I don’t think Midland radios are very good.

[WRYS709]

14 hours ago, marcspaz said:

Out all the threads you quoted, ...

MY opinion, based solely on what I read on this Forum, is that they are unremarkable radios and over-priced!

I offer alternatives, based upon my experience.  @RIPPER238 expessed his appreciation for my alternative suggestion.

It is not enough for you to be able to express YOUR opinion?

What is your and the Jeep Guy's problem?  

I agree with 99% of your posts on this Forum, but...

Did you read the TITLE of this thread?!?  Every time to reply to me, you renew "I don't think Midland radios are very good" in the "unread messages" thread!

[marcspaz]

@WRYS709 Lets take a deep breath for a second... I've been talking with people in this thread since April of 2024.  We are all just having a conversation.  I am cool with anyone having an opinion about anything.  Honestly, I don't have a dog in the fight because I don't use GMRS radios any more, and don't really care who buys what.  I'm not going to tell anyone how to spend their money nor what their opinion should be.  I merely expressed why I think many people are willing to spend a bit more money for Midland Micro Mobile radios.  If you disagree... I'm fine with that.

 

That said,  I made a statement "People are willing to pay for easy out of the box and reliable."  Your response to my opinion was "Except that these "Midland" threads are about the "unreliability" of Midland radios for one reason or another!"  So, you went from an opinion based conversation to expressing a supposed fact to rebuke my anecdotal observation.  I simply pointed out that what you shared (including this thread) is indeed NOT a group of facts supporting your opinion.  There is nothing in those threads (nor this one) that support claiming the statement that "Midland radios have a reliability problem" is a fact.  The funny part is, the title of this thread says they don't think Midland radios are very good.  There is a difference between good (a loose performance description) and reliable.  I can have a poor quality radio that is reliable. 

 

Anyway. if you want to have a debate over the reliability of Midland Micro Mobile radios, I don't think either of us have access to accurate data to express facts to support our opinions.  So, it would be somewhat pointless.  If you are going to try to rebuke my opinion by sharing a bunch of links to threads, at least pick some threads that actually have something to do with the radios being unreliable and (preferably) abundant enough to at least anecdotally support your claim.

 

Unless you feel like it's something you really need to do, I wouldn't waste your time trying to convince me.  Like I said, I disagree due to personal experience with hundreds of radios over years of experience AND I really don't care.  At least I don't care beyond the point of possibly helping the people here.  I have no personal interest.

[SvenMarbles]

On 2/22/2025 at 1:47 PM, WRYS709 said:

This request falls right into my personal experience:

I purchased the Anytone AT-779UV ($99.95) and LGR Mag-Mount ($19.95) from Let's Get Ready Radios based here in Los Angeles, with fast free shipping in the USA: Out of the box easy use in GMRS, 18 watts, Repeater Channels, Microphone controls, cigarette lighter plug for easy installation and removal, NOAA channels pre-programmed.

It is also known as the Radioddity DB20-G for more money from Amazon and others.

These radios have been heavily supported here on myGMRS with only a few scattered criticisms.  I purchased a 2nd one to use in my home!

 

I have no affiliation with LGR other than that of a satisfied customer!

The DB-20G is absolutely what I would recommend to anyone as the quintessential quality/price ratio radio. They're just,.. good radios. $99, 20 watts (real watts), plug and play. But also unlockable if you want to get out of GMRS jail and have more repeater channels and more custom channel settings.

If anyone asks me "hi, new to GMRS, what radio,.. etc.." Just get a DB-20G. They're radios that radio good for $100. End of conversation.

[WRYS709]

WoW: @marcspaz: I told you, I agree with you 99% of the time and to be honest, you are probably the most "reliable" source of information on this Forum.

I am not trying to convince you of anything! You were the one who jumped into my response to @wayoverthere and changed the conversation to 'reliability!"

The problem is you took this comment of mine that was a reply to @wayoverthere's statement: "…they're still somewhat limited feature wise, especially for the price point....if they work for you as they are (and you're okay with the price), they aren't a bad choice."

On 2/21/2025 at 12:21 PM, WRYS709 said:

So you’re effectively saying: “if you desire to pay higher prices for limited features, these are the radios for you!”

Maybe years ago…

There are just too many cheaper, more efficient alternatives available to continue to follow this practice any more!

