Two way raido/walkie talkie for communicating on holiday

bees_2

Hi,
So I'm off to America for 3 weeks and we're thinking instead of taking our mobiles with us would it be a good idea to get some walkie talkies to communicate with each other with? It'd be that or getting a mobile out there. We'd like to be able to seperate some of the time but not lose each other (I'm thinking of the giant casinos in Vegas! -don't want to have to stick side by side in case we get lost!)

Does anyone have any experience or info they could share about good communication in America?

iltisman

Hi I think the best bet is a couple of payg phones from Walmart $20ish dollars each.The walkie talkies are cheap but very short range in built up areas.

Stew68

Totally agree, radios bought off the shelf are low power & would struggle with all the machines in the casino blocking the signal.

Also be aware that radios bought in the UK would not be legal in the US and vice versa.

Stew

bees_2

thanks very much You've saved us money and proved me right!

nicolajb1982

When we went to Florida we thought we would buy walkie talkies.

Got to the theme parks and could not got hold of anyone.

Tried them in the cars, my mum was 3 cars in front of us and still didn't work.

If i was you i would buy mobiles, which is what we are doing this year.

Enjoy your holiday.

JaniceUK

I had the opposite problem in Florida, got hold of everyone! That's what it seemed like anyway, we kept having to switch to a different channel but gave up it as there always seemed to be half a dozen other conversations going on.
Walkie talkies were a good idea but didn't seem to work so well in practice.

brightonman123

we got some at radio shack (uk version then was Tandy- now maplins?) for about $10.. mates had problems getting back thru customs as not on approved or banned list.. after much huffing hey let them through..

i went green channel not even thinking about it, no probs. battery still going!

PayPeanuts_2

In vegas in the casinos they will have a lot of comms systems set up so be careful. They might think you were cheating!! :eek:

Ivan_Konstantinov

JaniceUK wrote: »

I had the opposite problem in Florida, got hold of everyone! That's what it seemed like anyway, we kept having to switch to a different channel but gave up it as there always seemed to be half a dozen other conversations going on.
Walkie talkies were a good idea but didn't seem to work so well in practice.

maybe citizens band radio users in the truck wagons

Paul_Varjak

If you have tri-band or quad-band mobile phones which are 'unlocked' (see Martin's article on unlocking) you can buy SIM cards in USA. That is what I did.

Just make sure that the charging adaptor can run off 110 volts and that it can be plugged into US sockets (you may need to buy a travel adaptor so you can physically plug it in). The travel adaptor may alse be used for other appliances (eg razor) assuming they too will operate on the 110v supply in USA.