@unixrab But you typed more words after that, so you ruined your intended effect. Also, I bought three with an order time stamp of 12:00 ET. They'll come in handy at some point, I'm sure.
@ScottPlemmons Yeah about that, son. We were trying to lose you. Man, that time in the salt flats we would have made it but the car overheated! Good time. Love, Dad.
@ScottPlemmons Just don't let the grownups find them! My next door neighbor's dad tried to convince us that he was with the government and agents were coming to arrest us for flying kites in JFK airspace.
@SirLouie yes, that's what I was thinking. If I leave one at my mom's and one at my place, I'd have to go over to her place to charge mine every now and then. Sorta of defeating the purpose of staying away from her. (Sorry Mom.) But since I bought the Ooma a few eeks ago, I don't really have a use for these now.
@SirLouie That's why you buy three sets! Actually, the pictures looks to suggest that the single charger has two ends to charge both units simultaneously.
@Throdis And the text states that explicitly! Which doesn't help the folks who want to leave their units at separate locations. Unless that Y-cable is really, really long.
@SirLouie@hales If I'm looking at it correctly, it seems like they each take three AAA batteries. So, if you have a regular battery charger, why couldn't you just use that when the batteries die? I don't think you absolutely have to use the included charger.
@PurplePawprints For the win! ...And not fer nuttin, but doesn't everyone else have multiple ac adapter/chargers just waiting around for something to adapt or charge? with multiple sizes of plugs to allow use on many common electronic gadgets?
@PhysAssist yes, this looks like a very common charger, just find one that matches the voltage output listed near the UL mark and the right diameter plug. nothing special about this charger other than the spliter
@Jetlag FCC regulations and they are lower bandwidth. Since they took down analog TV broadcasting, lower portions of UHF are being explord for wifi technology. I think you might be able to broadcast in the white-space, but it is expensive. There are companies that are developing the technology, but still need approval from the FCC. TL;DR - Expensive/FCC says no, maybe in the future.
I think this could be great for when the kids go roaming around the neighborhood in packs. These will make me feel much more secure in my negligent parenting.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that sent a rat since we were lab rats...but that is the rat I sent!!!!!
Now I own 6 more walkie talkies.
We do have a family wedding down south this year. The last time we all went down, we used walkie talkies (pre cell phone) A brother in law yelled Where the f..k are you guys, just as we walked into the cathedral in New Orleans. He saw us going in and decided to try to get us kicked out.
for $10 I could tie one to the tree outside and yell at the kids to Get Off My Grass. What other diabolical uses for this? I can pic up other nerds that have one of these right? And if I make a Smokey and the Bandit type cross country race, me and my decoy car are going to need these. (shh..can I listen to wireless house phones with these?)
correct, i of course have mine, but I think people should know that at least when i looked two years ago no individual has ever been prosecuted for operating a personal hand held radio on the gmrs channels without a license....at least in the states. now people with their own personal radio towers brodcasting over 100 miles, people have been.
Now this is the kind of stuff I can use my VMP for. Why? WHY THE HELL NOT I ASK YOU! In for 3 sets... indented-wakeful-motion (ya, she's neked alrighty)
@PurplePawprints I'm not seeing the first one, just a yellow warning requesting you 'Please do not inline Project Gutenberg images.' Is that just me or do others see the warning and not the picture?
in south west ohio, on channel 5.77 someone reach me and i will be thrilled :P (though i only got a range of 20 miles max at my location with my hardware)
We use these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007F7MZ04 while shooting at various locations. As they can be set to use custom repeaters (which we build for less than $100 each) we can effectively have virtually unlimited range, which comes in very handy when we might have multiple hot outdoor sets simultaneously across a major metro area. Without setting a repeater, we can get 20 miles in mixed terrain with them by over-powering a bit. They say they are five watts out of the box, but they are more like three. We can push them to ten or more without overheating, but only when on location outside the US.
@Pavlov you should be good in the us...if you got a license. can push up to 50 watts with a license. 10 watts is a bit high without a license, could get in trouble.
@upbeatanime It isn't my area of expertise . . . although I am pretty sure that a lot of times we're using freq. that are not supposed to be used in the US. I have no idea if we are licensed or not. It is more difficult to set the repeaters overseas (or so they tell me), so the techie we have just ups the output and we all hold them farther away from our testicles.
@ronnyd Yup. We always used Motorola Talkabouts when skiing. Though with everyone having cell phones these days we haven't used them in a couple years.
@Cinoclav Yeah, but having had my first cell phone / ski hill moments last year, they're a PITB to manage with the touch screens and the gloves and whatnot. Looking forward to these low(er) tech beauts.
Interesting. Second picture appears to show Ni-Cd batteries. But I'm fairly sure the description of NiMH is accurate. You guys are Meh, but you're not so meh as to include NiCads.
@Zendriver You can get your GMRS license here: transition dot fcc dot gov/Forms/Form605/605.htmlt is considered a family license, so everyone in your household can use the radios under the same license.You can find GMRS repeaters here: www dot mygmrs dot com/browse
@ZenDriver In retrospect, as I reviewed the page, IDK why the above posted here under your post- I was aimed elsewhere- i.e., the poster above where they were actually discussing the GMRS licensing process. Sorry for the Palinesque comment [non sequitur] Damn android internet app [but it's the only one I can get to load and browse my MSN acct reasonably well- and that's where my Meh-mail lands...] Sorry again!
