My-EMR1 vs Baofeng DM-5R - Which One is Better in 2025?

Are you kidding me? Protect from EMPs? Who are you going to communicate with after an EMP, even if YOUR radio survives? No one, that’s who. Just wow!

So this is just a $33 TYT TH-UV88 with a different sticker on the front and on the battery. Then they mark it up to$139.99, then put it on a “1 DAY ONLY!” sale for $69.99. To take it a step further, those $69.99 “1 Radio & No-Programming” kits are marked “sorry, sold out!” These people can’t be religious because they would know they are on the express train down, first class.

Reading their website is just one deceit after another. Read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, and you will find “For global communications, ECHO link or something similar will be required.” First, ECHO link isn’t open to the public, you need an amateur radio license and then registration with ECHO link. So even if it is an emergency, you are stuck out. Second, an EMP just went off, the ECHO link towers are gone! Idiots.

So, who is doing this? That’s easy, look at the back of the box: Quanzhou TYT Electronics Co., Ltd, Quanzhou, Fujian, China. www.tyt.com, email: tyt@tyt888.com. Enough said.

Bottom line, buy the TYT TH-UV88, not the rebadged overpriced one.

If you are wanting to get into DMR digital radio as cheap as possible, the Baofeng DM-5R Plus is the radio for you. The antenna is junk on 2m but most hotspots are on 70cm anyway. I am not sure I would replace the antenna even though it feels like it will come apart any second, mainly because the analog signal the radio produces is so horrible a new antenna probably won't do any good anyway.

All of that being said, it does just fine on DMR. Want a cheap way to add DMR to your ham shack and don't plan on spending a lot of time using it? Then the Baofeng DM-5R Plus might be the perfect solution, but if it was something I was going to carry, I believe I would look elsewhere.