The BaoFeng ham radio was one of the highly rated ones on a couple of electronics review sites, and Survival Frog had a pretty good price on it during a sale, so I grabbed one. Most of the time it’s a good arrangement for me.
Radio came quick, sooner than expected and packed well.
After a few days I opened it and looked through it all, and everything mentioned in the ads was sent, including a VERY detailed instruction booklet. After browsing through it, and looking at the charger and battery I decided I need to get my PHD in electronics before using it (kidding, kidding!). I WILL have to study it more to work out using it effectively.
The radio has good controls, they feel like quality is built in, if just a little bit on the “compact” side, the smaller buttons need care to hit properly, but they are responsive.
I expect to get good use out of it once I get past the learning curve, and am glad Survival Frog had it in their inventory of products. If I spend my hard earned dollars I prefer to do it where it supports nice people to deal with.
If there were anything besides the smallish button issue to complain about, it would be that it’s unfortunate that it didn’t come with a charging option that doesn’t tie you to a wall outlet. Something like this ought to be supplied/equipped with either a rechargeable battery option using solar or usb, or 12-volt, or another way to have it function without plugging into 110/120 ac.
I can go to BaoFeng to get additional ways, but it might…