BAOFENGUV-82 High Power BaoFeng Radio Ham Radio Handheld 2 Way Radio Walkie Talkies with Earpiece,Handheld Speaker Mic and Programming Cable (2 Pack-Black)

I can't believe that these can be sold for such a low price. They actually work very well. The antennas that I received with the radios had a VSWR of about 9 on the Amateur Radio bands. This will prove fatal for the radios' amplifiers. I replaced these immediately with Nagoya NA-771, available from Amazon. These both had a VSWR below 2 across all Amateur Radio VHF and UHF bands.You may manually program these radios but using Chirp, available for free as a download, makes programming, the 128 memory frequencies, much easier.I've been using these radios daily, over local repeaters, for several weeks with excellent signal reports. I've been checking into Nets and talking with other radio operators with no issues.You MUST BE LICENSED by the FCC to transmit with these radios on the Amateur Radio bands. Severe fines and penalties otherwise exist. Other frequencies may also require a license.The size and weight are perfect for me. The battery life is exceptional and take several hours to recharge. These don't feel cheap. The cases are rugged.The quality of the USB cable that came with these is not very good. I bought a much better quality one for programming but in reality the one that came with the radios is adequate. You aren't going to use it much after initially programming the radios.Don't expect that these will really put out 8 watts. Mine generated about 5 watts across the entire VHF and UHF Amateur Radio bands.The frequency control is also spot on. I verified this using an external frequency counter.The 1 watt audio output is excellent. This is plenty of audio to listen to conversations with background noise while mobile.The built-in microphone is okay but very directional. You must be very close to it for it to be effective. I have yet to try the external speaker and microphone. I expect these will be similar.Overall the value for your money is extraordinary. These perform as well as other brands selling for 10 times more. I doubt that these are as rugged but they are incredible for this price and you can buy 10 of these transceivers for the price of one of the name brands.These frequencies are generally only good for line-of-sight communications. Don't expect to be talking to someone over great distances. The difference between 5 and 8 watts of transmit power won't make that much difference so don't get too hung-up over power. The use of an Nagoya antenna will make a bigger improvement in both transmit and receive performance than the difference in wattage.You will need a magnetic mount antenna, or similar, if you want to use these while mobile. They are not, however, hands-free except in VOX (voice operated transmit) mode which may or may not be useful for your purposes.I highly recommend these for the price if you are properly licensed to use these frequencies or just plan to just listen. You don't need a license to listen. It isn't that difficult to become a legally licensed Amateur Radio operator. This radio equipment is an affordable place to start. Check for a list of Amateur Radio repeaters in your area. There is a lot of help available to get legally licensed. Check the ARRL website for various options.

I didn't realize that I bought the 2 pack of radios instead of the 1, so price is good. 8W will get you great reception in the urban. Battery life while scanning was like, 15 hours straight (I accidentally left it on, on my desk, while scanning). Comes with programming cables, basic set up instructions, speaker and ear piece, all packaged well. This isn't a basic walkie talkie, you do need to be licensed in the USA by FCC to transmit on the radio. All in all, I recommend this radio for new HAM's who don't have all the money in the world to drop on sick gear (i.e. college students like me).

Update: Based on reading another reviewers post who found an extended whip antenna under the plastic molded tray, I checked my boxes and wow, under each tray was an extended length whip antenna. Now I did try them to see if there was improvement for GMRS freqs, but I did not notice any difference over the shorter whip antennas. I did not test for normal 2m/70cm improvements as I am not yet Technician licensed.Original Review:Saw a lot of negative reviews . After reading thru them , it became clear to me to most issues experienced were either user error, or users not educated on UHF and VHF line of sight limitations. If you want better distance try a genuine NA771 antenna or connect to a magnetic mount mobile antenna , or a magnetic mobile antenna stuck to a pizza pan at home to get a ground plane.My radios came out of box MURS(VHF) and GMRS(UHF) unlocked, and were verified to have the High Medium Low power settings that come with the 8w versions. The provided programming cable pulled all drivers automatically using Windows 10 and seamlessly connected to each radio without issue.Note that each radio has to be programmed in Chirp by reading and writing each radio in its own tab. You can not read from one radio and use the same tab to write to both radios. I can tell that's what other users were trying to do when using Chrip. Chirp works perfectly fine with these if used correctly.

I was skeptical about Baofeng, growing up using Kenwood and Icom radios my whole life. However, for the price, these things are solid performers! Menus are really not intuitive and require a manual to know what some of the abbreviations mean (some abbreviations are standard radio abbreviations, others are total nonsense without a manual) but other than that, they're pretty good. Only complaint I have is that the manual makes reference to an FM radio tuner function and the radio has the button and pressing it brings up the FM broadcast tuner, but it doesn't work. Further reading online states that some distributors of the Baofeng radios opted to NOT include the necessary SDR chip to receive FM radio broadcasts (88-108MHz) due to chip shortages. The Amazon seller made no mention of this capability and didn't sell the radio with this expectation, so they did their job. But having a radio with menus that do nothing and a button that brings up a missing feature is a little.....quirky. Would have been cool to have but I couldn't care less about the 88-108MHz FM broadcast tuner being missing. Beyond that, the radio gets a 8 / 10 in my book!

I was looking for a decent set of 2 way radios to use at work and when camping etc. Came across these and they seemed to have decent features. I use them daily for scanning the local police dispatch for traffic and such. It took a while to get used to the functions but once I learned it they are easy. They have decent range for what they are and very good for the price. Only thing I don’t like is how you have to adjust the squelch, it’s inconvenient but other than that I really lihh my e the radios.