GMRS-V2

I'm not sure what others have complained about with these particular radios but I have had mine for nearly 1 year now, and I have had zero issues. Great reception and connection, the range is good and I like the fact that the antenna can be swapped out for longer ranges. I live in Central Florida and via repeaters, I have managed to connect with someone in Kansas. The radio has a lot of features that can be easily accessed but one has to know what they are doing or learn as they go. The battery life is really good with many hours of use, and when charging is needed, the radios use a C-port that is readily available nowadays. I like having the option to set 2 channels and being able to talk with either one using the upper and lower side buttons. Really nice radios to use both indoors and outdoors, and the pocket clip holds well to whatever you attach it to as it has good tension. Overall really good radio's.

Really happy with this radio. Works well and easy to change settings for repeaters tones. I get good audio reports and the receive seems pretty good as well. I have not tested output or harmonics. This style radio feels much less toy like than the UV5R type radios. USB-C charging is nice to have especially in the car. The little nut where the antenna attaches always wants to come lose on mine so I put a bit of light threadlock on it which fixed the issue.

The first (original) radio shipped to me appeared to have been a used return. It had holes in both the Push to Talk (PTT) buttons. Is it wasn't for those holes, I would have never guessed it was used. It was packaged fine and had no other wear marks and worked great. But, I paid for a new radio, so I requested a replacement. The replacement looks just fine, no strange holes in the buttons. Overall the radio seems great, good audio, and better range then a typical blister pack radio. Programs just fine with CHIRP and a typical baofeng style programming cable. I specifically wanted this model for the dual watch VFO and dual PTT buttons. This allows me to monitor two different frequencies simultaneously, and easily transmit back to both of those without needing to switch between A/B VFO or memories. If you're looking for this feature (dual watch) it does need to be enabled in the settings. You can do so in CHIRP or via the keypad menu.

I'm a 70 year old amateur radio operator who has been a public safety 2-way radio bench repair and installation technician most of my life, and though I've only had this radio for two days, I've already grown very fond of it. It's extremely well made, durable, easy to program and easy to use. For what I paid for it, I am well pleased. The over-all quality of this radio makes me wish I could have ONE of every single radio they make. Few things man made are truly perfect, but I really think this is a great radio in just about every area. I will get a better antenna for when I need to communicate when talking simplex or it's a real stretch to a repeater, and I will probably need to re-read the manual a few times, and as technology and radios evolve, I will eventually move on to what are going to be "newer and better toys," but for now, this radio is a keeper. Operators on the other end of simplex or the other side of the repeater tell me it sounds really good, and when I connect it to a good speaker mic or Bluetooth headset, it will be even better. Conclusion: For the price, a very decent handheld that I can use for GMRS and amateur comms...I give it a solid 3 and one half to a solid 4 out of 5 stars. If you need one that can do both modes and this is the most you can afford, you too could be very happy with this little radio for a very long time. Buy it!

I was looking for a GMRS radio that could be used as base emergency communications for a small group of family and neighbors. This radio was exactly what I was looking for.

I will preface this review by saying that I have several models of Baofeng, BTech and other Chinese manufactured radios. Of them all, this GMRS-V2 feels the highest quality. The buttons are firm and the power/volume knob has a good amount of resistance. This is the first radio I've used of the "UV82" form-factor. On GMRS it works well. Can hit my local repeater 9 miles away from inside. The radio comes pre-programmed with channels 1-22 and the repeater channels. You of course can add duplicates of these channels, with any combination of tones. The preprogramed channels will automagically switch to low power and narrow band based on the channel. This makes it easy for a first time GMRS user. This radio is marketed as outputting a maximum of 5 watts. On my meter the radio put out: Channel 9 Low Power: 0.19 watts Channel 22 Low Power: 0.90 watts Channel 22 High Power: 4.60 watts The ability to switch to low power for close range communications is nice and will save battery. 4.6 watts on high power is close enough to 5 watts for me. The radio is marketed as receiving NOAA channels. My particular radio is totally deaf to the NOAA frequencies, meaning all I get is static (SQL 0). I have experienced a similar issue with my UV-9G radio which also does not receive the NOAA stations well. Your mileage may very but I have several other radios which when placed next to the GMRS-V2 pick up my two local NOAA transmissions perfectly fine. I have tried with a number of other antennas with no luck. This transceiver just seems deaf to the lower VHF. Lastly, my particular radio has some defects in the screen (see pictures). They are below the surface and are not scratches to the screen. They almost appear to be dust or debris below the front plastic. The blemish in the middle of the screen is most distracting. All in all this is a good radio if you are looking to get into GMRS. Functionally it will do everything you need it to. I removed 1 star for my radio being deaf to NOAA, and another star for the blemishes in the screen. With that said, I am a fan of BTech products and would not hesitate to buy another.