Basejumper.com - archive

Turning 35 real soon and my mom wants
an idea of what to get me... Having a pair
of 2-way radios to communicate with my
ground crew seems like the right choice.

I searched the forums and got some input
but most of the posts were from a while
back.

Attached is a PDF of a page from Best Buy's
website listing 15 different pairs of radios
ranging in price from $140 to $25.

Thanks for the input guys!

Motorolla without doubt. Most people I know have them. Once I had one come off my chest strap on opening from a 360ft cliff freefall, found it on the ground unscathed and still working.... Now thats tough.

Among others, I own a set of the Motorola radios listed there for $59.99 and another set of the $49.99 ones. I like them both. If I were going to buy another set, I'd get the $49.99 ones, because they are smaller.

I've owned Midland and Cobra radios, and I'd skip them. My experiences with the Motorola brand were much more positive. I found the Cobra radios were a bit more fragile (they got broken just passing them around and stuffing them in pockets) than the Motorola, and the Midland were hard to use (it seems like you have to press the button 4 times to get it to register once).

I like the rechargeable radios better than the AA-only ones (the rechargeables will also take AA batteries) because I go through a lot of batteries, so although the cheap Motorola's look good (and small) if you want to keep plugging in batteries, I'd probably go for the more expensive rechargeable ones.

I'd also avoid buying the super expensive models. I've destroyed enough radios jumping that I pretty much view them as consumables. Sooner or later, you're going to break them, and you'll be happier if you can buy twice as many radios for the price.

I'm a fan of the super small radios like these.
http://www.amazon.com/...-Radio/dp/B0009GWX46

I bought a pair like these for 15 dollars at Home Depot thinking I couldn't lose because they were so inexpensive. Nice and small and can go in any pocket and if you lose it, it was only 15 bucks for the pair. I've managed to hold onto mine for over two years.

They don't have the power of the bigger radios, but I'm still able to talk to people on the north end of town while at the exit at La Mousse.

Motorola is the tried and tested choice for this application, for sure.

I killed my Audiovox radios through a combination of physical abuse and getting them wet.

Replaced them with Motorola T6500s and they have taken the abuse and occasional dunking much better.

Better reception and audio quality also.

The weather channels can be quite useful, although I think they are North America only.

Rechargeable is better for sure and ideal if you get a car charger.

I would also say get a brightly coloured radio so it's easier to find if you drop it (maybe at night).

Don't know about 2-way radios. But in the longer run, you (and others) may be interested in this?

"A new way of making calls directly between phones, for free, is being trialled by a Swedish company."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6987784.stm

Aw look, I'm all green!

And Red and blue too!!!

Hey Gang,

Thanks a lot for the 411.

It all came out in green for me.

That's so weird.


+

Anyone got any comments on the Garmin Rhino radio/gps units?

sorry for goin off subject but has anyone had problems with static over radios from antennas. i was jumping last night and my adiovox radios wouldnt stop transmitting even after i took my finger off the talk button it would do it randomly and then all you could hear was static. ground crew was maybe 2 miles away.
i changed channels a few times and still had the same problem