Moto TalkAbout MS350R Waterproof bubble packs

[n1das]

Anybody here on RR tried out Motorola's waterproof bubble packs yet? These are the Motorola TalkAbout MS350R, a new model TalkAbout from Moto that meets IP67 requirements for protection against water intrusion. The radios will float with the stock NiMH battery pack (might not float with AA NiMH batteries though) and can withstand submersion in 1 meter deep water for 30 minutes. The high-vis yellow color is supposedly part of the IP67 spec.

Moto TalkAbout MS350R: http://shop.giantintl.com//ViewProducts.asp?productid=228
Home page: Giant International Ltd.

I felt comfortable ordering directly from Giant International given they are Motorola's outsourced manufacturer for the Moto TalkAbouts and Moto's cheap business band radios. The high end Motos are still genuine Motos.

My initial impressions of these are that they are way better made than older model TalkAbouts. They have a good rugged feel to them and can take a beating. They generally have to be well made in order to meet the IP67 spec for waterproofing. Receive audio quality is good on these and louder compared to other Moto TalkAbouts. Transmit audio sounds like I'm talking on a commercial radio.

I haven't had mine very long and haven't dropped them into water yet. My first impressions are these are good radios as far as GMRS/FRS bubble packs go.

 

[brianearlspilner]

Are they repeater capable?

 

[n1das]

Are they repeater capable?

Yes they are, and they do split PL & DPL on the repeater channels.
It is listed on the spec sheet: http://shop.giantintl.com//ViewProducts.asp?productid=228

With repeater channels disabled, only the standard 22 channels appear. To enable repeater channels, you set the "R" function to ON in the menu for setting channel and codes. This causes 8 additional channels to appear and set up to work the repeater split on each GMRS primary channel.

 

[brianearlspilner]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; DROID2 GLOBAL Build/S273) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

That is awesome.

 

[gewecke]

Yes they are, and they do split PL & DPL on the repeater channels.
It is listed on the spec sheet: http://shop.giantintl.com//ViewProducts.asp?productid=228

With repeater channels disabled, only the standard 22 channels appear. To enable repeater channels, you set the "R" function to ON in the menu for setting channel and codes. This causes 8 additional channels to appear and set up to work the repeater split on each GMRS primary channel.

Interesting, these sound like an updated model to the old T7200 model as they are repeater capable too.

73,
n9zas

 

[n1das]

Interesting, these sound like an updated model to the old T7200 model as they are repeater capable too.

73,
n9zas

They are built completely different from the old T7200. I don't recall the T7200 ever being rated as waterproof. The MS350R has DPL capability in addition to standard CTCSS tones. 38 CTCSS tones + 83 DPL codes = 121 codes total. The T7200 only offered the standard 38 CTCSS tones.

High power transmit on the 462 MHz channels is 1.92W ERP.
High power transmit on the repeater inputs (467.550 - 467.725 MHz) is 1.87W ERP.
Low power transmit is 0.25W ERP on all channels.
The ERP data are taken from the FCC's type acceptance grant. The SAR data are also available.
FCC ID: K7GMSCEJ. Note: The data filed for this ID references another FCC ID, K7GMSFGJ, an earlier design. I suspect the radio was lifted from an earlier design that was not waterproofed. It likely underwent a change of identification with the FCC when the waterproof version and new model number was created.

One thing I've noticed in the recent crop of Moto TalkAbout bubble packs is they no longer have audio companding like older TalkAbouts had. Motorola calls this "X-Pand" on their VHF and UHF radios and "Hear Clear" on their 900MHz radios. On Motorola's bubble packs (business band bubble packs and TalkAbout GMRS/FRS), this feature cannot be disabled when in narrow bandwidth mode. The feature can be controlled via programming in Moto's higher end radios. I suspect 2 reasons for it being eliminated: (1) Most users hate it, and (2) to reduce cost. It may have been removed from the chipset used in the latest bubble pack designs.

