10 reviews for President Randy FCC Handheld or Mobile CB Radio with Weather Channel and Alerts

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Luke in Iowa – January 23, 2020

   This CB is full featured and when I got it it wasn’t picking up any background noise, so I thought it was a dud or the antenna was worthless. So, I took it out into the country and had my friend drive away from me in my truck. The truck has a stock Cobra 29 and a 5 foot Browning CB antenna… nothing special. He got 8+ miles away from me and we were still having an S5 conversation with each other. I told him to turn around because it was windy and I was freezing. I never thought this antenna would talk or receive so far away. On top of that, while I was performing this test, I heard some locals who were about 20 miles south of me. They run power, but I heard them with this dinky antenna.The radio is expensive for most people, but I’m a CB nerd. Here’s the one thing that annoys me about this radio: The charger plugs into a plastic pieces that your radio then plugs into. I wish President would have just included the charging port IN the radio. The radio is tiny, so they may not have had room. OK, add 1/4″ to the size and put a 12v plug socket in it! THEN… President sells a 40 dollar accessory base stand (which I bought) and it’s the same thing.. A plastic thing your radio slides into to charge. They should have just sent both with the radio and not charge so much money.But… I like the radio a lot. The battery lasts a decent amount of time for me and it’s small. I own multiple CB walkie talkies from the 90s that use 10 (ten) AA batteries. Having a lithium ion battery in this new radio is so much better. It charges quickly and lasts maybe 8 hours on receive and I can have at least 2 hours of conversations without it dying on me.If you’re a CB nut who likes AM (no Sideband or FM) you will appreciate this radio. I am sure they’re working on an AM/FM version for the USA market, so if you want that, wait around a few months. I don’t use FM on CB radio, so I have no need for it.Fun side note: I hooked this radio up (it puts about about 3 watts on high power) to my 500w amplifier and my base antenna and I talked to California from Iowa. Pretty good for a walkie talkie.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   bctruck – March 25, 2020

   A year ago, I bought a president Bill FCC radio. I was so impressed with its size, yet able to get out there and talk, that I bought a second. Now, I bought the president Randy handheld cb and I am completely blown away at how they can get so much power and so many features into such a tiny package. My freind lives 2.5 forested miles from me and I am able to talk to his mobile cb with 2 foot antenna, line I can with my bigger CB’s with base antenna. I’m couldn’t be happier with this radio.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Derek V.Derek V. – May 15, 2020

   Fantastic radio for its size. I know of no other HT CB close to as compact as this. Loaded with features, decent reception and range for a rubber duck antenna, and a full 4 watts. Only thing it’s lacking is SSB, but this isn’t a long range radio. If you accept that it is essentially a walkie talkie in the 11m band, it’s superb.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   D. Nix – May 17, 2020

   It’s a very well built, heavy and solid, with some nice features for an AM CB handheld radio. Scan feature is nice, auto squelch is nice, cool roger beeps and it definitely is packed with features! However it’s an AM radio and soon the FCC will allow us to have FM as well. It might be presumptuous to buy this until they do. President as a company is a signatory with Cobra to allow this, interestingly enough.In all honesty a good 10 meter radio which allows for FM and SSB would be a better use of your money than this toy.Other gripes not related to the radio: No one around on the air in my area! I only hear the occasional DX on 6 and 11 from the super bowlers. Great reception, once I replaced the original rubber duck.I’m lost in the mud though with this little radio and can’t talk back even with the President New Virginia mounted to the car… but I regularly hear people from my location in central Texas keying up from Arizona, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and other places on the skip. All in all a HUGE improvement over the 4 channel radio shack brick handheld I had as kid! Still this is probably a radio I’ll eventually give to my kids to talk to me down the street with once my Ranger 10 meter radio arrives.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   dame – June 27, 2020

   For a handheld it doesn’t get much better. Comes with everything you need except an extra battery but for short term use the battery included is more than enough. I ran the radio all day (10 hours) listening to others while talking back occasionally and used half the battery. The next day it ran another 7-8 hours before dying. It comes with a vehicle power supply so it wasn’t a big deal.I get 1/2-3/4 mile from inside the car with stock antenna but get an easy 2-2.5 with an external magnetic antenna using the supplied adapter.Radio is crystal clear on both ends with plenty of volume. Easy to set up after just flipping thru the manual.Only downfall is no ssb or channel expansion.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Fernando Screnci – July 12, 2020

   This walkie talkie was made for 21st century!!President!!👍👍👍👍👍

7. 

