The advertisements are misleading. They advertise absolutely no fees, and NATIONWIDE coverage. That suggests to consumers that they work ANYWHERE. They advertise that they are superior to cell phones if there is a catastrophic event disabling cell service, WHEN THEY ACTUALLY USE CELL SERVICE TO WORK!
I was unswear as well that they were $50 each a year to renew. I can confirm that they do work great and I took them to a dead spot for my cell phone where my ATT struggles and they worked perfectly. So they must be using multiple carriers like they state. They use 4G and LTE. If you have a small business, hobby and need to talk to a group of people at one time and switch to a single person in the group they are perfect.. but yes the justification needs to be there for $50 each a year. Perfect for my needs of digging for history in the woods 👍
I use my Motorola dongle. This talks to satellites and works to message anywhere whether I have cell service or not. Ben using it for a year and it works flawless. I'm in Mexico and my wife is in Florida
This is posted on their site: "With the on-going crisis in the Middle East & Europe, the threat of Cyberattacks on the USA, and the uncertainty of WW3 you simply CAN NOT RELY on Cell Phones and Internet for Communications in the Future!" How can you say you can rely on them when they run on cellular towers?
😇I once put in the HVAC for a company called NEXTEL. Our company used them for many years. Think they were bought out by Sprint. We could pretty much talk coast to coast with them. Fun tech when it first came out. Man i'm getting old.
Nextel was bought by Sprint, but those networks have been shut down for years. And, Sprint was bought out by T-Mobile, so that network is also shut down, and in the process of being rebuilt as TMO sites. If there is already a TMO site at that location, the old Sprint site will convert to Dish.
They are back in a way. Motorola (Who actually made the old Nextel radios) has the TLK system. They work off Verizon network and work pretty well. Cost is about $30/month per unit.
So they are really not emergency SHTF radios. If cell towers go down, these go down. I am looking at the 2 meter handheld radios. They rely on repeater stations. So it may be that if cell towers go down, repeater stations will too. I was hoping that these might be a solution, but apparently not really.
If you want long distance without repeaters, you will need 10 meter, 20 meter, or higher band ham radio. Those are mostly vehicle mount or home base type radios, not handheld. Handheld 2 meter has 4-8 mile range without repeaters.
no they don't answer the phone. perhaps this was paid or made for by the company. as far as emailing them i sent 5 emails no response. yes they are opening themselves up to a class action suit without telling consumers about the yearly fee. sounds scammishhhh
I am not affiliated with them, i was looking for walkies that would give me greater range while we are out in the woods. Definitely different than others who have concerns about needing a radio when the towers go down. I was not looking for anything like that. I definitely understand the $50 a year concerns.
Its a walkie talkie, you can talk with a group of people at one time or one at a time. Its a connivance. When it comes to service though, yes you need cell phone signal.
So, it says they are to be used when cell service goes down. I'm an old guy so when you say that you have to have service for them to work...doesn't that contradict itself?
OK, But if cell coverage is down and cell phones don't work, neither will these. Right? I'm looking for a goof hand-held radio for when the grid goes down.
You need something like GMRS, MURS, or ideally, a HAM license for emergency radio use. If there are GMRS repeaters in your area, you can often use them to communicate a long ways on GMRS. HAM radios can literally (on HF frequencies) talk across the world under the right conditions, and with the right knowledge and equipment.
@@10bbremer correct. The great thing is that they work with all major carriers and are not just on one. Some providers have bad signal in some areas and others are better. Rapid Radios has verified that there LTE and 4G is onboard with all major carriers. How it picks and chooses by signal i have no idea.
If they are using cell towers/cell coverage, what happens when the cell towers are down? An EMP attack? I read the fine print. There is a service fee after the first year $50.
These will not work without cell phone service. Yes $50 each per year to renew. Would be cool if it was $50 for the pair considering you need at least two of them.
@@CrochetNewsNetwork mine stayed active the whole time. Our cells were down but the Rapids stayed up on 4G all day. No idea how but they did. Kept chatting from RI to NH without any issues.
@@IffySignalsyour ATT cell went down but the radio didnt? Well, my not ATT phone didnt go down. That's probably why the radio still worked because it doesn't run off exclusively ATT towers, pretty simple. That doesn't provide legitimacy to these at all.
