Radios are not an essential part of your kit, but they do create more opportunity to expand the game you play. It means you can communicate with other parts of your team out of sight or whispering distance. They are also be used to control games and are a quick way for information, such as game over or injury, to be spread to all players.

Avoid the low power (1 watt and below) jobbies - waste of time. I'd suggest 2 watts is the minimum, and if you play in large venues 5 watts.

Uniden have a 2 watt model that is quite popular (UH-064SX), can also be bought in packs of 2. They also have a waterproof 5 watt version (UH076) but that is quite expensive.

The most common would be the Emax brand 5 watt radios.

Next consideration is a throat mic/lapel mic and ear piece. You need one that is comfy to wear and provides an easy to reach and operate press to talk button.

Throat mics can be a bit problematic as they often need to sit just right to allow you to be understood, otherwise no one can understand you. I'm a fan of the lapel mic and a single earpiece.

Don't worry about VOX - it's arse as it never works when you are trying to be stealthy and it always works when you are panting and firing your weapon!

Headsets. The radio by itself is not the best, without a remote microphone and earpiece it can be awkward to use and the speaker is open for others to hear and give your poostion away, usually at the most inopportune time!

Pin types

Boom mics
throat mics
lapel mics
speakermic

swimmer
in ear

Tips
no vox
placement
access to transmit button
roger beep
spare batteries
charged
transmission power

Availability:
iguns
dicksmith
uniden
trademe