Baofeng 2013 Newest Dual Band VHF and UHF 5W Walkie Talkie Baofeng UV-B5

• Dual Band
• Dual Display

After reading the reviews on the previous model (UV-5R) and this UV-b5 I knew what to expect with this radio. But, it has turned out to be much better.

Pros: The new software is very easy to add repeaters. I decided to use the current DAILY build of CHIRP since that allows me to download the repeater info directly from the repeater book. Both programs worked fine though. They both need the USB cable to connect the radio to the PC. Much easier to use these than to program the radio by pressing buttons.

I was concerned about the squelch when I first got it. I thought it was 100% off or 100% on. I must have inadvertently changed some setting, because when I reset the radio the squelch worked fine.

The distance is great. The FCC has not yet processed my license so I haven't tried transmitting yet. But, with a mobile antenna I was listening to stations 2000 miles away through a nearby repeater. And, I can pick up the repeater from 20 miles away With the rubber duck or the mobile antenna. With the included rubber duck I was listening to a tornado drill and heard radios 40-60 miles away. It is obvious this rubber duck is better than past ones.

The battery has lasted about 20 hours so far and has most of the power left. Got to love lipos.

The scanning of the memory channels is very easy. Simply click off or on under the scanning option in the software. On the radio press menu then scan. When I hear something good I press menu and it stops the scanning. Works great. I have loaded all of the repeaters in my state. Plus, I loaded the ones for a coming trip and saved the file so I can just load them into the radio right before I go.

Sound is fine. Haven't tried it with the external microphone/speaker yet.

Cons: All piddly stuff, nothing major. Buttons are small and hard for my old eyes to read. Can't imagine they could make them any larger, though. The LED light on the menu screen doesn't stay on long enough But maybe I can change that in the menu somewhere. The LCD screen is hard to read the memory channel numbers after you get into the double digits. The frequencies are very easy to read though. The owners manual leaves much to be desired. Like maybe an owners manual. It is best to go to the Yahoo UV-B5 group or search the web with questions. The manual is pretty much useless.

Summary: Much better than expected. Does more than I expected. Works better than I expected. Battery lasts longer than expected. Great purchase.

Buy Baofeng 2013 Newest Dual Band VHF and UHF 5W Walkie Talkie Baofeng UV-B5 Now

I work with the American Red Cross in disaster response on a local and national level. I have a number of public safety grade portable radios that I use on a daily basis. With responding to disasters/emergencies outside of my normal area I wanted something that I could program on the fly in a hurry in case I couldn't get one of my other radios programmed. I looked at several different dual band portable radios and when I came across the Baofeng UV-B5 I couldn't pass it up. For the price (under $50) it looked up to par with some of it's more expensive counter parts. I've been using this radio on a daily basis for over a month now and I'm glad I bought it. With the 2000mah Li-Ion battery I can get between 24-36 hours on a single charge (depending on how much I transmit) before the battery becomes to low to be useful. I put it on a service monitor just to run it through it's paces and I get 5 watt's out on both VHF and UHF, and receive sensitivity is up to par with my Motorola and Kenwood public safety grade radios. There are only 2 things I don't like: 1, When assigning Alpha tags to a channel you only get 5 characters and 2, the scan feature isn't that great because it is pretty slow, but then again if you want a scanner then buy a scanner. I use the dual watch feature and I've come pretty fond of that feature. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this radio to someone else or to buy another one. Matter of fact my son is considering getting his amateur radio license and if he does this will be the radio I get him for his first.

Read Best Reviews of Baofeng 2013 Newest Dual Band VHF and UHF 5W Walkie Talkie Baofeng UV-B5 Here

I read great reviews on this Baofeng UV-B5 before I bought it, and many had stated that unlike some of the earlier models this one seemed to be a superior model. As a ham rookie (I'm studying for my exam to take in a month) I couldn't be happier with this little radio. It is pulling in stations from miles off using a cable and magnetic mount antenna I bought here on Amazon, and I'm looking forward to passing the exam so I can finally start talking on it.

Programmability is excellent simply keying in from the keys on the front of the transceiver. You really don't need a cable or software to program it, but the software and cable do make it a good bit easier to store your stations and to change them quickly.

The seller was great, too if you need to contact them for anything they get in touch with you quickly even though they are across the globe in China.

I'm extremely happy with my purchase, and I highly recommend both the seller and the Baofeng UV-B5! Just be patient it takes a couple of weeks to ship from China.