The FR50 is perfect if all you want to do is communicate between cars in a caravan.
Its shortcomings are quickly realized when you bring it to place where everybody and his brother allready has one.  I bought the FR50 thinking that I could save myself a couple of bucks instead of getting the FR60.  Then i went skiing.  The constant yammering of yahoos was so anoying that the radio had to be turned down to almost inaudible levels. (This sort of makes them usless).
Spend the extra couple of bucks and get the FR60.  The difference is that the FR60 has 38 sub channels that it recieves on for each of the 14 main frequencies that it transmits on.  That works out to about 532 unique combinations.  The point is, that while the yahoos might hear you... you cant hear them, (except for the yahoos in your group who are on the same sub frequency)
Trust me on this one.
Oh.. one last thing...  they sell optional accessories such as a push to talk clip on mic.  you might think that this would be a good idea.... e.g. you don't have to pull the radio out of your parka every time you want to say something.  Other then the fact that these accessories (both the speaker/mic & the earbud version) reduce the range to within 50 feet or less and make you sound like you are on the bottom of a swimming pool, they work fine.  No seriously... avoid them, they don't work at all.
One other peice of advise, don't opt for the FR250 over the FR60.  The only difference between the two is that the FR250 has a universal jack instead of the single 2.5mm jack that the FR60 has for use with the optional accesories.  Since my review was so glowing re the accesories i would hope you might conclude that there is no point in wasting the extra 20 bucks per radio for the FR250's.
The FR50 is perfect if all you want to do is communicate between cars in a caravan. Its shortcomings are quickly realized when you bring it to place where everybody and his brother allready has one. I bought the FR50 thinking that I could save myself a couple of bucks instead of getting the FR60. Then i went skiing. The constant yammering of yahoos was so anoying that the radio had to be turned down to almost inaudible levels. (This sort of makes them usless). Spend the extra couple of bucks and get the FR60. The difference is that the FR60 has 38 sub channels that it recieves on for each of the 14 main frequencies that it transmits on. That works out to about 532 unique combinations. The point is, that while the yahoos might hear you... you cant hear them, (except for the yahoos in your group who are on the same sub frequency)
Trust me on this one. Oh.. one last thing... they sell optional accessories such as a push to talk clip on mic. you might think that this would be a good idea.... e. g. you don't have to pull the radio out of your parka every time you want to say something. Other then the fact that these accessories (both the speaker/mic & the earbud version) reduce the range to within 50 feet or less and make you sound like you are on the bottom of a swimming pool, they work fine. No seriously... avoid them, they don't work at all. One other peice of advise, don't opt for the FR250 over the FR60. The only difference between the two is that the FR250 has a universal jack instead of the single 2. 5mm jack that the FR60 has for use with the optional accesories. Since my review was so glowing re the accesories i would hope you might conclude that there is no point in wasting the extra 20 bucks per radio for the FR250's.