Retevis RT49 Waterproof Walkie Talkie Review

Walkie-talkies are a proven medium for reliable one-to-one communication. There are many different ways that they can be put to use. For instance, on a camping trip, on a hiking adventure, workplace, at outdoor events, or in fact, anywhere you want. It’s an incredibly popular and trendy piece of tech that doesn’t have limitations like a cell phone.

Retevis walkie-talkie features resistance to mild to moderate water exposure with IP65 waterproofing. They are durable, affordable, and have NOAA Weather alerts with decent battery life and range. And when someone thinks about walkie-talkies for both casual users and professionals alike, there’s a name that pops up alongside Motorola and Kenwood is the RETEVIS.

RETEVIS is a professional developer and manufacturer of wireless two-way communication equipment. And in this article, we have put forth an overview of one of their compact 22-channel walkie-talkie- Retevis RT49 that you can bring anywhere from summer camp to your workplace. 

Unboxing

Well, these license-free walkie-talkies come in a very standard box, which is not that fancy-looking. But they are affordable. A mini-USB charging cable is a standard 5-volt charging adapter equipped with a charging dock to charge the batteries. Speaking of the batteries, you’ll get 6 AA batteries inside with two belt clips. You’ll also find the user manual on top of other accessories. Finally, you’ll get the pair of RT49s together in the box.

Features

These walkie-talkies are much lighter than the ones used by professional law enforcement agencies. They weigh only around 1.32 pounds each. It had an excellent fit in hand once we held it. Moreover, they are made of rugged plastic material, which is protected from water splashes with an IP65 rating.

On the outside, each walkie-talkie has a belt mount socket. You can clasp it with your pocket, belt, backpack, or anywhere convenient with the mount. This walkie-talkie has a fixed RF antenna and a standard 2.5 mm earphone port on the top of the device if you want to avoid loud noises. 

It has a tiny LED flashlight, which is not the best torch on the market, but it will help you stay put in critical power failure situations. On the left side, you will find the push-to-talk or PTT button. It doesn’t have softer feedback, maybe because of its rubberized protection though it has a comfortable clicky feeling. 

Detaching the mount and turning a safety lock switch off at the bottom, you can pull out the back cover to open up the battery compartment. As earlier said, each device runs on three AA batteries which are already provided in the package. These provided batteries are 1200 milliampere-hour nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries. It has much flexibility for charging, with USB or the charging dock. 

After pressing the call-power combo button for several seconds, the walkie-talkie turns on. On the front side, it has an LCD screen and a six buttons keypad to operate it. The keys are aligned in direct order, and the functions are marked on it so that you don’t have to suffer learning it as a beginner.

There are 22 channels available, with the help of a dual watch system, so the chance of missing calls has been reduced. To search for available channels, you need to press the mono scan button. You can also change the channels manually with the up-down arrow keys. We used the menu buttons to customize our preferences. 

Testing

Now, that we know what the device is all about, let’s test it. Retevis Rt49 offers a license-free FRS band transmission in a long-range distance, unlike any amateur or ham radio that needs special permissions. It allowed us to call other Retevis models we have, which extended our communications among large teams. In addition, it has 11-channel NOAA band support to get the latest weather telecast.

These walkie-talkies have an IP65 rating, which prevents splashing water from having any harmful effect on them. And we think this thing can fight rain and storms. Another great thing is that this walkie-talkie offers hands-free and voice-control operations, which is highly required in mountain climbing or driving situations.

These are very user-intuitive, affordable, and simple to use. Most importantly, they have NOAA Weather alerts with decent battery life and range. Overall, these walkie-talkies will be great for emergencies and field trips. So, that was our review of the Retevis Waterproof Walkie-Talkie. Let us know what you think about this walkie-talkie in the comments.