Reviews
Great HT, adds 220 MHz and lots of other features to the 5R family
Pro-220 MHz band-Display sync-Memory scan add/remove-Editable memory slots-VFO scan range-Included antennas MUCH better than most rubber ducksCon-Box has two antennas ( 144/440 and 220 ) instead of one tri-band antenna-Transmit limited to 5W, not 8W-Subtle clicking noise on receive-No AM broadcast receive-Dislay Sync disables dual frequency watchOverallI don't think I can add anything that hasn't been already said about the Baofeng 5R family. If you're a newly licensed amateur, a 5R is an inexpensive first-step to see if you want to get more serious about the hobby. If you don't, you at least have something for use in emergencies. If you want to go for a killer handheld or base station, you haven't sunk a lot of money into the 5R to prevent you from upgrading ( and it's a fantastic little backup unit ).While the big feature of the 5X3 is the inclusion of the 1.25m / 220 MHz band for North American use, hiding under the surface are a lot of other creature comfort and ease-of-use features the 5R and BF-F8HP don't have. Chief among these is Display Sync, which locks the A and B lines of the display together, useful for seeing both the frequency and the memory name at the same time. Note that assigning names to memory slots requires a programming cable, an additional purchase I highly recommend, especially getting a certified one, not a cheap knock-off cable that requires special drivers and workarounds. Also, using Display Sync also disables the dual watch feature of monitoring two frequencies at the same time.Speaking of memory slots, the 5X3 also lets you edit the CTCSS/DCS codes and offsets of memory slots from the keypad without needing to first delete the memory and recreate the whole thing. You can also add and remove memories from the scan list, though sadly there is no keypad shortcut and you have to go in through the menu for each channel. Scanning on the VFO side also supports frequency ranges, so instead of scanning all of 144 - 148 MHz, you can tell it to only bother with 146 - 147, or other subsets ( it has to be a full integer MHz, so you can't scan just 146.5 - 147.75, etc ).The included antennas are much better than the standard ducks. I had simplex roundtables ( about 2 miles radius for all parties ) and easily hit repeaters 40 miles away. Sound quality reports came back good. Still, a good aftermarket antenna will do better. My Smiley 27000 telescoping tri-band lets me hit a popular repeater 35 miles away on 1W xmit power and another repeater cluster 55 miles away on high xmit power, 144, 220, and 440 MHz bands.This brings up two big downsides. Instead of including one tri-band antenna, you get a 144/440 antenna and one 220 antenna. Switching them out and keeping track of both can be a hassle. Also, xmit power is capped at 5W, not 8W like the 82HP andF8HP. Right about now is the time someone chimes in saying the antenna on a handheld makes a much bigger difference than the extra 3W. Yes, that's true to a point. But that extra 3W combined with a good antenna can make a notable, if moderate, improvement on useful range, particularly if you have minor RF obstructions between you and your repeater of choice.Sound quality from the speaker and included headset are not great, but more than good enough for most users. My set has a faint repeating clicking noise in the background whenever receiving ( regardless of listening to repeaters or simplex, so I know it's the handset ) that's mildly annoying, but doesn't get in the way. Strangely it isn't present when listening to FM broadcast radio. Though speaking of broadcast, the 5X3 doesn't receive AM broadcast, a real shame.All told, I consider the 5X3 to be the better purchase than the F8HP. Yes, losing that extra 3W power stings a little, but gaining a whole new band as well as the selective scan list and display sync make up for it, and I don't even live in a heavy 1.25m traffic area. Those that live in places that do use the 220 MHz band will benefit from it even more.
14/01/2019
Related Reviews
Excellent Upgrade and a Super Price
Like others have written about this lens, it's a thing of beauty. My last 'nifty fifty' had the autofocus stop working on it about a year ago, and I finally got fed up and decided to replace it. This is a superior placement, frankly. Focus speed is good, and I certainly appreciate the quieter motor used in the AF mechanism. All in all it was a great investment; I've used it dozens of times already after having it for a couple weeks.
