Turning Cellphone into Walkie Talkie

[tactical_2012]

Saw these and was wondering if anyone knows of any similar devices out there. Not looking to use apps.

https://beartooth.com/

[theGinsue]

I like the concept of that device. Seems like these have the same sort of capability as the Garmin Rino but much cheaper (overall) than the Rino.

Been wanting to get a pair of Garmin Rino units for years, but they're far too pricey. For those that don't know, the Rino is an FRS/GMRS walkie talkie and GPS unit combined. It can show you the location of other Rino users who share this info (as I recall, you can set up exactly who you share with). This would be a big plus for my hunting partners and I when one of us needs help hauling a harvest out of the woods.

The advantage I see of this unit over the Rino is that you can also text between users. The disadvantage is that your cell phone isn't as rugged as a Rino and the risk of damaging it in the field is high (they just don't make cell/smart phones very rugged).

[hurley842002]

That's pretty slick, and I have the perfect smartphone candidate for it, my Iphone SE with the Otterbox Armor case is tougher than I'll ever need, waterproof, and it's a spare phone at the moment.

[Irving]

Some of my hunting buddies just got Rhinos, and I'm under the impression that you can text. I'll ask and let you know.

[theGinsue]

Some of my hunting buddies just got Rhinos, and I'm under the impression that you can text. I'll ask and let you know.

Copy that. I haven't really looked at the Rino's (due to cost) for more than 5 years. My knowledge of them is likely outdated.

ETA: Just looked at the Rino 755T....."Communicate by voice call or unit-to-unit text messaging". Still cost a lot more than this Beartooth unit.

ETAA: To answer the OP's question as to whether anyone knows of any similar device, there is the goTenna Mesh (https://www.amazon.com/goTenna-Off-G...ateway&sr=8-10) -- while this does the texting, and location sharing via cell phone link, it doesn't look like it has the walkie talkie option. But then these are $175/pr verus Beartooth's $249/pr.

[Irving]

I also haven't looked at Rhino stuff. You already said, but I did confirm that yes they text.

[cmailliard]

Beartooth was a bust from the start. They came out with a firmware update that sounds like it works better now. There original plan was never going to work. What they came out with was about 50% of what they promised. Their support sucked.

goTenna is fantastic. Tons of Mesh Nodes out there for public to use. There is no voice with it. There is a company making a self contained goTenna Mesh system like a repeater for a radio. Battery, Solar, Antenna, everything for like $1500. There are quite a few SAR teams using the Pro version of goTenna with ATAK. Pricey stuff but pretty cool.

If you are looking for this off grid comm capability goTenna is kicking ass

[Irving]

I was looking into this today and it seems like 2 miles no line-of-sight is a little small of an area. However, if it's a difficult enough area, could be a real life saver.

[Erni]

Speaking of alt comms. Anyone have any exp with Bridgefy mesh app?

[battlemidget]

Gotennas are well reviewed and widely used. I haven't seen anything else that's cell phone integrated that works repeatably.
I'm sure you've heard that SpaceX has been parking sats in orbit for global internet.
Mid2020s is the current estimate for the global mesh, and that'll change everything again.
I like the robust frs/gmrs radios. You can get high a decent high wattage HT with all the accessories for under $100. I'd steer clear of the digital stuff, comms works best when they're simple.