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Rocky Talkie vs Midland Options
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Wondering if anyone has has good luck with the Midlands like the T31VP? Sounds like the battery packs on the Midlands aren't great but I could just use rechargeable AAA's. They are smaller, lighter, and less than half the cost of one Rocky Talkie... The Rockies seen a little heavy and they are quite expensive. What's your favorite walkie for multipitch climbing. |
Scott D wrote: Get the midlands, they are more than fine for multi pitch climbing, the Motorolas aren’t bad either Rocky talkies are the biggest rip off in the outdoor industry, I will never understand why a company can slap a carabiner on a generic walkie talkie and people will like up around the block to pay 4 time what every other walkie talkie costs. |
Kevin Mcbride wrote: Because they work? It's worth it to some people to just buy the known, working thing. And that's okay. It's also okay for other people to buy other radios using their own judgment. |
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I've been playing around with these little guys and so far like them -- small enough to keep in your pocket or on a lanyard under your shirt. I don't think a lighter weight or lower profile radio exists.  |
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While Rockies may seem overpriced I’ve never had a walkie that lasts in the cold like they do. For an all around tool they work great - backpacking, off-roading, climbing, backcountry skiing - I've used mine for everything and they just work. Are they somewhat heavy and expensive ? Yep. But I also never have to wonder if it’s going to do what I need it to. They are the jack of all trades, and totally worth the price in my opinion. I get the sticker shock, but it’s also nice to support a smaller company that gives back to the community. |
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Depends on what you need them for. I have Midland X-talkers for multi-pitch routes where we are only a rope length apart. I added short leashes. They were something like $30-$40 for two so if I drop one I'm not gonna cry. I use rechargeable AAA - the same as go in my headlamp. So far, batteries last for a full day of climbing. If you need more range or extreme cold, maybe look for something else. But, I'm happy with these. |
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I'll never understand why so many people get so salty about rocky talkies. They work well and if you don't like the price.... don't buy them? Also given it's a "buy once, use for many years" thing the amortized difference/climb gets into pocket change pretty quick. |
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(Trigger warning) I wonder how many rocky talkie haters have iPhones? |
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I have a pair of Rockie Talkies, and I also have cheaper radios. The expense is worth it for the durability and reliability, but also yeah the price is painful. If you don't want to pay $$$, cheaper options can be good enough. Also, there is no need to hassle with rechargeable AAA batteries; rechargeable battery pack options work better and are cheaper. For example, I have a couple of these Baofeng F22 and they work well enough, USB-C charging, etc. I hand them out sometimes when I am with a group. I think that I paid $15 for my pair (including battery packs) a while back. The carabiners are about the same price, ha.  Here is a 3-pack (with batteries) on Amazon for $33: https://www.amazon.com/Baofeng-Talkies-Rechargeable-Waterproof-Accessories/dp/B0BYDMC1C2 |
Casey J wrote: People are beyond cheap AF. I have rocky talkies, they've been excellent and after 4 years I've had zero issues with them. Worth it. |
Cosmic Hotdog wrote: Yep, nothing but pleased with mine. Especially the proactive charger replacement and their support of lots of climbing related things. |
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Big no for me on the rockie talkie is that they are not programable. My 10$ chinese radios that i have been using intensively for the past 5 years are still holding out great after 1000's of pitches, mostly trad too with lots of chimenying, but the key thing for me is being able to program them... I have logging rd channels on mine, ski patrols channel so i hear them when they close areas or open areas ;) and the best, i NEVER had to change channel because someone else was on it, i just program myself a random frequency on 1 channel and done.... this fall on El cap was hilarious, my friend was fucking around for 45 min trying to find an empty channel ! i also program a few rockie talkie and BCA channel if a rich friend of mine absolutely wants to climb with his rocky talkie. Oh and also its like 3x smaller and 4x lighter than a rocky talkie... fits in a pocket super easy or even in the tiny zip pocket that some chalk bag have.... |
J D wrote: Warning: Radio nerd shit incoming a US federally (by the FCC) recognized radio spectrum from 462 to 467 MHz, with only 22 legally recognized channels in that spectrum, where each channel only uses its 1/22nd slice of the whole FRS spectrum, with the assumption that all the other FRS radios/channels are also using their own 1/22nd slices of the FRS spectrum. FRS radios are only allowed to be manufactured and sold if they are limited to those channels and to specific broadcast power, and are unable to be modified outside of those limits. (This is simplified for the purposes of getting the point across) All these things come together to let us have radios that are interoperable, simple to operate, and generally don't shit on anyone else trying to operate an FRS radio nearby. Not being able to program FRS radios keeps everyone with FRS radios in their lanes, so to speak. If a radio operator programs in a random channel, it's messing with someone else's slice of the radio spectrum (FRS or elsewhere). They could also be messing