Well..I tried motorola 25 mile radios in honey island way back after storm,did not work very well I guess because of the trees.So after they fixed the cell phone reception problems,we just text now.They do work well when traveling in vehicles and keeping in touch while shopping around
The distance is an "estimate" under ideal conditions. Like from one hilltop to the next, clear line of sight and no other interference, you'll never talk this far in real life. Leaves and pine needles on the trees are really going to suck up the signal. GMRS has a higher power output (up to 5 watts) compared to FRS (2 watts max).