Rechargeable Long Range Two-Way Radios with Earpiece 2 Pack Arcshell AR-5 Walkie Talkies Li-ion Battery and Charger Included

I bought this Arcshell AR-5 two-pack specifically for a multi-day outdoor event where cell service was basically non-existent. I’ve used high-end Motorolas in the past for work, and I was honestly skeptical that a two-pack at this price point could actually compete. I was wrong—these things are absolute workhorses. Range & Audio Clarity: The "long range" claim is always a bit tricky with walkies, but these performed impressively. In a dense wooded area, we were getting clear signals at about 1.5 miles out. In a more suburban/open setting, we pushed it to nearly 3 miles before we started getting any significant static. The audio is surprisingly crisp; it doesn't have that "muffled tin can" sound that cheaper radios usually have. Even with background wind, the built-in mic picked up voices clearly. Battery Life & Charging: This is where the AR-5 really shines. On a full charge, these lasted through a 14-hour shift of constant back-and-forth chatter, and the low-battery alert didn't even kick in until we were heading home. The fact that it comes with individual charging docks is a huge plus—you just drop them in at night and they’re ready by morning. No fumbling with tiny micro-USB cables in the dark. The Earpiece Experience: I love that these come with the earpiece/PTT (Push-to-Talk) headsets. If you’re doing security, event coordination, or just want to feel like you’re in a spy movie, these are great. The ear hook is soft plastic, so it didn't hurt my ear after wearing it for six hours. It's perfect for loud environments because you can actually hear your partner without cranking the radio volume and annoying everyone around you. Build Quality: They feel "pro." They have a nice weight to them and the plastic doesn't feel brittle. The belt clips are sturdy (they didn't fly off when I was jogging), and the knobs for volume and channel switching have a very satisfying, firm "click."

EDIT: The AR-7 walkie talkies are the best ones. I definitely recommend getting them over the AR-5's. Originally I had bought and returned two ArchShell AR-5 Walkie Talkies, and left a review with 2 stars that detailed my issues with their Ikea-like design requiring a screwdriver to attach the peices and for their poor noise quality. ArcShell customer service reached out to me, and apologized that the walkie talkies had not worked to my expectations. They then offered to send me 2 complimentary new ArcShell AR-7 Walkie Talkie radios. The only thing I can say is WOW!!! If only these had been available when I was first looking for a walkie system. From the first look, I could tell these were going to be a better selection. I went out and tested these with a coworker of mine. We played loud music and walked all over our workplace attempting to find an area where we couldn't hear each other because of external noise. I am happy to say that these are SO much better than the AR-5's with picking up vocal noise vs outside noise. Arcshell even made these much more simple to put together. No more screwdriver, everything snaps and locks tightly in place making these much more comdfortable for run and gun operations. Now I don't have to allot 10 minutes to putting otgether the walkies, these are just grab and go. The range is better, the sound quality is better. These are definitely worth getting for anyone looking for a decent set of walkies. My thanks to Arc Shell for convincing me to give them another try. It is good to see a company that truly values its customer's experience. Original Post: FOR the AR-5's These were quite simple, even after the IKEA like setup process. (There are a lot of Parts to put together for each walker, which is somewhat useful and simultaneously annoying as even the belt clips require a screwdriver to attach. Overall the design and the included earpiece felt good. The issue was I had bought them for myself and another cameraman to film a live musical performance, and it’s a clear example of the old saying, you get what you pay for. I’m fairly certain you would have a hard time hearing anything a person is saying with these once you walk out into a city street. Their high noise tolerance is very low and you can barely if at all understand what the other person is saying. So, if you are say working a silent movie, or a reality show, where no one except talent speaks above hushed whispers, these walkies work great, however in a public setting, or at a construction site, a building project, etc... I wouldn’t suggest them.