I hope they fail. Their CEO signed off on marketing saying "No Monthly Fees-No Subscriptions" No Hidden Fees" but there are yearly fees. What a joke. Their business model is to put that in the fine print then after a year you go to use it, it doesnt work, you call em and have to pay $50 each for them to work again.
Not cool, should mention it it right up front. I was hoping for the best because they are great walkies and can benefit many people/businesses but the whole idea of them being free and deleting people comments from there ads if they mention the charge is not cool.
They work good in most areas.. but correct they cost $50 each per year. For some reason i do hit dead spots in buildings where i have full cell signal.
Use your cell phones. Things you can do with a rapid radio 1. Push a button to talk to the person who has the matched radio, and only with a cellular connection. Things you can't do with a rapid radio, call 911, call a friend's cellphone, order a pizza, pay your bills, watch videos like this one, text someone,... DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY! This is a cell phone that can only talk to another rapid radio that has a similarly programmed sim card with a cell tower connection.
SUPER dishonest of them to say no monthly fees or subscriptions, EVER! Then they have $50 per radio per year. That is technically a subscription (product will not work without it) and could theoretically be broken down into a “monthly fee” but technically it is a yearly fee. Not sure why they false advertise like that and get very defensive and even delete comments mentioning it on their facebook site. Might be cool products but their shady marketing and how they try to hide there are in fact fees makes my decision to pass on them. 🤷🏻♂️
the $50 annual was pretty straight forward to me. I guess some people don't understand an annual registration fee, v. a monthly subscription. But oh well. I love mine.
@@MSgtPierce its not an “annual registration”. they are charging you for a new sim card. pay by use sim cards dont cost $50, they are ripping you off.. plus.. theyre playing word semantics… “no monthly fees ever!”…. okay.. a $50 yearly fee.. whoch translates to a little under $4/mo. It’s still a fee… monthly or annually. it’s deceptive marketing. and like i said.. feel free to look up “global-ptt poc radio G1”… they cost $60-80 bucks from china and theyre charging you a fortune for it. Plus, you’re locked into a “mother may i” situation with them. they force you to buy more radios from them.. THEY have to add the new radios to your account.. if you want something as simple as the name of the radio (“contact name”) changed it has to go through them, adding members to your group has to go through them. Thats BS. If you buy the radios direct instead of this 3rd party rebranding scam, you get access to control your account alllll by yourself whenever and however you want. add new radios anytime you want.. add people to your group yourself, anytime you want. No thanks! These guys are nothing but importers of chinese radios, rebranding them as something of their own, and then locking you into paying them $50 a piece for the rest of your life and giving up all control to them. LOL. Suckers.
Any company that deletes questions in comments on Facebook that doesn’t favor their product and then removes the post is not a company that I want to be involved with
Thanks for the honest review. The $50 per year, per radio is not a deal breaker for me, but the false advertising by Rapid Radio is. They are going to be class actioned into oblivion.
Had Netels for years before GREEDY ASS SPRINT took over charging outrageous monthly fees, Nextels were awesome and I easily used mine in Colorado springs speaking clearly to my employee in Brekenridge. I hate the pussified smart phones. Will be purchasing these talkies.
@@IffySignals Nextel didn't maintain its network for years, and Sprint failed to do its due diligence before buying it. They got sticker shock after the purchase as it cost them a fortune to repair, upgrade, and maintain, plus the former Nextel employees mostly refused to integrate into Sprint, so it was cheaper to shut down an fire most of them..
We also had Nextel. 50-60 of us connected. It was awesome! Sprint bought them and now you have to pay good money for Push-to-Talk. Take a superior product and turn it to SHIT! THANKS SPRINT!
Don't believe what anyone says if the grid goes off. You need something that works without the grid. Can't rely on these phone towers. If something happens, you need something powerful enough to talk to your love. Ones show us something like that. These work off the towers, they're no good. You might we'll just keep Cellphone
I was surprised yesterday during the outage. Our cell phones were down all day but the rapids kept 4g. The outage may have only been ATT. The Rapids never went down.
I spoke to them directly on the phone. They are based in the USA. Design and customer service is definitely in the USA. The radios seem to be made in China which they are not hiding because in the box was a tiny piece of paper from China. I asked them “what would happen if you went out of business?” and they replied that the radios will work with any Sim card and they had no concerns with there business. “Not Happening” was there exact reply to that. They were shipped from MI USA and shipping was here within two days.