And you responded:

On 2/21/2025 at 4:11 PM, marcspaz said:

People are willing to pay for easy out of the box and reliable. 

With all due respect, I was not discussing reliability at that point; you raised that point!

So I did the research to show that many users of Midland radios are over paying for confusion out of the box, by quoting those threads!  Confusion is inherently unreliable!; especially if you are "paying extra for ease of use!"

I have NO DOUBT that Midland radios are easy to FOR YOU to use out of the box, given your genius status!

Newbies pay extra for these rather mundane radios and yet are still somewhat perplexed at how to get 100% operational usefulness from them, as shown by the threads I quoted.  Don't get hung up on the concept of "reliability;" that was not MY point!

If that is what they pay extra for, more power to them!  

@RIPPER238 asked me for an alternative that is less expensive, same or more features and reliable and I gave him his answer.

 

[WRYS709]

4 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

The DB-20G is absolutely what I would recommend to anyone as the quintessential quality/price ratio radio. They're just,.. good radios. $99, 20 watts (real watts), plug and play. But also unlockable if you want to get out of GMRS jail and have more repeater channels and more custom channel settings.

If anyone asks me "hi, new to GMRS, what radio,.. etc.." Just get a DB-20G. They're radios that radio good for $100. End of conversation.

So the author of "I don't think Midland radios are any good" agrees with me!

I will take "YES" as an answer!

[SvenMarbles]

7 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

So the author of "I don't think Midland radios are any good" agrees with me!

I will take "YES" as an answer!

My personal opinion is that Midland GMRS radios are pure butt. Midland made turd CB radios sold in Walmart for decades before finding relevance as a GMRS radio maker. I'm not sure when the hell Midland became the Yaesu of GMRS. It's all marketing.

You're much better off getting GMRS radios made by companies like Radioddity, Retevis, and companies like that for the same prices, and I'll challenge anyone to tell me that you don't get a better quality product for the same money spent.

 

[SvenMarbles]

If you're going to spend Midland money on a GMRS radio, tell me what the argument is for not going with Wouxun instead?

This "ease of use" argument is just nonsense. ALLLLLL type-certed GMRS radios come with the baked in channels. At least with these certain models, one can choose to button press reset to get out of the GMRS jail. But,.. you never have to if you don't want, and they're RIGHT there with ease of use with Midland.

And, you can say "I've never heard a complaint from Midland users",.. Yeah well that's because they're just casual people. You put a radio in their vehicle for them, told them "it was a good one" and they pressed the button, talked, and didn't think about much else. And I don't knock that btw... I'm PERFECTLY fine that most GMRS users are appliance users. So are my wife and kids.. It's actually the intended vibe of GMRS.

[SvenMarbles]

By the way, I'm not a schill for any specific brand. I use a 40 watt Retevis RA87 at the house connected to a GP-9 outside, Radioddity DB-20G's in the family cars and we use VGC N-76's as HTs on ski trips and such..

(BTW, look into the VGC N76 as a GMRS HT, bluetooth to phone and the family or group is just texting eachother reliably) Yes, brief data bursts of text messaging is legal on GMRS. If you have a wife and kids who are uninterested in radio and just prefer to text with their phones, this is the one.

[WRYZ926]

4 hours ago, SvenMarbles said:

If you're going to spend Midland money on a GMRS radio, tell me what the argument is for not going with Wouxun instead?

I've owned both and still have the Wouxun. The main reason I got rid of my Midland MXT500 was because of the low output power on high setting. I got rid of the Midland before I knew that I could have sent the radio back for repair.

I used both the Midland MXT500 and the Wouxun KG-XS20G 20 watt radio when we were testing the antennas on the tower for our GMRS repeater. We tested on simplex first. I am 22.5 miles away from the tower. The KG-XS20G actually did better all around than the MXT500 did. Both radios were hooked up to my Comet CA-712EFC.

[WRUU653]

I wouldn’t get a Midland or a DB20 and not because I think either are unreliable.  I don’t fault those that do though…

While I have an old XP laptop, I hate using Windows machines. I have been an Apple IOS user since forever and I prefer to program on that platform so until those radios are supported on a Mac I’m out. I’m hopeful for the DB20.
So if someone is considering a radio purchase and they have the same preference for operating system as I do and want to use a computer to program with then I recommend checking the radio you are interested in for Mac compatible RT software or Chirp.   

