Motorola Talkabout

Motorola Talkabout (stylized TALKABOUT) is a line of consumer-oriented walkie-talkies produced by Motorola Solutions (formerly Motorola). License-free and designed for families and outdoor recreational activities, they have been one of the most successful product lines of two-way radios.^[1]

Talkabout logo

Talkabout T42 radio (PMR446 network), released c. 2020

Product history

The TalkAbout line was first released in 1997 targeting families and young buyers with two-way radios. Designed to work on the Family Radio Service (FRS), it was initially offered in a regular TalkAbout model^[2] and a Talkabout Plus model.^[3] In July 1998, the TalkAbout SLK series were announced, also for the FRS.^[4] In March 1999, the TalkAbout 200 was launched. These would also launch in European territories being able to operate freely on the selected frequencies.^[5]

TA280 radio (for FRSnetwork), released c. 1999

The Talkabout 250 became one of the most famed walkie talkies during the boom of the walkie-talkie in the late 1990s, before the expansion of cell phones.^[6][7]

In September 1999, Motorola introduced the TalkAbout T289, with advertized new features being a channel busy indicator and hands-free use.^[8] In May 2000, FRS two ray radios FR50 and FR60 were lanched.^[9]

On August 1, 2000, Motorola introduced the TalkAbout T6300 rugged two-way radio series.^[10] It has a digital compass, altimeter, barometer, clock, alarm, timer, and gets national weather alerts from NOAA.^[11]

Motorola Talkabout T5100 radio (FRS network), released c. 2007

Motorola also released a model that works with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology that was released in 2007.^[12]

In 2011, the fully waterproof MS350R was introduced.^[13] In 2013, Motorola launched the Talkabout MU350R, the first consumer FRS/GMRS radio with Bluetooth. On the other hands, the MG series (MG160A and MG167A) became new entry-level radios with a range of 16 miles and coming in bright colors.^[14][15] In October 2014, Motorola Solutions announced that the Talkabout will begin selling in Latin American markets.^[16]

Talkabout T82 was released in July 2017 replacing the Motorola TLKR T80.^[17] In October 2018, the Talkabout T800 was announced as the first Talkabout walkie-talkie with a smartphone app which connects via Bluetooth and effectively uses the T800 as a modem to send messages and locations over the radio frequencies while outside a cellular zone.^[18]

In 2025, ZDNet called the Motorola Talkabout T800 the "best overall walkie-talkie", and noted the 35 miles long range, long battery life, and app connection.^[19]

Non-"walkie talkie" products

Motorola Talkabout T180 GSM cell phone from 2000

In its earlier years, Motorola also used the brand name on some consumer pagers and cell phones. In 1999 it launched the TalkAbout T340, a small text pager, and the T8090/T8097 dual mode TDMA phones and T8160/T8167 CDMA phones, based on the StarTAC.^[8]

In June 2000, Motorola released the TalkAbout T900, their first two-way messaging product. These clamshell style e-mail pagers were sold for $99 after a $50 rebate and were similar to the BlackBerry but targeted a young audience and came in various colors.^{[20][21][22][23]} In 2001 in a partnership with Microsoft, MSN services like Hotmail became available on the Talkabout T900.^[24] By July 2001, 1 million T900 pagers had been sold.^[25]