5 seconds to find the code. Its just amazing!

Scrambler settings - This is nice adding another layer of privacy so that people like me can't break into your conversation.

NOAA - This feature is nice if you dont have time in your day to watch the weather or go to weather.com, you can still find out if tonight is a good night to go to the lake.

Repeater channels - This is a feature not well pointed out in specs lists throughout the net, and I would like to set things straight. The T7200 does have repeater function but I do suggest a license if you intend to use this feature. Reasons being if you do use a repeater its probly going to be a freakish radio junkys repeater like onehour photo's! God knows if he found out you were operating a radio without a call sign the world would end!

MIC gain setting - This is a wonderful setting, if that isn't self explainitory enough, this feature makes the mic louder or softer for whatever environment your in.

Little red blinking LED - This thing is deffinanlty the best thing ever not only does it blink signifying that the radio is on it also looks awesome!

All the other features are self explainitory and such, so this is the end of my review...Pros-Range,rugged,tons o features and heavy duty belt clip.

Cons-A bit large, hard to push buttons, Interference from wireless internet providers and charge time.

If you were a good friend of mine, I would deffinantly recommend this product to you.

I'm a communications officer for an Army aviation battalion currently located in Baghdad, Iraq. When we first got here soldiers (to include myself) were purchasing the smaller Motorola radios to augment communications. After a few months though, the unit was able to purchase 118 of the 7200s with operational funds. It was a good investment. There are plenty of channel presets available to avoid crossover with other units using similiar radios. The 5900 series radios, while also listed as "up to 5 miles" were never up to the task. They would barely push 2 miles on fairly open terrain. This radio, however, does seem up to task. The 5900s would give me about a day on a single charge. This radio, the 7200, gets me a little over two 12 hour work days. I haven't seen how far it can go but it doesn't have a lot of problems cutting through the the large metal hangars scattered throughout our area. Now that we've used this radio no one wants to go back to the other smaller Motorola radios we have. There's really no comparison in range or quality.

*One note though, none of the radios on the US FRS or GMRS bands (roughly 460-470 MHz) are compatable with the European unlicensed radio bands. Those run about 440 MHz.*

This is a good radio for a flight line or other open work site and the rechargeable batteries are key to keeping operating costs down.