This is a solid radio for beginners, pretty rugged and has a good amount of features for the price. The performance at 8W is surprising, and I was able to hit a repeater about 30 miles away according to RepeaterBook (the repeater was on a mountain and I was in an open sports field so keep that in mind.) But the other hams on the repeater said while there was some background noise and static, that my transmissions were clear and easily understandable. The only complaint I have for this radio is that the menu system isn't very intuitive, and programming repeaters into the memory channels is difficult the first few times (the manual is not incredibly clear on how to do this) so I suggest using YouTube to supplement the manual the first time and then it should be pretty easy to do from then on.
06/07/2020
Just starting in Ham radio. The layout and menus are easy to learn, and the device itself is sturdy. It has a lot of good reviews and tutorials on YouTube, also, so I think this was a good choice.
05/07/2020
Well worth t he money. I bought the programming cable and the software is free.Very easy to use.
02/07/2020
I love this radio. It's dual band. Easy to program with CHIRP software or the proprietary software. You can also program it from the keypad. Has 2 channel displays A/B Sound quality is good. Excellent value for the money. I love having the standard and the extended battery. Built very solid. Would recommend to anyone.
29/06/2020
Item was delivered in a very timely manner, product was as described. Not very good reception in my opinion. Put in codes and couldn't receive even within very close range, less than 1/4 mile
29/06/2020
I like the compact size of this radio. Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about HAM radio and frequencies and the like so there is a learning curve on this one. While that's in progress, it's nice to have a peace-of-mind radio on hand.
28/06/2020
Much improved sound quality over previous product!
28/06/2020
This radio on high power puts out a MAX of 3.5 /3.0 watts V/U. Do not buy this if you are expecting 5 watts.
28/06/2020