I purchased a Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 3 in June, and I'd like to share my experience and review here.
The Xiaomi walkie-talkies are manufactured by Ecochain company, Xi'an Fengyu. The first generation of Xiaomi walkie-talkies was launched in 2017. On the official Bilibili account of Jifeng,The earliest videoIt's this Xiaomi walkie-talkie.
Later, after several iterations of development, the Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 3 appeared. The most important feature of this walkie-talkie is its compatibility with the Xiaomi SU7 car. To adapt to the automotive environment, it has two charging contacts. Some users have tested them, and the contacts can only provide power for charging; the connection with Xiaomi cars is only through Bluetooth.
The most notable feature of the Xiaomi and Jibing walkie-talkies is their extremely user-friendly human-machine interface (specifically referring to models with screens). For someone who has never used a walkie-talkie before, simply giving them the device would allow them to intuitively understand how to use it. Even if they don't know how to operate it, a simple explanation would be enough. This is because there are very few buttons on the front of the device. The operating logic of the Xiaomi and Jibing walkie-talkies is similar to that of older feature phones (such as Nokia and Motorola), although they do not have a numeric keypad, but still allow for manual frequency setting, and operation is easy. In contrast, many amateur radios have very poor human-machine interfaces. Even amateur radio enthusiasts will forget how to operate the device if they don't use it for a week.
The device supports mobile phones to connect via Bluetooth with the Mi Home app for bulk frequency writing, adjusting device listening channels and common settings. Backed by Xiaomi, the software is unlikely to have any strange bugs. Some two-way radio products also support Bluetooth frequency writing, but the adaptation for different brands of phones is not well done.
The Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 3 supports sharing locations between Xiaomi walkie-talkie users, and displays the location on the walkie-talkie/phone app interface. This feature requires the walkie-talkie to connect to the phone app via Bluetooth and enable location sharing. Other walkie-talkies in the same frequency band can hear the signal emitted by the Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 3, which sounds very similar to APRS, but is not APRS. The Wino HT phone app cannot decode it. My personal guess is that it's other data modulated by a Bell 202 modem. Has anyone done research on the location sharing signal emitted by the Xiaomi walkie-talkie?
Another advantage of the Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 3 is its constant transmit power of 5W, which is independent of battery level. Furthermore, the battery capacity is not small; a single charge can last for several days, suggesting that it uses a 21700 battery.
Other advantages include a loud speaker sound, an integrated microphone that works reasonably well, support for connecting Bluetooth devices, and compatibility with some Xiaomi and Jihe models of Bluetooth headphones. After connecting, you can use the Bluetooth headphones for communication without needing to operate a separate walkie-talkie. However, it does not support other Bluetooth speakers or headphones for hands-free calling. Additionally, the device does not support 409 MHz walkie-talkie frequencies, and the transmission frequency is strictly limited to the amateur band, eliminating any possibility of hacking.
Next are the drawbacks:
The biggest problem is that the sensitivity can only be set to two levels, which are called "standard" and "low". Even when set to the "low" level, the sensitivity is much lower than when the BaoFeng UV-5R is set to its lowest sensitivity.
Secondly, after connecting the Bluetooth headset, as long as the PTT button is pressed to transmit, the receiving party can hear a continuous and stable squealing noise. The sound is not very loud but is quite piercing, which disrupts communication. It's unclear whether the problem lies with the device itself, the Bluetooth headset, or another cause.
Furthermore, it is not possible to adjust the transmission power. As long as the device functions correctly, the transmission power will always remain at a constant 5W. If you need to communicate with someone else and they want to reduce the power, you can only tell them that my device supports only 5W transmission.
The machine is quite heavy.
Other:
After the release of Xiaomi's Walkie-Talkie 2, a video blogger mentioned that amateur radio equipment should not be used in the 409 frequency band, and criticized Xiaomi for disrupting the environment for amateur radio. I suspect that the removal of the 409 frequency band from Walkie-Talkie 3 and the strict restriction of transmission frequencies are related to this. Some people have complained about Xiaomi's walkie-talkies because they cannot be used in other frequency bands. A company of this size will definitely proactively support policies that promote orderly development, and will never take risks of being criticized by everyone. In 2025, relevant departments optimized the policy for walkie-talkies, adding a new category called "Shared Walkie-Talkies." Xiaomi was the first to actively follow the policy and launch shared walkie-talkies.
As a former fan of rice noodles (As for why it's not now, don't ask.), I still hope that Xiaomi and its ecosystem companies, such as Xi'an Fengyu, will launch some popular products. While I haven't checked the specific sales figures for the Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 3, there is a ranking of new activated devices within the Mi Home app, which I saw in mid-June. The Walkie-Talkie 3 was ranked relatively high, placing it among the top 15. However, even among Mi Home users, 36% did not recommend the Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 3. Xiaomi has always focused on value for money, but the Xiaomi Walkie-Talkie 1, 2, and 3 don't really emphasize this aspect.
Xi'an Fengyu initially attempted to leverage traditional dealer networks and also explored the B2B market. However, their efforts yielded limited results. For example, I was unable to find any verified codes for the extreme Bee PM52 multi-mode explosion-proof radio they offered. During the peak of winter sports, Xiaomi and Xi'an Fengyu launched several public communication radios, which sold well. Before Xiaomi and Xi'an Fengyu jointly released the Xiaomi radio, few people considered how to optimize the user experience. After the release of the Xiaomi radio, some companies attempted to imitate its features, such as human-machine interaction and Bluetooth transmission, but their imitations were not successful, and consumers were skeptical. The emergence of a series of Xiaomi radios brought some positive changes to this niche amateur radio market.
Some sellers of walkie-talkies don't understand this. Xiaomi's walkie-talkie specifications don't have any advantages, so how can they sell so well? Some even specifically choose fixed antenna models (2S), which are not very practical (although it is true that Xiaomi's walkie-talkies are not good for 2S, and the only advantage is portability). They imply that users shouldn't buy Xiaomi products, but instead buy their own products, because they are professionals and sell good things. However, Xiaomi and Xi'an Fengyu have really considered user usage habits. There are no complicated foreign-language interfaces, nor buttons that look feature-rich but are rarely used. Starting from the launch of Xiaomi's first generation walkie-talkies, several years have passed, and still few walkie-talkie companies pay much attention to human-machine interaction. From this perspective, I hope that Xiaomi and (or) Xi'an Fengyu will continue to launch new products with different features. If possible, they should also consider amateur radio, bringing some new vitality to the amateur radio field. If you have extra money, you can also consider purchasing a few of Xiaomi or Xifeng's good devices to show your support.
I also recommend that you read the article on pages 288-291 of the 2024 combined issue of the "Wireless Radio" magazine, titled:The development and history of Xiaomi walkie-talkies，作者：张铮（BG8SF）This article is more specialized.
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