02/02/2023
Great action cam for the money
This is a great camera for the money. I always wanted to get into recording every day life or fun events to share with family, friends, and keep as fond memories. I read reviews from all over and every one always seemed to point to the same answer..GoPro. but I wasn't ready to jump into that $400 pool for something I wasn't sure I really wanted. More research and reviews and I landed on the Akaso action cam. It seemed everyone so far has had good things to say, image quality, stabilization, audio, and user control all for a quarter of the price. That old saying "If it's too good to be true than it probably is.." Well, I would say that this is the exception. Once paid for it arrived just as expected for amazon prime. Packaging was very well done and camera was nice and buttoned up inside. My package did not have the clear case to display the camera, similar to that of GoPro but that's okay. When I opened the box it was very securely packed in foam and mounted to what looked like a injection molded mount. I was impressed. It was so securely packaged that I accidentally broke one of the clips for the base mount. Saddened but going through the accessory box was pleasantly surprised with the amount of mounting options Akaso had provided, including another base mount which made me feel better about my own blunder. Opening up the waterproof case I pulled the camera out. It felt good. Light but sturdy, and made out of a rubberized plastic with some nice cut grooves to keep the camera from slipping if your fingers are wet or sweaty. I popped a battery in and powered it up. It came right to live with a quick splash screen and ready to go. The IPS touch screen is nice with good color and little to none lag time from what is lens is seeing. touch screen and physical buttons to navigate menu's is a very nice touch...So, I put in an SD card and away I went. Stock setting were great! Focus was great and the auto WB and ISO worked well, when moving between light and dark contrast there was a second for the camera to adjust but once it did it worked well. Tweaking camera settings was sufficient enough with pre-set profiles for ISO, WB, and exposure. It's no pro-tune but it gets the job done and looks good with some post-processing. I think the only Negative this camera has is it's low light capture, there is a good amount of grain in low light but for this price point, it's barley a negative. I think like myself, most users will be taking their footage with good lighting during daytime light. The wifi and app were quick and responsive with little delay in the video streaming, another great item of note for a camera of this price. Once paired, the remote worked well with voice commands, although seeming a little silly when spoken but do it's job none the less. The buttons were tactile and had a very nice responsive "click", no complaints there.To sum up, I think this is a fantastic camera for the money with a lot of features going for it and if one is so inclined to learn a little bit of video editing and post-processing, is very comparable to the bigger name brands and well worth the cost for a casual user like myself.
19/08/2022
This webcam is pretty great
I absolutely love this webcam. Beyond the resolution, the main draw for me is the 60hz capture. I can't really say much more other than if functions exactly as advertized. The mount is pretty terrible, however. It slips off the top of my monitor with the smallest jolt. I've yanked it off by the cable with my foot by accident a few times. Luckily, the thing is tough enough to take the fall. There is one very serious design flaw, however. In the product photos, you can see a blue LED located on the face of the camera to the lense's right. This blue light leaks into the lens, and will absolutely ruin any image you try to pull from this thing if the room is dark enough. If you want to avoid it, you're gonna have to light yourself to an extreme and kick the exposure down. The good part about this is that the lower the exposure, the easier it is to achieve the 60fps max framerate. Overall, I recommend it, but that blue light issue is pretty serious if you have no workaround.
09/08/2022
Solid value in a TTL flash
I purchased this primarily to use as a slave unit along with my Nikon SB 800 Flash on my D850. I will also likely employ it as a backup flash on my D700. Voking makes an identical model optimized for Canon.This flash is thoughtfully designed and seems very solidly built. It doesn’t have the cheap feel of many flash units in, or even above, its price range. It attaches to my camera hot-shoe easily and securely. The package includes a standard desk stand that can be tripod mounted. It has a built-in bounce card and second diffusing lens. Tilt and rotation of the flash head feel appropriately tight yet remain easy to adjust. Controls are well arranged and work smoothly. The display is bright and easily readable in any light. In TTL mode it accurately and quickly displays the key settings on my camera: ISO, Focal length, Aperture and any EV value changes you have made. My test exposures are all on par with my SB 800. It also has an intriguing strobe feature I’ve yet to explore.My singular disappointment is that it won’t do high speed sync. Given the overall value of the flash, and my intended use, it’s a relatively minor flaw. I may well purchase another as a second slave unit.