It’s easy to say what you don’t like, I think we all know people that only do that. So what do I like? Well for what is type accepted I would go with the Wouxun KG-1000 plus if you like bells and whistles. If you want a little more basic I like the Retevis RA87 , (I have one and I’m very happy with it). If you are okay with Windows and you need something more resilient I would go with the Wouxun KG-XS20G (I think they are IP65).  That’s just my opinion and as of today it remains. Of course tomorrow something new will come along. I hope I have given some ideas to what someone might consider rather than just saying “that radio sucks and this is better”. The why is it better for you part can be helpful.  

Side note, I recently had opportunity to deal with the people at buytwowayradios.com for a small issue I had with a radio and the customer support team was awesome. I sent a radio back and they had taken care of it and sent it back to me before I even knew they had seen it.

Cheers

[marcspaz]

5 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

I have NO DOUBT that Midland radios are easy to FOR YOU to use out of the box, given your genius status!

 

Gifted, actually. LoL

[gortex2]

14 hours ago, SvenMarbles said:

 I'm not sure when the hell Midland became the Yaesu of GMRS. It's all marketing.

Well, If you knew anything about Midland you would know they have been in the radio business for 50 years. For decades they were a go to LMR radio for law enforcement, wildland and DNR applications. I still know agencies with Midland LMR gear in use. They also have had GMRS radios long before anyone you list on this site. My first Midland was a xstal radio and we had to wait over 2 months for the channel we got licensed to arrive. They were also the first FRS radio to the market when the FCC approved them. 

Yes part is marketing and they are the ONLY vendor I have ever seen at an offroad show or any event in that industry. 

14 hours ago, SvenMarbles said:

If you're going to spend Midland money on a GMRS radio, tell me what the argument is for not going with Wouxun instead?

Handheld CH. KISS. My parents are in their 70's. They want to pick up a MIC with no buttons and talk. The midland mobiles do that fine for them. For my Jeeps I have the MTX-275 (actually had another arrive yesterday..and wife wanted the Jeep one so it was $10 more than the standard). The HHCH is perfect for a vehicle such as the Jeep. We use one repeater that is mine so dont care about having 50 repeaters in the radio. The wife can jump in and it turns on and if someone say go to ch 4 she turns to CH4. Lastly 90% of the folks we wheel with run Midland as does JJUSA. For that fact its the same and anyone can jump in my rig or hers and know how to use the raidos.

What many forgot on this site is we are a very very small user group that gets on a forum. Tons of folks out there use GMRS and have no interest in forums, repeaters, or being ham lite. They just use radios. I have farms all around me that use Midland gear and every tractor, combine, truck has one in it. 

If I want to play ham radio or outher service I just switch over the my APX8500. 

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, gortex2 said:

Well, If you knew anything about Midland you would know they have been in the radio business for 50 years. For decades they were a go to LMR radio for law enforcement, wildland and DNR applications. I still know agencies with Midland LMR gear in use. They also have had GMRS radios long before anyone you list on this site. My first Midland was a xstal radio and we had to wait over 2 months for the channel we got licensed to arrive. They were also the first FRS radio to the market when the FCC approved them. 

Yes part is marketing and they are the ONLY vendor I have ever seen at an offroad show or any event in that industry. 

Handheld CH. KISS. My parents are in their 70's. They want to pick up a MIC with no buttons and talk. The midland mobiles do that fine for them. For my Jeeps I have the MTX-275 (actually had another arrive yesterday..and wife wanted the Jeep one so it was $10 more than the standard). The HHCH is perfect for a vehicle such as the Jeep. We use one repeater that is mine so dont care about having 50 repeaters in the radio. The wife can jump in and it turns on and if someone say go to ch 4 she turns to CH4. Lastly 90% of the folks we wheel with run Midland as does JJUSA. For that fact its the same and anyone can jump in my rig or hers and know how to use the raidos.

What many forgot on this site is we are a very very small user group that gets on a forum. Tons of folks out there use GMRS and have no interest in forums, repeaters, or being ham lite. They just use radios. I have farms all around me that use Midland gear and every tractor, combine, truck has one in it. 

If I want to play ham radio or outher service I just switch over the my APX8500. 

Well said!