well Im sure the motorolas work good.. I use the cobra' s and they seem to do pretty well..I would think for what he needs them for you want a range of 2-5 miles.. of course in the mountains your not going to get that.. for hunting you want to look at several things.. first if him and a buddy are going to use them make sure that they have a vibra-alert instead of a beep because that can potentially spook game.. you get up in the more expensive ones you can get a compass, radio/weather, altimeter, that kinda stuff.. also can get VOX which is voice activated.. that comes on almost all of them nowadays.. you can get them that charge in a charger or just replace batteries.. bottom line.. get the vibra-alert, long range capabilites, and if you think he will need it the compass, and altimeter... the rest is just stuff to play with.. I hope this helps.. Good luck!!