30/10/2021
Good crawl space lights
These lights are good for lighting up a 20’ x 24’ basement crawl space. They are simple to install throw off plenty of light.I don’t recommend them for over a workbench as the clear lens doesn’t diffuse the light and the bright LEDs would be too harsh to work under.Please note the product description is not correct. The power cord with the on/off switch is only 48” long, not 59” as claimed. The switch is 24” from the plug end. The connecting cord for ganging the lights together is 48”.
13/10/2021
Pleasantly Satisfying
This camera offers a wide spectrum of features. Point and shoot enthusiasts will love the results. Manual photographers will have to learn a few buttons and menus, and will be rewarded with great shots for their efforts. The "Q" button is the secret to navigating the on-screen menu. Manual shoot offers a quick wheel to change the shutter speed, but you'll have to hold down the "AV +/- trash" button while simultaneously spinning the wheel to change the aperture setting. It's the same wheel/button combo for exposure compensation in other modes.I graduated from a Canon G5 to this T3 DSLR and I am very pleased with the upgrade. I'm able to utilize some of the Canon menu and navigation from the G5, and with a little help from the pdf version of the manual, I quickly acquainted myself with the M, Av, Tv, & P settings. The 8 basic modes are self-explanatory. The "A-DEP" automatic depth-of-field setting is just more icing on the cake.At this price point it's a bonus that the camera shoots video. "Entry-level" DSLR cameras are a strange breed: avid photographers bemoan their lacklustre features, while point and shoot graduates are offered many features that they will probably never use. A good photographer can take great shots with an old Pentax K1000 + an appropriate lens, and this T3 offers the same high performance potential at a very reasonable price, plus it's point and shoot results are fabulous. Everyone should be happy.
02/07/2021
Excellent Introductory Telescope
When purchasing any telescope, it is best to be an informed consumer. This is particularly difficult for the novice, as they are often faced with a large selection of choices, and have to interpret data that is unfamiliar to them. The place to start is with Dickinson and Dyer’s ‘The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide’. https://smile.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448/ref=dp_ob_title_bk Here you will find an explanation of confusing terms like ‘eyepieces’, ‘filters’, ‘focal length’, ‘focal ratio’, ‘aperture’, ‘maximum theoretical versus useful magnification’. In addition, you will also understand how the different quality of eyepieces and such will impact your viewing.This telescope comes with a brief, one sheet, multi-lingual illustrated ‘Quick Set-Up Guide, but lacks a manual. Most of the components, seemed adequate, except for the Barlow Lens, which felt lightweight, as if made of plastic. The tripod seems well-made of steel, except for the accessory tray, which is plastic. While the altazimuth mount well horizontally, I had great trouble rotating the vertical adjustment to install the body tube. This issue was not covered in the guide, and there is no manual to offer advice; I realized after a few minutes that I had carelessly over-tightened the handle! The rest went quite smoothly.This telescope comes with 3 coated lenses, plus the 3X Barlow. The maximum useful magnification of this telescope is found in the ratio of the focal length of the telescope to the focal length of the eyepiece in use. For this telescope we divide the focal length of 400 by that of the 5mm lens which gives us 80X. In general, the Barlow lens are not relied on for these calculations.In the end, you have to compare this quite good-looking, strongly made telescope with that of a comparable name brand product like the Celestron
03/04/2021
Must buy & will change the quality of ur pictures
Highly recommended to buyOver exceeding my expectations since beginning of purchasing experiencePackage is great, traveling package is very useful & creatively designed to fit all lens attachments in a compact box to be carried everywhereAwesome shots & made a huge difference in my pictures background amd could capture all the scenaries without any sophisticated optionsTutorial videos r extremely appreciated & replied to all my enquiriesThank u & Best of luck Xenvo team
17/01/2021
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