XT511 - Emergency Radio - 22 Channel Two-Way Base Camp Radio with 5 Power Options, 121 Privacy Codes, 3-LED Flashlight & NOAA Weather Scan + Alert - Gray/Black

Wonderful product. Used as a base radio since it can be powered by AC. High range of volume that allows people to be heard from other rooms to low enough to sleep to the radio. Unfortunately could not find a radio sleep function. My mother is not radio savvy so setting it up, locking button input and having her just use the included mic with transmit button. It worked perfectly and she preferred it greatly over using a handheld. Alarm clock works but not as intuitive as I'd like. It's more difficult than necessary to verify the alarm time. But alarm is loud enough to wake us up when camping. Great transmission distance and antenna is sturdier than most portables. Used the privacy codes which worked better than both my differently branded handhelds, they sometimes squelch off for the first half second of another radio on the main channel before understanding the sender is not using the privacy code. It can be annoying to repeatedly hear that static in an otherwise quiet setting. This radio doesnt do that. Camping-wise having the FM radio was awesome but you can use receive or transmit when in FM mode. Spinning the fairly loud handcrank a minute charged the included rechargeable batteries from dead to enough power for transmitting and receiving once quickly. The only problem is the battery level indicator shows full or almost full when it wasnt leaving us outside with only the crank. Luckily we had some spare non rechargeables that worked fine. Remember not to crank with standard batteries installed! Overall a great unit, small and light and you can choose to use the speaker/mic or the mic built into the unit. The removable shoulder strap made it easily accessible while carrying a pack. Also came with car charger. Wish list: built in compass, monitoring multiple channels, built in solar charging.

I don't know too much about 2 way radios with privacy codes, but it seems to pick up ok. go up to 22 channels. I could only monitor, since I am not reg. The Noaa is great. AM,FM works great also. Rechargable battery came with it. I think it is already charged, but it came with wall charger, so I hooked it up, and pluged it in. You must put in battery before cranking it up, sounds like I am starting a car, or something. LOL It uses 4 AA batteries, or Dynamo Crank, or plugs into wall, well anyway 5 sources of power. Has a hand mic,battery level indicator, flashlight, short antenna. Has a clock with alarm, all you need now is a 6 pack of beer, shame you can't put that in there. Almost forgot, has a removable nylon sling also. you can adjust the length, has a wide padded area for comfort on shoulder, or neck. Black, and silver in color. Nice and small, light weight. Will fit in backpack just fine. Now as far as the range, I have not used it yet. The radio AM,FM picks up just fine. I am thinking about getting some hand held 2 way radios for my family. That way no matter what, or where, maybe we can keep in touch. Just maybe. Oh another thing, not that it matters, you can charge up your cell phone with it. I got this because I don't know if the cell phone will be working when needed. Midland XT511 22-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Emergency Crank Radio

For the money, this product is excellent in every way. I purchased two of these so that my friend and myself could communicate while photographing in the woods. The radio worked when our local cell phone coverage did not. Testing the range of operation with my friend, in MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN, I was amazed that in the woods we had overlapping coverage in excess of 10 miles, with excellent signal strength and audio fidelity. Living on the Pacific Coast, accurate weather reporting is essential. This radio does a wonderful job with NOAA reports and those of the U.S. Coast Guard. The AM/FM receiver did a passable job, though it could stand to be a bit more sensitive to signal. Now for the negatives: The unit is delicate and will not withstand physical abuse of any kind. I dropped one of the units on the floor from a distance of two feet, and though it works alright, the crank mechanism has frozen in place and will not crank. I will have to repair or replace the unit. I suggest that some kind of durable case be obtained to protect the radio from accidental abuse. It would be a nice feature to have the display so that it stays on for more than a few seconds, in other words, user selectable. The fidelity is excellent on the main unit, but the speaker/microphone is not, and could stand to be improved. Like most rechargeable batteries, these take way too long to charge (12 hours), and useable time (with transmitter on, at full power) averages about 60-90 minutes. I have solved this problem by using an external battery pack, that I normally use for my other Ham radios. I gain up to six hours using the external supply. Of course the combination of using the crank, and alkaline batteries will extend the time. All in all a very good radio provided that the consumer is aware that it is not built like an ICOM or KENWOOD portable with the much higher price tag. But bearing that in mind, you get a lot of radio for very little dollars, built by an old-line (MIDLAND) company with decades of experience.

