today we're going to be taking a look at some of the most popular gmrs radios on the market that range in price from anywhere between $50 all the way up to about $340 a pair and we'll be testing out their range and Clarity comparing their size their build quality their batteries charging setups and I'm going to give them a score out of 100 and I'll leave you with my final thoughts about each one to help you make the best decision when you're ready to pick up a gmrs radio the radios we're going to be looking at in this video are the Rocky talkie gmrs 5 watt which is super easy to use for beginners and great for Outdoor Adventures the WAN kg 935g plus which is an exceptionally tough and featur gmrs radio the retevis AL h1g which is very affordable entry-level radio with a big battery the btec gmrs pro which is an incredibly capable radio pack with features like a built-in Compass GPS and SMS capabilities so it's great for advanced outdoor users the balang UV 5G which is the cheapest radio of the bunch and really impressive for its price and it's compatible with the bow Fang ecosystem of accessories and a favorite among tactical enthusiasts the Midland GXT 1000r which are also affordable entry-level gmrs radios that're easy to use and quite popular on Amazon the tood A36 plus which is very portable and lightweight and it's also reasonably priced and finally the second gen tid radio TD h8 gmrs which has some decent Advanced features like app and PC programming and it's also one of the more affordable radios in the lineup I also created a little spreadsheet here which makes it easier for you to compare the specs and features of all these radios and that will be linked to down in the description Below in case you want to check that out and also links you can use to purchase these items and help support the channel at no additional cost to you before we dive in be sure to smash the Thumbs Up Button And subscribe to the channel if you're new here I'm giving away a pair of gmrs radios in the video and entering to win is really simple and all you have to do is comment down below and let us know which radio from the lineup is your favorite and I'll be randomly selecting a winner with the comment picker app and I'll post them on my Community page and respond to their comment next Friday the first thing we're going to be testing out is range and to perform this test I turned them all on and put one of each of them on a second story balcony and as you can see there's some trees here blocking the signal and then I headed out in my Forerunner and drove to a few different locations and we're going to see how well they worked at different distances and if there's any significant differences in their performance and this test was done in a very densely populated Suburban environment with tons of homes buildings electrical wires and Hills which are very difficult conditions for radios to perform in and it will be a great test to see how well they can perform and the first test was done at a distance of 1.6 Mi and for this one I climbed up to the top of a parking structure to reduce the amount of obstacles in the way and good news is that all the radios were able to keep up and perform well at this distance next I drove out to a further distance of about 5 1 12 miles away and again we're dealing with some Open Spaces but definitely some heavy interference and all the radios were still working at this point except for the midan radio but the other radios really impressed me in the distance but there were some noticeable differences in the signal strength but the ones that came in the strongest were the WAN the BC and the rocky talkie and the balang the RIS the tood and the tid radio were still good but I could definitely notice that they weren't quite as crisp and the audio was a bit more distorted compared to the other radios for those of you looking to go further you can increase the range to hundreds of miles if you set up a repeater like this one and what I've heard great things about is the Revis rt97 portable repeater base station and if you want to increase the range of your setup definitely check this out and I'll leave a link down in the description below now we're going to do a quick test of their Clarity so I spoke into each one and recorded them so we can hear how they sound and I've got them lined up in order in my opinion from the best sounding to the worst sounding and we'll play those for you so you can hear for yourself how they sound this is a test of the btech gmrs pro this is a test of the B Fang UV 5G this is a test of the WAN kg 935g plus this is a test of the Midland GXT this is a test of the tood A36 plus this is a test of the Revis h1g this is a test of the Rocky talki gmrs this is a test best of the tid radio td8 I thought that the bch gmrs pro the balang and the WAN and the Midland were the better sounding of the bunch particularly the btech radio which was the best sounding in my opinion but the rest of the group were not too far behind now we'll take a look at their build and IP ratings and right now all these radios are lined up by IP rating and the rocky talkie the bch and the RIS all had the highest rating at IP67 so these are going to stand up the best to water and dust but the WAN was very close behind at ip66 so either of these would be a good option for outdoor use and should hold up well to rain without any issues the Bal Fang and the to pod were really close behind with ip54 ratings which are okay but you should definitely be more careful with exposing them to moisture as they could be more temperamental finally the Midland radios are jis4 rated which from my understanding is similar to ip54 rating and the tid radio does not have an IP rating that I was aware of so this is definitely one to be the most careful with since all the radios are designed to be carried it's important to see how they Stack Up in size and weight so we can get a better sense of their overall portability and now we've got all the walkie-talkies lined up by weight including their batteries there isn't a tremendous difference in the footprint and the weights of these devices but a few ounces here or there might make a difference for you depending on what activity you're using them for and how long you'll be carrying them the Midland and the top pod were actually the lightest by nearly 2 oz with weights right around 7 oz so they'll be the obvious best choice if weight is your biggest concern followed closely behind by the rocky talkie which is