Rugged Radios — Local services in Arroyo Grande

📻 Our Field-Tested Review of the Rugged Radios GMRS Comms Kit

We’ve been living full-time out of our Toyota Hilux for years now, chasing remote corners of the world with two goals in mind: telling good stories and capturing the wild places that move us. Clear, reliable communication between vehicles—and between the two of us, whether we’re hiking, riding, or camped out—is not just a nicety, it’s essential.

Enter our latest addition to the rig: Rugged Radios’ GMRS-based comms setup.

🚙 Rambler G4 GMRS Mobile Radio

This is now the backbone of our in-vehicle comms. It’s compact, straightforward, and doesn’t try to be fancy—it just works. The unit tucks neatly into our center console and pairs with an external antenna for surprisingly long reach.

We’ve been getting 20–30 miles line of sight in open desert. Even in deep canyons or dense tree cover, range is respectable. Audio’s crisp. Operation is intuitive even when you’re bumping down a rocky trail and don’t want to faff around with menus.

We mounted ours with the dash bracket (more on that below) and powered it off our secondary battery system. You could hardwire it or run it through a switch panel if that’s more your style.

🧍‍♂️ GMR2 PLUS Handheld Radios (x2)

These handhelds are our go-to when we’re out of the cab—Jason might be hiking to a drone perch, and I’ll be down below with the camera gear and Hilux. They’ve replaced our old FRS walkies in every way. Battery life is solid (easily a full day of use), the units feel rugged in the hand, and with the upgraded long-range antennas, they hold a signal far better than expected.

We’ve used them hiking, for spotting during vehicle recovery, and while riding the bikes ahead of the truck. They’re also great for separating at camp—one of us sorting dinner, the other off filling water or gathering firewood. Little things, but they add up.

📡 UHF External Antenna Kit + Long-Range Antennas

These have raised our game. They dramatically boost range and clarity—especially noticeable when one of us hikes up a ridge and the other stays at the vehicle. The magnetic base antenna lets us slap it on the Hilux roof when needed and remove it when not. We also use the long whip-style antennas on the handhelds, which aren’t ideal for dense bushwhacking but brilliant for line-of-sight use.

🎤 Waterproof Hand Speaker Mic

Simple and reliable. We’ve clipped this mic to the grab handle in the cab, and it’s perfect for hands-free operation while driving. It’s taken dust, rain, and more than a few knocks, and just keeps working. Audio is clear, even with the windows down. We wouldn’t run the handheld in the cab without one of these now.

🧲 RAM Mount for Handheld Radios

We already rely on RAM mounts for everything from our phone to the tablet running onX Maps, so this integrated beautifully into our cab layout. The handheld sits secure even on rough corrugations, and we can quickly grab it when needed. Doesn’t rattle, doesn’t bounce—just does what you want it to.

🔩 Dash Bracket for the Rambler G4

A tidy little bracket that let us hard-mount the mobile unit right where we wanted it—clean and within reach. If you’re running a switch panel, dash shelf, or any sort of modular interior, this makes mounting much simpler and keeps the cab looking purpose-built, not cobbled together.

🔚 Final Thoughts

This GMRS setup has fast become one of the most used pieces of gear in our overland setup. It’s reliable when you need it most, and doesn’t need a cell tower to keep us connected. Whether we’re split up getting the money shot, navigating unfamiliar terrain, or simply staying in contact across two rigs, it’s earned its place.

For anyone living out of their vehicle, travelling full-time, or working remotely from the wild—this is gear that works as hard as you do.

Enjoy yourself to the fullest. Aude aliquid dignum–dare something worthy!

Cheers,

Lisa & Jason...

Hearing from my riding buddies that have Rugged radios and swear by them as well as talking me into getting one. I decided to go online a take a look at some. I must confess I’m pretty much a novice when it comes to these electronics. I noticed a chat option so I chime in to get some more detail about how they work and the adaptability to my 2023 Honda Talon. It was a that time I was connected with Owen. He had answered a question that had regarding Military discount. Being the specific radio I was asking about was already discounted he could not apply the Military but offered to cover the shipping if I was ready to put the deal together. He was extremely helpful answering my questions and sharing the quality of his product so we made the deal over the phone. Owen said he would do his best to have it shipped as quickly as possible. In fact it shipped that day. I received an email from Owen advising me of the shipping number the very next day. Also stated if I had any questions or concerns to call him directly. That was awesome and customer service at its finest. He even told to stop by the business when I’m in the area. Which is at least twice a year. I am looking forward to putting a face to the name. I will definitely promote your products and services with my...

Owen and Austin went way out of their way to help me on finding an ANC headset with a mic that filtered background noise. Currently there are no options in the market and we were able to find a way to make the filtered mic connect to an aviation headset and connect the aviation headset wire to my intercoms.

As far as I’m concerned - Owen and Austin filled a market gap to the garbage over ear headsets without anc and the $1500 Bose units. I’m shocked an off the shelf solution doesn’t exist but Owen and Austin worked with me to take a gamble to create something that’s never been done before.

Owen and Austin should probably find jobs in the R&D department to create a mid tier race headset that would market to the pre runner crowd. Budgets, noise and horsepower are going up for pre runners and trail rigs but the offerings remain the same and, honestly,...