If I may inject my own opinions.
It has always been my opinion, that once a year, there seems to be a lot of Free Money floating around - around about income tax time.
This money tends to get spent in a haphazard fashion - on junk that was not needed or wanted the other 11 months out of the year, and it tends to burn a hole in the persons pocket that possess it.
When this time comes around, I tend to shy away from those kinds of people because they tend not to think with their heads but with their wallets.
If a person has $100 to spend, they tend to look towards a $100 item and they rationalize the need for that item - based on the fact that it is within their budget. Not because it does anything really well....
A Handheld radio is a viable option - only when the only reason for using the handheld radio is for transmitting line of sight between two points.
They are great for a group of hams - to use at a ham fest.
At a emergency where the radio is used between two points such as inside the hospital to outside the hospital, outside the hospital to the EOC. The EOC to other members - stationed at such places as firehouses, police stations, ambulance services, emergency shelters etc.
A handheld can never take the place of a 40 or 50 watt mobile and a 1/4 wave antenna mounted on a vehicle.
As long as you understand the limitations of the radio, you will be ok.
2 meters is unique due to the fact that as long as you can maintain some type of LOS between the repeater and the transceiver - you can use the handheld as a mobile or base - as a temporary solution.
Again - it won't ever take the place of a mobile or base - unless your only intentions is to talk simplex a couple of blocks or to talk to the local repeater - where the repeater does all the work.
Repeaters tends to be built on top of mountains or in very high places - where they do the most good and not in someones back yard - because they already own the real estate.
As wavelengths gets smaller, the signal refracts / diffracts / reflects - travels less far over the horizon - hence it is harder for someone with a handheld to talk more then a couple of miles on 440 MHz. / 220 MHz - unless there is repeaters around.
With UHF signals - anything one wavelength or larger between the transmit and the receive can block the signal. Even a piece of aluminum flashing on your roof or a plastic vent pipe with moisture inside - can block the signal with a beam antenna installed in the attic.
So I guess the key is - if you want a good all around radio for use mobile and at home - your needs would be better served by even a cheap mobile radio.
If all you want it for is public service - working parades, ham fests, field days for putting up antenna's and working at the club shack - they can't be beat.
Worrying about power levels is also insignificant.
Just like a flashlight, A 1 or 2 watt / two meter / 440 handheld will only transmit so far and no further.
The limitations is the size of the antenna, the height of the antenna and the loss between the connector and the antenna. The only reason the handheld rubber duckie antenna works is because there is no loss between the antenna and the radio when it is mounted directly to the radio....
The difference is - usually when there is a emergency - the 2 meter repeaters tends to be busy - due to the fact that there is more 2 meter transceivers out there then 220 or 440's - hence if there was a real emergency - the 220 and 440 handhelds would actually be more of a benefit, as a back up 2nd option band - if you needed a quiet place to operate, other then the 2 meters.