Yay anti-meh for a change! I have some other Cobra radios and the quality is decent. $10 is an ok price for just the batteries and pre-charged means they will hold a charge a while even without use. Unfortunately getting a GMRS license isn't that useful for me since there is no one in my family I want to talk to. From the description it also sounds like there are no sub-channels but they aren't all that useful anyway.
They are NiMH batteries according to Cobra's replacement part number. Cobra states ~6 hrs talk / standby, users report much, much less. In the order of 2-3 hours tops. I guess carry spare alkaline AAA.
@Mehrocco_Mole@mahoneyli Mine was Mischief Maker when I was a kid. My daddy was a trucker for a while and had a big setup in our house as well as in his pickup.
I remember owning a pair of these during the seventies when microwave ovens and pet rocks were the fad.. I drove OTR and my handle was 'night crawler' because I delivered and set-up worm farms.. Or was that in a former life? Confusing. ...damp-outstanding-coral
@MrGlass I should have tried that. My bologna radio doesn't get more than 50 feet with a clear line of sight. And the liverwurst one? Worthless. You could smell it farther than it would transmit.
I bought a (different brand/model) set of these a few years back for my boys (now 7 and 10) because they had received a pair of "toy" walkie talkies for Christmas that were utter crap. These things actually work, and I didn't pay that much more than this for them.
My 10yo already has several classmates with cell phones. I refuse to do that.
So I live on the east coast and have to get up early but I bought this cup from Starbucks on sale that gets free refills every day in January and I don't drink much coffee but it's almost February so I meant to get some this morning but forgot and got a grande at 9 pm and drank it all because it was free and the last sip was coffee grounds but I was driving and chewed it up and swallowed it and- hey, walkie talkies, I'll buy two -and it's way too late, and curse you Starbucks
Not to give out any heebie-type jeebies but last set of walkies I picked up for my kids gave us a lesson in mobile communication. See, all the drug dealers in our neighborhood use walkies to communicate instead of cells and they do not enjoy company on the channel. Something about a "shiv".
First purchase ever was a good one! I'm returning the unopened box we just bought the other day to Wal-Mart! Paid 25 bones, now I've got 3 sets oowt ooiwt!
I feel really good about myself with all the other people mentioning walkie talkies from growing up. I had walkie talkies when I was a kid and man did I use those for everything. deep sigh
in43 second meh purchase two sets for family of four and one set for couple who have a large property and ground I bought 4 fortune cookie makers just before Christmas so I'm getting all stocked up with gifts early this year. Why no romance oriented gifts, meh? If they aren't up today or tomorrow, they'll never be delivered in time for VDay. Oh, maybe the next meh item will be a time machine so that we can go back to change the ship date to ensure our purchases arrive on time! Whaddya think? Okay, back to bed now.
@sublimosa If they were going to off Valentine's Day related stuff it would have been offered last week at the latest. While it's possible things ordered now would get here in time, they wouldn't guarantee that. Walkie-talkies are romantic, right?
Had to make it a two-fer two-fer thursday. Not really sure why I bought this since I'm never outdoors, but maybe I'll leave one in the kitchen and hopefully somebody will be there when I'm hungry/thirsty in my room.
Got a set like these a couple years back for the wife's parents. Now when grandpa takes the kids out fishing he carries one of these so he doesn't have to worry about it getting wet. Can anyone say the same about their iPhone without having a $100 special case?
@Mehrocco_Mole But uh, you can't take pictures and watch videos with these. I think I prefer the iPhone with the $100 case. (You can actually get waterproof cases for under $25.)
Besides, does anyone really think the cell towers will work for very long after the Zombie Apocalypse starts? These are must haves for those bug-out bags everyone bought on Woot! the other day.
Too lazy to read through this at 6AM... Does anyone know if I can use 12 of these together? I'm thinking "low cost alternative" for communicating with my staff throughout the building I manage.....
We used to use these at theme parks to keep track of our groups when we split up. "Lets meet at Batman and Robin: The Chiller". How is that for a time frame?
@lumpthar I blame my need to research a bit before ordering...was going to by 3 sets for our emergency kit but wanted to read reviews...missed it by THAT much
I guess I should be glad I missed out, every walkie talkie I have ever bought since I was a kid has been a total disappointment. Yet occasionally I still do try in the hopes that I can satisfy the desire of my former 8 year old self.
OMG- I just realized that Meh is turning me into a horder- But it is nice to get a Meh treat at the office every once in a while. peremptory-chapped-letter- Huh?
@shata I've bought no less than three knives, 30 (friggen) neoprene sleeves, a bunch of tools, and now some walkie-talkies. I'm not longer doubting by hoardiness. Oh yeah, also a helicopter. It's all so cheap, what am I suppsoed to do, say no? Besides, someone has to represent on the east-coast, and I'm totally not just making up excuses right now.
@Konraden Are you me??? I have the same hoard, errr treasure trove about item for item, and my spouse is starting to try to tell me to stay away from Meh...!!
