Midland GXT1000VP4 36-Mile 50-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Pair) (Black/Silver)
- 50 Channels with Up to 36-Mile Range,120V Charger.
- NOAA/All Hazard Weather Channels with Alert and Weather Scan
- 142 Privacy Codes
- Vibrate Alert.9 Levels of VOX for Hands Free Operation
Midland GXT1000VP4 5 50 Channel Waterproof GMRS Radios with NOAA Weather/All Hazard Alert. Includes Rechargeable Batteries, Dual Desktop Charger, Headsets and 12 volt Vehicle Adapter, Pair Packed. The GXT1000VP4 features the standard 22 GMRS Channels plus an additional 28 Channels. The GXT1000 meets the JIS4 Standard of exposure to water for 30 minutes and features the Maximum Power allowed for GMRS Handheld Radios for up to a 36-Mile Range. Weather Scan finds the nearest NOAA broadcast to stay
List Price: $ 89.99
Price: $ 58.53
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Great radios, BUT,
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|Motorola MR350R vs Midland GXT1050,
Motorola MR350R vs Midland GXT1050–Both products received good reviews on Amazon and I had a hard time initially deciding which one to buy since I could not find detailed comparison between the two. So, I will try to be more comprehensive in comparison here hoping to help you make a decision suitable for your purpose.
I bought MR350R two months ago from Costco at $55 (tax included) to monitor my baby sleeping upstairs and to use during road trips. A month later I also bought Midland GXT1050 from Amazon upon good reviews and my dissatisfaction with some silly design issue associated with the MR350 VOX feature (which is critical for monitoring purpose).
Size and weight: MR350 is lighter (6.2oz vs 7.3oz for each handset including rechargeable battery pack and belt clips) and has a noticeably more agronomical grip, especially for kids or someone with smaller hands.
Setup and Change Settings: MR350 has more intuitively LCD display and signs/symbols whereas GXT1050 took me a couple of hours to set up and memorize what each symbol/letter means (It would be tremendously helpful if Midland can add a full list of all symbols/letters and their meanings in a simple table instead of diving this information into chunks and burying it into each individual function/feature section). I think a 10 year old can be taught to change settings on MR350 without a manual but that most likely won’t happen with GXT1050 (with or without the manual).
Features: These two share many useful key features like Weather Scan and Alert. GXT1050 has more channels (50 vs 22 for MR350R) which may be useful for using in populated areas although I never run into issues with MR350 on this one. MR350 has a built-in LED light for emergency use, which is nice. GXT1050 can produce a loud SOS siren which maybe useful in certain situations (although I never used it for any real purposes). Overall GXT1050 seems a bit more versatile with features such as direct call.
Range: GXT claimed 36 miles range and MR350 claimed 35 miles–both claims are meaningless since nobody would ever achieve the advertised range unless standing on two mountain peaks with perfect conditions. In actual use, the effective range is more like 1-2 miles in a flat suburban environment and a bit more in open field. Some reviewers here found a slightly better range with GXT1050 although my test twice showed MR350R lasted a slightly longer range while me driving away from home with each model broadcasting from my living room.
PPT Button is the one needing to be pressed down when transmitting. MR350R has the button designed in such way you can press the upper part for high power and lower part for low power–made switch power a much easier task. Using GXT1050’s mechanism you will have to pre-configure power level in the settings and is not very easy to change in a hurry. The shape of MR350 PPT button is made in such a way though, you would end up using the high power most of the time since the upper part of the button protrudes further out. Nonetheless, I like the MR350R design on this one.
VOX: This is one of the most critical features if you want to monitor baby sleeping in a different room or just want to talk hand-free. I agree with C. Hayes’ review here that MR350R’s three sensitivity levels are not sensitive enough (Hayes’s wording made me smile, though a bit exaggerated.). GXT1050 has 9 level of sensitivities and the most sensitive setting (level 1) is indeed more sensitive than that of MR350R (level 3), however, the difference it is not day and night–both detected my baby crying after waking up when placed about 1-2 feet away and both failed to detect my normal talk volume from 1-2 feet away unless I yell loudly or put the radio within 2-3 inches to my mouth. When put in front of a PC speaker, I did notice that GXT1050 started getting into the transmitting mode a bit earlier than MR305R as I turned up the volume knob of my speaker. However, if you want to talk to you handset placed on your shoulder (like policeman does) with your normal voice volume without bending your head to get close to the ratio–good luck no matter which set you use. I really think both companies should increase the sensitive level here.
The biggest turn-off of MR350R is that its VOX feature would be automatically cancelled if you press PPT button, intentionally or accidentally, even if when all settings are “locked”–my baby likes to play with radio and sometime the VOX setting is accidentally cancelled because he squeezed the PPT button. I found this a ridiculous under-thinking (or over-thinking) by Motorola’s engineers–I understand the need to preserve power if pressing PPT means VOX may no longer be necessary, but auto-cancel even though settings are locked? Does the word “lock” mean anything? GXT has no problem on this one–kudos to their engineers. I would have returned MR350R for this reason alone…
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|Don’t expect 36 mile range,
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