First woot. Have a 3 story house, these should keep my daughter from calling me on her cell. No I don't have fancy paging phones!

Just wanted to say I bought two sets for spring break. YEsssss.

Next hurricane evacuation the wife and I will use these to keep in touch as we drive to safety. The cell phone networks are beyond crap when they're that overloaded.

Bought a pair for the kids. Doubt that they will get lost in the yard with that color scheme.

A lot of you keep commenting on how short a distance 2 miles is. If you want something that transmits over 2 miles, go buy hand held CB radios for $100 each that run off of 8 AA batteries. Even then you'd be lucky to reach someone 2 miles away. Truckers uses 4' long antannae placed 8' off the ground and 12volt car batteries to power their radios and they still have trouble communicating with other truckers 2 miles away.
When Motorolla first introduced the hand held FRS radios they were selling for $200 each so I dont think $20 is a lot to pay for two of them. As for the color, I just bought a pair for hiking/camping/skiing so that if we drop them in the forest, they will stand out among the leaves. I already have hand held CBs and the size and weight of them are not something you'd want to carry with you in your pack on the Appalachian Trail for 2 full days. I dont mind these little things so much because I have rechargable batteries.

andrewlee wrote:I dont mind these little things so much because I have rechargable batteries.

YIPPIE ^_^ another smart person ... i use recharges in EVERYTHING (cept remotes) everything from my mp3 player ( which goes through a normal battery in like 2-3 days) to by gameboy.... which eats batteries a lot as well, so yeah rechargies are the key here, as with most electronic devices, they cost more than a normal battery ( like 5 - 10 for a 4 pack, 15 for one with a charger) but think, i bought some that last for 1000 charges a year ago..... i they still hold a strong charge of having to be charged and abused ALOT, so i prolly saved hundereds by now, and expect to last for another year of abuse.

And, by using rechargeables, we aren't disposing of spent alkaline batteries that end up in a landfill...

I happily made this my first woot. Why?

Well, paid $10 for a pair of AM toy walkie-talkie's from Wal-Mart. My 3 year old lovess playing pilot and spaceman with them, but let's face it, they suck. Toys. Barely go from one side of the house to the other.

So, I bought a pair of $15 BellSouth FRS radios like these, but, he has trouble keeping his finger on the button through a whole message, so I tend to get every 3rd word, which when spoken by a 3 year old (even a supergenius 3 year old like mine, of course!) over an FRS radio makes for some serious translation difficulties. My fault for not buying VOX capable ones to begin with.


I figure these with the garish colors, lanyard, and VOX are a can't miss. I'll ebay the Bell Souther's for the same price I got 'em and all will be well.

And yes - rechargable batteries are the way to go, for ANYTHING. There's just no reason to buy regular batteries anymore, while rechargables may not last as long, it's just too easy to recharge one set while using the other. I just have two boxes in my drawer, "dead" and "charged." If the "charged" box starts getting a little low, run a few sets thru the charger and you're good to go. I scoff at you slaves to the Military-Industrial-Alkaline complex!



Thanks Woot.

assuming you’re both on a vast cosmic chessboard made of crystal or something.

LMAO! One of the best woot lines ever and so true of so many radios

definitely a good deal... check out the prices for other xact radios on shopping.com
http://shopping.com/xFS?KW=Xact+Radio&FN=2+Way+Radios&FD=409

i shouldve checked woot this morning...these woudlve been great for my family's cabin...

CTarna wrote:Going to Disney in a month... this way I won't lose my wife!


(PS- Not really a 2 for Tuesday)

Count on loosin her with these crapie things, Then again hhhmmm you might have already thought that.

Normally I don't get all negative, but, um, selling a set of walkie talkies as a 2-for deal seems kinda cheezy. I mean, with just one, you're just an idiot talking to himself.

For all touting the wisdom of rechargable batteries in these things: Alkaline cells are 1.5 volts. Rechargables are around 1.2-1.25 volts. When you use rechargables, you won't get the range because your transmit power is reduced with the lower voltage.

Is it just me, or are these FRS/GMRS radio things looking more and more ridiculous as time goes on? I mean, when they first came out, they looked more or less like fancy walkie talkies. Which is FINE WITH ME. Then they started growing these weird curves and bulges; it was fine for a while, because for a while, despite the curves they grew, they still more or less looked like (albeit somewhat fancy/weird looking) handheld walkie talkies. But now, they're sprouting all sorts of weird neck cords, appendages, and the like. I mean, what the hell is that thing on the top of these? It looks to me for all the world like a giant, misshapen baby's bottle, with that thing on the top bearing an uncanny resemblance to a giant nipple. And not just for FRS/GMRS radios, all sorts of other products have started down the weird/strange design path. I mean, what's going on, have industrial designers started taking LSD or something?

spin54 wrote:

I'm sure this has been answered, but by the off chance it hasn't.

