Looking for a cheap intercom? This is model fr-1438 with recharger.
Written: Jan 18 '01 (Updated Feb 28 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: excellent as an intercom, small, compact, lots of features,This is model fr-1438
Cons: poor instruction book, may get interference from other devices
The Bottom Line: It is excellent for use as an intercom, and because it uses rechargeable batteries, it is very cheap to use.
|
|
|
| ezlance's Full Review: Audiovox FR140G (14 Channels) Two Way Radio |
I apologize for the sentence structure, but epinions, does not accept ms works correctly, and when I tried to edit the
sentences, epinions still did not allow the edits to the sentences.
When I was looking for 2 way walkie talkies, my requirements were very simple, I wanted one that would act as an intercom, in our house, and we could also use it for
communicating in the malls, and other locations where there were a lot of people. My other requirement was that it had to be small, and light weight, and not have an antenna that
would be so large as it couldn't be carried in my pocket.It also would not go through batteries,like there was no tomorrow. This device hit the spot.
The FR-1438 has 2 walkie talkies,that come with 8 rechargeable nicad batteries, 4 AAA per device, it also will use standard batteries, but what's neat is that it comes with a double charger, so that both talkies can be charged at the same time. The batteries when fully charged take 12-14 hours and, last about 4 days, and we use the talkies from morning to night as an intercom.
It works super, the voice comes in loud and clear, and with no or very little static, depending if you are near devices that create interference, for example our answering machine, will create static, while our computer does not.
Now remember this is in our house, outside it
is a different story. The sound can and does have static, the further you are away from each other. For instance when we tried with one person in the house and the other 5 blocks
away, we got lots of static, we could still hear each other, but it wasn't loud and clear. We live in a neighborhood that has lots of trees,and the houses are bunched together, the 5 blocks would be about 1 mile away, and that is it. Further you can't communicate.
I know it says up to a 2 mile range, but this is wide open spaces, with no houses in sight.How ever in our mall, when we tested it, no problems. We estimate that the distance
was no more than 1/2 mile.
The device is very small and compact 5 inches in length with antenna and 2 inches in width, it weighs 3 ounces, easily fits in a shirt pocket, or put it on your belt, using it's clip. It has a back lit screen, that flashes when you are either calling or receiving a call. This helps if you use it at night.
It is easy to use, the device has 4 buttons on the front,
one for it's functions, the other 2 for changes to the functions, and the fourth button is used as an enter key.
The screen is bright and clear, and what is different about the screen from other units that I have seen is that the letters are large about 1/4 inch.The icons, little
pictures of functions that are working, are very small, about an 1/8 inch and hard to read. We don't use them.
What else is different with this talkie vs others that I have looked at, is it has a battery save, what this means is that it shuts down all functions, other than it's lcd screen, when you are not talking, which saves on the battery. There is a picture of the battery on the screen when this is activated, and it does this automatically. I think this feature alone is worth getting this
talkie.
The instruction book is terrible, be prepared to read and reread the instructions. It does explain how everything works, but 1 page has a picture of the device, and all its features are numbered, but after this page you have to revert back constantly, to see what the feature are since they only use numbers. It is a pain, but most companies do not know how to write clear and simple instructions, or want to save money by not putting the same picture with all features numbered on each page of the instruction book.
If you want to get a small, compact, light weight walkie talkie that you can put in your pocket and has good battery life, won't cost you a fortune for batteries, and you can use as an intercom. this is a good one to get. I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 because of the instruction book.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ezlance
|
|
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.