I love Baofeng radios, and the BF-F8HP is a real nice workhorse. With a good antenna (Nagoya 24J in my case) I'm able to hit repeaters dozens of miles away. 3800mAh batteries will keep this thing running for a long time even with lots of activity. A programming cable is pretty much essential to get the most out of this radio.About my only complaint is the inability to disable the alarm entirely (this is an option on some Baofeng/Btech radios). The best option you have is setting it to "site" which at least prevents it from squealing over the airwaves. I also would like an option to control the flashlight operation (disable the blink mode) via programming.Finally, a few quick tips about licensing:* You do NOT need a license to own this radio, and listen in on any frequencies this radio can access.* You DO need a ham license if you want to transmit with this radio. It can also be used unlicensed in an imminent emergency threatening life or property -- but you're better served being licensed, or at least getting intimately familiar with how it works, or it's useless to you in an emergency.* This is not FCC type-accepted for GMRS, FRS, or MURS transmit usage. However, it will transmit and receive on all of those frequencies.