Motorola's New Hill-Friendly Walkie Talkie

Motorola has launched a new version of its Walkie-Talkie, the Motorola TLKR T7, which it says 'is targeted at the extreme sports enthusiast ... who wants to effectively and reliably stay in touch with other team members'. It has a greater range than other Motorola TLKR models making it a good bet for hill use.

Shock-Proof And More

The T7 is, says the company, shock-proof and has all the sophisticated features you'd expect from the company with a range that can be up to 10km under ideal conditions - ie: unobstructed line of sight - that's twice what the same company's T3 version will manage.

Features like direct call and Caller ID mean you can talk to everyone in a group simultaneously. or just one other selected person - ideal for those sticky  'we'll have to abandon him to his fate' moments....

There are 968 channel/code combinations and the T7 can be set to change channels automatically if it encounters interference on the channel being used. The walkie talkies come in a set of two, weigh in at 178 grammes each including battery and have an approximate battery life of 16 hours using the rechargeable NiMH batteries supplied complete with charger.

Great On The Hill...

You might think of them as toys, but walkie-talkies can be really handy on the hill. We've used them before now on big mountain routes, where they're an ideal way for a team to stay in touch even when the leader has popped off round a corner and is out of shouting range.

They also great for coordinating a big group on the hills and unlike mobile phones, there's no cost for talking and no reliance on being within range of a mobile phone mast.

Price to be confirmed, but the new TLKR T7 should be in the shops this month, September 2008. More details at www.motorola.com/walkie-talkie/.