The Baofeng BF-F8HP is a newer, upgraded, and more powerful version of Baofeng’s famous UV-5R radio. Or is it?
The ads are everywhere on Amazon, eBay, and other online sellers claiming the new Baofeng BF-F8HP is the upgraded version of the UV-5R, driving tons of people to buying it instead of the venerable UV-5R since it costs just a tad more. I mean, who doesn’t want a new and improved radio?
That is probably why my book on the Baofeng UV-5R is my bestseller, followed closely by my book on the Baofeng BF-F8HP. Everyone goes looking for the 5R, and some see the ads for the F8HP and buy it instead.
The Baofeng BF-F8HP is a newer, upgraded, and more powerful version of Baofeng’s famous UV-5R radio. Or is it?
The ads are everywhere on Amazon, eBay, and other online sellers claiming the new Baofeng BF-F8HP is the upgraded version of the UV-5R, driving tons of people to buying it instead of the venerable UV-5R since it costs just a tad more. I mean, who doesn’t want a new and improved radio?
That is probably why my book on the Baofeng UV-5R is my bestseller, followed closely by my book on the Baofeng BF-F8HP. Everyone goes looking for the 5R, and some see the ads for the F8HP and buy it instead.
You see where this is going, right?
Yep, you guessed it! Not one single Baofeng BF-F8HP I have ever used, including the few I have bought, has ever lived up to that hype. Let me explain.
The first thing I should probably tell you is that I have never opened either radio up to look at the electronics. I could not really care less if the electronics in the Baofeng BF-F8HP and the Baofeng UV-5R are the same or different. What matters to me is how the radios perform, so that is where I will concentrate.
To start with I have pressed every button and turned the knobs on both radios too many times to count and the only difference I have even been able to tell is that for whatever reason the side buttons on the Baofeng BF-F8HP click at a slightly higher pitch than on the UV-5R. That’s right, they sound slightly different.
In your hand, the two feel identical, probably because even when measured with a digital micrometer, they are within a tenth of a millimeter of each other in every way I could measure. Even the clips are identical, so your hand wraps around exactly the same on the Baofeng BF-F8HP as on the UV-5R.
Turning on the Baofeng BF-F8HP beside its brother shows the exact same screen, with the backlight in exactly the same place. Scrolling through the menu options reveals identical menus with identical options. Nothing new to see here.
Now you are saying that sure the Baofeng BF-F8HP looks, acts, and feels the same, it IS the same, just upgraded! Well, let’s put that to the test, shall we?
Hooking them both up to my power meter, I see the Baofeng UV-5R putting out 3 watts at 146.52Mhz while the Baofeng BF-F8HP puts out a whopping 4.9 watts. What? No, that has to be wrong, unhook everything and try it again. Same results. That has to be a fluke on just the 2m band, what about 70cm? Baofeng UV-5R pushes the needle to 1.4 watts at 446.000Mhz, while the mighty Baofeng BF-F8HP buries the needle at 2.5 watts.
So I dig around and find a cheap $30 GY561 power meter. Low and behold! The F8HP shows over 11 watts! Of course, the UV-5R shows about 8 watts so it seems this little meter reads them both as high.
That same cheap meter shows my Alinco DJ-MD5 at 12 watts and my Kenwood TH-D74 at 11 watts, both of which are way wrong. LOL! So the only way I have been able to get a Baofeng BF-F8HP to transmit substantially more wattage than its little brother, the UV-5R is to use a $30 eBay power meter.
Yes, the Baofeng BF-F8HP is indeed higher power than the UV-5R, but nowhere near what they claim (not at all surprising) and honestly, not enough to get excited about.
But the hits don’t stop there either, take a look at the transmissions coming out of this thing. Not only is the transmission dirtier than the UV-5R, but they are also noticeably off-frequency. True, they are not off-frequency much, but it seems to me if the radio was better, newer, and all that jazz it should be closer to on frequency than its predecessor, no?