Decent product but deceiving advertising and website. Very elusive faq on their website and no mention of the annual costs. May be a giid peoduct but they are scummy marketers
I ordered two to try out on our farm. We’re spread out from the north end of our county to the south and west. We have private radios on a repeater but it doesn’t work everywhere and can be plagued with problems during bad weather due to the poor location of the antenna. These rapid radios work but not everywhere, I’ve got one area along the Mississippi River where we have cell service but the rapid radios won’t work. I’ve emailed the company and they sent out slightly different radios but I’m still waiting for them to be activated. If the new radios won’t work I’ll be asking for a refund. I think their advertising is very misleading.
These are only as strong as the network and your wallet. A 5 watt VHF HT with a good antenna will serve you far better in the woods. These are for the Disney Land crowd.
Thanks for the video. I like their advertising: "100% NO MONTHLY FEES or SUBSCRIPTIONS FEES - EVER!" After first year, $50 yearly renewal. What a joke. Neat toy I guess, better off with some Baofeng handhelds. I bet the cost of the (2) radios ($400) more than covers their cost to use cell towers to distribute the super compressed audio for a few years... I can't imagine the call quality being that good at all.
Yeah, looks like a good product for the most part, nice build quality, just need to know what you're getting into. Was thinking about using them for off-roading, but I'll stick to FRS. @@IffySignals
@@BarnStangz you should really check out the gmrs radios. You can buy a license to use gmrs repeaters in your area and the license is fairly cheap and it expires in 10 years and no test to take either.
Yes! Cross country. They said they are paired up with all cell phone carriers. I had no idea they existed either. You add a bunch of radios and talk to a single person or the whole group at once. They have a car kit too. 👍
Will work if the shtf just not if the shit hits the cell towers 😆. I think they will work outside of the US if you let the company know what country ahead of time. I heard them mention that.
Lol! No monthly, no service, but yearly you need to pay $50 each. Ill pay it for how much ill be using them, they definitely should be more up front about this $50.
These can be very useful though for groups, work, or in a case where you are digging in dirt like i am with a group of people and want to communicate with them all at one time and not want to potentially damage an expensive phone.
I would have thought PMR would have been more practical. I think you call it FRS in the USA. Shorter range, typically 1-2 miles but anything over that and a cell phone would be more useful. Especially as the RAPID radios need cell tower coverage. Also, there are no licenses or fees with PMR and for a decent pair they are about half the price or less.
I have ATT and these still worked, i have noticed lately that it loses signal inside of stores in my area where i do have full cell signal. Thats kinda odd.
I had a set of cobra walkie talkies said 15 miles. I got about a half mile on them good thing I did not pay much for them.. These radio talkies seem pretty good. other then the yr fee after the first yr.. Thanks for sharing..
Yea Danny, i guess for our hobby if you go detecting frequently and have a regular group or digging buddy then it would be good. I can definitely see many other uses like small business ect..
Being an Amateur Radio operator for 62 years, I know CB, beyond local range, is plagued with skip signals much of the year, random in nature, being in the High Frequency bands. 😊
If there's ever any kind of societal collapse or apocalyptic type of scenario cell phone towers will be out of service just as quick as everything else, rendering these things useless. In a true end of the world scenario you'd be better off with a good cb setup or even better, ham radio.
Exactly. and with Zello you can get a gateway to link your actual radios to the data network for cross compatibility. These "radios" are no more than the radioditty LTE models you can get online.
@rollingcode3 from my understanding, these Rapid radios bounce off the nearest tower. I think normal cell phones only use their towers. I could be wrong
The advertisements are misleading. They advertise absolutely no fees, and NATIONWIDE coverage. That suggests to consumers that they work ANYWHERE. They advertise that they are superior to cell phones if there is a catastrophic event disabling cell service, WHEN THEY ACTUALLY USE CELL SERVICE TO WORK!