still quite portable and the rest of the radios aren't too much heavier in the 10 to 11 ooun range but the Revis was the heaviest in around 12 O the last category we're going to be looking at are charging setups and batteries all of the radios here with the exception of the Midland Radio have USBC charging which is very convenient and that's pretty much what you'd expect to see here in 2024 all of them have ports somewhere on the body but the Rockit Taki and the bow fank were the only models that actually have a covered Port which will help protect them from dust and water pretty much all the radios do come with charging cradles so they can easily be used while they're charging charging the midin radio does have a proprietary charging cradle but it also is compatible with four ablea batteries which is a nice feature as well I put all the performance and specs data together and gave each radio a score out of 100 and plotted them on this chart so you can get a better idea of their true value and their performance I gave them a score out of 30 on their range a Clarity score out of 10 based on how good the audio sounded a score out of 10 on their size and weight score out of 20 on their build quality and their IP rating and a score out of 10 on their battery and charging setups and and an xfactor score out of 20 based on any Superior or unique features that they offered and totaled them all up and gave them a final score out of 100 and on the x- axis you can see how they scored and on the y- AIS you can see their price the first three radios were the more expensive options and the highest scoring radio in the lineup with a score out of 90 points out of 100 was the btec gmrs pro and not only did it score the best in range and build quality but it also did really well in every other category and it's one of the most featur radios in the lineup with many capabilities reent features that might appeal to more advanced users with support for app connectivity a very crisp display built-in Compass GPS and even SMS capabilities so it definitely wins on a lot of different levels so I gave it an xfactor score out of 19 which is the highest in the group and it also is slightly cheaper than the next two highest scoring radios and if you can afford it and want to have an incredibly capable and useful radio this is a great option to consider next up with a score of 80 points is the WAN kg 935g plus and this one also did really well in pretty much every category and is another very highquality feature R radio with capabilities that might appeal to more advanced users similar to the btech gmrs pro and it's very easy to program so depending on the feature set you're looking for this might be a better option and it received an x- Factor score of 15 and this would be another excellent option for those of you looking for a durable outdoor radio with pretty much every modern feature available for a gmrs handheld the Rocky talki 5 wat gmrs scored 75 out of 100 and is super easy to use and it's also intuitive for beginners so you don't have to learn much or do much to get the hang of all its features the build quality is excellent the charging setup is great and the battery life and the runtime is also really good on this radio and the built-in clip is quite convenient so I gave it an X Factor score of nine and overall this would be something that I'd recommend to people who are newer to gmrs radios and want something durable that can keep up with them and their friends and family Outdoors the rest of the radios are considerably cheaper and the bow Fang UV 5G also scored 75 out of 100 and is a very impressive offering considering it's a ction of the price of the other radios here and not only did it perform really well in most all of the categories that we looked at but it has a really nice display and it's compatible with many bow Fang accessories and batteries so if you've already invested into other Gear with bow Fang this is definitely something to keep in mind and you do really get a lot here for what you pay for and this one will get an xfactor score of 12 and this brand is kind of the go-to for cheap tactical com setups and for good reason and overall at $50 a pair they really do offer exceptional value next up we have the Revis h1g which scored 67 out of 100 and this radio actually had one of the best IP ratings and build qualities and is another very affordable radio with a great display and big battery but it does make it the heaviest unit in the lineup but it does have most of the standard features you'd expect but nothing too unusual so it'll give it an xfactor score of 10 but this is another solid option if you're on a budget and want something more durable to pods A36 plus scored 65 out of 100 and not only is it very Compact and portable but it's got a lot of great features which did impress me considering that it's highly affordable and it also had one of the nicest display screens in the bunch and it should be able to pretty much do everything that an average gmrs user would need it to so it'll get an xfactor score out of 10 and this one is excellent if portability is a concern and you want to have a nice lightweight radio to walk around with and you don't want to spend a lot of money the tid radio td8 gmrs was close behind with 64 points and is incredibly welli for the price and it has all the standard gmrs features that you'd expect with the addition of app and PC programming capabilities and its battery is quite large too so it received an xfactor score of 11 and due to its size it probably wouldn't be the most portable but it would be a good option for a vehicle or use from a stationary position finally we have the Midland GXT 1000r which received 45 out of 100 and they are an affordable entry-level gmrs radio that are easy to use so they're good for beginners and it's nice that they have some Noah channels as well but apart from that the features are somewhat limited so they'll only receive an xfactor score of five but they are a decent option if you're on a budget and looking for some affordable radios that you can easily hand off to people and not worry about hopefully this video helped you narrow down your selection and made it easier for you to pick a gmrs radio but if you have any questions feel free to drop them in the comments or if there's any other gmrs radios that you'd like to let us know about you can share that in the comments and if you enjoyed the video please give it a thumbs up and make sure to subscribe to the channel