Vendor: Lidl
Price: £19.99
Manufacturer: TopCom
Description: PMR 446 2 Way Radios twin set
What's in the box?: 2 X Handsets, 2 X Ear phone/mic, 1 X dual charger dock, 1 X UK plug, 8 X 600mAh AAA rechargeable batteries, 1 X Instructions.
At the time I did have Walkie-Talkies on my wish list and these looked very exciting. When it comes to buying good quality Walkie-Talkies £19.99 doesn't normally get you very far. Indeed you can buy a cheap £20 set but these are often Handsets only and no features. For a good set with batteries, charger and headset mic you need to spend at least double that. Enter Silvercrest!
Let's get one thing clear before I start this review. These are NOT toys! The price is no reflection of quality.
Features:
83 CTCSS codes
38 DCS codes
Channel scan
CTCSS Scan
DCS Scan
Dual Channel Monitor function
15 Call tones
Open squelch/Monitor
These Handsets offer the same number of features as the mid-price range sets and even more than the expensive Motorola options!. Remarkable for the money.
Testing
These radios have been tested in a number of different locations including houses, large mansions, castles, open groud and at altitude and in each case these radios have performed better than expected. Max range to date has been around 6 miles. In closer environments these perform effortlessly. The speaker is very loud and clear. This is useful when faced with fierce wind against the mic. The radio seems quite sensitive and receives well. The squelch setting is lower than some other units which helps this unit to pick up more weaker signals. The handset fits well in the hand and is a pleasure to use. The supplied Ear piece mic works very well although not of the highest quality. Definitely useable though.
Good Points: These little PMR rigs are robustly built, have a clear screen, have clear crisp reception and a very loud speaker! Great range. Panasonic TX/RX component.
Bad Points: no rotary volume switch. Lowest volume setting is not low enough
Rating: 5 out of 5
✅✅✅✅✅
I can't recommend these enough. Cheap, full featured and worth nearer to £60 rather than the meager £20 asking price.
They are reliable, waterproof and fit nicely in the hand. Performance is as good as it gets.
They beat the current Binatone action 1100's on sound quality, speaker volume and sensitivity - the Binatone's are £49.99! (and don't include headsets)
Go figure! as they say
Best Best Award
Thanks to the respective owners of the images used in the review