Another cool thing is the volume control has been replaced by volume up ("+") and down ("-") buttons. I suspect this was done as an easy way to waterproof the radio. It's probably harder and more expensive to try to gasket the shaft for the volume control than it is to waterproof the whole keypad. It makes changing the volume level a PITA at times however once you set the volume level, it is locked when the keypad is locked. This can be a good thing when you're in a harsh environment and don't want the volume level to get bumped by accident.

These seem to be well made for being cheap bubble packs. I suspect they have to be well made enough to be able to get the IP67 certification for water-proofness. Since they are bubble packs, I still consider them to be a throw away item but well worth the $99/pair for them. They might be well enough made that I may want to hold onto them instead and use 'em as simple beat around radios.

MS350R specs: http://shop.giantintl.com//ViewProducts.asp?productid=228
Home page: http://www.giantintl.com/

 

[gewecke]

They are built completely different from the old T7200. I don't recall the T7200 ever being rated as waterproof. The MS350R has DPL capability in addition to standard CTCSS tones. 38 CTCSS tones + 83 DPL codes = 121 codes total. The T7200 only offered the standard 38 CTCSS tones.

High power transmit on the 462 MHz channels is 1.92W ERP.
High power transmit on the repeater inputs (467.550 - 467.725 MHz) is 1.87W ERP.
Low power transmit is 0.25W ERP on all channels.
The ERP data are taken from the FCC's type acceptance grant. The SAR data are also available.
FCC ID: K7GMSCEJ. Note: The data filed for this ID references another FCC ID, K7GMSFGJ, an earlier design. I suspect the radio was lifted from an earlier design that was not waterproofed. It likely underwent a change of identification with the FCC when the waterproof version and new model number was created.

One thing I've noticed in the recent crop of Moto TalkAbout bubble packs is they no longer have audio companding like older TalkAbouts had. Motorola calls this "X-Pand" on their VHF and UHF radios and "Hear Clear" on their 900MHz radios. On Motorola's bubble packs (business band bubble packs and TalkAbout GMRS/FRS), this feature cannot be disabled when in narrow bandwidth mode. The feature can be controlled via programming in Moto's higher end radios. I suspect 2 reasons for it being eliminated: (1) Most users hate it, and (2) to reduce cost. It may have been removed from the chipset used in the latest bubble pack designs.

Another cool thing is the volume control has been replaced by volume up ("+") and down ("-") buttons. I suspect this was done as an easy way to waterproof the radio. It's probably harder and more expensive to try to gasket the shaft for the volume control than it is to waterproof the whole keypad. It makes changing the volume level a PITA at times however once you set the volume level, it is locked when the keypad is locked. This can be a good thing when you're in a harsh environment and don't want the volume level to get bumped by accident.

These seem to be well made for being cheap bubble packs. I suspect they have to be well made enough to be able to get the IP67 certification for water-proofness. Since they are bubble packs, I still consider them to be a throw away item but well worth the $99/pair for them. They might be well enough made that I may want to hold onto them instead and use 'em as simple beat around radios.

MS350R specs: http://shop.giantintl.com//ViewProducts.asp?productid=228
Home page: Giant International Ltd.

Yeah that's true, the T7200 was not waterproof! I dropped mine in a creek a couple years back but ya know what? It STILL works great after yanking the battery out right away and dis-assembling the entire radio into a baggie full of rice!
I may have to invest in a new pair to play with.

73,
n9zas

 

[KB7MIB]

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Besides these new MS350's and the older T7200's, what other 'bubble packs' from any manufacturer are repeater capable?

John
KB7MIB/WPXJ598
Peoria, AZ

 

[jimbr1]

Motorola MR 355R is also repeater capable.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; BREW 3.1.5; en )/800x480 Samsung SCH-U960)

Thanks.

 

[Porkins]

It says up to 35 mile range, but I was wondering what range are you really getting? Also can the antenna unscrew to use an external? Thanks.

 

[redneckcellphone]

pork if its an frs radio by fcc law the antenna cant unscrew

 

[n1das]

I had an opportunity over the weekend to test the waterproofing of 2 of my MS350R bubble packs. Some friends of mine were staying at a Holiday Inn Express hotel in my area and I met up with them. They all went for a swim in the indoor pool and my g/f and I stopped by for a visit. I tossed them my bubble packs and they had fun with them in the water. They DO float as advertised with the stock NiMH battery pack. The fine print in the documentation says they may not float with AA NiMH batteries installed.

