I have had this radio over two uears now with quite a bit of use throughout. All around it's an amazing radio with amazing sound clarity. Unfortunately after all this time the mount for the battery is starting to fail (not staying seated to power the radio). Still an amazing radio and not sure if it's something that happens with others or just mine in particular.***Update***After further inspection I realized that the problem did not exist in the radio itself but in the replacement batteries.

Having issues with programming and placing channels in memory.Also, squelch seems not to work going up or down to take out the squelch beeps

The BTECH UV-5X3 is great little radio for anyone looking to get into GMRS/HAM radio!

Cheap and full featured, excellent HT for any need.

For an inexpensive radio?This seems to be working just fine. My only surprise was that the small antenna connector is just the opposite of what I've become accustomed to with my Japan made handhelds!So none of my ready to hand antennas will work without an adapter!(Which is proving to be hard to find here in North America.Speaker audio sounds great!But my transmitted audio reports are not so good. Will review again once I've been able to use a "Real" antenna!

This is probably the best radio in its class I’ve owned. I actually plan on purchasing another soon for my wife for our hunting, fishing, camping, and all our outdoor activity. Great out of the box and also very simple to customize your channel. It’s a great product! I would recommend some improvement to the scanning mode. Other than that, very happy with my purchase for how I intended on using.

UPDATE: My radio's built-in microphone died after a week. Suddenly nobody could hear me. After double-checking my settings and a bit of troubleshooting, I plugged in an external mic and it worked. I contacted the seller via Amazon and a replacement was shipped immediately. Hopefully this new one holds up better. I'll let you know if it doesn't.-------------------------------------------------If you liked the UV-5R radios, you'll like this one too. It's a generally improved remodel, not a big departure. I have a UV-5R, a UV-5RE+ and now a BF-F8HP. They are essentially interchangeable. BaoFeng makes a LOT of very similar models. I suspect they will put a custom model # sticker on any slight variation for anyone who is willing to order a significant number of them. But I digress...I program all of these, as well as several other "UV-5R" variations owned by friends using CHIRP. They have various different firmware versions, so when sharing programs it will complain about not changing certain system settings, but they accept the same programming and change all the frequency presets etc. just fine, which is all most people will be concerned with.If you are unlicensed and not a big radio geek, these are still far superior to "blister pack" radios available at Wal-Mart or the sporting goods store. While they are certainly not as easy to use, if you have someone in your group who can manage to download and install CHIRP and spend 5 minutes googling for the appropriate frequencies, you can use some of the 128 memory channels to store all the FRS, GMRS and MURS channels (there are still some restrictions here), plus NOAA, your favorite country music station and any other channels that might be of interest, at least for listening. Radios like this DO come with more responsibility though. Because they have a bit more power and the ability to transmit on licensed or private/restricted frequencies, YOU need to make sure you understand what you are doing and follow the rules. Transmitting on the wrong frequencies can have an impact ranging from slightly annoying to genuine danger (talking over police/EMS dispatch or railroad dispatch etc.)For a beginning ham, this is a great option. Does 8 watts make a significant difference in performance over 4-5? Nope. Not for most people. You'd be better off buying the UV-5R and putting the savings into a better antenna, like a Nagoya NA-711. Standing on a step ladder will probably do more for your ability to hit distant stations than a couple extra watts. But, if an extra $30 isn't a big deal to you, why not get the extra power, extra battery capacity AND a real antenna? This radio has all of the features needed for most users, good build quality (especially for the money), good interoperability with other similar models and performance that meets or exceeds all the manufacturers claims.

The uv-5x3 I got has a range of less than 1/4 mile with supplied antenna . I attached a 10 meter outside antenna and it did much better. The scanning function works well on FM Broadcast and occasionally a NOAA weather broadcast.

I love this item

Look like good radio I need more time to make some test.