This item is exactly as described, no frills walkie Talkie. Purchased to communicate from from cabin to cabin in lake community in PA for us adults and the kids. So far after two weeks of use I have zero complaints. Quality is as expected for a inexpensive walkie, sound during transmission is good, not great but what can you expect for this price. Walkie is easy to use for kids and the elderly. What was impressive is the distance , I know they claim multiple miles I can't confirm that, I can tell you these work through the woods clearly and with mild change in elevation up to a mile. We can be on the other side of the lake and reach both cabins, this is a small lake so please take that into consideration. Overall for fun and for what we were expecting when purchased We are happy.

UPDATE: Gf had a bad fall and broke her ankles. These things now act like a call light. Charge them each night and they last well more than a day, she can contact me anywhere in the house quicker than a text. Countless times we have been thankful for these when she needed pain meds at 3am, loud enough to wake me and get me to her. A fun toy turned into a life saver! Test: GF is in the bathroom of my basement, ranch home, basement is solid surrounded by dirt. I drove to the gas station 0.6 miles away and we could still talk. No open air for these things and sure it was crackling a bit but I had no problems understanding her. I mean for 25 bucks come on, that's pretty damn good. It's sending through nothing but dirt, houses, basements, countless WiFi, underground lines... I expected a block or 2. Further used them throughout the day and the next day until they died. So about 30 hours of random use, but they were fun to use so it was fairly often. Nice to just be able to talk in the house without shouting as I'm working on something and need a hand. These will also be great when we kayak, I hate having to shout on the water. Voice activation works, headset works, we just preferred the manual method. I also like how the talkies say the channel name out loud as u switch the knob for ease of use. No looking down trying to find a tiny number. Huge plus.

We used these while driving two cars from Oklahoma to Florida. They worked great and were very very helpful. Not sure about the range of these because we always stayed pretty much within eye sight of both cars although I did take a wrong turn a few times and we used the radios to find each other again. Again...these made driving two cars SO MUCH easier and were very very helpful, and even fun at times. --Boring details--- I thought about giving these a 4 star rating and not 5 stars simply because these radios do not comply to FCC regulations in that the out-of-the-box frequencies were NOT within the required FRS (family radio service) frequencies. I write software and was able to reprogram the frequencies on these radios to the FRS frequencies. I don't think these regulations are enforced at all but I re-programmed them anyway. It was easy to do using a free app called "CHIRP" and requires a separate programming USB cable to hook these radios up to your computer to reprogram them, it was easy to do. I think anyone using these as is will be just fine as they are. Only twice along our long trip we heard other people talking, surprisingly both were restaurants using them to take orders. If your looking for an easy way to communicate between cars on a road trip these cant be beat. Again, I don't know the range, it's not great, but absolutely very usable on two car road trips. We accidentally left both radios on in our cars over night and in the morning they both were still working and usable! I charged them up again in the hotel room again anyway. These are great radios, I have already told friends about them and how they made the long road trip so much more enjoyable.

EDIT: The seller sent me new, upgraded headsets upon reading my review. These headsets are much better, thank you! One star for the headsets that were included. I just started using the headset. Apparently the headset’s construction is weaker than my ear?? I was sitting in my office chair wearing the headset, when the walkie slid off my lap. In the two foot drop it took from my lap to the floor, it snapped the headset assembly completely into two pieces, effectively breaking the entire headset (see picture). My ear is constructed of standard-issue human cartilage, so I was surprised to see my ear was stronger than the headset. Another note about the headset, it is NOT compatible with VOX. The headset keeps the mic muted unless it is keyed, so that essentially defeats the hands-free point of the headset. The radios do work, but range is really limited despite the high power output. The signal only travels a few blocks which is to be expected with buildings around, but I would have thought the extra power would give them a longer range than a few blocks - the point of walkies is so that you can talk without having each other in sight. The radio units themselves are pretty good for the money, I dont know that anything better exists at this price point. They are great for around the house so I dont have to yell, but don’t expect to get much further than yelling distance with these.