with lots of other people's slices if they're using a lot of bandwidth or blasting too much power into the air. And for this comment, "i also program a few rockie talkie and BCA channel if a rich friend of mine absolutely wants to climb with his rocky talkie," those "rockie talkie and BCA" channels are the FRS channels. There's nothing particular to Rocky Talkie or BCA about them, those are just the federally recognized FRS channels/slices, along with the privacy codes. Any other cheap Motorola/Midland/Cobra/Dewalt FRS radio is using the same codes, though they sometimes get weird names by the manufacturers. Rocky Talkie and BCA radios can communicate with each other, all the privacy codes included, with no magic required. Again, I'll admit that the method for choosing specific, not-preset privacy codes on the Rocky Talkies is not obvious. I was going to try to make some analogies about picking random frequencies in the FRS spectrum (which the poster I'm quoting didn't say he specifically did, he just said a random frequency, which could be anywhere on the whole spectrum), something like "not obeying lane markings on the highway" or "shitting in a public pool" or "doing a 200 foot long, completely sideways, roped traverse across a popular crag during its most popular time", but I kinda just ran out of steam on this comment. TLDR: Don't be a turd, only use FRS radios on the FRS spectrum (and familiarize yourself with the rules of GMRS radios if you're going to buy one of those and pay the FCC license saying you have read and will obey those rules). If you wanna play with cheap, Chinese programmable radios, go for it and have fun! Just get your ham license (you don't even need to learn morse code anymore!), and stay out of protected spectrums so we can continue to have nice things. |
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Ok i see your point, let me clarify a few things that you missed just so everyone understands a bit better. 1. It is totally legal to "listen" on any frequencies, so being able to program the cheap chinese radios still allows me to listen to ski patrollers and hear when they are done bombing avalache terrain etc... or heli ski guide channels so i can hear their feedback on snow quality etc, or hear logging trucks coming down the logging road, and i can guarantee you, theses guys appreciate that you call your position on the road and dont give a damn if you are licensed or not. 2. You still have the FRS frequencies on the cheap chinese radios so you can still transmit legally on thoses if you want to. And the channels that i program outside the FRS are for use when i am in crowded places like potrero chico or yosemite where you have hundreds of people trying to use rocky talkies at the same time, its also very easy to set theses frequency on your radio to transmit at 0.5 - 1 watt, which is plenty for multipitch scenario where you are never further away than 70m from your partner and that way youre not really blasting any real power in the air and messing with anyone else's slice. 3. If you really want to, go get your ham license online, super easy and fast, 35$ and your are completly "legal" to use any frequencies you like 4. Having used radios for the past 20 years, i honestly dont think transmitting at 1-2 watts on any frequencies will cause any trouble or any harm to anyone and can guarantee you that i have and everyone around me does without any legal issue... but i agree with you, it is "technically" no legal if you dont have your cheap ham license to transmit outside the FRS frequencies I get your warning message, i guess my first post was not clear enough about it, yeah its a good idea to understand ham radios before programming random frequencies in your cheap radio, but i still think they are much more versatile, cheap, and lighter and just better than the expensive rocky. the reality is that most of us will end up forgetting it on a rock somewhere, or our climbing partner will forget to give it back, or you will drop it from pitch 15, and id rather have to pay 10$ to replace it, or do like i did just buy 10 of them for the price of 1 rocky talkie and give them as gifts to your friend and keep some backups for you ! I bought a pack of 10 thinking they would not last me that long since it was the price of 1 rocky... but my first set of 2 is still going strong after 5 years !! And i am a full time climber, theses radios get alot of use and abuse.... |
J D wrote: Post up a link to these cheap Chinese radios. You've sold me on getting a pair. |
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Looks like they went up to 15$ a piece now, 5 years ago they were 10$, but i also didnt look really hard just picked the first google link. The bf-t1 is my go to super mini for rock multipitch, but baoefeng makes every size of radio possible, just pick the one that matches your need. If its mostly for winter stuff id recommend one of the bigger ones, There is also bunch of differents brands that make the same kind of small radios, i have some friends that bought different ones but very similar and they are very satisfied too. The baoefeng bf t1 might be getting old since i remember that model from at least 10 years ago, there might be some newer version that are worth looking at now... OF course dont expect the same battery life as a rocky talkie, its 3x smaller so obviously has a smaller battery but i did 3 days on el cap recently without charging them... https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006064227837.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.7c867edfUofmni&browser_id=b3cd83eed0b64249a2f56b71cafd3399&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=szjhtriwcasgnljf193a12f2bc71caf2055c4eb28a&gclid=&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%2124.27%2116.99%21%21%2124.27%2116.99%21%402140f54217335760434422805edaac%2112000035565450119%21sea%21CA%210%21ABX&isseo=y&algo_pvid=9228e293-2957-41aa-9c07-ef1c0cc56519 |
J D wrote: Link made clicky. |
