When you have a household and also you wish to be outdoors, it is best to have walkie-talkies. In lots of locations the place cell protection is spotty, you want a greater means of conserving monitor of one another than operating backwards and forwards and yelling. Youngsters love walkie-talkies. There’s nothing that my 9-year-old likes higher than signaling again to base camp, “Are available in, are available, make me cinnamon toast, over,” when she’s midway via her hike.
I do know this isn’t essentially the supposed use case for the Rocky Talkie, the super-popular and super-rugged backcountry radio that my associates use for backcountry snowboarding and ascending multi-pitch climbs. However children are rather a lot tougher on gear than many adults. We’ve been testing the Rocky Talkies on weekend journeys all summer time, dropping them whereas clipped to my backpack and operating round within the rain.
We’ve tried walkie-talkies from a number of different manufacturers, together with cheap ones from Amazon and the standard Midland walkies, however the Rocky Talkies are my favourite, even when—and possibly as a result of—they’re much costlier than different choices.
Loud and Clear
The Rocky Talkie is available in two totally different configurations. The Mountain Radio that we examined makes use of the FRS, or Household Radio Service band that the Federal Communications Fee reserves for many leisure walkie-talkie customers. This is the reason you don’t normally decide up radio stations or huge rig CB conversations in your walkie-talkie (though I’ve discovered that you just nonetheless can if you happen to attempt)
{Photograph}: Adrienne So
It additionally is available in a more powerful GMRS version that has IP67 submersible waterproofing and barely longer battery life. Technically, you additionally want a license to function the GMRS model, which I had little interest in procuring for my 9-year-old and 7-year-old. The Mountain Radio, alternatively, is simple sufficient that my children opened the field, turned them on, and began operating round utilizing them with out me. Which, to be clear, is nice!
In all probability the obvious distinction between the Rocky Talkie and different radios is that lots of two-way radios are simply handhelds or use gator clips to clip onto your clothes or backpack straps, however the Rocky Talkie has an ultralight carabiner. I liked this. I’ve little pockets and put on little shorts. If I stroll round with a walkie-talkie clipped onto my garments, the walkie usually slips off once I sit down and I lose them within the rocks. I like understanding that neither my family members nor I are going to lose or drop these.
