Best GME UHF & VHF Radios
GME TX3100
Just a nasty, terrible radio – Both received and transmitted audio on this model sound like rubbish. Thin, raspy audio both ways. Uncomfortable to listen to for any length of time… Read more
and anyone you speak with won't enjoy hearing you on it often either. Microphone is far to light weight for the curly cord and often gets thrown about by the force of the cord if you loose grip on the microphone which feels like a kids toy from a showbag. All in all, The TX3100 is rubbish.
GME TX6155
GME WALKIE TALKIE and Car unit – Great unit I own a few I got a hard wired one fitted in my car and 3 GME 1 watt and 1 5 Watt, used these units in a rally and very impressed. Infact my work bought 12 GME 2 watt units. Very highly recommended. Show details
GME TX6160
GME TX6160 – I have a TX6150 and needed a 2nd radio - I purchased a TX6160 and it is a noticeable improvement. 1. Scan speed is much quicker 2. Changing channels… Read more
is quicker 3. Nice addition of display back light option on receive signal 4. Subtle features / changes I wish I could upgrade on the 6150 - especially like the Battery Percentage on Power on! 5. Led torch light is convenient- but perhaps not a replacement to a real torch.
As you would expect - the radio is robust and high grade - I am often out on a 4WD track and I want a robust radio to handle the conditions on the track - this radio will last a life time!
The battery life on the TX6150 is amazing - and the TX6160 has a higher capacity - it is designed to conserve battery life and I expect the TX6160 will be better.
GME TX6600S
Solid, quality unit with good features – I've had a TX6600S for around 4 years now and I've found it to be a very well made and usable UHF transceiver. It feels rock solid in your hand and… Read more
performs well
First, to it's pros: * Sturdy construction, made from good quality materials. This is not hyperbole, it really is very solid. If only more things were made this hardy... * Controls feel sturdy too, including the Volume and Channel knobs. There's no wobble and there's enough resistance in them that you wont easily change the channel or volume by accident * Nice, high-contrast White-backlit LCD display. Uses 11 segments instead of 7 so it can display alphabetical characters also, which helps with the menu system since you get much more readable descriptions for each menu item * Channel annunciation: The device speaks the channel numbers as you change channels, which is very helpful when it's on your hip and you're turning the Channel knob (no need to look down). It does say "One one" though, instead of "Eleven". I'd like to hear it pronounce the numbers above 9 properly instead of spelling out the digits, but that's a minor thing * Two programmable instant-channel buttons. I have mine set to 5 and whatever channel I'm operating on for that day, but you just have to select a channel and then hold in one of the two buttons to set that as the instant channel. After that, a single press will take you back to that channel. Super easy * Dual and triple channel scan, so you can scan whatever channels you want while keeping an eye on one or two other priority channels. I don't use this personally, but I appreciate it's availability and can think of some situations where it might be useful. It does slow down the scan while using it, but that's to be expected * Turns-on with the Volume knob. I much prefer this to transceivers that have a separate power button, or some other way of turning it on. The "click" as it transitions on or off is very noticeable and reassuring * Has a 0.1W power mode in addition to 1W and 5W: If you're talking to someone who's only a hundred meters away or so (like in a vehicle convoy), then this is all the power you'll need. Saves a lot of battery life using 0.1W compared to 1W or 5W, so it's nice to have the option * Signal strength meter: It can optionally display received signal strength using a logarithmic or linear number scale, which is helpful for signal reports * IP67 rating: An IP55 rating is a minimum requirement for outdoor use in my mind, but IP67 is even better. No need to worry about it being ruined if you drop it in water * Clear and loud Audio * Australian made
Cons: * Expensive. Although I don't mind paying more for quality, and more for it being made in Australia, you will notice it in the sticker price. I see it as a fair trade-off, but unless you're rich, it's still a negative point * Channel up and down buttons are on the same horizontal level. I'm not a fan of this and think that the channel up button should be physically *above* the channel down button. This is a minor gripe, but if you have other devices where the Down button is on the Right instead of the Left, it will cause you trouble unless you're looking directly at the buttons when you press them * The Channel Knob: This is the main thing I don't like about the TX6600S, as it has a raised-ridge with a line on it. The ridge means your fingers often get squeezed in-between it and the antenna, making it harder to use than it needs to be. Given that the Channel Knob is an encoder and has no fixed reference position (unlike the Volume knob), why have an annoying ridge on it with a marked line? The line could be pointing towards you while it's on Channel 1 and then your press an instant channel recall button that switches it to Channel 37 and the line will still be pointing towards you, so it's pointless. To be clear, I don't really care about the line itself, but I *do* have a big problem with the ridge that the line is drawn on. This is by far the most annoying thing with the radio, and I notice it *a lot* during everyday use. Even though most people probably won't be troubled by it, it should still be noted for anyone looking to buy this device * Plain-looking. This is also a very minor point, but it does look fairly plain for the price. It's not terrible to look at, but I think they could have made it a bit more stylish for the money, without sacrificing it's hardiness
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the radio. I took the time to write this review because there's way too much junk on the market (not only CBs) and I think GME's efforts should be rewarded. Overall, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a top-notch handheld UHF transceiver. I think the negatives are all minor (even the irritating Channel Knob) and far out-weighed by the positives. If you buy this unit, you won't regret it and I would not be surprised if it lasts you for 15+ years
GME TX3120S
Wouldn’t have purchased if I knew I couldn’t plug an external speaker into it – As above, if I knew the plug for the microphone was the way it was and you couldn’t plug in an external speaker I wouldn’t have purchased. I am… Read more
partially deaf in my left ear and really need the external speaker to be able to hear anything over the pathetic speakers they have in the unit,
Guess I’ll be keeping my uniden uhf and flogging this one off on marketplace
GME TX3350
Aerials mounts are very poor quality - Radio is good – We bought three of the TX3350UVP kits and so far two of the aerial mounts have broken in the exact same location. One is mounted on a bull bar and… Read more
the other is mounted on the vehicle. Neither have been used on dirt roads so vibration should not be the issue. I think it is just poor quality parts. It is pain to replace an aerial mount, it is a big job to re run the cable. I tried to ring GME but their phones don't work either, "I am sorry, we are unable to process your call". I would steer clear of their aerials until this issue is fixed.
