BTech GMRS 50X1 VS Wouxun KG-1000G - GMRS Mobile Radio Shootout - Which GMRS Radio Is Better?

fun fact the first 10 seconds of a video are the most important and they set the tone for the rest of the entire video today i'm going to be comparing the btec gmrs50x1 50 watt gmrs radio with the ocean kg 1000 g 50 watt mobile gmrs radio i've been using both of these radios in both of my jeeps for the last several months unlike some of those other youtubers that just grab something out of the box and start reading off of the features list i'm actually qualified to go over some of the features that matter and don't matter and compare these two radios the btec gmrs50x1 and the ocean kg1000g are the only two full power 50 watt gmrs radios available on the market midland makes a 40 watt 50 is better than 40. so if you want a full power 50 watt gmrs radio right now these two radios are the only two to choose from i'm going to keep this video short to the point it should only be a few minutes long we'll see how that goes but first some ground rules for watching this video if you're a ham radio operator and you came here to explain to us how ham is superior to gmrs or if you came to explain radio theory or get us to take the test or leave 10 paragraph answers to questions that nobody asked so everybody can see how smart you are nobody cares go away you're getting annoying don't let the unsubscribe button hit you on the way out oh you look like a sad ham i wasn't talking about you i was talking about those other ham radio operators that leave condescending comments 10 paragraphs long trying to make themselves look smart make up lies about baofeng radios you're one of the smart friendly ones [Music] last night i talked on gmrs with my bathroom i've had both of these radios now for several months and i've actually used them pretty much every weekend when we go off-roading so i've gotten familiar with both of them and i know the ins and outs and the good and bad points of each radio it's almost like i know what i'm talking about radios are mounted in both jeeps i'm not going to take them out i'm not going to sit down in the jeeps and make the videos i'm going to make the video here but here's some footage of the radios from inside the jeeps for your viewing pleasure both of these radios are fcc part 95e compliant for use on gmrs both require a gmrs license to use both are gmrs repeater capable so you can talk on gmrs repeaters with both of these radios both of these radios can transmit dozens probably hundreds of miles we've tested them out up to about 30 miles there's no real difference in range and how far you can talk they're both good gmrs transmitters both of them work as a scanner so you can scan through ham radio frequencies noaa weather channels basically almost anything on the uhf bands both have microphone controls so you can control the radio almost completely through the microphone both are able to play fm music stations functionality wise they're both good radios so the difference really comes down to features what features do you care about which may make one or the other better for you to use the btec price is 230 the ocean is about 320. there are affiliate links below to both both of these radios have been on and off available and unavailable for the last several months they're extremely popular so if you go to purchase either one and it says it's out of stock put it into your cart and come back and keep checking every day until they come back in stock because they've been coming back in stock and then they're literally sold out a day or two later not only is the off-road world slowly moving from cb radio to gmrs but they're both also very popular in the prepper world people waiting for somebody to come and knock on their door to tell them that they're going to own nothing and like it they're stocking up so this is going to come down to a feature war which which radio's got the best features that you care about the gmrs50xw btec it's basically a baofeng radio modified by baofeng tech in the united states to make it legal it can monitor up to four frequencies at once you can store up to 256 channels for scanning through to use it as a scanner it has a color screen and you can customize the colors of almost every line and every item on the screen but that screen is somewhat small and at an arm's length if it's mounted in your vehicle more than an arm's length or so away it can be hard to read because it's relatively small but there's a lot of information a lot of details on the screen because it's able to monitor four frequencies it can be a little confusing when you're using it and listening to it knowing what frequency you're talking on and not talking on and it can be a little confusing to configure if you only want to monitor two frequencies instead of four or one frequency instead of four so it takes some configuration and learning on how to get it set up the way that you like it it's not something that you're probably going to take out of the box and plug in and just start using it has a relatively small chassis which is nice the circuitry is a soc a system on a chip or a complete radio on a chip it's not the highest quality it's inexpensive but it's not the best quality the squelch is almost useless it has a microphone gain control so you can program how loud or low the input is on the microphone when you're talking on it and that's really helpful if you've got a loud vehicle like a jeep you can turn the input gain down and that way the person you're talking to hears you and your voice more than all of the noise from the freeway and the wind blowing through your jeep the kg1000 does not have that option kg1000 by ocean spelled wookson has a larger screen but it's much