I am considering getting a walkie talkie (2 way radio) set for my boy and myself. I am divorced.
I am concerned that, because most models have 22 public channels, a child channel surfing could be (would be) exposed to foul language or weirdos or worse.
Are there models that have a parental lock-out feature, so I could disable all but one channel?
Are there models that have an encrpytion feature, so that no one can hear us talking?
This would be for fun around the house, and for hiking and camping safety.
Thanks for any help.
S.
Walkie talkies are fun!
We had some when our son was that age.
We never had a problem with them.
Where we lived we never noticed anyone else who had them so we never came across anyone on another channel.
When he's out in the backyard playing with a friend and they're playing with them they don't go much further than the back yard would be. Check the package to see how far they go but I don't imagine they'd go as far as a cordless phone.
If you're considering using them for communication between you and him over distance, even at a neighbors, you might do better getting a cheap $15-$20 flip phone that only has the option to call a few people. One of those low cost plans at Walmart would be cheaper too.
are you getting this for him to play with? my brothers had walkie talkie sets when they were kids. they had 2 channels. or are you talking the kind like cops use? I don't think I would an adult set of walkie talkies for a kid. are you using them to take the place of a phone? just not really clear on what the reasoning is for this.
We have 2 sets of walking talkies we used with daughter years ago. It's not like a police radio and the range was about a mile.
Ours are Motorola. We still have them and they still work after all gees years.
Your child probably hears far worse at school, on the playground, etc.
Bottom line is maintaining open indication with your child on an ongoing basis.
If the walkie is for functional purposes instead of a toy, then get a cell phone with limited functions.
We bought the walkie talkies in the toy store and they worked fine for short distances. Simple and inexpensive.
If you want to use them when he's with his mother a d she doesn't want him to have a phone make sure she's ok with walkie talkies.
We have the Lego walkie talkies and if we take them in the car we can pick up things but it's so fuzzy you can't tell what they are saying. If we stay in/around the house, we don't pick anything up. You can not change channels manually on these but we've never had a problem with interference on them.
Man, my brother and I had walkie talkies, and out 2 best friends did too. We had SO much fun with them! I don't remember anyone else at all on them though...just us 4. We played spies, cops and robbers, army, war of the worlds, ET, all kinds of stuff with them. I've thought about getting some for my 7 year old to play with as well.