I was unswear as well that they were $50 each a year to renew. I can confirm that they do work great and I took them to a dead spot for my cell phone where my ATT struggles and they worked perfectly. So they must be using multiple carriers like they state. They use 4G and LTE. If you have a small business, hobby and need to talk to a group of people at one time and switch to a single person in the group they are perfect.. but yes the justification needs to be there for $50 each a year. Perfect for my needs of digging for history in the woods 👍
I believe they don’t use cell towers so when cell towers go out and phones don’t work these will
@@riceballs4380 these use 4G and LTE same as a cell phone.
I use my Motorola dongle. This talks to satellites and works to message anywhere whether I have cell service or not. Ben using it for a year and it works flawless. I'm in Mexico and my wife is in Florida
Sounds scammy. If cell service is down, how will they work? Bogus.
This is posted on their site:
"With the on-going crisis in the Middle East & Europe, the threat of Cyberattacks on the USA, and the uncertainty of WW3 you simply CAN NOT RELY on Cell Phones and Internet for Communications in the Future!"
How can you say you can rely on them when they run on cellular towers?
Definitely cannot rely on these without cell service. Unless i am missing something. These definitely act along side/rely on cell service.
Cool product. Thanks for sharing. They look like they are well built.
Definitely remind me of the old Nextels 👍
@@IffySignals I was thinking that also when I saw your post. I will be 50 this year and that was a great device.
Not free! $50 per year, must have cellular/internet service!
Correct 👍
😇I once put in the HVAC for a company called NEXTEL. Our company used them for many years. Think they were bought out by Sprint. We could pretty much talk coast to coast with them. Fun tech when it first came out. Man i'm getting old.
Me too CZ, i had the Nextels.
Nextel was bought by Sprint, but those networks have been shut down for years. And, Sprint was bought out by T-Mobile, so that network is also shut down, and in the process of being rebuilt as TMO sites. If there is already a TMO site at that location, the old Sprint site will convert to Dish.
Loved the Nextel!!
They were great until you forgot to mute it. And you're sitting in a restaurant and a buddy Qs you up saying "hey dumb fuck what are you doing"
They are back in a way. Motorola (Who actually made the old Nextel radios) has the TLK system. They work off Verizon network and work pretty well. Cost is about $30/month per unit.
So they are really not emergency SHTF radios. If cell towers go down, these go down. I am looking at the 2 meter handheld radios. They rely on repeater stations. So it may be that if cell towers go down, repeater stations will too. I was hoping that these might be a solution, but apparently not really.
No, these will not work if the towers go down.
If you want long distance without repeaters, you will need 10 meter, 20 meter, or higher band ham radio. Those are mostly vehicle mount or home base type radios, not handheld. Handheld 2 meter has 4-8 mile range without repeaters.
@@gumbootdave1 Thank you! I appreciate that info!
Some repeaters will run with backup generators so if the grid goes down they could still operate
@@josephschmeggins6311 Yeah, hopefully their generators still work. I don’t think anybody really knows what will be effected by an emp
Won’t be worth a damn if we get a solar flare or an EMP attack. Better off with old school CB 2 way
Definitely need the cell towers. I used to have a couple of the three channel radio shack hand held cbs. Long whip antennas. Those were cool.
no they don't answer the phone. perhaps this was paid or made for by the company. as far as emailing them i sent 5 emails no response. yes they are opening themselves up to a class action suit without telling consumers about the yearly fee. sounds scammishhhh
I am not affiliated with them, i was looking for walkies that would give me greater range while we are out in the woods. Definitely different than others who have concerns about needing a radio when the towers go down. I was not looking for anything like that. I definitely understand the $50 a year concerns.
I got great customers support from them
So it's no different that a cell phone because you have to have LTE service to talk ,,lol
Its a walkie talkie, you can talk with a group of people at one time or one at a time. Its a connivance. When it comes to service though, yes you need cell phone signal.
cool stuff bro do you still recommend now that youve had them a while
Hey Pat, they are still working good. Great for when detecting.. only down is its $50 per radio a year for basically long distance walkie talkies.
There are mobile phones disguised as radios :))
Great walkies, just require cell service. Depends on your need.
@@IffySignals I use a Baofeng, fits my needs
@@MobileRecordingsRo I saw those on Amazon. Might pickup a couple.
So, it says they are to be used when cell service goes down. I'm an old guy so when you say that you have to have service for them to work...doesn't that contradict itself?
Yes, they definitely need cell signal to work.
