I hate to hear that. I personally know folks who are cought up in one-upping others...bigger boat, bigger house, bigger side by side, newer diesel truck.( I love the ones who trade in their Power Stroke in every year with 10k miles) Its a game that you cant win, and most conversations with those people revolve around acquiring the next item which make for pretty shallow conversation tbh.
I have been blessed enough to own some fairly recent-production quality commercial type radios. They do cost more. I do like them better. But I never look down on anyone's equipment. In fact I (and others I know) are very welcoming to new voices on the air and make a friend no matter what their are using.
I do think the cheapest crop of CCRs are kind of cheesy, and there are well documented issues about spectral purity, etc. But...how does a new ham even know that? I find more often than not most folks who stick around after the initial honeymoon period after getting their ticket inevitably end up eventually upgrading to higher quality equipment.
As for those who actually show up and support the club's activities I say good on them. I wouldn't care if they're on a Baofeng, APX, Flex or homebrew spark gap transmitter.
Another interesting observation is for most people ham radio seems to be a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th hobby. So the guy that gets trashed for having a cheap radio may have the best gear in another hobby. He may have the latest and greatest camera gear, the best hand fabricated 4wd in four counties, or a no expense spared restored classic car. We never know another's total budget picture.