I love Midland's products. This is an awesome emergency radio. However, I am disappointed in Midland - crank handle is too thin and seems easy to snap off. No one, in my good opinion, should purchase this radio with thoughts of using it as a daily base camp CB-type radio. It could definitely be used for camping, for such use, and intermittently at home, but the two-way radio option appears to be made for intermittent use only. However, the weather, FM, and AM bands can be used on a daily basis. Love the flashlight option. Does have an alarm option with snooze feature for those who might want to use it as a bedside alarm clock radio. It is small, measuring 4 1/2 inches tall (6 1/2 inches tall when measuring to top of handle) and 7 1/2 inches long; it is 2 inches thick. The small size and great features and sound make it the perfect emergency radio, great for camping or day trips, and easy to take just about anywhere. Takes 4 AA batteries or comes with a rechargeable battery pack (charge with crank or included AC wall charger or DC car charger), and crank option allows charging devices, like a phone, that can plug into a USB outlet. Get one before the next storm hits.

I just received the Midland XT511 Two-Way Emergency Crank Radio. <<FIRST IMPRESSIONS>> As always Amazon shipped the unit quickly, the packaging arrived in excellent condition with all of the included accessories. The radio itself is well designed, easy to read display and the switches and related symbology provide a good user interface. The radio is packed with features for the price and probably within that aspect lies the problem. <<FUNCTIONALITY>> I opened the package, read thru the directions, then installed the re-chargeable battery pack and turned it on. AM and FM worked fine, the small speaker provides clean but tinny sound, and the NOAA weather channels came in loud and clear. The flashlight is bright and the clock/alarm features work well. Now, the one thing that sets this radio apart from so many "Emergency" radios is the 2-way function, but that's where this radio falls short. The transmitting capability in the 2-way radio didn't work, not with the included hand mic,(Which feels extremely cheap) nor thru the mic embedded in the face. The receiving capability was excellent, but no TX! I have all the functions of this radio in separate pieces of electronics, what I wanted was a easy to carry, easy to use multipurpose tool, sadly to satisfy the low price, sub-standard parts are used and the result is sometimes you get one that doesn't work.

If you are a GMRS licensed or even a FRS user - this base camp radio is my main GMRS radio in my home. Very portable with many emergency features such as a hand crank to power the radio, Weather radio channels and of course - GMRS communications. These radios do not stay in stock very long. If you wish to get one of these - don't hesitate when you see they are available because they won't be for long. If you see they are out of stock - keep looking - as they do come back into stock - but run out quickly. My neighbors and friends have bought these radios and we love them. A powerhouse radio full of emergency features that you will want while just plain camping our or during a emergency.

The reception with the FM radio is not good. Maybe because it has a tiny 3 inch antenna. I wanted an outdoor FM radio that had rechargeable batteries and crank charging. But the FM reception is bad enough that it is difficult to find a location where it can pick up the public radio signals that my mp3 player and radio ear muffs have no trouble pulling in. Pretty disappointing from a radio company. The sound quality is far from high fidelity. Actually, it is pretty distorted and not much in the high or low end. Not very pleasant to listen to. Rather mediocre as a walkie talkie. When you set it to a a channel and privacy code, my other 2 way radios don't communicate with it. Apparently the privacy codes must be brand specific. Really limits usefulness. The range seems to be much more limited than some tiny handheld 2 way radios. I have to turn off the privacy codes to monitor calls from handheld 2 way radios. Apparently there isn't any way to listen to the FM radio and yet monitor the 2 way radio. I think that is a pretty dump design decision. I wish I could listen to news and still monitor any call from another radio. The NOAA weather radio is okay, but my handheld 2 way radios can do that anyway. LED flashlight is okay but they use the older style rather dim LEDs instead of the newer and brighter 1 or 3 watt CREE type LEDs, which would have made more sense and really allowed this to double as a functional flashlight. The recharger power cord apparently doesn't stop trying to charge the built in batteries even after they are fully charged, so if I am using it plugged in and fully charged, I don't know if I'm doing damage to the batteries. It would be better to have some smart circuitry that stopped the recharging when not needed so you could leave it plugged in. My 2 year old flipped the switch from the rechargeable batteries to the 'alkaline' position. I did not have any disposable AA batteries inserted at the time, and guess what... all the channel settings that I programmed in were lost and I had to start over. So even if you don't want to use the throw away batteries, you will probably need them to keep from losing your settings. The hand held microphone for the 2 way radio has a very dumb design. It has a built in speaker and it used that instead of the main speaker in the radio. The main speaker in the radio is not good, but the one in the hand held microphone is really pretty low quality. It just does not sound good and is difficult to hear clearly. I wish they had added a small solar panel that could keep this charged up if left in a sunny window. I've seen some cheap emergency radios that had this feature. If they had made the audio quality, FM reception, and privacy code stuff a bit better, and had thought out some of the issues with the charging system, microphone speaker, and allowed for 2 way radio reception while FM was in use, it could have been a much more usable product. But as it is, a bit of a disappointment. I'll continue to use it but I'll be on the look out for a replacement that was thought out a bit better and less irritating to use.