OK, But if cell coverage is down and cell phones don't work, neither will these. Right? I'm looking for a goof hand-held radio for when the grid goes down.
Hey Rocky, these will not work if the towers go down.
You need something like GMRS, MURS, or ideally, a HAM license for emergency radio use. If there are GMRS repeaters in your area, you can often use them to communicate a long ways on GMRS. HAM radios can literally (on HF frequencies) talk across the world under the right conditions, and with the right knowledge and equipment.
@@FRMN8R_T4R thx for the info 👍
Thank you for this video. Very helpful. I was wondering if they will work in a no cell signal area. Now I know. Good I didn't buy them.
Welcome!
They use cell service. Subject to the same limitations as a cell phone.
@@10bbremer correct. The great thing is that they work with all major carriers and are not just on one. Some providers have bad signal in some areas and others are better. Rapid Radios has verified that there LTE and 4G is onboard with all major carriers. How it picks and chooses by signal i have no idea.
If they are using cell towers/cell coverage, what happens when the cell towers are down? An EMP attack? I read the fine print. There is a service fee after the first year $50.
These will not work without cell phone service. Yes $50 each per year to renew. Would be cool if it was $50 for the pair considering you need at least two of them.
We just had a national cell service disruption, so how can these be of any help? Pass
@@CrochetNewsNetwork mine stayed active the whole time. Our cells were down but the Rapids stayed up on 4G all day. No idea how but they did. Kept chatting from RI to NH without any issues.
@@IffySignalsDoes it cost anything? It says no fee.
@@IffySignalsyour ATT cell went down but the radio didnt? Well, my not ATT phone didnt go down. That's probably why the radio still worked because it doesn't run off exclusively ATT towers, pretty simple. That doesn't provide legitimacy to these at all.
I hope they fail. Their CEO signed off on marketing saying "No Monthly Fees-No Subscriptions" No Hidden Fees" but there are yearly fees. What a joke. Their business model is to put that in the fine print then after a year you go to use it, it doesnt work, you call em and have to pay $50 each for them to work again.
Not cool, should mention it it right up front. I was hoping for the best because they are great walkies and can benefit many people/businesses but the whole idea of them being free and deleting people comments from there ads if they mention the charge is not cool.
Ppl, this is trash, it depends on cellular phone. It also costs you $50.00 for each radio AFTER the first yr.
They work good in most areas.. but correct they cost $50 each per year. For some reason i do hit dead spots in buildings where i have full cell signal.
Use your cell phones.
Things you can do with a rapid radio 1. Push a button to talk to the person who has the matched radio, and only with a cellular connection.
Things you can't do with a rapid radio, call 911, call a friend's cellphone, order a pizza, pay your bills, watch videos like this one, text someone,...
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
This is a cell phone that can only talk to another rapid radio that has a similarly programmed sim card with a cell tower connection.
SUPER dishonest of them to say no monthly fees or subscriptions, EVER! Then they have $50 per radio per year. That is technically a subscription (product will not work without it) and could theoretically be broken down into a “monthly fee” but technically it is a yearly fee. Not sure why they false advertise like that and get very defensive and even delete comments mentioning it on their facebook site. Might be cool products but their shady marketing and how they try to hide there are in fact fees makes my decision to pass on them. 🤷🏻♂️
The $50 yearly renewal is definitely something that should be mentioned more than just part of fine print on the website.
the $50 annual was pretty straight forward to me. I guess some people don't understand an annual registration fee, v. a monthly subscription. But oh well. I love mine.
@@MSgtPierce its not an “annual registration”. they are charging you for a new sim card. pay by use sim cards dont cost $50, they are ripping you off.. plus.. theyre playing word semantics… “no monthly fees ever!”…. okay.. a $50 yearly fee.. whoch translates to a little under $4/mo. It’s still a fee… monthly or annually. it’s deceptive marketing. and like i said.. feel free to look up “global-ptt poc radio G1”… they cost $60-80 bucks from china and theyre charging you a fortune for it. Plus, you’re locked into a “mother may i” situation with them. they force you to buy more radios from them.. THEY have to add the new radios to your account.. if you want something as simple as the name of the radio (“contact name”) changed it has to go through them, adding members to your group has to go through them. Thats BS. If you buy the radios direct instead of this 3rd party rebranding scam, you get access to control your account alllll by yourself whenever and however you want. add new radios anytime you want.. add people to your group yourself, anytime you want. No thanks! These guys are nothing but importers of chinese radios, rebranding them as something of their own, and then locking you into paying them $50 a piece for the rest of your life and giving up all control to them. LOL. Suckers.
