Having a hand held GMRS style radio when you head to the field is a common practice for many people these days. We personally use them frequently during the big game hunts when the state law allows. They are great items to have if you change your meeting location or in the event that you get an animal down and need to get help headed your direction. Regardless of your need, these items are here to stay and we wanted to put the new models to the test.

The side of the box says 50 channels and up to 36 miles which is what really caught our eye starting the field test. After removing the products from the box and doing a complete inventory, we had two radios with rechargeable batteries for each, a charging base station, A/C charging plug, cigarette charging plug, and two separate ear buds to capitalize on the voice activated system included.

It was recommended to charge the units for 24 hours for the first charging which we did and then it was into the car for a test of the radios range. The test day had lower level clouds and stormy snow conditions. The first mile was as clear as a bell and the terrain was flat with line of site. We would check for clarity every mile with this same type of terrain and line of site for the first fifteen miles. At the fifteen mile mark, the clarity was if I was standing in the next room. The next few miles would be the true test. We would lose line of site and mountains would come into play. The eighteen mile mark provided for some static, but no problem in clarity an understanding the person on the other end. I expected to lose contact at the twenty-five mile mark which had a thousand foot mountain between myself and the other unit let alone a lot of distance, but that was not the case. The low cloud cover surely helped, but I am a firm believer in this product. We didn’t do a complete 36 mile test on this day, but we feel that we did provide a solid evaluation.

The whisper quite is a great feature on this set of radios as well that needs to be mentioned. When activated, you can whisper into the radio on one end and your voice is amplified and sounds regular strength on the other side. This is a great feature when you are trying to be quiet, but still communicate. The S.O.S. alert is a new function added to these new radios. In the event that you were to get stranded and need help, each unit has the ability to put out a high volume siren to notify people of your location. Most of the other operations are very similar to the radios in the past which performed flawlessly throughout our testing. With fifty channels and 284 privacy codes, you won’t have any problem finding a channel that can be your own.

There are a lot of menu items when you first start using the radio, but once you have been through it a few times, it will seem much more manageable.

The Midland GXT1050 are a must have for your 2010 gear bag and they will be carried by all Sportsman’s News staff for 2010 or until Midland upgrades once again.

For more information, visit www.midlandradio.com.