I think Yaesu makes the best HAM HT's.
They are pretty easy to program from the keypad and have nice loud audio.
Most of the Icom radios I have tried have much weaker audio that are hard to hear when outside or in noisy envronments.
For mono-banders the FT-250 is great as well as the FT-270 and 277.
The FT-60 is probably the best dual-bander on the market. (Look at the eham reviews...)
Best of luck
Or the vx6r is another choice,offering 4 bands once it's out of warranty! :wink:
73,
n9zas