After previously using a pair of Midland's for about 12 years, I decided to upgrade. Thankfully I chose the Rocky Talkie 5 watt radios instead of the Midland 5 watt radios. I was waiting on a week-long trip to Disney World to try the radios out while we were on the roads, as well as in the parks. Right out of the gate, the thing that I was most impressed with was the INSANELY clear/loud audio on both radios. We had zero issues on the roads, so I was excited to take them into the parks. After roaming around all over for 3 full days... I also couldn't believe the distance these radios get with the secondary thinner antennas attached! At one point, we were transmitting from clear across the entire Epcot park (we were at Japan in the World Showcase, and my parents were clear across the lake on the OTHER side of the huge Epcot Ball!!) That's quite the distance with random buildings and other structures in our way... but we had no problems communicating where we would be meeting up. Finally, the last and probably most impressive aspect of these radios are the INCREDIBLE battery life!!! At the end of every park day, with the radios on from the time we left the hotel to the time we got back late at night, the lowest either of our batteries dropped down to was 90%! I'm confident that that we could have used these the entire week without charging them and they likely would have been fine... even though charging them via USB-C is the easiest & most efficient way to charge a radio,…

I went with the 5 Watt Rocky Talkie and could not be happier. I did extensive research on just about every walkie talkie I could find and every time I came back the this unit.

What was important to me?

-Range: This unit has interchangeable antennas so depending on the situation I can get a little more range, if needed, with the whip antenna.

-Ease of Use: can my wife and kids pick these up and start using them right away…YES!

-Durability: Walkie Talkies get dropped, it’s unavoidable. I have only had them a short time and both have hit the ground. They still work great.

-Waterproof: I went fly fishing, dropped one in the river, pulled it out with mo problems. The mic didn’t even get distorted from the water.

-Size: I needed it to be compact. Some Walkie’s are huge and not practical in most situations. These are compact (they are a bit heavy, but I see this as a positive, as they are a quality built product).

They are not filled with a ton of useless bells and whistles, just the essentials. If this is what you want/need stop looking and purchase. I have seen comments that they are expensive, but something is only expensive if it doesn’t bring value. These units are packed with value!!!! (This IS NOT a paid review. I paid full price for both units.)

I’ve bought a few radios for snowmobiling and splitboarding but haven’t had good luck. Started with the Midland GTX1000 GMRS, which had troubles talking to other brands and the handset isn’t waterproof so it stopped working after a few days of use. I then bought a Baofeng and while cheap, was so confusing to use I returned it. Not what I’m after. The Rocky (only used two days), is easy to setup for any channel, works well and has intuitive controls. Exactly what I was after! Hopefully it keeps working well for years to come because I think radios are the most important safety tool we have for most situations, so it’s key to be able to rely on them.