BF-F8HP PRO 10 W Tri-Band Two-Way Radio – UV-5R 7th Gen, 1000 Channels, GPS & NOAA Weather, Aviation/VHF/UHF/1.25 m Scanner, IP54 Rugged, USB-C Rechargeable Battery

I have a couple of Baofeng radios, so when I saw this B-Tech (supposedly a different line at the Baofeng factory that manufactures their high-end versions of the Baofeng radios) I had to order it. The screen is nice and clear and easy to read. This has become an every day carry radio for me due to it's ease of operation, excellent range and super sound quality. Easy to program using Chirp or the BF-Tech Pro CPS software (if you want to take advantage of using the different zones, you must use the CPS software). 10 Zones with up to 100 channels/zone make this a very versatile radio that allows easy organization of your channels. Being a tri-band radio, the 1.25M band is a nice addition. While not that popular in my area yet, you may also consider that an asset! Also, being able to listen to AM frequencies starting at 108Mhz is a nice touch and allows me to listen to my local airport traffic. While this isn't an Icom or Yaesu or Kenwood, it is a reasonably priced radio that packs a lot of features into a nice compact HT. Works well with both of the included antennas (one is for the 1.25M bands) and being able to charge via USB-C is also a nice feature. The speaker is quite loud and sounds pretty clear even when cranked up a bit. Also, this radio has FCC Certification which means no more spurious emissions like some of their previous models. I would recommend this HT if you want a decent radio at a decent price! I also own a Radioddity GS-5B, a Yaesu FT-70D, Yaesu FT-5D, Baofeng UV-5R and a Baofeng RD-5R DMR radio.

Having a great time with this little radio! The entering of stations and the 10 "zones" is perfect! Nobody wants to have to stop the car every 30 miles or so to check and uncheck stations when traveling! The DMR radios do this, so why not Analog. Love the CPS! Menu is simple, uncluttered, and does everything one needs to do with few submenu's. Meter-measurements on my radio are showing 10 watts on HAM VHF, and 8.8 watts on UHF. I haven't used it on 1.25 meters yet -- there aren't any repeaters for this near me. Signal reports are excellent and audio quality is clear and clean. I have loaded in my aircraft frequencies so I can follow my grandson's flying lessons (Can't talk on the frequencies, but you can hear everything.) My only complaint about that is that if the aircraft's signals are weak, they sound fuzzy. Battery life is unexpectedly long, even while using it at full power. GPS is nice, but it gives the result in lat/lon coordinates. It is NOT an APRS radio, but I am told that Baofeng is working on that. However, if you have a friend who also has this radio, you can transmit your position to him/her. I'm still discovering things in this richly endowed radio. Also, it is updatable so I anxiously await additional features! Great Analog radio at a super price! People laugh at Baofeng's little radios. THIS one is loaded!

Excellent radio with a host of features... However its not without some flaws. First, I received this with one of the tiny plastic corner tab which holds the battery in alignment bent. I was able to bent the plastic tab back into place without it snapping off at which point I could finally slide the battery in place and power up. First thing I noticed was that the WX channels are in the wrong order or more accuratly they are not assigned to the frequencies they are supposed to be according to my other baofengs as well as the user manual. This is "annyoing" but not a deal breaker. Next issue was with the fm radio. When switching it on if you are coming from the weather band the fm radio doesn't work, but instead the squelch is opened up on whatever rx/tx channel you are also on in the background. Turing the fm radio off then back on again fixes this as well as keying up while in the fm radio function. This does not seem to happen unless your switching from WX to FM however. Finally issue is with the GPS Speed function. All is well in KPM but MPH is WAY off. Like when traveling around 50 mph the display shows around 2000MPH. I have sent this report to Btech and will see if anything comes of it. NOW THE GOOD... This unit is Software upgradeable!!!! Other than the issues listed above, the radio is honestly really awesome, especially for the price. Additionally knowing that the USA team at BTECH is dedicated to fixing bugs and putting out updates really makes a difference in how I feel about the above mentioned issues. Now I'm not going to try to convince you that this is piece of plastic with electronic components inside is worth twice the price of the nearly identical non Btech models, but so far so good when it comes to transmitting on 2 meter band and receiving this radio is pretty expectational. I say this with several years of experience with Yaesu and Icom Japanese handhelds which cost 3-5 times as much as this little Btech. While those other brands may offer slightly better quality and clarity it really gets down to one simple comparison. Is the BTECH $69 radio worth the price? To me.. ABSOLUTELY! Is it better than the non gps $30 model? Well, that's up to you to determine.