Easy to program using the keypad if you are well-versed in radio usage. I would recommend buying the programming cable and using Chirp to program frequencies. Makes like a lot easier. Sound quality sucks but this is not Radioddity’s problem. The speaker is about 1” in diameter so don’t expect crystal clear audio at any volume. It’s about the same quality speaker as a 2004 iPhone. The radio itself is plenty powerful. It’s advertised as a 5w transmit power, but mine only got about 4. Plenty enough power to hit repeaters about 10 miles away if using outside. Inside, you’re limited to about 7 miles in a rural area. Buy an extension mic - it’ll have better audio and it makes the radio easier to use. The stock antenna sucks as well. A Diamond or Nagoya will make a world of difference. Stock battery lasts about a day if you’re mostly listening and only transmitting occasionally. I will be purchasing the extended battery soon. Cable for the charger is only about 3 feet long, so you’ll need to be close to the outlet to use it. No running it down behind your desk and along the wall to an outlet. Overall, this is a cheap Chinese radio but it has plenty of bandwidth and good power. The guts are good, you just have to add on the extras to make it a great radio. Oh and make sure you have a license to transmit on the frequencies you choose. It’s not hard or expensive to obtain the correct license. Middle school kids can obtain a Technician HAM license, and you can too. Or pay your fee and get a GMRS license that’s good for ten years. Overall, it’s a decent radio if you get the upgrade antenna and a hand mic. Forget about the “tactical” folding antennas. What are you, a mall ninja? Read more
Pretty solid and great quality. Bells and whistles and all that stuff, get the bapfeng bible to learn what your needing to know to get set up good. Thanks guys, great buy. Read more
Overall a good little radio for beginners like myself. I purchased it primarily to listen in and get familiar with HAM radio. Used some free software along with the correct programming cable purchased here, and some help of a couple of videos to have it programmed the same day. Now, the pros and cons. Keep in mind I'm new, so this really is through the eyes of a new guy. Pros: It's a cheap way to get started, the battery seems to last a good amount of time, It's compact and seems to be made of a pretty sturdy plastic. It's pretty customizable, seems to receive well and....it's cheap! Cons: The programming may have a little bit of a learning curve for some. If you can do more than open emails on a computer, I believe you should be able to program this without too much trouble though. The included antenna got the job done, but a $15 upgrade made enough difference to feel justified. The speaker is adequate for quieter locations but in vehicle it can get a little distorted if you find yourself turning it up for a weaker signal. 5 watts was not enough juice to transmit to my local repeater with either antenna, but that will likely be the case regardless of what you spend. I got a Diamond NR770HB mobile antenna for the car and now it hits that same repeater from the same location, and further, loud and clear. I'd imagine you could mount it outside of a window in the house if you wanted. There's probably more pros and cons a more experienced person could list off, but those are what I noticed. I would recommend this radio if you want a cheap way into the hobby. Read more
As a ham radio operator I bought my first Baofeng UV5R+ about three years ago simply out of curiosity: how good could a (then) $26 dual band handheld radio be? I've owned several $400 Icom handhelds that I found were excellent. So how good is a Baofeng? Good enough. It is an inexpensive, useful, functional piece of kit. I now own 8 of them, am building a 50 cal Ammo can with a lithium ion battery bank as a 8 unit charge dock. I have enough radios that I can equip a group of fellow hams in an emergency. I couldn't do that with Icoms or Yaesus. But I can with Baefengs! Read more
For what these are they are very good radios. Don't believe that because I gave them five stars there is nothing finer. For the price these are effective low cost radios that you can hand out in an emergency and not worry about them breaking or getting lost. Make sure you do function check of all the buttons, knobs, speaker, transmit and receive functions when you get them. Their quality control is spotty sometimes but if they arrive working they should do the job for quite awhile. Read more
Great radio, up to Baofeng standards. Read more
