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Baofeng BF-888s Difference in Build

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avascan522

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Hey all,

About a year ago, I bought a BF-888s to have as a small carry-around radio in town and around the house. Anticipating some visiting family friends this summer, I wanted to have two "walkie-talkie" style radios ready to loan in case they asked me (the radio guy) to borrow some. I bought two more from Amazon last week, and the two-pack that arrived seemed like a slightly different build quality than the single one I bought a year ago.

I provided a few pictures as evidence. One radio has a belt clip with a metal backing, and the other has a cheap plastic clip back that will probably break after a few days. The screw holes on the radio are also "plastic vs. metal."

Any thoughts from anyone, or just "typical Chinese junk" and you don't know what you're going to get?
 

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k9wkj

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Feb 18, 2015
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where they make the cheese
i bought a pair of 888s of amazon a few months back
had to return them as they had horrible audio both in and out
and were funky to get programmed
so much unlike the one i bought a bit over a year ago, which has been very good
I use it everyday all day on my AllStar simplex node
i ordered another off ebay and it at least is functional but the battery isnt as good a it should be and it just feels even cheaper!
its a good thing they are not legal to use for anything but amateur radio as we hams are cheap and are getting what we paid for crap
 

avascan522

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There are subtle, but noticeable differences with the one I bought last year, and the pair I bought a week ago. Some are good, like the audio seems to be improved, and the voice announcement and startup is quicker.

The only poor difference is the belt clip. I'm going to look online to see if I can find the metal version of the belt clip. With my original radio, the belt clip actually seems like the strongest part of the whole device.
 
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