eXRS? Anyone try it?

So, I was looking in the store today and ran across this walkie talkie that caught my attention.  It's by a company called Tri Square but that's not what caught my eye.  It is like FRS, but it's digital and uses frequency hopping technology to help make it secure.  This is pretty exciting technology and its been around for years.  The radios have to be sync'd together beforehand and decide on a number.  Then, when you want to talk, you put in that number and it calls the other radio.  Once you start talking, the radios start changing frequencies based on a common algorithm- so, even if someone else does find out a frequency your on, it changes in a less than a second, so they don't get the whole conversation.  We used similar radios when I was in the police department to stop citizens from using scanners to listen in on us. Also, with this higher end model it will record the last transmission from the other person so if you miss their radio call- they can leave a message!  I'm not trying to advertise for them- I don't care if you buy one or not, but from a COMSEC point of view, this could be a very valuable tool for communicating with those in your group.  This was advertized for $100 and includes 2 units, batteries, wireless headsets and a base charging unit.  They also make it in real-tree.

This is from their site:

eXRS (eXtreme Radio Service) is the new digital two-way radio service operating in the 900 MHz band [Jimmy: this means it can travel through building better than the HF waves but requires more line of sight]. eXRS goes beyond FRS and GMRS. eXRS uses frequency hopping to make it possible to have private and secure communications. eXRS puts an end to annoying interference from other users on the same channel. Because eXRS radios constantly hop from one frequency to another, your conversation cannot be overheard on a scanner or another radio. In addition, eXRS radios, unlike FRS/GMRS radios are license free and are legal for all users of all ages and for personal and business purposes.


eXRS TWO-WAY RADIO RANGE


EXCEEDS 100 MILES!

________________________________________

That’s a bold statement and true, but of little practical value to the user.

The truth about Radio Range on the planet Earth

The actual range of eXRS and all other UHF two-way radios including FRS and GMRS (walkie-talkies) is effectively the same, regardless of transmit power. The total range is greatly diminished by the effects of the atmosphere, trees, buildings, hills and all other environmental conditions in the area of use.

Portable UHF radios are effectively straight-line communications devices. It is the path that establishes usable range, not the transmit power.

The Earth is not flat.

Even the curvature of the Earth limits the straight-line path. The average curvature of the Earth dictates an average maximum range of 6 miles.

There are certain conditions that will extend the straight-line path to more than one hundred miles (mountain top to valley, for example) and there are many conditions that will obstruct the straight-line path to less than one mile.

Shorter Range Conditions

Longer Range Conditions

Beware of advertised range claims. Advertised range has grown over the last few years from a couple of miles to 30 miles and more in an effort to distinguish product pricing. All good quality portable UHF radios, regardless of range claims, will perform essentially the same under the same conditions. It is unlikely a user will normally experience a set of conditions conducive to long range operation, but under those conditions, radios with advertised range of 2 miles will perform equally as well as those advertising greater than 30 miles.

Realistically, under most conditions, typical range for all eXRS, FRS and GMRS radios will be a few thousand feet to several miles.

eXRS radios have been independently tested head to head with the top of the line GMRS/FRS radios and up to five Watt commercial radios and the results demonstrate that they are all range equivalent.