Interesting. It's early and I'm slow anyway, but somebody help me out here I must be doing math wrong. They sold 2617 @ $10/each , total of $28921... So shipping is included in the Total for 550.2 folks?
3 Useful reasons to have these: Convoys (really!) - We used a set similar to this when we moved from CA to NY. More reliable than cell service and didn't cost minutes. Worked out really well - especially to keep drivers awake 3 days in with non-stop rain.
Camping - My parents used to use a similar setup for road trips in the camper. Kids in the camper had one, parents in the cab of the truck had the other. When we arrived, the kids kept one in their tent.
Disaster Kits - We also kept a set in out Earthquake/Fire kit, because you can't depend on cell service or utilities when the Northridge fault goes off.
pro-tip: i actually got these a long time ago from somewhere.... but that's not important. what you should know is that the charger is rather stupid... it will not stop once the batteries are charged, and will inevitably ruin them unless you unplug it at the specified time. of course they're just generic AAA rechargeables so easy to replace.
@gommiebears I, um, just buy the next damn time. Sorry I neglected to mention that before. And I never quite understood why the Midwest leans more to the east. What's up with that?
What the hell? I come on to meh.com at 9pm central and the shit is already sold out? When are you guys going to adhere to us guys who forget to check meh.com until almost the next day?
@unixrab No, I'm in WV and bought three sets. Red was the base color, so every state other than a couple in New England bought some. Texas and California just bought the most.
East coaster here who checked at 12 and passed due to being tired thought it was a weather radio then at 6am looked again and said why not. Kids will love it and will come in handy at Disney.
@rishj09 I am wondering the exact same thing. Seems to be no charging indicator and every time I turn them on I see a flashing bat icon that looks like low.
These radios are complete shit. They do not work at all, unless buzzing and chirping is considered working. I want my $10 back. East Coast, consider yourselves lucky to have these sold out before you woke up.
@FatDaddy Seriously, they're total garbage. I had a friend of mine drive home with one of them and call out landmarks to me. I wanted to know how far they really went, and he's only a few miles away. It stopped working less than a mile from my home.
These don't have side channels like every other Walkie I've ever used... so its going to get crowed in here! Charge for 15hrs and no more than 24 rish!
mine just got here and I want to play! but I bought them as presents so no fun for me. except, since they might not work right, don't I need to test them? huh? don't I?
Good news/bad news on the included batteries & charger: They're only 300 mAH cells, but actually measure +/- 5% of that! The charger is very efficient, but the plugs don't fully seat in the Walkie's connector. They won't charge the batteries (at least on mine). My solution: Take a 3/16" drill bit and hand-turn it in the socket to remove the shoulder. Now the charging plug can fully seat in the socket and charge the batteries. The charge rate is only ~25 mA, so there's little risk of overcharging damage. Charging dead batteries should take about 16 hours. There is no charge indicator.
@JonT How can we tell they are even charging? From a review on Amazon, he claims he had to use a drill bit to widen the charge port to get the unit to start charging.
@haxster You sir, are awesome. Great tip thank you - I never even noticed they weren't seating. Just figured they were utter shit and therefore Meh-worthy. Now to see if they actually charge overnight :)
Specs
Condition: New
Warranty: 1 Year Cobra
Estimated delivery: 2/10 - 2/13
Shipping: $5 or free with VMP
What’s in the Box?
2x Walkie Talkies
1x Wall charger
6x Rechargeable batteries
Pictures
Walkie Talkies
What’s included
“Hey Big Cheese, what’s your twenty? Lot Lizard here would like to convoy”
Price Check
$69.99 List, $24.99 at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
@mediocrebot lame (so lame you don't get any more than one word: lame)
@unixrab But you typed more words after that, so you ruined your intended effect. Also, I bought three with an order time stamp of 12:00 ET. They'll come in handy at some point, I'm sure.
10-4 Rubber Ducky...in for a set.
These are the upper echelon of Mehdom!
I love walkies! reminds me of childhood.
@ScottPlemmons Yeah about that, son. We were trying to lose you. Man, that time in the salt flats we would have made it but the car overheated! Good time. Love, Dad.
@mcanavino Right in the feels.
@ScottPlemmons Just don't let the grownups find them! My next door neighbor's dad tried to convince us that he was with the government and agents were coming to arrest us for flying kites in JFK airspace.
Meh. How do I sign up for the lot lizard convoy?
Hey Bandit! This is Little Beaver... Put your foot on the floor, we got your backdoor and I'm clear!
@Headly MOST epic reply on the internets today! +100 for you sir
pre-charged is really the operative word here. ain't nobody got time fo charging!
One charger? Yuck. If I bought this, I'd probably keep one Walkie with me and the other one with the person with whom I wish to talk. What do they do?
@SirLouie Move in with you?
@SirLouie yes, that's what I was thinking. If I leave one at my mom's and one at my place, I'd have to go over to her place to charge mine every now and then. Sorta of defeating the purpose of staying away from her. (Sorry Mom.) But since I bought the Ooma a few eeks ago, I don't really have a use for these now.
