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Walkie talkie suggestions.


Beta Sound

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Hi guys, this is my first post.

I just got asked by a production that which walkies they should buy. I'm no expert on the subject, but in my opinion as long as they dont buy anything within my wireless freq range i should be fine. I was thinking suggesting the Motorola CP200 seeing as they dont really have much of a budget for these, and these seem like they would be the best for that price range. They come in VHF or UHF Models, which should i advise them to choose? Anyone have experience with these or other similarly priced models? Should i tell them to get the most expensive ones and buy once cry once???

Any input on this would be great.

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You can rent the CP200's very inexpensively, and they're also widely available used on eBay. Beware the short stubby antennas -- the longer antennas have much better range. Go for the LiOn batteries if possible, as well as a bank charger. The older 4-channel versions are dirt cheap; the 16-channel versions are slightly more expensive but better in the long run.

I got a set of 6 VHF's for a song on eBay a few years back, simply on the thought that this might avoid any possible chance of interfering with my existing UHF wireless. They've worked fine, but realistically, there's not much money to be made with them from the sound side. I wouldn't be surprised if a weekly rental deal was far cheaper than buying them.

--Marc W.

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Thanks alot guys, I would be all for renting, but the production company really wants to buy, i guess they will use them often. The thing is, its in the Dominican Republic and apparently renting them for the whole shoot here would be almost as expensive as buying.

Thanks again, great response time guys!

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  • 1 year later...

Not sure if bringing an old thread back to life violates JWS protocol, but the discussion above covers lots of key issues. However, it's a couple years old now. And I end up on gigs that are using small Motorola consumer units. Sure, they're not as good as CP200s and similar units. But still...

 

The Motorola consumer info page uses the words "extreme" and "hardcore" a bit more than is helpful:

http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Two-Way+Radios+-+Consumers

 

(FTR, Motorola's biz communications page is better http://bit.ly/19LpDvk)

 

So what's the latest on using consumer walkies from Motorola or others? Anyone here happy with a particular model? And related, if I go eBaying for CP200s or something, anything I should look out for (other than usual eBay caveats)? 

 

 

Thanks.

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