Motorola Talkabout T5420

An elegant weapon, not as clumsy or random as a cell phone

In 2002, my honey and I went to Disneyland with the fam. This was as good an excuse as any to pick us up some geek-tech, so we could split into groups and still talk to each other in the park. We'd noticed that Motorola's Talkabout radios got consistently good reviews from all who had tried them, so we knew we'd probably pick up a set of those—but when we got to the store, there were about a kajillion models! Which to buy?

For a number of reasons, we finally went with the T5420 model in basic black (goes with everything). The T5420 seemed to have a good balance of features to price, and unlike some other Talkabout models they're sold as a set of two, so you're ready to get up and running right off.

This model of Talkabout has a nice, gently curved ergonomic design particularly suited for righties—if you hold the radio cupped in your right hand, your index finger naturally rests on the Press to Talk button. When you turn on the radio, the LCD display starts up and a small red light flashes to let you know at a glance whether the unit is on. If you're in the dark (say, in the middle of Pirates of the Caribbean), press the MENU button to backlight the LCD screen. It's ridiculously simple to use—press and hold the PTT button, speak in a normal voice, let go when you're done. The unit makes a little chirp when you stop depressing the button, so you don't have to wonder whether your whole message got through. The sound is nice and clear, with little static over short distances—all you have to remember is not to get the unit TOO close to your mouth or you'll sound like Darth Vader.

Unsurprisingly, most of the folks at Disneyland had the same idea we did. We noticed a whole slew of people armed with Talkabouts, and we didn't really want to intrude on their conversations. Happily, the T5420 has 14 FRS channels and 38 subchannels to choose from, and there's a "squawk monitor" button so you can check to see if the channel already has traffic. Even on a very busy summer day, we were able to find a clean channel.

Technophiles should enjoy the configurability of the Talkabout. It has five distinctive, programmable call tones so you can tell right away which radio is calling. The menu has a lock feature, so you can give it to pre-teens without worrying that they'll monkey with the buttons and accidentally get on the wrong channel. And for the paranoid, there's a plug for a single-pin audio accessory (think Walkman headphones) so your messages can reach only the person for whom they were intended.

We're very pleased with these little radios, but they're not absolutely perfect. The Talkabout T5420 models come with snap-on swivel belt clips which are more annoying than functional; we opted to carry them around by hand or in bags instead. Each radio uses three AA batteries, and it uses them quickly—since we left the radios on most of the time for the three days we visited Disneyland, we bought an economy pack of Duracells so we could change the batteries twice.

The talk range isn't as long as advertised. Motorola estimates the range for these units at about 2 miles—but that's under optimal conditions (outside, on level ground, with no buildings or other impediments in the way). Realistically, if one person is wandering around Fantasyland and the other is buried deep in the bowels of Space Mountain, the two of you are going to have trouble communicating. We found it worked best if we both agreed to be outside at a particular time, and checked in with each other then.

Finally, because so many people use Talkabouts to keep in touch at places like Disneyland and other theme parks where you're likely to get wet, it would make a whole lot more sense to make these little radios waterproof. As it is, I was nervous as a cat taking a nice piece of electronic equipment on water-based Disney rides.

Overall, though, Talkabouts are fun, versatile, relatively inexpensive, and way less gauche than a cell phone. We use them in parks, on short trips to the supermarket, even for remodeling the house. (When you're trying to install a new light fixture on the top floor, it's nice to be able to radio your sweetie in the basement and ask him or her to kill the power for you.)

All this, and no airtime charges. As long as you use a little common sense and common courtesy, nobody will give you dirty looks for operating one of these little radios. And you get to enjoy the cool security-guard vibe to boot. Basically, if Obi-Wan Kenobi were here, he would use the Talkabout T5420 for all his Empire-sabotaging needs. All hail Motorola!

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