simpler when i first saw it i didn't think it was going to be as useful after seeing all of the information that is on the btec screen but it is much larger and easier to read kg1000 can monitor two frequencies at a time not four like the btec and it's very easy to switch between the two to transmit or to just switch from two frequency monitoring to one you can just hit one button and it switches from monitoring two frequencies to one like a normal radio much simpler than the btec it can store up to 999 channels for scanning as opposed to 256 on the vtec along the top it's got programmable buttons that are large and easy to reach so you can set them for different functions like switching between high power and low power or turning off the dual frequency monitoring or turning it back on the btec does not have anything like that kg1000g has the ability to store multiple repeaters on the same frequencies with different tones this is a huge issue if you travel to a lot of places like us when we're off-roading where there might be a repeater on the same frequency in a different area that uses a different tone on the btec if you're using a repeater say on repeater channel 24 with a tone of 100 and you drive to a different area 100 miles away and there's a repeater using that same channel but a different tone you have to pull off to the side of the road and go into the keys and program that tone in on that same channel the kg1000 you can store additional repeater channels on the same frequency but using different tones it's impossible to do on the btec and that is a huge advantage the kg1000 has over the btec that's a deal breaker if you go to a lot of different areas that have repeaters that use the same frequencies but different tones the kg1000 has the removable face plate you can take the plate off of the chassis and with a little ethernet type wire mount it anywhere this is huge even though the chassis is a quite a bit larger than the btec if you use the removable faceplate that doesn't matter because that chassis is going under the seat or somewhere doesn't matter how big it is and that's another huge advantage that the kg1000g has over the btec to me that's the best feature there is because i don't have a lot of room in my jeep being able to put that faceplate anywhere is a huge feature the kg1000g also has a good size speaker inside the microphone so if like me if you've mounted the chassis under the seat where the speakers are if you can't hear it well enough you can just put the microphone up next to your ear or mount it like i did on the ceiling where it's right there next to my ear and you can hear it much better it's another feature that the btec does not have another advantage of the kg1000g is that it has super heterodyne radio circuitry that's basically old-fashioned type classic radio circuitry as opposed to the system on a chip or the entire radio on one little chip of the btec that's one of the reasons why the btec is cheaper but the better circuitry in the kg1000 gives you a better squelch better audio quality it's just a better radio internally some people don't care you may not but it is better when compared to the btec the btec you can program using chirp or with the software that comes with it most people use chirp the kg1000g is not yet yet chirp compatible ocean has their own software that you can use to program it which works fine if you use a pc if you're on a mac you're out of luck programming the radio through the handset is very easy it took me just a few minutes to figure out more like me can figure it out you'll probably be able to figure out using software is easier it is a big issue if you have a mac you will have to program the radio through the handset if you're not using repeaters or aren't doing anything fancy no programming is needed you can just turn it on use the channel knob to select what channel you want to talk on and start using it doesn't require programming but if you want to customize anything or set repeater tones and things like that you will have to do that through the handset if you have a mac otherwise it's easier to use the ocean software so which is better my friend depends on how you define better and what's important to you if to you better means cheaper get the btec it's better for you it's 100 bucks cheaper it's still a good radio it doesn't have all the options but if all you care about is getting the most power for the least amount of dollars vtech is best or if something like that color screen or having all the little things display on the screen is more important to you get the btec if on the other hand better means better circuitry the ability to remotely mount that faceplate or storing repeater channels with different tones then the kg1000 is going to be a better choice for you it's not that complicated people pick the one that has the features that you want they're both good radios get the one that has the stuff that's more important to you buy it affiliate links below i've been using both of these radios for quite a while now i have one installed in each jeep i'm pretty familiar with them both if you have questions leave a comment below i'll do my best to answer them if i can't answer them somebody else probably will they'll probably know what they're talking about thank you for watching we hope to see you on the track

Channel: NotaRubicon Productions

Views: 30,576

Rating: 4.8929253 out of 5

Keywords: gmrs radio review, btech gmrs-50x1, wouxun kg-1000 g gmrs, best gmrs radio, best gmrs radio for, best gmrs radio for off-roading, best gmrs radio for overlanding, best gmrs radio for jeep, high power gmrs radio

Id: FzjdLrsul8g

Length: 11min 10sec (670 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021