Binatone Terrain 550 Two Way Radio

A well designed PMR446 licence free radio. Ergonomically designed, the unit fits nicely in the hand with the PTT (push to talk) button located on the side.

The 5 mile advertised range is optimistic and could only be realistically achieved in ideal conditions. That said, the Terrain 550 performed well in open terrain. In built up areas a more realistic range is in the order of hundreds of meters with the quality of reception deteriorating markedly the more obstructions there are in the way.

Battery life is surprisingly good. I have used mine for over a week now (not on all the time though)and it is still on its first charge. The units come with a base charger and is supplied with NiMH rechargeable batteries. Alternatively you can use 4AAA batteries.

The unit is packed with features. It has 8 channels and loads of CTSS sub-channels that will filter out all other transmissions not on the same CTSS sub-channel. A note of caution though, your transmissions can still be overheard by someone on the same channel who has disabled the CTSS feature.

The unit also has a vibration alert feature as well as a selection of call tones. Personally I find the latter a bit gimmicky but I do like the vibration alert function.

In conclusion this is a model aimed squarely at the recreational market that provides great value for money. (A pair could be had for less than £40) Great for skiing and hiking but if you are business user with heavy use look elsewhere.

Bandit 9 Dec 2007

LIKED-
WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THE SOUND IT WAS NICE AND CLEAR. VERY HANDY WHEN USED IN THE CARS WHEN WE WERE FOLLOWING EACH OTHER HOME. IF TODDLER NEEDED A TOILET BREAK I JUST NEEDED TO TALK LOUD AND RADIO VOICE ACTIVATED, TO LET HUSBAND WHO WAS IN HIS CAR KNOW THAT WE WERE STOPPING. ALSO SAVED MONEY BY NOT USING PHONE. LOVED THE LOCK FACILITY SO MYSELF AND MY TODDLER COULD PLAY WITH IT WHICH HELPS IMPROVE HIS LANGUAGE SKILLS. WORKED DOWN TO MY DADS HOUSE WHICH IS DOWN BEHIND A HILL. BATTERIES LASTED WELL AND EASY TO POP INTO CHARGER.
DISLIKES-
IT SAYS IN INSTRUCTIONS NOT TO TAKE IT OUT IN RAIN OR GET IT WET. BUT KEPT IT IN MY POCKET WHEN OUT AND HAS BEEN NO PROBLEM.

Bought for the children, and also when we are out and about. Great fun, but need to chose a frequency well away from 0 as lots of other people use these, and you get loads of interference and also get rude people telling you to get off their airwaves. I am doubtful these reach an 8km radius though, we lost touch after about 1km.

Excellent radio's that we use when shooting, to keep in contact with the beating team. Easy to use with very clear reception.

Great in every respect...

...EXCEPT for the stated max range of 5 miles (8km)! I'd like to see Binatone's test data, with an explanation of how they decided could make such a claim.

The most we've managed is about 0.5 mile. OK, there's a couple of houses in the way, but the test was over a fairly flat, and not too twisty, residential 'A' road.

I doubt most people are ever likely to encounter the 'perfect' conditions. Even mountain biking, you're always going to have trees, shrubs and ridges in the way.

I think we'd have done just as well to spend less money on a lesser-range pair. My friend has some cheapies and, in respect of range, they perform almost identically.

Perhaps PMR range figures should be quoted against meaningful test environments. For example

Suburban residential: 0.5 m
Rural (hilly): 1 m
Rural (flat): 3 m
Woodland (hilly): 0.74 m
Woodland (flat): 1.5 m
Laboratory (no vegitation, obstructions or moisture or RF-interference): 5 m

For the practical use we had in mind, these are just not up to the job.

Use the radios when out and about in open space and do not get anywhere near 5 miles. Max 1 mile.

We have a house and workshop about 3 miles distance apart. Admitted there are houses inbetween but they hardly work at all.
It does say that they do need a clear run with no obstructions, so we thought we would try, as out mobile phones hardly work because it is a bad area but they were worse.
We did buy in the hope that they would work but were not surprised really but on the whole the product did seem ok.

I was delighted to find they exceeded my expectations. Bearing in mind that as a VHF radio, their operation is limited to line of sight operation, I was amazed to find that in the Scottish mountains, the signal was good and conversation possible even just outside line of sight - without interference. I put this down to reflection of the signal from the hillsides. I will not go into the hills without a set now!! I have also successfully used them whilst skiing with the family. On a recent trip to Switzerland the family divided into two groups - one headed for the mountains while the other stayed in Grindlewald - we were able to keep in touch via these radios, admittedly by clear line of sight but we were at least 5miles apart. The reception was superb. Also, our local supermarket is 2.5miles away and have had good reception between there and home- there is a low hill between us, definitely not line of sight but the radio reception again was no problem. Highly recommend these radios.