@SirLouie That's why you buy three sets! Actually, the pictures looks to suggest that the single charger has two ends to charge both units simultaneously.
@Throdis @sirlouie yep, one charger charges both simultaneously
@Throdis And the text states that explicitly! Which doesn't help the folks who want to leave their units at separate locations. Unless that Y-cable is really, really long.
@brhfl Exactly. One charger that can charge both units simultaneously - but only if those two units are in the same room.
@SirLouie @hales If I'm looking at it correctly, it seems like they each take three AAA batteries. So, if you have a regular battery charger, why couldn't you just use that when the batteries die? I don't think you absolutely have to use the included charger.
@PurplePawprints For the win! ...And not fer nuttin, but doesn't everyone else have multiple ac adapter/chargers just waiting around for something to adapt or charge? with multiple sizes of plugs to allow use on many common electronic gadgets?
@SirLouie one wall wart, but it's sportin' two charging plugs. It's an electric threesome!
@PhysAssist yes, this looks like a very common charger, just find one that matches the voltage output listed near the UL mark and the right diameter plug. nothing special about this charger other than the spliter
@PurplePawprints The AAA battery note is solid. Thanks. Unfortunately meh's sold out now! I should read more carefully.
If they can make 16 mile walkie talkies then why can't I get my WiFi to go from one side of my house to the other?
@Jetlag
@Jetlag FCC regulations and they are lower bandwidth. Since they took down analog TV broadcasting, lower portions of UHF are being explord for wifi technology. I think you might be able to broadcast in the white-space, but it is expensive. There are companies that are developing the technology, but still need approval from the FCC. TL;DR - Expensive/FCC says no, maybe in the future.
@Jetlag Get a router with better, external antennas.
@jqubed Maybe next time go for a smaller McMansion? I mean 16 miles, really? Is linearly or sq miles?
@PhysAssist Surely a cube 16 miles long each side. It's not a proper mansion without its own airspace.
@Jetlag get a better router, if you dont want to spend an arm and a leg buy this one http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005UBNH18/ref=sr_1_10_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1422525313&sr=8-10&keywords=amped+wireless&condition=used or this one http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FR305-Wireless-Repeater-Amplified/dp/B00LV0YPFE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422525353&sr=8-1&keywords=foscam+router they are both high power routers with external attentas for ~$25
These are gonna be awesome! Imma be on my Archer level. In for two sets of yucky-neanderthal-goose
@midcontrast Tactical-Micro-Talk in Secret Agent Black to coordinate with the black silk-cashmere blend Tactical-neck sweater...
I remember using these once! In for the rechargeable batteries.
@heli0s Was tempting for 6 AAA, but seems it's 300 mAh Ni-Cd battery, not like 700mAh LSD..
@awhosit I could use some LSD for $10...
@Sane Then your name would no longer be Sane.
We got us a convoy.
@Pavlov Oh, is that what it's supposed to be!?
@brhfl Sorry - I edited. I was using talk to text and it picked up the wrong phrase. My bad.
@Pavlov Haha, just made me chuckle… on the plus side, now my response makes no sense!
One set for the grandkids!
@Teripie my grandkids have ipads that let them talk to each other. Frickin' spoiled kids!
I would like them if they were a different color. Perhaps... blue?
purple?
@peaceetc orange.
@Barney Now that's just crazy talk.
@Headly A bold choice! I like it.
@Barney Once again, it's clear that you enjoy the color purple. (Not the 'Color Purple' with Oprah; the color purple being a red-blue combo.)
Funny write up. This is why I visit. That reminds me, should dig out my old set in the back of the drawer to toss out.
If this was 1998, I'd be all over this deal. My family loved walkie talkies.
So far today...
1433 of you visited.
47% on a phone, 8% on a tablet.
Heh.
@davidgro 5% visited from their dinosaur PC, and the other 40% stopped by in person.
@davidgro 3% radioed in
im getting the this item is gonna sellout fast vibe
sweet, just in time for the new little league season. purchased 3 of these bad boys!
Do the radios come with the Meh app preinstalled?
If you pass the rabid child, say, "hammer down!" for me.
In for 2, I don't do nearly enough college shenanigans, this should help.
stupid-passing-dinner
Yep, I just bought a couple of turds.
@Kerig3 oh shit!
I think this could be great for when the kids go roaming around the neighborhood in packs. These will make me feel much more secure in my negligent parenting.
That's my rat!!!
I'm sure I'm not the only one that sent a rat since we were lab rats...but that is the rat I sent!!!!!
Now I own 6 more walkie talkies.
We do have a family wedding down south this year. The last time we all went down, we used walkie talkies (pre cell phone)
A brother in law yelled Where the f..k are you guys, just as we walked into the cathedral in New Orleans.
He saw us going in and decided to try to get us kicked out.
@smilingjack fairly certain that was the only version of that rat we received!
@hales Tell the rat his brother is proud of him! I got one for me, with your money, when I bought him.
@smilingjack @hales but we did get a few other lab rats, like the black rubber ones in the lobby.
what. would. i. ever. use. these. for?
@shinyhat You won't know unless you buy 3.
@shinyhat You can use them to beat your keyboard. Maybe that stuck "." key will loosen up.
