I have 3 FRS radios - 2 Cobras and a Motorola. I bought them after we went on a big extended family camping trip, and I saw how useful they were for my brother in law and his two kids - aged about 8 and 11. He also had three - one for each child and one for himself. The kids could stray away from camp and feel independent, and yet he could check on them when he wanted, or they could ask him to bring a soda down to the river from camp. We also used them several times that week while caravaning many family members in more than one car. The kids had fun just chatting, but they were also handy to discuss where to turn, etc. I've used mine for all sorts of things, including 1) Checking on my kids when they were out trick-or-treating 2) Allowing them to go "into town" and hang out by themselves when we were camping on Catalina Island and the campground was 1/4 mile from camp 3) Convoying more than one car on trips - notifying when one had to make a pit stop, discussing where to stop for lunch, telling my daughter to "check out this Hummer that's about to pass you" (she thinks they're hot; I think they're horrific.) 4) Having my daughter's varsity and junior varsity coaches check out each other's progress at a high school soccer match. 5) On hikes with my class (I'm a 6th grade teacher) I have to be up in front, so I give a walkie talkie to a kid and have him/her stay toward the back, so I can check on their progress if they get out of eyeshot. I haven't used them much on the water. I do use my cell phone a lot while paddling, however. Usually it's to stay in touch so my wife or kids can call me and say, "When are you coming home?" Sometimes it's to let them know I won't be coming home for 2 more hours. While paddling with large groups a couple of times, the group has splintered into two or more subgroups, separated by quite a bit of distance. In those instances there were people with VHF radios communicating back and forth. FRS radios would have worked well, if we hadn't had the VHFs. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Make sure the set you buy allow for external power supply. That way you can plug them into the cigerette lighter and just keep them on while driving, not using up batts. I have the Kenwoods with the fold down intenna. Nice, but no external power source. Picked them up for stupid cheap when Office Depot stopped handling Kenwood. > I have 3 FRS radios - 2 Cobras and a Motorola. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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