   5 out of 5

   JGinLA – August 22, 2020

   I have had a Lafayette base station since the 70’s. When it was new I had the antenna overhead and was all set to transmit at times. Then we moved and set it aside. Years later I brought it out and added a two foot RS antenna just big enough to hear nearby truckers. Sadly, Lafayette is dead. Both of them. I needed to listen again so I bought the President. I tried it with the ASC (automatic squelch control) on. It just kills your reception. Even strong signals get choppy. I disabled ASC, brought the squelch down manually and hear much more traffic.Radio is built to last. I can’t speak to transmitting qualities since I am on radio silence now unless you need directions. AC battery charger causes some static. DC is also included. I charge it every other night and get 30+ hours of reception.UPDATE/// Seven months later, battery life has come down some. I charge it every night now.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Richard – September 5, 2020

   Very nice radio! Expect the best from President!

9. 

   5 out of 5

   Pamela Denise crabtree – January 11, 2021

   I just received the radio today. I like the design and the placement of the control buttons.I don’t know about the battery life but I will update the review later on. I have ham radios ,GMRS radios and now CB radios.It’s been awhile since I have been on a CB radio so it will be fun to take up the hobby again.KO4ESA/WRJR757

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Mario – January 11, 2021

    This might just be the coolest handheld CB radio that I have ever found. So far the reception has been extremely good. Some of the features are rarely, if ever, seen on handheld CB radios. The radio itself seems very sturdy and the layout is very intuitive (especially if you are familiar with other President radios). It actually doesn’t even look like a handheld CB radio but more like a GMRS radio on steroids.Unfortunately this review needs a little bit of a back story: I have a lot of CB radios and equipment. Mostly Cobras and other more ‘old school’ looking radios. Unfortunately, those radios are all big and couldn’t easily fit in any of my modern vehicles. Then I came across the President Bill and fell in love with how amazing that radio truly is. I eventually got a bigger vehicle that had a tiny bit more space and I upgraded to the President McKinley. The McKinley just might be the greatest mobile CB radio ever made, maybe even the greatest CB period. So needless to say as soon as I found out that President was releasing a handheld CB, I bought it almost immediately.The President Randy is just a little lighter than my other handhelds, but seems slightly more rugged. It doesn’t use 8 AA batteries like the other ones. It has an amazing screen that is so easy to see, unlike the other ones. If you want to know about the features then read the product description, but this thing has ANL/NB/HiCut, DW, VOX, WX channels, WX Alert, Roger Beep, ASC, SCAN! Even a flashlight! Normally I think a flashlight is rather silly on radios, but this one actually seems cool and has 4 different settings.The antenna is very flexible for a rubber duck. I wouldn’t try bending it too much and definitely not try to bend it in half! I was able to pick up pretty clear talk from inside my house with it while other older handhelds couldn’t pick it up as clearly. Although the batteries could be running low on the older handheld, but the Randy was only half charged too.Now here are a couple of things that made me think about lowering the rating to maybe 4 stars instead of 5:1. The biggest problem is price. I think it’s just a little bit too high and I’m a radio nut. However, when you factor in all of the features of this radio compared to other available handhelds out there alone the price is kind of justified. Also, without a doubt, this is the best new handheld CB radio out there and you always have to pay up for the best.2. The belt clip. I personally don’t like the swing around belt clips like this radio has. They are too bulky and they swing around too much. It might be slightly better than the almost impossible to use thin, tight, metal belt clip on the older handhelds, but why couldn’t they just use a clip similar to what handheld dual band ham radios use? They needed to use this type of belt clip because you can use the Randy as a mobile radio and it has the metal circle for a mic holder on the back. So I understand, I’m just slightly disappointed.3. The antenna is not a bayonet style attachment. Again this was because it can be used as a mobile radio and it was for an antenna adapter. Also this is once again pure preference.4. This last one does not bother me, but could bother some people. The Randy just might have the best button and function layout in the President lineup, but it still suffers a little from the President layout. If you are not used to the President layout, then you will need to learn it. Once you do you will fall in love with this amazing radio manufacturer. This just happens because with so many functions and so few buttons, the buttons have to do multiple things. Again this is probably the simplest besides maybe the Bill.With all that said, please don’t pay too much attention to my stupid little nit-picking. This is truly one of the best handheld CB radios out there. I would easily buy it again and very likely will. It’s always good to have more than one radio! I just hope that President comes out with some more surprises like this one. I’ve heard President has no plans on it, but I would absolutely love a President base station!