How about the transmitted audio quality? Check it out for yourself as the MP3 file is down below. Spoiler alert! It is noticeably inferior to the UV-5R. Sad.
This certainly is not the best Baofeng radio out there, not even in the top five, maybe an antenna upgrade would help, but I can’t see buying Baofeng accessories just to make it behave like the advertising says. Heck, my Baofeng waterproof UV-9R Plus is a far better radio at almost the same power output!
Images:
Radio Specifics:
| Screen readability | Good | |
| In-hand feel | Good | |
| Included antenna | Very Good | |
| Construction quality | Good | |
| Belt clip | Good | |
| Programmability | Good | |
| Transmit audio | CLICK TO LISTEN | |
| Frequency accuracy | 145.000 @ 145.000 | |
| Maximum power output 2m/70cm | 4.9 watts / 2.5 watts | |
| Actual weight | 215g | |
| Battery advertised mAh | 1800mAh | |
| Battery tested mAh | 1210mAh | |
| Radio manual | CLICK TO DOWNLOAD | |
| Programming software | CLICK TO DOWNLOAD | |
| Price based score 0-5 | 2 | |
| Overall score 0-10 | 2 |
Test Images:
If you are interested, click here for an article on how I test radios.
FEATURES:
- Upgrades from our Previous Generation UV-5R
- Twice the Output Power (8 watts up from 4 watts output) (so they say, I call BS)
- New Hardened Durable Radio Shell (feels exactly the same to me)
- V-85 High Gain Antenna (Twice the Antenna Performance) (again, tests fail to show this)
- USA Support + In-depth User Guide Included (not in any language I can read)
- High / Med / Low Power Settings (8W, 4W, 1W)
- 65-108 MHz(Only commercial FM radio reception)
- VHF: 136-174 MHz(Rx/Tx)
- UHF: 400-520 MHz(Rx/Tx)
- Broad (Wide) / Narrowband (Narrow) Selectable
| PROS: | CONS: |
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Conclusions
Here are some reviews of the Baofeng BF-F8HP!
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Looks like what you really have is a knock off. The package is different and also the front grill is different.
The vast majority of all radios labeled Baofeng are knock-offs. I try to buy and test the radios, knock-off or not, that the majority of people will run into so I can help the largest number of people.
This is an old thread, but there’s a lesson here…..
That’s a pretty lame excuse. You are stating that the BF-F8HP is no good or any better than the UV-5R in general form, but then he goes and makes the statement that he doesn’t care if the model being tested isn’t the real BF-F8HP??? Really? Your tests help no one then.
ALWAYS test THE ACTUAL MODEL, not THE KNOCK-OFFS.
Do your search and find the actual product from the actual manufacturer. Only then can you make performance statements or judge the ACTUAL product’s claimed specifications.
The knock-offs will always use the better specifications and data from the original to label their imitations.
I will respectfully disagree. When talking to people in the local radio groups, preppers who purchase these radios, and the people I deal with while writing my books and this website, one thing is very clear, the overwhelming majority of “Baofeng” radios people buy are fakes. I test what people buy, from the same sources. What difference does it make if a real Baofeng UV-5R is better than a fake when 90% of the ones in use are fakes? Why would I compare a radio that hundreds of thousands of people have to a radio that almost no one has?
What I want to do is help people make a choice when they go to eBay or Amazon and browse through the radios, almost none of those Baofengs are “real”. Check out my article https://www.besthamradio.com/is-your-baofeng-radio-a-fake-baofeng-radio/ which explains this, and much more.
My BF-F8HP Says Pofung and Baofeng on the back. The charger says Pofung.
My UV-5R only days Baofeng…
BTW, if the volume control gets scratchy, do not open the radio.
Instead, put a drop of Deoxit on the pot shaft. Works.
Have you tried the pro version?
https://amzn.to/42s5XLx
I have not, but it is on my list.
Hey Bob, just wanted to let you know I have the review up for the pro version at https://www.besthamradio.com/btech-baofeng-bf-f8hp-pro/