RadioBanter - Radio shack TRC-226 handheld: comments?

On Wednesday, May 5, 1993 at 8:38:46 a.m. UTC-4, Jamison Gray wrote:
Radio Shack has a compact 40-channel handheld CB on sale,
the TRC-226. While it has all the power of the bigger
handhelds in the store (4W send, 5W receive), it's considerably
smaller -- a bit taller and slimmer than a PRO-34 scanner.
It costs $100, on sale from $140. It has an LCD display,
and a novel design: the bottom half slides off, and it's
supplied with two bottoms halves, one for regular batteries
and a slightly larger one for NiCads (since more are needed).
It has jacks for external mic, speaker, and power. With
external power, the bottom half can be left off entirely.
It's on the back page of the latest Radio Shaft flyer.
Does anyone know anything more about this unit? How does
its audio quality stack up against the larger (and generally
cheaper) handhelds? If it really functions as well,
I don't mind paying a little extra for the compactness.
This would be my first CB; I plan to use it both for mobile
purposes (hiking, etc.), and in the car, with external mic
and antenna, and maybe speaker.
A higher level question: does it make sense to try to use
a handheld as a ready-to-go-mobile car CB? Or, once I add
an external mic, speaker, and power adapter, have I spent
as much as I would on a cheap car CB, and compromised
on sound quality or anything else? I just read the positive
comments on the $39.95 GE radios, and it made me wonder
whether it's silly to make one radio perform two functions.
Thanks a lot,
-- Jamie Gray
--
Jamie Gray, "I am the milkman of human kindness;
Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, CA I will leave you an extra pint"
i own a cobra hhrt50