Rapid RadiosReviews of rapidradios.com

Just got a call from Rapid Radios, They sincerely apologize for the mishap on the phone. They reached out and are making everything good and I will be buying two or maybe three this next week. They answered all my questions and are willing to make things real easy for my purchase. It is good to have a company that really wants to try to make things right. They have my vote

Recent purchase. i have had good customer service.

I purchased 3 radios, mainly so that my niece, who is temporarily residing with me and does not have cell service (due to expense), could communicate with me and her dad if need be. It has definitely come in handy in that regard. She can contact me even when she doesn't have wifi service. We've also tried them between NY and TX, where her dad lives, and he always come through crystal clear. As for the people who claim it's deceptive advertising to say there are no fees, they actually say no monthly fees. Yes, there is a $50 annual charge per radio after the first year, but I understood that after researching their website. Also, for those who are disappointed they don't work in certain areas or situations - they also make it very clear that they work off cell towers, so it only stands to reason that if all networks are down, you're probably not getting a signal. The benefit is that supposedly they have contracts with all carriers, so if you find yourself in an area where your Verizon phone doesn't have a lot of coverage, maybe T-Mobile has a tower and your radio can use that. So it is an advantage in that regard compared to cell phones. My only gripe is that the battery is not what I was expecting. Their website says, "Talk for days without losing battery charge," and that's 100% not true. You really need to charge it as frequently as you would your phone. My radio was dead on Thursday night 1/16, and I charged it overnight. I didn't take it off the charger until the following morning. I did not use it at all that Friday, Saturday, or Sunday during the day, and when I took it out of my pocket this evening (5 pm Sunday), it was totally dead. My brother and niece have the same issue, so it's not just a problem with my radio. The battery should not die that quickly when we're not even using the radios at all. And certainly you cannot "talk for days" without it dying. I had to write to customer service to rename the radios (group & individual), and found them very responsive. Overall I like them, and feel they were worth the cost.

SEE UPDATE BELOW INITIAL REVIEW….. So first let me say that overall the radios work great. I used the radios and they worked from Illinois to Ohio and from Michigan to Illinois and they were clear and worked as they said, so I’m satisfied there! The radios allow for different talk groups, so you are able to speak with multiple people on the different talk groups so they can’t hear each other. So you can have an immediate family talk group, extended family talk group, work talk group, kids talk group, etc. This is an awesome feature, only problem, and a HUGE problem is the fact that the radios do NOT scan the various talk groups. So if I’m on my immediate family talk group, and someone on my extended family talk group try’s to contact me, I would have absolutely no clue they were attempting to reach out to me because the radios do not scan the various channels. As a retired State Trooper, I can tell you with 100% certainty that the scanning of channels is huge, from the emergency channel, to the other surrounding Districts channels, to simply the car-2-car channel to the guys trying to set up lunch, if I didn’t have the capability to hear what was going on around me, people could get hurt! Come on Rapid Radios, this is a very basic function that should be retrofitted on all radios, simple common sense. Unfortunately Rapid Radios on their web site provides misleading information as it relates to their reviews. When I looked at the reviews, there is a table that has a 1-5 star reviews and how many each number has obtained. They also list the verbiage of all the 5 star reviews. There are NO 4,3,2 or 1 star reviews, they are all 5 star reviews. I wrote a review and gave them 3 stars. As of today I still do not see my review either in the numerical portrayal or the verbiage of my review. It is extremely suspect that Rapid Radios does not post ALL of their reviews and only post their 5 star reviews, and attempt to mislead the public that every single person that has purchased their product gave them 5 star reviews. Makes you wonder what else they are hiding if they are being misleading on the facts. Again, I don’t want to take anything away from Rapid Radios as to how well the radios work from point A to point B. My issue with the radios is simply it does not scan and that’s an essential common sense function of any radio. I also have an issue with the misleading information that every one who purchased their radios and left a review gave 5 stars, they simply don’t post those who gave less then 5 stars. UPDATE: On November 22, 2024, I received a call from an individual who identified himself as the COO of Rapid Radios Tim Short and left me a message to contact him regarding my concerns from my review. I spoke with Rapid Radios on November 25, 2024 and explained my concerns as to why I felt the radios were lacking and needed improvement. I also spoke of their customer service and how they needed to better serve customers who call regarding any issue. Short advised me that the radios do have the capacity to “scan” other talk groups while you’re on a different talk group. I had advised Short that when I asked that specific question of customer service, I was advised the radios did not have the ability to scan. Short advised me that the radios do have that ability and that he would personally handle the change to ensure the radios would “scan” other talk groups if I provided him the radio name and talk groups I wanted to “scan”. On November 27, 2024, I was able to provide Short with the requested information to make the requested change. Within minutes I received a text message from Short that the change was made and to test the radios to ensure they worked. After checking, indeed the radios “scanned” other talk groups while I was on a different talk group. SUCCESS!! Having the ability to speak on one talk group and hear other talk groups that you’re not on is a huge safety advantage. We all have immediate families, we all have extended families and friends and even those we work with. It’s nice to know that conversations that you have with your immediate family is not going to be heard by extended family, friends or co-workers. I appreciated the fact that Rapid Radios reached out to me to address my concerns and I hope that the suggestions that I made regarding other issues are also addressed. I hope in the future Rapid Radios installs a simple press to scan so the customer can activate or deactivate on their own.