BAOFENG UV-5R Dual Band Two Way Radio (Black), 144-148MHz & 420-450MHz

The venerable UV5R legend continues.Awesome 5 watt radio at the price of a blister pack Walmart hunting radio, which only have 1/2 watt power, maybe 1 watt at most. Over 1/2 watt you need a license, but the test is easy and 15 bucks.For long range "line-of site com" ( usually 5-10 miles) , get a CB or one of these pups.I always wanted to be a Ham radio operator, and this was my first radio. I am now a General class licensee, and in my opinion, this inexpensive radio is a great way to get started. It is a true, powerful, no kidding radio, that has the 70cm and the 2 meter bands. The coolest thing I think, is that the space station has a 2 meter radio, so you can say "hi" to the astronauts. ( if they are overhead and you have a directional antenna pointed right at it ...maybe).I think this single radio might be the most important thing in Amateur communications since Marconi put Tesla's patents to use, and the only reason that Ham radio will survive and grow in the digital age. It is bringing in scores of new hams, and as a long time proponent of electromagnetic waveform communications, I am very happy this radio exists. It has few flaws, decent quality, and although it's not user -friendly, it has copious amounts of shareware to increase it's capacities for those curious and smart enough.I love this little bugger, and it is, I believe, an new icon and phenomena in the Amateur radio community.73, KM4VGO

I've only had this for a couple weeks now but I am impressed. This is an incredible bargain for what you get. I have a Yaesu FT-60R, but it's in storage and I wanted to see how this would work for me. Is this radio better than the Yaesu? No. This radio is not as well built, and the menu system is more cumbersome than the Yaesu's, which is somewhat of a pain too. That said, the UV-5R is a fantastic radio which I will definitely recommend to any new ham who may not be ready to spend a bunch of money on a single radio while they get a introduction to amateur radio, and may want to save up for a DMR ready radio next, or even save up a bit more and get a good HF rig. If you do buy this radio, and don't know someone who has a programming cable for it, be sure to buy one at the same time. I also have the little Baofeng speaker microphone and am really happy with that as well.One feature I love about the UV-5R is the commercial FM radio reception feature. This little radio has quickly become one of my favorite pier fishing accessories. I can monitor the repeater I want, and listen to music at the same time. The led light feature is also nice for finding my way in the dark.I can't speak to the battery life yet, because I have never had mine die yet. I frequently leave the FM radio on for hours and there's barely any decrease on the meter. The charging cradle works fine, but is a loose fit. I don'r have a charger for the car yet, but I hope to find a decent one soon.With such a low price, you should have a few bucks left over to buy a couple accessories and still have less than $50 invested. That's a steal for a great basic setup.

Not the easiest radio to use if you're a beginner or novice. That said, I knew a teeny bit about radio programming from my job in EMS.I highly recommend as others have said that you get hold of a cable that works with the camera so you can use free software like Chirp to easily program. Otherwise it's going to be a nightmare and you may just give up. For only $10 more than this radio there are kits that include an extended range antenna, the software and the cable and of course the radio which is a great deal.That said, once I got the half dozen frequencies I wanted to scan programmed in the radio has exceeded expectations. I love that it is made of high quality materials, just like the big dog brand name radios it attempts to imitate.The speaker is loud and crisp, and battery life even on scanning mode is excellent getting about 4-5 days of near constant use in scan mode.Speaking of scanning - I'll agree that scan mode is slow when speaking strictly of frequencies. Once you've programmed in the memories however, scanning on station mode is very quick. I could see how this may be annoying however if in a new area to you. In that case you may want to go with a more robust dedicated scanner option.Overall, I am very thrilled with this radio and it has served its purpose more than admirably during the recent California power outages. It was such a gift to be able to scan for wildfires with the power and phone lines out for periods of 6 days like I experienced.I love these Baofeng radios and to be honest it may be responsible for my burgeoning interest in HAM radio operations! May even get my license at some point!