i got my first one a few days ago.
i only had to read the abbreviations in the manual to understand what they mean in the radio to set it up.
for me, its quick and easy to program it from the radio itself since i have had experience with and own the Alinco DJ580T & DJ180T for many years.
im pretty impressed with this little radio.
its lightweight, small and operates quite well, receive and transmit are excellent.
one thing that was a major improvement was replacing the stock antenna with a Nagoya NA-771 VHF/UHF 16 inch antenna however, the caveat is that the antenna can get in the way especially if you choose to wear this on your belt.
im not quite sure this radio actually transmits 8 watts on high power but i do know there is enough RF being emitted from this unit on high power to wipe out the front end of my other scanner radios completely (they're using roof antennas), operating at 1 watt does not do this.
i cant comment on battery longevity since i have been using this mostly for receive.
im quite satisfied with the features this little radio provides but there are a few things i would consider "silly".
the white LED "flashlight", while its a nice idea to have it, i dont really see a purpose and reason for it.
the "alarm" function, i could see hecklers using this to annoy others but again, i dont see a reason or purpose for this feature.
the backlight for the display, there is no way to just have this light up only for key presses and not for transmit and receive, you can turn it off for the RX & TX but it still illuminates regardless, the only way is to turn it off completely, its kind of annoying but its a quirk i can deal with.
the belt clip, its "grab" is weak and i fear it will fall off whatever its clipped on with relative ease.
no STE for receive (only for two of the same radios in simplex mode), not a deal breaker but again, its annoying to hear the tail end of white noise after receiving transmission ends from another source such as a repeater, even maxing the squelch to 9 makes no difference.
although the DCS/CTCSS works for receive, there is a delay of at least 1 second after the receiving transmission from another source ends, before CTCSS "kicks" in and mutes the audio.
other than that, its a great radio and im very happy with it.
yes, i know about the discussions about this radio being a "fake" and a "copy", either way, its cosmetically appealing and works very well.