I bought four of these to try out because a group of us like to go hunting and fishing in the north woods and they have far exceeded our expectations. With radios like these, the biggest issue people usually run into is range. Understanding that range depends on many factors, some of which are elevation, tree lines, interference (power lines), obstacles (buildings/houses). These were first tested on an ice fishing trip. Some folks to the sled/snowmobile out while some hung back at base camp (the house) for our later arrival friends. The guys who went out on the ice went about a mile and around a corner that blocked their line of site with a hill and some trees. We had no problems at all communicating with them from inside of the house and this helped us to call a snowmobile to come pick up the guys who were later arrivals. The next trip we had someone drive away from the house and they got about a mile and a half away before they started getting interference and losing signal. Keeping in mind that we were in a woodland area with lots of obstacles and one of the radios was inside of a house. We used these radios all day and never lost battery power on any of them. Anyone who knows cheap radios knows that a mile and a half range for something at this price point is almost unheard of. Try to operate on channel 3 for the unlicensed frequency and ALWAYS check your local area frequencies to make sure that you don't interfere with emergency services.

I purchased a pair of Arcshell AR-5’s (note similar Baofeng BF-888s) for personal hiking and fishing use in the US. I expected that walkie talkies marketed with the “Amazon’s Choice” badge would work out of the box and the generally positive reviews seemed to agree. But after receiving these radios and conducting a lot of online research, I think anyone contemplating purchasing these radios should understand a few important things upfront. First a brief summary of the Pros and Cons of this product: Pros: • Cheap! And there may be good reasons why. • Generally good mechanical construction (requiring some minor assembly before use) • Rechargeable Cons: • No FCC approval sticker – up to the consumer to determine legality and license requirements • Mine came factory-programmed with channel frequencies that can interfere with important licensed use depending on where you use them (including police, public safety and medical services) • Not supplied with programming cable or software that are required to re-program the radio channels and configure several useful features such as channel scanning Many comments and reviews point out that, out of the box, these radios violate several FCC regulations for FRS/GMRS (Family Radio Service / General Mobile Radio Service) radios and, even if reprogrammed to the correct channels, require you to obtain an FCC GMRS license to operate legally. Certified FRS radios don’t require a user’s license, but the AR-5 radio’s *specifications* exceed the FCC’s allowable maximum transmit power output for FRS channels. I have no way of verifying whether these radios actually do. Search online for “Midland Why Do I Need a GMRS License” for a good overview of the licensing process and regulations, or go to the FCC’s web site and read about FRS and GMRS. Are you likely to have the FCC knocking on your door if you just hand these out of the box to the kids for playing in the back yard? Unofficially from what I read, probably not, and almost certainly not if your use is in remote areas, miles away from civilization. But do you really want to chance interfering with important public services? Out of the box, I discovered that my radios came programmed with channels assigned to a nearby city police department and a local trauma hospital. In fact, only channels 6 and 7 corresponded to FRS/GMRS channels. Search online for “radioreference” if you want to check this out for yourself. Also note that Arcshell could change the firmware at any time, so what frequencies your radios will be programmed with is anyone’s guess (they are not listed in the supplied manual). In fact, the manual makes frequent reference to the “program software” but then gives no guidance about how to get it or use it. A programming cable is inexpensive (mine was <$10) and can be purchased from Amazon (search for Baofeng usb programming cable). Then you need to get the software to program the radio connected via the cable to your PC. One source is the free “Chirp” app (search online for “chirp danplanet download”). Instructions for use can be found on Dan’s website. With cable and software in hand you can edit your radio’s channel frequency lists to reprogram them to FRS/GMRS channels. See the FCC’s FRS web site for a list of the official frequencies. There are also several helpful YouTube videos online that walk you through programming these radios (search for BF-888s programming). The app is not particularly hard to use, but if this all sounds too technical perhaps these are not the droids er radios you are looking for. Hint – Motorola, Midland, etc.