MIDLAND 75-822 40 Channel 2 Way Radio Review

I purchased this item for two reasons, road trips and communicating while off-road. It is my first CB transceiver and although I do not have anything to compare it to I am thoroughly impressed. The key feature that drew me to this specific item was the ability to use it as both a mobile and a portable. Some of the features have proven quite useful, such as the scan and memory scan functions, last channel recall, dual watch, and backlight. I have only had the unit for a few days but have already made good use of all the features it offers and all have performed flawlessly.

Living near a highway interchange that sees a lot of commercial traffic I have been picking up signals almost constantly when scanning. I can't give exact distances on the receive and transmit ranges of this item because they will vary, but I did receive signals from the highway (approximately 1.5 miles) while indoors with the included antenna. I also purchased the Cobra HA-TA Hand-Held CB Antenna to go with this radio and it appears to extend the range somewhat. As previously mentioned I do not know exact distances, but after switching to the Cobra HA-TA antenna I picked up weak signals clearly enough to understand on channels that had only given static with the included antenna just moments before. When transmitting I've been told I'm coming through both "loud and clear" and "crystal clear". The only downside is that when inside a vehicle I cannot appear to receive much more than static with either antenna and no one can hear me very well. I had known this would happen prior to trying it and plan to purchase an external antenna for my vehicle to solve this problem. Since the mobile adapter already has a connection for the external antenna this can be fixed easily.

The only slightly negative comments I can think of would have to do with the volume and the mobile adapter. While the audio is spectacular, and by that I mean the clarity of it when you are receiving a good signal, the volume is slightly lacking when on the highway. This is easily solved by using the speaker jack to hook up to an external speaker or your vehicle's audio if you have an aux jack. For handheld use and anything under 55-60 I think the volume on the handset itself is great. The only gripe about the mobile adapter is the length of the cord. It is still new and is wound rather tight, and although I have a power source on the driver's side of my dash I am going to try and stretch the cord a little before really using it in my vehicle. I doubt it will have any problems reaching from the power source and I wouldn't want a loose cord swinging around every time I grabbed the handset anyway. This second complaint doesn't apply to me currently so I am not holding it against the product because I think the versatility makes up for this minor complaint. I just know if I still had my old pick-up I would be wishing for a slightly longer cord.

Last but not least, despite numerous references to the Midland 75-820 on the product page, the item I received was indeed the Midland 75-822.

Buy it here now!