@@MSgtPierceWhy are you defending their deception?
Any company that deletes questions in comments on Facebook that doesn’t favor their product and then removes the post is not a company that I want to be involved with
I understand the frustration.
so use cell towers and has a YEARLY FEE NOT FREE, so if cells service is down these are down ?
Yes to both, yearly $50 fee and if towers go down they are down.
Thanks for the honest review. The $50 per year, per radio is not a deal breaker for me, but the false advertising by Rapid Radio is. They are going to be class actioned into oblivion.
Welcome 👍
By definition it's not a radio.
Walkie Talkie
Cool radios but pricey and with a renewal fee even though it says there's not any fees? No thanks
Not for everyone for sure.
Ya.. no cell phones = no rapid radios. Soo why? Ham radio's for me and my family.
Long distance walkie talkies. Thats all.
Looks like a great product. Thanks for sharing and take care. ✌️
Thanks! You too!
Wait, if it only works where there is cell service why not just use your cell phone?
These are walkie talkies. Work for me being long range and can get dirty and take a beating
What if the towers go down?..thats a no go..i did love the nextels tho
No go without towers.
Why not just use your cell phone and save $400?
I saved 15% on my insurance by switching to Geico. With the extra money I can now afford these as well.
Why have this when you can just use your damn phone it’s a redundant Idiocracy
Thats up to you. Having a walkie works better than pulling my phone out.
Had Netels for years before GREEDY ASS SPRINT took over charging outrageous monthly fees, Nextels were awesome and I easily used mine in Colorado springs speaking clearly to my employee in Brekenridge. I hate the pussified smart phones. Will be purchasing these talkies.
Good luck 👍
@@IffySignals Nextel didn't maintain its network for years, and Sprint failed to do its due diligence before buying it. They got sticker shock after the purchase as it cost them a fortune to repair, upgrade, and maintain, plus the former Nextel employees mostly refused to integrate into Sprint, so it was cheaper to shut down an fire most of them..
We also had Nextel. 50-60 of us connected. It was awesome! Sprint bought them and now you have to pay good money for Push-to-Talk. Take a superior product and turn it to SHIT! THANKS SPRINT!
My opinion: I have ham radio (licensed), walkie-talkie and I just purchased these. This way I cover ALL bases. Will give a review once I use them.
Good luck Deb 👍
Any luck with these? I'm looking for analog radios that do not need cell.towers
Have you tested your new radio yet
@@karencudworth7626
These obviously run off a cellular network. Lol
Will they work when the power grid or cell towers go down?
Not when the cell towers are down.
Do you have to get any plan for these monthly ??
$50 per radio per year. They come with the first year already included.
So just use your phone. That's all it is. Just with pre programmed numbers in it.
Very misleading product !!!!!
Definitely seems to be the consensus.
Are these a good idea for people who wouldn’t want to be tracked. If the towers went down would they still work?
Company states they are completely untraceable. They will not work if cell phone towers go down.
Made in China by Temu, I purchase three radios and extras, now I find out how cheap and trying to get my cost back.
Are these running off cell towers or sat?
Cell towers
Don't believe what anyone says if the grid goes off. You need something that works without the grid. Can't rely on these phone towers. If something happens, you need something powerful enough to talk to your love. Ones show us something like that. These work off the towers, they're no good. You might we'll just keep Cellphone
I was surprised yesterday during the outage. Our cell phones were down all day but the rapids kept 4g. The outage may have only been ATT. The Rapids never went down.
Pretty cool! I have never heard of those before, thanks for sharing.
Welcome 👍
Nice review great distance Thanks for sharing Iffy
Thanks Bud!
Wondering about the company being legit ??? Claims of being USA but I dont think so ? can you honestly say its legit ?
I spoke to them directly on the phone. They are based in the USA. Design and customer service is definitely in the USA. The radios seem to be made in China which they are not hiding because in the box was a tiny piece of paper from China. I asked them “what would happen if you went out of business?” and they replied that the radios will work with any Sim card and they had no concerns with there business. “Not Happening” was there exact reply to that. They were shipped from MI USA and shipping was here within two days.
