Review on 📻 BAOFENG UV-5X (UV-5G) GMRS Radio: Long Range, NOAA Alerts, Rechargeable, Chirp Support - 1 Pair by Brent Porter

First, it is small, tiny, if you are over two meters tall and not from China, you need to get an extended battery, it is not even necessary. It doubles the grip. The antenna sucks, but the radio itself is great. The included "duck" is static, noisy, and barely tuned to the operating spectrum. Just understand that the quality of the radio depends on the quality of the antenna and get the Nagoya 771 (the one specifically for GMRS, not HAM. Sorry this site doesn't sell it). These upgrades double your price. , but it's still cheaper than other HTs. You'll probably still need battery and antenna upgrades, they only start at 2x the price. Just budget for this as the battery is handy but the antenna is optional. The function is simple, but you really should put the official programming cable in the box. Imagine you have cloned two radios and you need to press all the buttons. In any case, you get the cable here, so you also get it when you buy it. It says right in the manuals not to use the radio while charging, so ignore the reports of the melting problem and such - they turned their charger into an antenna dipole and then wondered why their radio and battery were melting. In any case, simply use the radio as said: only from the charger, otherwise you switch it off. The dual-band monitoring feature should work with the radio off, and if you don't you won't know who the heck is. you speak, so do it first. Otherwise there are no complaints except for the antenna. If you're just using a standard antenna and only talking to someone a few miles away, it probably doesn't matter - you'll get interference, but you'll be understood. If you're trying to reach a repeater 20 miles away, you absolutely need one.