I tried out one of the FRS radios, something I've been wanting to do for a while. I picked up a Panasonic one and tried it out at home.
FRS stands for Family Radio System, and there are two uses I can think of for it (three if you count kids, but we're not there yet). One is shopping malls, where you can go your separate ways but stay in contact, and the other is camping.
Well having my wife's voice coming out of a radio in a quiet bookstore doesn't make much sense so I wanted one that had some privacy features - the Panasonic has a vibrate alert mode, and a handset type design so you can talk quietly on it.
But, well, in that case it's just pretending to be a cell phone, and the synchronous nature of it (where you have to push the talk button, talk, and then release it and while you're talking you can't hear the other person talking) is frustrating.
FRS radios make crummy cell phones. Considering that most of our use for one would be in areas where there is cellular coverage anyway, I tookthem back and got my wife her own cell phone. I'm still thinking it would be cool to have one for camping, but at least then I can get a cheap one and not worry about the privacy aspect..
11:32:09 AM 
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