I have lost count of the number of radios that have been released as "updated UV-5R!" or some such statement. Most of them are simply gimmicks to get your money, some, however, are actual improvements over the classic. Which one is the Baofeng UV-5R plus?
The cheapest FRS radios Motorola has been their T100, which go for about $29 a pair and sell like hotcakes. Baofeng entered this market, knowingly or not, with their Baofeng BF-888s radios for around $24. The problem was that those radios were illegal for most people to use and made no pretense about it.
There are a lot of radios in the same market as the Radioddity GA-2S, namely the Baofeng BF-888s, eSynic zESY66, and the Arcshell AR5/AR6 models. The Baofeng is clearly the sales leader, while Arcshell distinguishes itself with colorful cases. So what does Radioddity bring to the table with this entry?
The Baofeng BF-X3 plus is another model in the UV-9x and BF-A58 family, with two big differences: a claimed significantly larger battery and three working bands. Is that the only difference, and is that really a big step forward? Let’s find out.
The Baofeng BF-E90 is a small, pocket-sized, 73cm 440MHz radio just starting to appear online (as of this writing it is only available directly from China and not available on Amazon, although that should change soon). It appears to be a cheaper model of the BF-T1, missing some of the buttons and the screen. The BF-T1 wasn’t a great radio, but it was pretty nice for something that can fit in your shirt pocket and not look like a radio.
I am just going to start with the elephant in the room, this radio is not a tri-band radio, full stop. The Baofeng UV-S9 Plus appears to be a UV-9S Tri-Band with the 220MHz band removed and a very slightly different case. And I mean very slightly.
The Baofeng DM-V1 is one of, if not the cheapest DMR radios made. Is it also the worst? Spoiler alert, yes it is. Read on to find out why.
A lot of the time when I get new Baofeng, or other Chinese manufacturers, it can be a whole lot of the sames. The firmware, software, and even some of the components are almost identical. In fact, I have had some radios where you could swap out a few stickers and one seems to magically transform into another. Not so with the Baofeng UV-13.
The Baofeng UV-25 and UV-25 Pro are bit radios, as in really big. The only Baofeng radio I have ever worked with this big was the AR-152. Does that large size and huge antenna make for a better radio? Let’s find out!
This Abbree AR-730 comes just days after my review of the Abbree AR-518, which won the award for lowest scores every achieved in the history of my tests. Everyone can make a dud, so I am hoping for better from this radio. I have to admit, I am a little worried though as this one starts off advertising 6-bands just like the last one. I guess we will see.