@ruouttaurmind Maybe it will make their shift key work again, also.
@ruouttaurmind That'll clear up as soon as I turn off the Shatner Lock function.
for $10 I could tie one to the tree outside and yell at the kids to Get Off My Grass. What other diabolical uses for this? I can pic up other nerds that have one of these right? And if I make a Smokey and the Bandit type cross country race, me and my decoy car are going to need these. (shh..can I listen to wireless house phones with these?)
Keep in mind, to use the gmrs channels you need a license which is considerably over $10 and only applies to the specific unit you register it for..
correct, i of course have mine, but I think people should know that at least when i looked two years ago no individual has ever been prosecuted for operating a personal hand held radio on the gmrs channels without a license....at least in the states. now people with their own personal radio towers brodcasting over 100 miles, people have been.
If only I could talk to the dead, I could talk to my favorite jaded-loved-chemist from Breaking Bad.
Panicky-playful-ravioli Damnit, now I'm hungry...
hot-darling-vampire
, over.Should I get another set? over.
Now this is the kind of stuff I can use my VMP for. Why? WHY THE HELL NOT I ASK YOU! In for 3 sets...
indented-wakeful-motion
(ya, she's neked alrighty)
@ruouttaurmind I'm assuming this is what you were posting?
@Cinoclav Yay! Now I get to see it twice!
@PurplePawprints I'm not seeing the first one, just a yellow warning requesting you 'Please do not inline Project Gutenberg images.' Is that just me or do others see the warning and not the picture?
@Cinoclav Weird. I'm seeing two identical pictures.
@Cinoclav I see the warning for the first one. Red text on bright yellow background.
@PurplePawprints Hmm... this is what @nadroj and I are seeing.
@Cinoclav Ya, thanks for fixing that up for me. It was working last night when I hotlinked it.
@Cinoclav I wonder why I can see the picture in both comments and others can't. Maybe it's because I'm special?
@PurplePawprints Short-bus special?
@PhysAssist Since I'm the one who can see the post as intended, I'm gonna go with 'no'.
@PurplePawprints I can see what you mean [though not the original post- I see the brilliant yellow and scarlet "Please do not..." flag.]
I love purple.
here's some mumbo jumbo on the down low http://w9hq.blogspot.com/2011/02/hacking-cobra-microtalk-frs-radios.html
@wew i have a degree in computer science. I didn't understand that link.
@shinyhat it's for those darn electrical engineering guys
@wew Something about hacking the walkies so they produce ham!! I AM SO ABOUT THIS. Think of the sandwich potential!
in south west ohio, on channel 5.77 someone reach me and i will be thrilled :P (though i only got a range of 20 miles max at my location with my hardware)
Ahh these take me back. My best friend in the house across the street and I had walkies and we would stay up late and talk under our covers.
At least I think that happened, it's totally possible that could be a false memory based on pop culture consumption.
We use these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007F7MZ04 while shooting at various locations. As they can be set to use custom repeaters (which we build for less than $100 each) we can effectively have virtually unlimited range, which comes in very handy when we might have multiple hot outdoor sets simultaneously across a major metro area. Without setting a repeater, we can get 20 miles in mixed terrain with them by over-powering a bit. They say they are five watts out of the box, but they are more like three. We can push them to ten or more without overheating, but only when on location outside the US.
@Pavlov you should be good in the us...if you got a license. can push up to 50 watts with a license. 10 watts is a bit high without a license, could get in trouble.
@upbeatanime It isn't my area of expertise . . . although I am pretty sure that a lot of times we're using freq. that are not supposed to be used in the US. I have no idea if we are licensed or not. It is more difficult to set the repeaters overseas (or so they tell me), so the techie we have just ups the output and we all hold them farther away from our testicles.
Ever ski or do other outdoorsy things? then these are great. Kinda stoked. In for a couple of sets.
@ronnyd Yup. We always used Motorola Talkabouts when skiing. Though with everyone having cell phones these days we haven't used them in a couple years.
oh and i should say. Ho Hum. silent-blase-attack
@Cinoclav Yeah, but having had my first cell phone / ski hill moments last year, they're a PITB to manage with the touch screens and the gloves and whatnot. Looking forward to these low(er) tech beauts.
We drove two cars through Poland and FRS radios came in handy. Sure we had cell phones, but at $2.50/min roaming charges, it was a no brainer.
Thanks Meh.
"c'mon back Luke"
"that's a 10-4 Bo"
"this-here's a 'walkay-talkay'"
"yeah Luke... I know"
"roger that Bo... over'n-out"
@unixrab Bows and dynamite tipped arrows not included.
@clyde2801 game changer for sure.
@unixrab Seems like cops shoot people for a whole lot less nowadays.
@clyde2801
@clyde2801 PLEASE, don't get that debate started here....
In for 3, don't even why do we need it for.
@ggomes Just in case we get hit with a Shark-Nato or something. Or the Bees revolt and take out all cellphone towers.
@kylewood
@Thumperchick Hadn;t seen this, but it is truly AWESOME!! My newest desktop background
IMMINENT AXE DEATH!
Interesting. Second picture appears to show Ni-Cd batteries. But I'm fairly sure the description of NiMH is accurate. You guys are Meh, but you're not so meh as to include NiCads.