GME XRS-660
Good radio, its only major flaw is its lack of USB-C charging, presumably to make money on chargers and cables. I was getting garbled speech which I… Read more
thought was a hardware fault but since a factory reset cleared that, I'm thinking that was a random setting I stuffed up.
The CrewTalk feature is great although there appears to be no way to toggle that via any of the 3 programmable buttons, which is problematic as CrewTalk overrides normal scanning while turned on.
The Android app is buggy, particularly if more than one radio connected, it is also flakey as connection drop more than you'd like and it doesn't tell you, so you make lots of setting changes which it will later on not let you apply. The settings menu differs from the device's menu which is just stupid.
GME GX700B
Have found that the handpiece does not work – After lots of trial and error I have discovered that the handpiece is NOT waterproof and if water or dew even gets on it it will not transmit rendering the unit useless. Submitted complaint to GME no response. Show details
GME TX677TP
Early days but not looking good – 12 month update: I dont use these anymore - i have had a unit installed in the car with a decent antenna and it works very well. I get at least 5kms… Read more
out of it, so much better than the hand held models. If you want them for just giving to the kids to play with or so you can contact them, great. But dont expect to be listening to the goings on around the highways and biways, these wont do it.
I bought these two radios after watching a video showing how good they were. In the video a chap was using one in the scrub on his property, testing them with his wife back in the house, starting at 1km, progressively moving out to 10km.
In the video, even at 10km the two of them could communicate across hilly and wooded land. I am wondering if they used two handheld radios, or whether the wife had some kind of raised antenna (not just the little one on the handheld unit). Here's why....
I first checked that I was on high power (2W not 0.5W). Then I just did a quick check that they actually worked by going into the backyard and trying them - they worked fine over a distance of about 20 meters. Then I hopped in the car and headed off down the street - we are not living in the open country, but in the suburbs, which may have impacted the test. Anyway, from distance of about 400 meters as the crow flies, they worked okay, but I could hear a little static coming in. I then drove off to a location about 1.3kms away, a little over 10% of the stated range. We could not hear each other at all! Not even faintly over a lot of static, nada... Okay, there were houses and some trees between the two of us, but the ground was flat so I would have expected to be able to hear each other.
I then moved to a different location, with fewer houses in between us, and only 670 meters away. We could hear each other, mostly, but the static was very bad, and hearing every word was a challenge. The radios were very clear at about 250 meters, but once the distance got past 500M the static increased significantly.
I understand how radios work. I understand LOS. I dont believe these radios are as good as some people have suggested. Or perhaps you need perfect conditions - be on top of hills that are 10kms apart with nothing but a valley in the middle. So why did I give them 3 stars. Well, they are not super expensive, they do work okay under 1km, really well under 500 meters, and for many people this will be sufficient. Using them in theme parks, or caravan parks, or for just being able to communicate with someone when reversing a caravan, would be where they come into their own. They have more features than this type of use would need, but you could also have them in your car if you dont have a larger unit installed. They would be fine chatting to truckies as they come up behind you or are in front of you. But if you are going to use them for anything else, maybe pay more money and get something more powerful. I was going to get a 5W model, but they cost twice as much as these two did, and I dont really need that level of power for my purposes. But if you do, that would be the way to go.
I have only had them for a few weeks and havent really used them much beyond the test. I will update this review if I find out that they work better out in the wilderness than they do in suburbia.
UPDATE
used them on a trip to Dubbo, and I havent changed my opinion at all. On the road, on flat mostly treeless ground, these radios would have been lucky to reach past a couple of kms at best. There were a lot of trucks moving wide loads so there was a lot of chatter. I could just pick it up between 1-2 kms, but the reception was very poor. Under 1km the reception was okay, so they are still good for chatting to people within that range, but anything greater and you will struggle. For that you will need to get the 5Watt models...