Generally for the cost of FRS/GMRS type Two Way Transceivers, we all pay around $50-$100 - whether it be Walkie Talkie Portables, or a Unit Primarily intended as a sort of "Base Station" as this model is listed. The FCC limits our Transmitting Power "output" to 1/2 of (1) Watt for the FRS (Family Radio Service) Channels (#8-#14). The GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) Channels which Require us to purchase an FCC License for $86.00/5yr. - are allowed some 5 Watts of "input power" to the final Internal Electronic Power Amplifier(s) Circuitry. Actual External Output Power is around (4) Watts (+/- a little), with fully charged Batteries or external supplied Power Source on Channels (#1-#7) and (#15-#22) that's it per Federal Regulations. Commercial, Marine, and Business Radios are in different categories, and of course are much more expensive. The just mentioned, is to potentially help the non-technical person reading this gain just a little bit of insight into this type product. Now to directly state things: This Midland Brand XT511 Base Camp Unit is actually quite nice for what it is intended to do. Specifically: It has AM/FM/WX(7 Weather) Bands, (7) FRS Channels and (15) GMRS Two Way Communication Channels, Utilizes 120Vac w/included Adapter, has a NiMh Rechargeable Battery Pack included, can also run on (4) AA Alkaline Batteries (not included), can also run on 12VDC (Vehicle Socket) power, and you can Recharge the NiMh Batteries via the hand CRANK "Dynamo" built into the Radio. That is a lot of Optional Power Source capabilities for Camping, Emergency usages, or even around your own property as may be applicable. The Two Way Radio portion of this unit is compatible with all other Two Ways using "standard" FRS/GMRS Channels. This Two Way Radio also incorporates the CTCSS and DCS "Privacy Codes" which Midland Company has been a trend-setter in utilizing these technical enhancements. Simply stated for understanding: These CTCSS & DCS Codes are "Frequency or Numerical" Coded additions incorporated onto the FCC assigned Frequencies for each Channel. Analogy: Kind of like Phoning a businesses 10 digit Main telephone number, and then adding a 3-4 digit EXTENSION Number to take you more directly to where & who you want to talk with. This enables some 121 Codes that can be assigned to each of the 22 Standard Channels (that's a whole bunch of Privacy capability). Transmitting capability is via the External Handheld Microphone, VOX, or Press To Talk Button on the Base Unit itself. Range of course is dependant upon Battery(s) Charge Level, Obstructions, and Terrain. NOTE: This Base Camp Model does NOT have "Group Mode" capability which is even another Privacy Capability found on Midlands higher end Portable Walkies such as their Model GXT1000VP4 (found herein Amazon). The GXT1000 Walkies also have 142 Privacy Codes. However, you CAN set this Base Station and the Walkies just mentioned, up to 121 of the same CTCSS & DCS Codes, or just Standard Channel setting for this Base Camp Model - really quite nice. The AM/FM are standard, and are Adjustable for Volume & Tone. The Weather (NOAA) has 7 Station Capability, and comes in very clear with very good reception even in a Basement with Florescent Lighting immediately around. The built in LED Flashlight supplies enough light for the immediate area - but is not a Flashlight with a projected beam. There are also built in Digital Clock, Alarm Clock, Siren/Calling Out Sounds, Dual Watch for Two Way Channels, Weather "Emergency" Alerting, and even a Carry Strap. Note: This unit is NOT as physically large as it may sound - it is NOT a Pocket or Belt carry type Radio, however, it is not heavy, nor bulky either about 8" Wide by 6" High. The only negative I see is the physical Handle of the Dynamo Crank itself... this handle folds into its designated holding position on the Radios RH side. It is the rather "thin" plastic handle that is of concern. Although it may never break... I would like to see Midland reinforce or make this part from a heavier plastic material. Also, the LCD screen is easy to see, and is lighted! The Owners Manual requires a bit of getting used to, the English translations are sometimes different from how we generally construct our sentencing, and requires being read more than once. Overall this unit is well worth the money, it could literally be a life saver, and its versatility is impressive.