To start with, I wanted to mention that I am a licensed ham radio operator. I state this fact not to impress you, but to convey the fact that I have better methods of communication at my disposable than a pair of FRS / GMRS radios.

So why would I want this? Simple. Not everyone is licensed, and there may be times I may want to communicate with my spouse, or someone else in a more relaxed setting. Say hiking, camping etc.

Disclaimer - The FCC requires a license to use the GMRS frequencies of this radio. What's this?

The Motorola T800 comes with a total of 22 channels. These 22 channels are divided into FRS (Family Radio Service) channels 8-14 and GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) channels 1-7 and 15-22. No license is needed to operate the radio on the FRS channels.

However, to be completely legal - and to use the higher power GMRS frequencies, the FCC will be more than happy to sell you a GMRS license for around $65 or so for a 10-year period. The good news is, that the GMRS license does not require the passing of any tests, it covers not only you, but also other members in your household. So, from that perspective, the license fee is not bad at all.

Enough of the legalize - now onto the features of this radio.

There are many FRS / GMRS radios available for sale all over the place, for a lot less money than this set. So, why spend the extra cash? Easy. These radios can transmit text and location data from a smartphone via a bluetooth connection to the radio. This feature is fairly new, and is great for hiking or other off-grid type situations where cell phone service may not be available. One simply has to download the Talkabout app from the respective app store for Android or iOS, sync ones mobile phone via bluetooth to the radio and create an account (optional).

And the whole process is fairly straight-forward, as the app walks one through each step of the way. Note, the bluetooth functionality has to be turned-on first on the radio, before trying to connect it to ones mobile phone.

The phone app can also be used to view individuals / group locations on a map, to record routes and track statistics, set boundaries, and control the radio settings.

The overall radio range is going to be limited by terrain. The package states a range up to 35 miles mountain to valley communication, up to 6 miles over open water, and up to 2 miles in a neighborhood. Your mileage will vary.

To me, the blue LCD display is easy to read. It dims and then disappears after 20 seconds or so, only blinking a tiny blue indicator and/or a flashing bluetooth symbol. This is done to conserve the battery.

This radio is weather proof to IPX4 standards, but not completely water proof. In other words, in can get slightly wet provided all of the ports (battery cover, headphone cover) are sealed. It also includes a NOAA weather radio and a built-in flashlight (LED).

Another great feature I really appreciate is the dual power option. These radios come with a rechargeable NiMH battery pack for each radio or can be powered by 3x AA batteries. A USB charger with y-adapter so both radios can be charged at the same time is also included in the box.

You'll also get easy pairing (through a button on the side of the radio, or through the app), emergency alert function to alert other users on the same frequency, vibration alert, and hands-free VOX operation.

In other words, these radios are feature packed! On top of that, Motorola has been producing radios for many years. You'll get great equipment, awesome features, at a great price. On top of that a 2-year warranty which is really outstanding!

Yours truly highly recommends these radios if you want to go beyond the same 'ol FRS bubble pack radios you find at the big box stores.

And one last thing...

If your're interested in any type of emergency comms. I think a good set of FRS / GMRS radios fit right into the mix along with more sophisticated communications like ham radio. Plus, you can use these while just out having fun too.

My wife and I tested this when I went on a morning walk. She stayed in our house at the top of a hill and I walk down into a river valley about 1.5 miles away and with the high power transmission, I could reach her no problem. But the tracking app on her phone didn't update my position regularly. We need to test this a bit more to make sure we've configured and are using the app/transmitter correctly.

I am in a car club and we frequently take drives and communicate car to car with talk about radios. These work fine.

For all the features, and easily being able to connect to the app/unit, I'd rather I'd 2 star.
For what we need them to do, and general sturdy-ness, I give a 4 star
We got them to track where our kid is, however that will only work if she has a cell phone connected to it, and with her, at the same time. So that's not too useful.
But, she had left it outside and in the rain, and they still work just fine.
Bought them 8/2021 and it is now 6/2021 and I feel the rechargeable battery needs to be replaced, .(2 pack for about $22) so it would have been nice if they lasted a bit longer.
The battery pops off easily when dropped, so also a draw back there.
The clip is super stiff and almost impossible to clip on to anything. Also the clip broke off when dropped so another draw back there.

It is nice that I don't have to worry about other people coming through the channel, seeing as there are many options there.

I ordered these radios specifically for the messaging and data features and was eager to try them out.

The radios themselves feel pretty solid, with an easy to use menu system and a nice bright display. Sound quality is good.

Pairing iPhones to the radios via the Motorola Talkabout app was simple, and configuring the radios' features through the app is very easy and intuitive.

One of the platform's strongest selling features is the messaging system; the app is not perfect, however, with some very confusing elements. For example, each user must create an account, and the account can include a photo or avatar as well as a nickname. However, when adding other users to your chat session, none of that information (profile photo, nickname, icon color, etc) are sent to the other members--even if connected to wifi or cell network. When adding someone to your chat session you must still manually name each member and take a new photo (if you want a face to represent each fellow user). So...what's the point of creating your own profile in the app and adding your own photo? There doesn't really seem to be a point. Nothing is actually shared with the other users.

I have tested the data/messaging features in a downtown metro area with many tall buildings and successfully sent text messages between iPhones up to 1/2 mile apart. Interestingly, some of the messages I sent from the moving remote unit back to a stationary base unit were marked as undelivered on the originating handset's app. But when I got back to the base station I found that many of those messages had, in fact, been received. Or messages that I had to "retry" sending were received twice at the receiving end...meaning that the messages were getting through more often than it seemed during the test but the confirmation/handshake replies weren't getting back out to the remote handset. It's possible that the stationary unit's output strength is inferior, which would explain why the "reply" [handshake] messages weren't successful, but further testing would be required to confirm this.

Based on the app's age and & relative infrequency of updates--the last update was nine months ago--it seems like Motorola has given up on this platform, perhaps not selling enough units to merit further development of the app; such would be a shame because it really is a clever product that could be a truly great product with just a few tweaks.