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Phones are useless in a basement, on a construction site, at a big wedding venue or in hills with no signal, and calling someone 50 metres away costs time and credit. A pair of walkie talkies just works: press, talk, release. This is a pair of Xiaomi Walkie Talkie 3 Lite radios (sold in China as the “Chat Version”), both filmed on camera and inspected before listing, which is why the pair costs less than new.
It has a matte grey shell with rounded edges, a sturdy stamped belt clip, and an orange six-position channel dial that is easy to set by feel, so that you can match both radios to the same channel in seconds. The big side push-to-talk key has a satisfying click, and a status LED turns red when a message is coming in. The 3 W radio is rated by Xiaomi for up to 5 km in open ground. We only tested it indoors at short range, so treat that as the maker’s figure. Both radios charge by USB-C.
The honest catch from our review: these are Chinese-market units, so voice prompts start in Chinese. Switching them to English and updating the firmware needs the Mi Home app. In our test, pairing only worked with the app region set to Chinese mainland and the phone’s Wi-Fi turned off. After that it took seconds. The speaker also distorts at full volume, so keep it a notch lower.
- 2 radios (a pair)
- 3 W transmit power, up to 5 km claimed range
- 6-channel dial, push-to-talk key, receive LED
- No screen (voice prompts only)
- USB-C charging
- In the box: 2 radios, 2 USB-A to USB-C cables, manuals (Chinese)
Grab the pair now and your next event, trip or site day runs without “where are you?” calls.
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