It's like advertising a car that gets 1000 mpg so long as you're rolling down a hill with the engine turned off. If you had something to do with these unrealistic claims on the packaging, then you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Especially when you know full well actual range will be 100 times less. Shame on you.
I totally agree, and very appropriate analogy. Many automakers, both "imported from Detroit" and "foreign" have been sued by the FTC for overstating their MPGs on many models.
It is long time the industry adopt some real standards and post HONEST, REAL WORLD range expectations and stop with this intentional misleading puffery. It is deceptive and misleading.
Now I am sure the average ham or radio professionals know it is entirely possible under ideal conditions to achieve portable to portable communications over a "36 mile" distance from a 4,000 foot mountaintop or flying around in a chopper, but I even call to question the validity of these tests. The average FRS/GMRS bubble pack has a craptastic single chip radio base with no front end and a horrible inefficient antenna. I know I can hike up to the top of Kennesaw mountain with an APX7000 and talk across Atlanta to another LMR portable, but trying this with (insert your manufacturer of cheap bubble pack FRS/GMRS radios here) and you'll be lucky to talk into Marietta 5 miles away and actually be able to receive the station you are talking to.
The electronics industry needs an enema the way that they did back in the 1970s with overstating audio power amplifier specifications. What Uniden, Cobra and others do with these "35 mile range" claims is akin to the "300 watts music power" that some Hong Kong stereo manufacturers did putting these figures on a $99 stereo receiver that had some limp single Darlington IC that could barely spit out 12 watts per channel at 10 percent THD.
And IMO, this "GMRS/FRS" combo radio should have never been allowed to leave the gate. So many unlicensed users causing interference to licensed GMRS stations and repeater users.
Shame on these sleazy manufacturers, all of them.