Decent product but deceiving advertising and website. Very elusive faq on their website and no mention of the annual costs. May be a giid peoduct but they are scummy marketers
Thx for the info.
I ordered two to try out on our farm. We’re spread out from the north end of our county to the south and west. We have private radios on a repeater but it doesn’t work everywhere and can be plagued with problems during bad weather due to the poor location of the antenna. These rapid radios work but not everywhere, I’ve got one area along the Mississippi River where we have cell service but the rapid radios won’t work. I’ve emailed the company and they sent out slightly different radios but I’m still waiting for them to be activated. If the new radios won’t work I’ll be asking for a refund. I think their advertising is very misleading.
Good luck 👍
50 a year per radio. Only works in range of a cell tower. It has its uses but is not as advertised.
These use existing cell towers.
You will not be able to use them if the cell network goes down.
Better to but GMRS radios, or even CB radios.
Agree, these are just walkie talkies using cell service for nationwide coverage.
These are only as strong as the network and your wallet.
A 5 watt VHF HT with a good antenna will serve you far better in the woods.
These are for the Disney Land crowd.
I can see allot of small businesses liking these. We have been using them allot just for the PTT. Easier for us than a cell.
Thanks for the video. I like their advertising: "100% NO MONTHLY FEES or SUBSCRIPTIONS FEES - EVER!" After first year, $50 yearly renewal. What a joke. Neat toy I guess, better off with some Baofeng handhelds. I bet the cost of the (2) radios ($400) more than covers their cost to use cell towers to distribute the super compressed audio for a few years... I can't imagine the call quality being that good at all.
Welcome, they do work good and feel strong like the old nextels. No complaints with the quality.
Yeah, looks like a good product for the most part, nice build quality, just need to know what you're getting into. Was thinking about using them for off-roading, but I'll stick to FRS. @@IffySignals
@@BarnStangz you should really check out the gmrs radios. You can buy a license to use gmrs repeaters in your area and the license is fairly cheap and it expires in 10 years and no test to take either.
U mean I could buy this radio and give to someone 200 miles away and it will work?
Yes! Cross country. They said they are paired up with all cell phone carriers. I had no idea they existed either. You add a bunch of radios and talk to a single person or the whole group at once. They have a car kit too. 👍
Or you could just call them on your cell.
My Radios don't work out of the box. They are not pre-programmed. There is no customer service period.
You try the website, you are able to message them directly.
@@IffySignals No response
No way to message them directly. Strictly email only with no response.
Go to FB messenger and type in Rapid Radios.
Such a misleading scam !
These are just walkie talkies that work on cell service. They need cell service to connect. 👍
These would be amazing to have. Thanks for sharing. My cheapie cobra radios are impossible to use. Terrible audio.
My mini cobra’s are pretty bad too. In the open they are ok. In the woods they drop single fast.
In a real emergency your cobra radios will be more useful than these bricks.
When I saw these were advertised to work even in shtf I thought they were satellite radios but that should work world wide not just the US.
Will work if the shtf just not if the shit hits the cell towers 😆. I think they will work outside of the US if you let the company know what country ahead of time. I heard them mention that.
It will work for latin América to USA, New York?
Not sure, i only messed with them in the usa
Cool product, but pretty much like an Nextel phone used to be.
Yes, just like it but without the ability to use as a phone.
Nice straight to the point informative video
Thx Mike
Hi. Where did you purchase your protective case for Rapid Radios?
From ebay, i had to modify it to fit but its for an XP Deus 2 metal detector.
Will these work with NO CELL TOWERS?
No
So in a emp situation they still won't work
They need cell phone signal.
Depends on what towers were taken out. An emp in one place doesn't take everything down nation wide..
Thanks! I will. Fingers crossed on this great find.
Good luck 👍
Not new technology. Anyone remember NexTel?
Sure do
Would these work in Canada ?!
I would give them a call, pretty sure they can but you have to let them know ahead of time.
Oh so there IS a service fee 😂
Lol! No monthly, no service, but yearly you need to pay $50 each. Ill pay it for how much ill be using them, they definitely should be more up front about this $50.
