5 Best Two-Way Radios of 2020 For Hiking to Hunting PLUS Why Choose Them Over a Cellphone

Urian B., Tech Times 03 November 2020, 08:11 am

It might be tempting to go on a hike with just the make-shift equipment that you've already had at home or that you could simply buy at your local convenience store but this is not always the best case. When going on not just any hike but a significant hike that goes on for a couple of miles along with your buddies or family, it is important to make sure that everyone is able to keep contact.

Getting lost on a long trail is something nobody wants to experience but should you get lost, the chances of you getting found could be much slimmer if there is no means of communication with your hike buddies. Using two-way radios help with the trip by quite a lot and this is because they were designed for this type of activity.

Reasons why you need a two-way radio

1. Cellphones are unreliable

One obvious thing about the cellphone is that although it might pack a GPS or be able to provide you with really cool apps, the service is not always reliable. It is not a good idea to solely rely on the cellphone when taking long hikes.

In fact, the cellphone should be an additional equipment and should not substitute a two-way radio in any way when it comes to hiking.

2. Two-way radios have better coverage

Depending on the geography of the hike, oftentimes cell phones do not get as good enough coverage as two-way radios do. The two-way radio is built for rough terrains and locations with very minimum cellular connection.

Two-way radios are built for the wild, for the mountains, the desserts, or any other terrains you might find yourself hiking on.

3. They are easy to mount, use, and carry

As opposed to a cell phone, unless mounted with an additional casing or having a special compartment for your cell phone, two-way radios are easy to equip on different parts of your gear like your backpack strap to make them easy to use, easy to locate, and of course, easy to carry.

4. They are durable

Two-way radios are very durable. While it would be hard to accept a couple of scratches on your phone, most two-way radios can take getting hit, falling, or other heavy damage since the material used to manufacture these devices for communication are usually stronger than the regular phone.

Of course, there are a couple of uses that people have to get familiar with in order to fully utilize these two-way radios.

Here are the most common uses for the two-way radio:

1. The scout can prepare the team

The one ahead can orient the whole group of what to do, what to avoid, and how to get over the upcoming obstacles. This is extremely useful if not everyone on the hike is as experienced as the others. The two-way radio can easily give an announcement as to what to expect in the trail ahead.

2. Supply check

For long hikes, supplies can be checked every once in a while especially to make sure that nobody has forgotten anything after a short break. Running a supply check can help make sure that everybody gets through the trail and other supplies can be evenly distributed.

3.Emergency response

Should an emergency happen, it is important that the other people on the team can respond right away to avoid further injury or something worse happening. With a two-way radio, it is much easier to notify the other hikers should anything bad happen to anyone on the team.

With these particular uses in mind, it's also important to pick out the right two-way radio to work for the team. Depending on the types of trips, there could be different two-way radios that could work better than the other. Of course, there's also the price factor to think about in order to make sure you get the best deal without breaking the bank since a two-way radio is not the only equipment you'll be needing.