One kid (his younger daughter) had one radio in the pool and the father had the other radio and was out of the pool at the time. When she tried to talk undewater you can hear the sound of her blowing bubbles while talking. When the father talked to them while he was out of the water, the kids in the pool while underwater could faintly but clearly hear the audio from the bubble pack that was underwater. It was fun and the kids had a great time in the pool.

I rinsed both bubble packs in the shower to get the chlorinated pool water off them. While the speaker grille area was still full of water, very little audio could be heard as the speaker cone was doing nothing but trying to push the water. I blew water out of the speaker grille area and then they sounded fine.

When they're soaked in water, they sound like it but they continue to WORK! I later opened up the battery compartment to check for any water ingress and found NONE as expected. The radios continue to work like they did before I tossed them into the pool. From my experience with them so far, I can say they ARE waterproof!

 

[gewecke]

I had an opportunity over the weekend to test the waterproofing of 2 of my MS350R bubble packs. Some friends of mine were staying at a Holiday Inn Express hotel in my area and I met up with them. They all went for a swim in the indoor pool and my g/f and I stopped by for a visit. I tossed them my bubble packs and they had fun with them in the water. They DO float as advertised with the stock NiMH battery pack. The fine print in the documentation says they may not float with AA NiMH batteries installed.

One kid (his younger daughter) had one radio in the pool and the father had the other radio and was out of the pool at the time. When she tried to talk undewater you can hear the sound of her blowing bubbles while talking. When the father talked to them while he was out of the water, the kids in the pool while underwater could faintly but clearly hear the audio from the bubble pack that was underwater. It was fun and the kids had a great time in the pool.

I rinsed both bubble packs in the shower to get the chlorinated pool water off them. While the speaker grille area was still full of water, very little audio could be heard as the speaker cone was doing nothing but trying to push the water. I blew water out of the speaker grille area and then they sounded fine.

When they're soaked in water, they sound like it but they continue to WORK! I later opened up the battery compartment to check for any water ingress and found NONE as expected. The radios continue to work like they did before I tossed them into the pool. From my experience with them so far, I can say they ARE waterproof!

Cool, I can make the same claim about my VX-6r but I haven't tried it with my aa pack yet.
73,
n9zas

 

[brianearlspilner]

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That has to be the best bubblepack radio that motorola has ever made

 

[n1das]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; DROID2 GLOBAL Build/S273) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

That has to be the best bubblepack radio that motorola has ever made

I think you're talking about the T7200, right? When I searched around to buy a few T7200s they had already been discontinued and were scarce. I also didn't buy them because they didn't have any DPL capability. They only had the standard 38 CTCSS/PL tones.

The T7200 also had Moto's much hated "X-Pand" audio companding feature. It worked as advertised but was incompatible with other radios which don't have X-Pand and caused the received audio on a TalkAbout to sound like $h!t. The feature could not be disabled and expander would expand audio that wasn't compressed originally and blows the audio out of proportion and made it sound muffled and distorted. It generally sounded good when all radios talking to each other had the X-Pand feature.

The latest crop of Moto TalkAbouts no longer have the X-Pand audio companding feature so the MS350R actually sound pretty good compared to older TalkAbouts. They also sound good when non-Moto radios talk to them too.

So far I'm liking the MS350R bubble packs. I think Motorola has a winner with these.

Motorola's TalkAbout GMRS/FRS bubble packs and their cheap VHF & UHF business band radios are all outsourced. Moto does not make them at all. The high end Motos are still genuine Motorola.

The Motorola TalkAbouts are designed and manufactured by Giant International (Giant International Ltd.). I ordered my MS350R bubble packs directly from Giant International on their website. http://shop.giantintl.com//ViewProducts.asp?productid=228

 

[APX6000]

Motorola MR 356 R Is also Repeater capable!