This BF-F8HP Pro is billed as a better F8HP than the original, but is it? Let’s start with it being from Btech, which has a pretty good reputation for selling upscaled Baofeng radios at a premium. These radios are generally better built, have better accessories, and a better manual. They do, however, cost a little more.
I always start my reviews by how it physically feels to use the radio. In this case, it is pretty good. The large angled belt clip is a little weird in the hand, but not too bad. That’s OK with me, as the clip seems solid and works very well, appearing larger and more substantial than the clip used in a lot of UV-5R type radios. Adjusting your grip a little on the back to be more from the lower part of the radio instead of directly behind helps a lot.
There are no sharp edges on the BF-F8HP Pro except right on the bottom of the battery where it sits on the desk and maybe the front side of where the lanyard attaches.
Opening the box is a nicer experience than most Baofeng radios. The box is covered in nice graphics and information instead of the plain cardboard experience you get with others. Inside is a lot the same, except right off the bat you notice the full color cover of the thicker than normal manual. Inside the manual is a much more detailed set of information on the operation of the manual than any Baofeng radio I have ever seen. It is also in much better English, so it is easier to understand.
The BF-F8HP Pro sports nicer buttons than you will find on other Baofeng radios, they have a very firm and satisfying click when you press them. Turning the volume knob on top is also nice, with a firm click to start off, then smooth rotation all the way around.
This BF-F8HP Pro is billed as a better F8HP than the original, but is it? Let’s start with it being from Btech, which has a pretty good reputation for selling upscaled Baofeng radios at a premium. These radios are generally better built, have better accessories, and a better manual. They do, however, cost a little more.
I always start my reviews by how it physically feels to use the radio. In this case, it is pretty good. The large angled belt clip is a little weird in the hand, but not too bad. That’s OK with me, as the clip seems solid and works very well, appearing larger and more substantial than the clip used in a lot of UV-5R type radios. Adjusting your grip a little on the back to be more from the lower part of the radio instead of directly behind helps a lot.
There are no sharp edges on the BF-F8HP Pro except right on the bottom of the battery where it sits on the desk and maybe the front side of where the lanyard attaches.
Opening the box is a nicer experience than most Baofeng radios. The box is covered in nice graphics and information instead of the plain cardboard experience you get with others. Inside is a lot the same, except right off the bat you notice the full color cover of the thicker than normal manual. Inside the manual is a much more detailed set of information on the operation of the manual than any Baofeng radio I have ever seen. It is also in much better English, so it is easier to understand.
The BF-F8HP Pro sports nicer buttons than you will find on other Baofeng radios, they have a very firm and satisfying click when you press them. Turning the volume knob on top is also nice, with a firm click to start off, then smooth rotation all the way around.
Once you turn the radio on, you notice two big upgrades; a color screen and a different voice. The color screen is almost twice the size of the UV-5R and overall is very bright and easy to read. The downside here is that by default that beautiful screen shuts off after 30 seconds. Yes, the UV-5R turns off the backlight at about the same time, but the difference is you can read the screen with the backlight off on a UV-5R, you can not on this radio as it goes completely black. You can change this behavior in the menu options Menu > Radio Setting > 12 Backlight > Always on. This, of course, goes through the battery faster.
The different voice they use with the BF-F8HP Pro is quite interesting and caught me by surprise. It is much clearer English, which is good, but there is a weird way he is talking that almost makes me think the voice actor or whatever was on some medications when they made it. This does not stop you from understanding what is being said, but it does make me smile every time I turn it on.
Speaking of battery, the BF-F8HP Pro comes with a BL-5RH 2500mAh rated battery as opposed to a UV-5R’s 1800mAh unit. This makes sense because the radio has a more power hungry screen and higher transmit power rating. This larger battery is the same one you find on several other Baofeng radios such as the UV-5G Plus, UV-5RM Plus, and UV-5RM Pro, so it is easy to find and very affordable. I should also mention that although the BF-F8HP Pro comes with a drop-in charger, the battery also has a USB-C charging port.
Software on the BF-F8HP Pro is different from what you expect on a Baofeng radio. Btech has organized things into categories you see pressing the Menu button. Zone, Scan, Radio Setting, GPS, Program Channel, and Radio Info are the top level options. Most items are where you would expect to find them, which makes setting some of the 50+ different options easier. This is a nice touch but can take a minute or two to adjust to if you are used to the typical Baofeng software.
So, let’s talk about how the radio performs. The quick answer is, well, not great.
We can start with how much power the BF-F8HP Pro puts out, which is a respectable 5 watts on 2m and 6 watts on 70cm. This compares favorably to the original F8HP, which put out 4.9 watts and 2.5 watts respectively. So they did upgrade the output a little, which is in line with their idea of this being an upgraded F8HP.
Now we come to the biggest problem with this radio, and that is where that power is going. Pretty much all over the place according to the spectrum analysis I did.
The original F8HP had a fairly reasonable looking chart, although a bit messy and uneven. The BF-F8HP Pro “improves” upon this by being massively messier. There is no clear power line in the center, instead there are several weaker lines spaced far apart, each of which is, in its own right, a messy smear (see the chart below).
So you get more power, but it is wasted by the BF-F8HP Pro in its horrible transmit profile.
That isn’t the end of the disappointments with the BF-F8HP Pro though, the antenna is worse too. I don’t expect too much from a factory antenna, but this is a pretty substantial downgrade in a premium radio. The chart below shows that it has at best about -7 or more likely about -4 return loss at 2m, while the original F8HP between -18 to -10. The SWR at 2m is about the same with the BF-F8HP Pro hitting almost 5 while the original was at about 2. This means whatever extra power you have, even if it wasn’t a mess, is wasted on the antenna.
Test Results:
| Screen readability | Very Good | |
| In-hand feel | Good | |
| Included antenna | Poor | |
| Construction quality | Very Good | |
| Belt clip | Very Good | |
| Programmability | Very Good | |
| Transmit audio | CLICK TO LISTEN | |
| Frequency accuracy | 145.000 @ 145.000 | |
| Maximum power output 2m/70cm | 5 watts / 6 watts | |
| Actual weight | 325g | |
| Battery advertised mAh | 2500mAh | |
| Battery tested mAh | 1780mAh | |
| Radio manual | CLICK TO DOWNLOAD | |
| Programming software | CLICK TO DOWNLOAD | |
| Price based score 0-5 | 2 | |
| Overall score 0-10 | 2 |
If you are interested, click here for an article on how I test radios.
FEATURES:
- Tri-band operation: 2m / 1.25m / 70cm
- NOAA Weather
- GPS
- Aviation band monitoring with 108-136 MHz coverage
- 1000 Memory channels
- Custom zones
- USB-C and drop-in charging
- Quick Frequency Sync and Channel Cloning
- Single Watch Mode for Focused Frequency Monitoring
| PROS: | CONS: |
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The last thing I want to touch on it GPS which appears very limited and slow to link. While a nice little add-on if you want the radio anyway, I would not really consider this a serious GPS radio. Even compared to my over ten-year-old Yaesu VX-8G, it is seriously lacking.
Conclusions
I had high hopes for the BF-F8HP Pro. Btech radios are usually pretty good units and well worth the money. This one is nice but fails on the most basic requirement of a transceiver which is to transmit a good signal.
Would I recommend you buy one? Absolutely not. Save your money for a different radio. The improvements in screen, keys, GPS, etc are just not worth the utter failure in signal quality.
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