@Zendriver You can get your GMRS license here: transition dot fcc dot gov/Forms/Form605/605.htmlt is considered a family license, so everyone in your household can use the radios under the same license.You can find GMRS repeaters here: www dot mygmrs dot com/browse
@ZenDriver In retrospect, as I reviewed the page, IDK why the above posted here under your post- I was aimed elsewhere- i.e., the poster above where they were actually discussing the GMRS licensing process. Sorry for the Palinesque comment [non sequitur] Damn android internet app [but it's the only one I can get to load and browse my MSN acct reasonably well- and that's where my Meh-mail lands...] Sorry again!
ugh
The specs say it includes NiMH batteries, but the picture shows NiCd batteries.
Yay anti-meh for a change! I have some other Cobra radios and the quality is decent. $10 is an ok price for just the batteries and pre-charged means they will hold a charge a while even without use. Unfortunately getting a GMRS license isn't that useful for me since there is no one in my family I want to talk to. From the description it also sounds like there are no sub-channels but they aren't all that useful anyway.
@LankHairdoo it is illegal to use the GMRS channles only without one. you still get 7 channels. though range will be alot less.
@upbeatanime Yeah I got two sets. I'm not too worried about the FCC in the places I use them just that a license wouldn't make me legal anyway.
in for 1 set.
Can this be used to make a psychotronic thought amplifying device, specifically the Cosimano Hand Resonator?
http://psionics.mysticalwonders.org/handresonator.php
@mossygreen
@JonT That did not answer my question, sir.
They are NiMH batteries according to Cobra's replacement part number. Cobra states ~6 hrs talk / standby, users report much, much less. In the order of 2-3 hours tops. I guess carry spare alkaline AAA.
In for 3 with a flaky-vigorous-thought. Used to have a set growing up, and my parents had CB radios for the car. "Twinkle Toes"
@mahoneyli My handle I use here was my old CB handle. Wife at the time was Secret Squirrel.
@Mehrocco_Mole @mahoneyli Mine was Mischief Maker when I was a kid. My daddy was a trucker for a while and had a big setup in our house as well as in his pickup.
@Mehrocco_Mole @mahoneyli @PurplePawprints RabbitEars here. Because my first radio was bad at getting out, but I could hear everyone!
I remember owning a pair of these during the seventies when microwave ovens and pet rocks were the fad.. I drove OTR and my handle was 'night crawler' because I delivered and set-up worm farms.. Or was that in a former life? Confusing.
...damp-outstanding-coral
Meh, 15 mile range is nothing compared to my HAM radio.
@MrGlass I should have tried that. My bologna radio doesn't get more than 50 feet with a clear line of sight. And the liverwurst one? Worthless. You could smell it farther than it would transmit.
@djslack Unless you held a blanket over an open box and transmitted in morse code. Stench signals.
@MrGlass (Homer Simpsons voice) mmmmm haaaamm
I do not like GMRS and HAM.
I bought a (different brand/model) set of these a few years back for my boys (now 7 and 10) because they had received a pair of "toy" walkie talkies for Christmas that were utter crap. These things actually work, and I didn't pay that much more than this for them.
My 10yo already has several classmates with cell phones. I refuse to do that.
this is a whole lot of necessary
Sons' birthday coming up. They'll love these, in for a set.
So I live on the east coast and have to get up early but I bought this cup from Starbucks on sale that gets free refills every day in January and I don't drink much coffee but it's almost February so I meant to get some this morning but forgot and got a grande at 9 pm and drank it all because it was free and the last sip was coffee grounds but I was driving and chewed it up and swallowed it and- hey, walkie talkies, I'll buy two -and it's way too late, and curse you Starbucks
@sammydog01 Heh.
@sammydog01 I read this like you said it all in one caffeinated breath.
@Thumperchick Me too. That indicates good writing I think.
Not to give out any heebie-type jeebies but last set of walkies I picked up for my kids gave us a lesson in mobile communication. See, all the drug dealers in our neighborhood use walkies to communicate instead of cells and they do not enjoy company on the channel. Something about a "shiv".
@poppaearl
@poppaearl Someone needs to move.
@poppaearl Did you buy the knives from meh earlier? If so, you can either attempt to shank them back, or join them (for 40% of your profit of course)
Are those pagination buttons I see!? In for 6.
It's two-for...Thursday?
Darn, I am tempted. I always wanted a pair of these as a kid!
First purchase ever was a good one! I'm returning the unopened box we just bought the other day to Wal-Mart! Paid 25 bones, now I've got 3 sets oowt ooiwt!
In for 3 (6)!
I feel really good about myself with all the other people mentioning walkie talkies from growing up. I had walkie talkies when I was a kid and man did I use those for everything. deep sigh
@Collin1000 Everything? really? how were they at making pancakes?
...and I can protect the walkie-talkies with a neoprine case! See.... I really did need all those cases!
In for 2 sets. Oh, the world we live in.
filthy-calamitous-society
You betcha! What, no purple?
I love purple.
Something to entertain my 3 year old with. Fantastic!
My son (7) is gonna FLIP when he sees these.