These operate on radio frequencies, which don't need a satelite or anything. They just need to tune into the same one and be in range of the amplifier (2 miles), so they will work fine. Kind of like a wireless telephone. It works wherever you go (so long as you can plug it in to those weird sockets anyway).

Huh? There is no 'amplifier'. These radios talk directly to each other.

And to answer some other people who comment that "2 miles isn't good enough. I bought a pair that have a 5 mile range".... Let me explain radio propogation. First off, these and other consumer radios work by what's called line of sight. If you can SEE the person, you'll be able to talk to them with this radio. More watts (power) help go through any non solid obstruction. If there's a huge hill between you and the other person, even if you're half a mile away, you won't hear each other. People have used radios that were less than 1/10th of 1 watt to talk to the SPACE SHUTTLE. How? Because of line of sight. Radio manufacturers generally claim one mile per watt - 1 watt, 1 mile. 5 watts, 5 miles. In the perfect conditions - sure. In reality? No.

I use a Public Safety ($1000 Motorola) radio using 5 watts, and I get under average condition, 3 miles if I'm lucky. I have a 50 watt radio mounted in my car with an external antenna, and I won't get 50 miles out of it talking to someone else with another 50 watt radio in their car.

There is a difference between 2 and 5 watts. But if you're that far away, it won't be the difference between "I can't hear you" and "Wow! You sound like you're right next door!" - it would be "I can barely hear you, you sound scratchy" and "Wow, you sound good."

Let's be honest - for this price, don't expect to be able to talk across town, but at a mall or outdoor event, you should be fine.

I bought these the last time (silver w/o the nipple in the middle); I don't think they are all that great but the clock is a nice feature. They keep good time. You can have them for the $20 I paid shipping included.

I'm in for one. Last time I was in Europe they came in very handy. Me and my wife love to hike and this way we can splitup without having to make a timed spot.

Thanks woot.

I wonder if the next woot will be batteries for this 2 Pack. The seem to all go together. :)

funnydoug wrote:And, by using rechargeables, we aren't disposing of spent alkaline batteries that end up in a landfill...

anyone know if rechargeables (NiCad, Li-ion, etc) are considerably more harmful to the environment than standard alkaline? I know they can be used over and over, but in the end they too get tossed

There's a rumor going round of a Woot-Off tonight...

Ebay link

Image stealer

and stole woots wonderful wording

IMO Woot win them and ban him.

elpepe wrote:There's a rumor going round of a Woot-Off tonight...

errrr, it's the Internet. HOW and WHERE, exactly, is the "rumor going around" ? *L*

Blade79 wrote:Ebay link

Image stealer

and stole woots wonderful wording

IMO Woot win them and ban him.

WOW !! They stole EVERYTHING !! The image even has the Two for Tuesday logo!!
Check it out - http://i16.ebayimg.com/02/i/06/cf/7e/c4_2.JPG

Very Lloyd Cole'ish Woot Cast. That alone made it worth the price of admission.

How the heck does Woot find enough suckers to buy 3200 of these things?

rayn wrote:

anyone know if rechargeables (NiCad, Li-ion, etc) are considerably more harmful to the environment than standard alkaline? I know they can be used over and over, but in the end they too get tossed

Cadmium, as in Ni-Cads, is bad stuff. There's a recycling program just for NiCd batteries.

Damn eBay Tier-1 monkeys...

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> D_ID041120062037D_ID/W_ID61665880W_ID/S_ID000S_ID
> Subject: CW=C00121 Someone copied text or pictures from another Web
> site or eBay user [9711498702 #US 30221T ?01 ]
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> Listing Violations > Copying of your listing > Someone copied text or
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> Item number(s) reported: 9711498702 [$US US]
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> Picture or text taken from item: 9711498702 [$US US]
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Lazarus2 wrote:

WOW !! They stole EVERYTHING !! The image even has the Two for Tuesday logo!!
Check it out - http://i16.ebayimg.com/02/i/06/cf/7e/c4_2.JPG

Wouldn't it suck if Woot didn't ship him the items? :-D

elpepe wrote:There's a rumor going round of a Woot-Off tonight...

You were one day early oh Elpepe the Soothsayer.
Tell us around what drinking fountain to hang so that we too may know the future !!

I went to the company mailroom to pick up a non-Woot package, and what do my wondering eyes should appear, but four brightly-colored FRS radios, dear! Wow -- I guess they wanted to clear out the inventory before the Woot-off. Never even got a tracking number-- my account still says "You're all set now".

Of course, I have the added advantage of shipping my Woots less than 10 miles, or 20 miles if it goes to FedEx' DFW hub and then back to Carrollton.

Now, I've only got one problem... what am I going to *do* with these things? Our family has three cell phones already, for cryin' out loud, and they're all in-network -- free calls between us, whether we're 2 miles away or 2000. I think this is my first case of Wootus Reflexiosum -- the reflexive clicking of the "I Want One" button even though you know you don't have any real need for the item.

Well, there's always eBay... and no, I won't "recycle" Woot's hard work. Geez. That guy's a "Bride of Chucky" without the "B".