Great radios at a bargain price.
I personally bought these radios for shooting and fishing but have also found the extremely useful when travelling in convoy (passenger use only of course!) and when I needed to put up a new tv aerial, it saved the other person having to lean out the window and shout when the picture was just rite! 101 different uses.
What I like about them -
Very good build quality, feels heavy and sturdy to hold and not at all cheap and plasticey. Very easy to use and simple menu for the various settings. Fantastic sound quality, the 'trusound' noise reduction really does work very well, it's just like the person you are talking to is standing beside you. Very good backlit display. Good range, forget the 8Km as advertised though, as with all of these types of two way radios the maximum is under ideal conditions, i.e over flat water with a back wind!. The range is perfectly acceptable though, i've managed 1 mile in not very good weather and in quite a built up area with no problems. Batteries are rechargable which saves a fortune and last a long time between charges which is done through the twin charging dock.
What I dislike about them -
I honestly can't think of anything!
All in all I would happily recommend these radios to anyone.

It was curiousity,but iwanted a reliable walkie talkie,mobile phones are expensive and i wanted cheap reliable ommunication,so i thought give it a go,on atrip to a large garden centere there was group of us,some wanted to go to the wild animal section,others straight for the green houses for their plants,it was brilliant for my group,we did the greenhouses first,a lot of the people were elderly and of course they wanted toilet breaks,cup of tea etc,so the walkie talkies came in handy for one group and my lot had me as a leader,it was really handy to know we could keep in touch despite the deteriorating weather conditions,it was fun and free even the initial outlay seemed trivial,they paid for themselves,really superb outing and super communication,we tried cb walkie talkies previously,interference,wallies shouting obscenities,not the way to go,i was very pleased in the performance of the sets,easy to hold,lightweight,great display,and a week later we visited a large working farm,once again the walkie talkies proved awesome,i had my kids with me,they took a set with them,i felt more settled if they needed help it took a simple call on the walkie talkie,the staff had binatone walkie talkies as back up,that showed me versitility,even a lost child could go to a member of staff to say"iam lost,can you help me find mummy and daddy" a call went out and sure enough father,mother and little child reunited quickly,and i said to myself "i should of got those walkie talkies sometime ago!"i was kicking myself,i even got my brother to get walkie talkies,he has young kids who like mine,curious,at least now like me he can have peace of mind in what he does when he takes his wife and kids out,he amitted to me how useful a fun item could turn out to be,so if anyone wants a recommendation,you have one-BUY THEM,you will not regret using them,they are inexpensive,cheap to run,crystal clear audio,easy to use and above all darned handy,you could use them on a beach,on a camping holiday,anywhere! Thank you Binatone!

It was actually my teenage daughter that wanted a two way radio so that she could keep in contact with her best friend who lives about 1.5 miles from our house. The Terrain 550 has performed well over this distance without any problems. My daughter found it easy to set up and uses it constantly. On the downside the charger is a duel charger which means that we have to collect the radio in order to recharge her friends unit. For the application we use the radio's two individual chargers would have been a better option.
Apart from the charger this unit represents good value for money compared to other radio's. If you are after a reliable two way radio for either work purposes or for children to play with then you cannot go far wrong buying the Terrain 550.

Good radios with a reasonable range. Battery life appears excellent. Compared with other makes they're slightly bulkier- perhaps a nuisance when using them for sport. However, they do exactly what I bought them for and well. Good value for money.

They seem fine but have not really used them yet as they were bought for use on holiday this coming summer.

I scoured the net for some walkie talkies due firstly to the amount of camping we try to do in the summer and lack of signal on the mobiles. Plus secondly so that my pregnant wife could contact me when I went out locally.

I couldn't have bought a better set, they have far exceeded my expectations. I thought that they wouldn't be that clever in a built up area, but I can easily talk on them when I'm in the gym and my wife is in the house - well over a mile away.

I haven't yet tried them whilst camping due to said pregnancy but I am convinced that the 5 mile (ish) open reception area is more than achievable.

All in all very happy with the functionality, which even the most anti-technology people would find easy to operate. Found that when we stayed at friend recently that the VOX(Voice activation) function was excellent as a baby monitor....

Great product and I'm very happy.

I bought the radios because my wife is disabled and cannot be left alone much, when I walk the dogs I need to be able to keep in touch. We live in an isolated area in the highlands and the radios have proved invaluable to us.

Very handy two way radio. Very small and compact. The only issue I have is a loud beep when you push/relese the push to talk buttom. Have not had the time to see if this can be turned off. Very happy with the product useful range on the mountain as well. It does what it says on the box!!!!!!!

At first glance these radios look like toys, but looks can clearly be deceptive. The chunky plastic that lends a toy like appearance is very rugged and well suited to the outdoor use they will receive.

The reception is truly remarkable. We took one out on a walk, leaving one at home with our son. I first tried calling at about 5 miles distance, without clear line of sight with no success, but was first able to make a connection at over 4 miles, still without clear line of sight. To be fair we were struggling to hear each other here, but at 3 miles distance, with woods between us we had crystal reception.

I'd say excellent in everything but appearance, which would benefit from toning down a little IMOH.

I bought these radios for my two young sons so that I can contact them to find out where they are and to call them home from playing outside or in our neighbours house. They save me the hassle of shouting from the front door or knocking on the neighbours door to tell them tea is ready! The two way radios work very well are very useful and are of good quality. Great service from the seller.