Meh....
What's that? Can't hear you.....
"No chips inside transmitting your every move to the NSA".
Yeah, I'm sure they don't monitor the open airwaves at all.
Well, tried to look up the specs for these walkies and guess what.... Cobra doesn't even have them on their website... sigh
Why does free shipping make this so easy? Why, Meh, WHY?
casual-toothsome-baseball
I don't even wanna know why that came up first.
@haydesigner wtf is that? It looks disgusting, like mushrooms or worms coming out of a turd. and no, I'm not on mushrooms
Okay, I just convinced myself to buy a second pair… for the next kid's b-day party we get invited to.
rigorous-toxic-sheet
in43
second meh purchase two sets for family of four and one set for couple who have a large property and ground
I bought 4 fortune cookie makers just before Christmas so I'm getting all stocked up with gifts early this year.
Why no romance oriented gifts, meh? If they aren't up today or tomorrow, they'll never be delivered in time for VDay. Oh, maybe the next meh item will be a time machine so that we can go back to change the ship date to ensure our purchases arrive on time! Whaddya think?
Okay, back to bed now.
@sublimosa If they were going to off Valentine's Day related stuff it would have been offered last week at the latest. While it's possible things ordered now would get here in time, they wouldn't guarantee that. Walkie-talkies are romantic, right?
@PurplePawprints communication is key to a good relationship.
@sublimosa They have offered a lot of items to give if you wanted to break up with someone. 2 Vacuums, 2 Plastic Cups, Knives....well you know
Had to make it a two-fer two-fer thursday. Not really sure why I bought this since I'm never outdoors, but maybe I'll leave one in the kitchen and hopefully somebody will be there when I'm hungry/thirsty in my room.
So it has come to this. poised-horrified-winter. Indeed.
Out to the lakehouse these go.
Got a set like these a couple years back for the wife's parents. Now when grandpa takes the kids out fishing he carries one of these so he doesn't have to worry about it getting wet. Can anyone say the same about their iPhone without having a $100 special case?
@Mehrocco_Mole But uh, you can't take pictures and watch videos with these. I think I prefer the iPhone with the $100 case. (You can actually get waterproof cases for under $25.)
@Cinoclav My wife and mother does the 100 photo's for every event. They fill their phones and we never see them again.
@StrangerDanger I download to them my computer and review them a year later so I can remember how crappy someone's birthday party was.
@StrangerDanger never saw your wife and mother again? Those are pretty effective phones - what brand? Would be very handy gifts for my in-laws.
@RedOak LOL yea those would be some phone!
Besides, does anyone really think the cell towers will work for very long after the Zombie Apocalypse starts? These are must haves for those bug-out bags everyone bought on Woot! the other day.
@Mehrocco_Mole Not to mention the solar charging kit they have today!
Too lazy to read through this at 6AM... Does anyone know if I can use 12 of these together? I'm thinking "low cost alternative" for communicating with my staff throughout the building I manage.....
@andrewkl You can use 120 of them together. It's old school radio!
red and yellow? eewwww
I like purple.
OMG! I just added a set to my collection of useless stuff!!!
We used to use these at theme parks to keep track of our groups when we split up. "Lets meet at Batman and Robin: The Chiller". How is that for a time frame?
Apparently the range is limited to Northern and Southern California.
Crap. Sold out. I blame @joelmw for creating the time zones so unfairly.
@lumpthar I blame my need to research a bit before ordering...was going to by 3 sets for our emergency kit but wanted to read reviews...missed it by THAT much
@lumpthar
My walkie-talkies are off the coast of Liberia.
undaunted-mimicking-hospital
Will be used while camping, no shivs around.
No Georgia Red. . . for that alone, meh.
I like purple.
I guess I should be glad I missed out, every walkie talkie I have ever bought since I was a kid has been a total disappointment. Yet occasionally I still do try in the hopes that I can satisfy the desire of my former 8 year old self.
OMG- I just realized that Meh is turning me into a horder- But it is nice to get a Meh treat at the office every once in a while. peremptory-chapped-letter- Huh?
@shata I've bought no less than three knives, 30 (friggen) neoprene sleeves, a bunch of tools, and now some walkie-talkies. I'm not longer doubting by hoardiness. Oh yeah, also a helicopter. It's all so cheap, what am I suppsoed to do, say no? Besides, someone has to represent on the east-coast, and I'm totally not just making up excuses right now.
@Konraden Are you me??? I have the same hoard, errr treasure trove about item for item, and my spouse is starting to try to tell me to stay away from Meh...!!
Interesting. It's early and I'm slow anyway, but somebody help me out here I must be doing math wrong. They sold 2617 @ $10/each , total of $28921... So shipping is included in the Total for 550.2 folks?
@UgaDogCH Tax for people in Texas makes the math a lot trickier.
@UgaDogCH People in Texas pay sales tax on this stuff - that is also included in the total. Others don't like VMP so they do pay for shipping.
Lost Lizard Convoys would put everyone in jail.
3 Useful reasons to have these:
Convoys (really!) - We used a set similar to this when we moved from CA to NY. More reliable than cell service and didn't cost minutes. Worked out really well - especially to keep drivers awake 3 days in with non-stop rain.