Will these work with any SIM card or does it have to be an active one? 🤷🏽♂️ thanks!
Im not sure, they did tell me any sim card, i was assuming an active one.
Would these work after an EMP attack ?
Not if the cell towers go down.
@@IffySignalsappreciate you bud 👍🏼
Same as Zello. What's the difference?
No idea, never used Zello. They are just walkies that work off cell signal.
So basically this is a cell phone LOL.
Well you cant make calls, its a walkie talkie on cell signal 👍
Can these work in the western mountain backcountry?
If there is cell service they will work.
The problem is it requires a cell phone tower signal
So if the towers go down this is useless
Correct 👍
So they are based off cell towers
Yes, will not work without signals like a cell phone.
Just use a cellphone.
These can be very useful though for groups, work, or in a case where you are digging in dirt like i am with a group of people and want to communicate with them all at one time and not want to potentially damage an expensive phone.
no gps chip--no tracking--encrypted
Telefoon vermomd als walkie talkie,
Only has push to talk though 👍
I sometimes travel out of my state, will this work ?
Yes, nationwide. Anywhere there is cellphone signal.
how many watts ?
So they work over the internet?same a the walkie talkie add on the phone???
Yes
They look great!
Yea pretty cool!
Interesting
Definitely 👍
I would have thought PMR would have been more practical. I think you call it FRS in the USA. Shorter range, typically 1-2 miles but anything over that and a cell phone would be more useful. Especially as the RAPID radios need cell tower coverage. Also, there are no licenses or fees with PMR and for a decent pair they are about half the price or less.
Thx for the info, i’ve never heard of them.
I wish there was an “ACTUAL WALKIE TALKIE “, and not misleading THE CONSUMER!!!!
Question if the Cell towers go out like what happen to ATT a few weeks ago how will this radio work
I have ATT and these still worked, i have noticed lately that it loses signal inside of stores in my area where i do have full cell signal. Thats kinda odd.
hello my dear brother
👍
I had a set of cobra walkie talkies said 15 miles. I got about a half mile on them good thing I did not pay much for them.. These radio talkies seem pretty good. other then the yr fee after the first yr.. Thanks for sharing..
Yea Danny, i guess for our hobby if you go detecting frequently and have a regular group or digging buddy then it would be good. I can definitely see many other uses like small business ect..
You can get Zello for free
Going to try it out. Thx
CB radio broadcast range is line of sight.
These work off cell phone signal.
Being an Amateur Radio operator for
62 years, I know CB, beyond local range, is plagued with skip signals
much of the year, random in nature,
being in the High Frequency bands. 😊
That's cool thank you for sharing.
Welcome Jimmy!
Thanks very interesting good review.
Thx Fred!
If your cellphone won’t work then these won’t work.
I just put up a new video. Where my cell was in a dead spot and these were still in 4G. They work off multiple carriers 👍
Nice product!!!
Thanks Bill 👍
$50 per year for EACH ?
Yes
Интересный обзор брат рации🤗🔥👍👍👍
Thanks!
I rather use good old HAM radio
Nice 👍
If there's ever any kind of societal collapse or apocalyptic type of scenario cell phone towers will be out of service just as quick as everything else, rendering these things useless. In a true end of the world scenario you'd be better off with a good cb setup or even better, ham radio.
True 👍
do these work in other countries? awesome video
Yes, but from what i read, i think you have to let them know ahead of time so they can set it up that way. Thx
@@IffySignals paid 100.00 per radio. got new sim cards. now nothing works?
Wouldn't the Zello app work the same way without a $50 fee?
Never heard of Zello until you mentioned it. Pretty cool. 👍
Exactly. and with Zello you can get a gateway to link your actual radios to the data network for cross compatibility. These "radios" are no more than the radioditty LTE models you can get online.
@@rollingcode3 zello can link to these as well?
@rollingcode3 from my understanding, these Rapid radios bounce off the nearest tower. I think normal cell phones only use their towers. I could be wrong
@chrisholliday1330 you might be right!
"radios" 😂 good old PTT
👍
Dim cards are used with cell towers abd these will need to be liscence
These require a sim card. They are activated for one year already.
umm why not just use your cell phone??
You can 👍
THESE WILL NOT WORK IF CELL TOWERS GO DOWN.
Correct 👍