BAOFENG UV-5G (UV-5X) GMRS Radio, Long Range Rechargeable Two Way Radio with NOAA Weather Receiving & Scanning, GMRS Handheld Radio for Adults, Support Chirp, 2 Pack

Being able to reach each other when we're outdoors riding atvs or camping fishing etc is important to us & once we got our gsmr license these have been just what we wanted. They came with 2 batteries an ear piece speaker & mike for hands free use. They are smaller than the last radios we had & we like that. They can also be used for a scanner for emergency channels & weather they charge fast & the battery lasts a few hours. They were very affordable. Our family like them a lot & we use them 5 or more days a week. Ptt button is easy to use which is great for me as I have problems with the use of my hands. I'm very happy with then.

Baofeng UV-5G GMRS is a great entry level handheld with enough features and functionality to keep high level users happy. You can't beat these for the price. I regularly use these for roadtrips and hiking and they are way better than my FRS handhelds. Line of sight range is around 5-6 miles for me, forested setting I am getting 1.5-2 miles with clear transmissions. Need a GMRS license to operate due to the output power, that was as simple as filing out an online form and submitting a $30 payment. Your GMRS license covers your and your family, worth it.

LATEST MAJOR EDIT: So an update a few days after updating the firmware and loading the new programming software. Good news and bad news. While the new firmware fixes the biggest bugs that I described below, their software will *not* allow you to program ANY *transmit* frequency above that range. this isn't a restriction in the radio, just in the programming software. So if you're using different GMRS repeaters on the same frequency, each with a different tone, you will *not* be able to create a channel entry with with a transmit (repeater input) frequency into the programming software. That field is locked in their garbage software and cannot be unlocked.HOWEVER!!! There is a workaround! Find the .XML file that contains the data and modify it for each channel. You can put in whatever frequency you want, GMRS or not. I modified one of my UV-5X memories for a DCS tone on channel 15 and it works like a champ. You don't need to read Chinese to do this, just open the XML file in Notepad or your favorite text editor, fill in the appropriate info, save the XML file, then open the file you modified in the programming software and write it to the radio. Here's the entry I made that works:<信道数据信道号="32"工作频段="UHF/VHF"接收频率="462.55000"哑音解码="D065N"发射频率="462.5500" <<<--- This is the transmit frequency哑音编码="D065N" <<<--- This is the transmit tone, and it can be different from the receive tone发射功率="H"信道带宽="W"PTT-ID="OFF"繁忙锁定="OFF"扫描添加="ON"信令码="1"信道名称="15-065" />FIRST MAJOR EDIT: Baofeng has released new firmware for these radios which fixes the bandwidth and CTCSS problems I described in my original review (I left it intact as a point of reference). I loaded the new firmware on March 13th and they are now perfectly usable and interoperate quite nicely with other GMRS radios. They now default to carrier squelch and no PL on transmit, and they also default to wide bandwidth on the channels where that is legal to use.ORIGINAL REVIEW: I just received a pair of these yesterday. They're OK, and a good solution for someone who needs a cheap, legal GMRS portable for Jeeping or hiking, etc. But I have a couple of bones to pick about the codeplug (the table of frequencies, tones, etc).As is stands as of Feb. 2021, the UV-5X *cannot* be read by the usual Chirp software, and the proprietary software that can read the radios is absolutely horrible. No copy/paste or any other features. This makes entering custom repeater pairs or adding RX frequencies, channel names, etc, unnecessarily tedious. I expect these will be engineered to work with Chirp software eventually, which will make the job far easier.More problematically, however, the radios come with CTCSS enabled on both TX and RX by default (FRS channels have DCS enabled by default). I *profoundly* disagree with this policy, especially if these are going to be used in safety-related functions. Out of the box, these simply won't inter-operate with GMRS equipment that uses anything except the pre-programmed tones. For new or non-technical users this will cause problems. If everybody agrees to meet on channel 16 for example, if they have no CTCSS tone, or a different one set, the UV-5X won't "hear" them, even though they're right next to each other. If you understand radios it's easy to understand, but these are intended for non-radio people to use as tools. They should be carrier squelch by default, but allow users to program CTCSS tones easily if they so choose.Here's a very real example of how this could be a serious problem. As a Jeeper, if I'm spotting someone on the radio, or someone's spotting me and we're both on channel 17, I don't want some guys a few hundred feet away and using 50W mobiles (also on Ch. 17 but with different or no CTCSS tones) to be able to override my HTs when safety-related directions are being given. Their stronger signals will capture the UV-5X's receiver and the spotting message will be overriden--unintentionally--buy the guys with the 50W mobiles. Having the UV-5X set to NOT use CTCSS "privacy" tones by default would mean I would hear the other high-powered guys on the channel before they become a problem, and our group could move elsewhere or ask them to do so, etc. By way of comparison, many bubble-pack radios come without privacy codes (PL/CG/CTCSS/etc) codes set by default.The second issue is that many GMRS repeaters and a good chunk of mobile radios use widebanded transmissions on GMRS channels, but the UV-5X comes programmed as narrowbanded, and this can't be changed with the default software (although you can change it from the front panel easily enough). This will cause weak/bad audio reports when communicating with other wide-banded users on the channel. Midlands are guilty of this as well.All in all these are decent radios for the price, but they need some programming refinements, or at least the ability to work with Chirp.

What can you say Boafeng one works as advertised the other doesn't receive the same. That is I can talk to others at miles with one the other never heard them? Seems to be issue with Boafeng but very inexpensive radio and it works for our purposes.

This is a great product. I bought a different Baofeng radio that you had to program and had to send it back because I was unable to download the program software then I bought these that are already programed with what I wanted. Has (GMRS/FRS, NOAA Weather, FM radio, and Repeater stations). The drawback to these radios is you have to have an FCC GMRS license to talk on them, (no license required to listen). A good alternative with no license required is the Motorola Talkabout series of radios. Anyway - 5 STARS!

Our newly formed Community Emergency Response Team needed radios to communicate with one another during drills and actual emergencies. After a lot of research we decided on this brand because they had good professional reviews and were reasonably priced. Our community sits on 34 acres, has some hills, and is bordered by two tidal rivers. We've never had difficulty communicating with any of our members regardless where we are in proximity to one another. The radios are feature rich but also incorporate "point and click" easy functions for basic operation. We are very pleased we purchased these radios for our team.

Awesome product from an awesome company! Their customer support team is very helpful

Well just got my radio early June and tried to program using Chirp. It took a lot of digging because there was no option for Baofeng UV-5G. It turns out if you use Radioddity UV-5G it recognizes the radio, and you can program. Too soon to say anything else.