Camping - My parents used to use a similar setup for road trips in the camper. Kids in the camper had one, parents in the cab of the truck had the other. When we arrived, the kids kept one in their tent.
Disaster Kits - We also kept a set in out Earthquake/Fire kit, because you can't depend on cell service or utilities when the Northridge fault goes off.
(Now I just talked myself into wanting a set.)
@Thumperchick LOT LIZARD (stupid fingers.)
@Thumperchick there you go ruining my fantasy of Sleestak with radios chasing Will and Holly.
@Thumperchick We've used them on family trips with more than one car. Works well.
I either need to get up earlier or stay up later. This looks like it was a pretty good deal.
Meh. These would have been great for the game convention I help run (http://geekwaytothewest.com, he plugged shamelessly.)
That'll teach me to go to bed early.
Looks like Maine is the big loser today. North Dakota and Wyoming, take a bow.
Bought 3 sets. Regretted it. Canceled. Bought 2. Thought about it. Came back to buy a 3rd set. Sold out. DAMMIT.
pro-tip: i actually got these a long time ago from somewhere.... but that's not important. what you should know is that the charger is rather stupid... it will not stop once the batteries are charged, and will inevitably ruin them unless you unplug it at the specified time. of course they're just generic AAA rechargeables so easy to replace.
@deadlybunny Thanks for the warning... Love the screen name [and Monty P].
Husband said no... That means in 4 1. Can these use regular AAA?
Voidable-Talented-Screw
In for two.... delayed post til I could get to my desktop where I could copy and paste the image...
@PhysAssist safe search turned on?
@djslack Nopers, and even when I scrolled down there wasn't anything even remotely appealing to prurient interests [darn it]...
These sold out? I'm gobsmacked! Of course, I passed these by because I probably couldn't get my kitty to use one anyway.
East Coaster here with lots of land.... pretty sad I missed this one. meh
I blame @joelmw for not convincing me to purchasing this unnecessary item and living in the Midwest.
@gommiebears I, um, just buy the next damn time. Sorry I neglected to mention that before. And I never quite understood why the Midwest leans more to the east. What's up with that?
What the hell? I come on to meh.com at 9pm central and the shit is already sold out? When are you guys going to adhere to us guys who forget to check meh.com until almost the next day?
@cbreeden It was sold out 12 hours before that.
Employees of Meh, you really are doing a wonderful job. This sellout is proof of that. Keep up the excellent work!!!
In lots of 1000 - 3000 ... I'm pretty sure that with a customer base of 70,000 there will be 3000 suckers. ...amirite @snapster!? ;-) @phatmass
did only CA and TX buy this out??
@unixrab No, I'm in WV and bought three sets. Red was the base color, so every state other than a couple in New England bought some. Texas and California just bought the most.
@PurplePawprints gotcha
East coaster here who checked at 12 and passed due to being tired thought it was a weather radio then at 6am looked again and said why not. Kids will love it and will come in handy at Disney.
undaunted.mimicking hospital
So I received these today. How do I know that the two-way radios are charging. Also how would I know when they are fully charged.
@rishj09 I am wondering the exact same thing. Seems to be no charging indicator and every time I turn them on I see a flashing bat icon that looks like low.
These radios are complete shit. They do not work at all, unless buzzing and chirping is considered working. I want my $10 back. East Coast, consider yourselves lucky to have these sold out before you woke up.
@FatDaddy I find they work great. I live in a city and we get at least a mile range on them.
@FatDaddy Seriously, they're total garbage. I had a friend of mine drive home with one of them and call out landmarks to me. I wanted to know how far they really went, and he's only a few miles away. It stopped working less than a mile from my home.
These don't have side channels like every other Walkie I've ever used... so its going to get crowed in here! Charge for 15hrs and no more than 24 rish!
mine just got here and I want to play! but I bought them as presents so no fun for me.
except, since they might not work right, don't I need to test them?
huh? don't I?
Just put them in a little cardboard box and if anyone asks it's Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging.
Good news/bad news on the included batteries & charger: They're only 300 mAH cells, but actually measure +/- 5% of that!
The charger is very efficient, but the plugs don't fully seat in the Walkie's connector. They won't charge the batteries (at least on mine).
My solution: Take a 3/16" drill bit and hand-turn it in the socket to remove the shoulder. Now the charging plug can fully seat in the socket and charge the batteries.
The charge rate is only ~25 mA, so there's little risk of overcharging damage. Charging dead batteries should take about 16 hours.
There is no charge indicator.
@haxster I was wondering about the charging indicator. There seems to be no way to tell if they are actually charging or not.
Is there anything I can do to confirm 100% they are charging? I have a multi-meter.
@jayman007 there's no way to tell how charged they are...as far as we can tell.
@JonT How can we tell they are even charging? From a review on Amazon, he claims he had to use a drill bit to widen the charge port to get the unit to start charging.
@haxster You sir, are awesome. Great tip thank you - I never even noticed they weren't seating. Just figured they were utter shit and therefore Meh-worthy. Now to see if they actually charge overnight :)
My units are dead, won't work, one of the cobra weather radio's I got prior to these also didn't work. Meh.