Floureon 22 Channel FRS/GMRS 2 Way Radio Review

Floureon, a Chinese company owned by ShenZhen Global Egrow E-Commerce, has been grown in popularity selling its line of CCTV cameras and security products. They started out with only four locations in north America. They also sell battery packs and IP cameras. In addition to that, they also manufacture and sell walkie-talkies, and we had to try them out.

Check lowest price:

Unboxing

We got the 2-piece radio pack, as there was a discount on them at the time of purchase. The Box contains the two walkie-talkie units and a user manual. The back pops off too reveal space for three AA batteries. A note here, it is slightly tough to fit the batteries in the slot. When you are trying to insert the batteries, you need to keep pushing until you hear a “click” sound. You will also have to purchase batteries separately as these don’t come with the batteries.

Unboxing the unit

You should add that to your costs if you are shopping on a budget. The instructions say that these don’t come with batteries, however, on some boxes we saw that it says batteries included. This is misleading, but perhaps there are different models? We are not sure about that. There is a buckle on the back of walkie-talkie as well. The complete dimension of these is 6.5” X 2” including the antenna.

Design

Holding the unit in hand, you can see that there are certain compromises with regards to materials used in this unit. The construction is entirely done with plastic. The overall feel of the plastic in the hand is not good as well. The PTT button, on the left side, is of slightly better rubbery material. There are 7 buttons on the front side of the walkie talkie and there is a small LCD display present as well. The presence of grip lines helps in adding grip to the small body of this device. There is a headphone jack next to the antenna as well. You can also find a charging port there. There is a flap which you just flip open to reveal these two. You could plug in a headset while using this over longer periods of time. The device is not waterproof at all. In fact, there is no certification. A small splash could very well kill this device. I’d be careful with this if I was using it.

One of the great things about this device is that you get a lot of options when it comes to colour choices. This device is available in a total of seven colours! The available choices are a black unit, a silver unit, flame orange colour, onyx black, a smiley face colour, nemo orange and the color of a lady bug. With each colour there is a sight but distinct change in the placement of the buttons. So, you should make sure you put out the right colour before buying one. If you buy a two pack, you get the same colour. A little more choice here would have been nicer, considering that they all cost the same regardless of the colour that you choose.

Features

One of the key features is that the device uses less power then what it is capable of. One of the benefits of that is that you will have good battery life when you aren’t using all the power that this walkie talkie is capable of. However, on the flip side, you might have to make a sacrifice on the range while using it in the low power mode. If you face any issues you should turn up the transmitting power up to 1 W. There is no stand out feature on this device that makes it differentiate from the crowd as well. There is an auto-squelch though, which does the job okay. The LCD is backlight as well, meaning that you will have no trouble using this during the dark.

The 4 pack has a steep discount

I’d again make sure which unit you are buying here. Some of these units have an LED flashlight built into them, whereas some do not. This device also has a roger beep, which means that when you call someone they get a typical ring sound, alerting them of the call. There is only one sound here, and this is not very customisable, as you get only 10 ringtones. If you are planning to use it around and with children, you can lock the keys. This makes sure they don’t accidentally change the channel while using the device. You can scan through all the channels and also adjust the VOX sensitivity on the unit

Range

One of the things that one buying a walkie talkie should always be aware of is that the advertised range and the actual range never match. The walkie talkie has a couple of variants, and some are advertised with having a range of 2 miles, whereas some are advertised with having a range of 3 miles. The bottom line is that your mileage may vary depending on your terrain. When the battery gets low, the unit automatically switches to a battery saver mode, which transmits at a lower wattage, meaning that you will face range drops when the battery gets low.

During our time testing it out at an open field, the maximum range that was achieved was of about 1.5 miles. In a more urban setting, you will find that the maximum range is of about three blocks.

Conclusion

This device is not your standard commercial product. This is aimed at families and for personal use. Kids will love using this walkie talkie. It’s intuitive, easy to use and configure, and great to talk to parents who are far away. If you are requiring a more feature rich device for a different environment you would be better off looking at some other walkie talkies that we have covered here. One of the great things that I loved about this device is that with discount, the price for one walkie talkie is under 20 dollars. This is a great bargain, and the value for money on this unit is great.