Why are people buying Baofeng radios?

[jonwienke]

Alinco radios are only 5-10X as expensive as Baofengs. Not exactly an option for people on a budget.

And a lot of the expensive radio brands, including Motorola, have manufacturing operations in China. It's pretty much impossible to buy any radio that isn't at least partially manufactured in China.

 

[davidzimmerman]

i see this in many Facebook (MOTOROLA) Groups people buying these JUNK RADIOS and have NO idea how to use them being i want to use it like a scanner then find out people just want to own one and talk to everyone even at Walmart Stores.

 

[FedFyrGuy]

...because the trade surplus between China and the US isn't big enough already.

 

[dlwtrunked]

That's a pretty broad statement.

The reason many of us do not own one is because we don't need one.

Saying I need one of these because they are cheap is ignores exactly how cheap I really am.
I don't buy something, no matter how inexpensive, if I don't have a use for it.

I don't need a disposable/throwaway radio or one that I can "hand out" to anyone. Over many years I've collected a few solid radios that will stand up to a lot of abuse. I don't need to worry about them getting dropped, because they'll survive it just fine.

Spending $10 on a radio I don't need is a waste of $10.

The Baofeng is more rugged than my recent Kenwood and every Yaesu that I have owned. I have damaged Yaesu's in short drops and have drooped the Baofeng with no damage. I do consider the TYT that I once owned as physically poor. Once should not consider all Chinese radio's as equal--just like other brands, they are not. Regarding others not wanting to buy from China for political reason, then you better not go to Walmart with its almost 20,000 suppliers or own an Apple device. Good luck with that and finding a good US produced HT.

 

[KK4JUG]

OK, I'm HYPER opinionated on this subject. Just getting that out of the way first.

I avoid buying Chinese GARBAGE as much as possible. I will do nothing that puts money in the treasury of the Chinese government, a country that is solidly under fully communist rule and does not HAVE an opposition party and executes any who dare to form an opposition party. A country that has expansionist goals and is building its military capability to achieve them. A country that only uses capitalism as a tool to fund its communist expansionist goals while extending no more freedom to the people than is strictly necessary to facilitate the operation of the capitalist-for-funding system they operate under.

I can not understand why people who SHOULD be aware of these facts, and possibly ARE, will still go ahead and buy Chinese junk products.

Fine if you're on a tight budget. Buy an Alinco. DON'T BUY CHINESE RADIOS.

I appreciate what your saying but you can't not buy Chinese anymore. Electronics manufacture is virtually non-existent in this country, You can't buy radios, TVs, meters, computers, printers, DVD players, video games, etc. made in this country, If it has a capacitor, resistor or diode in it, it was made in Asia, and probably China. Perhaps that's reversible but certainly not in our lifetime and that's unfortunate.

 

[TailGator911]

I recently bought the Baofeng GT-3 Mark ll, the yellow/black model that is a dual-bander with quite a few accessories - drop-in desktop charger, cig cord, protective case, speaker mic, ear piece, with the newer whip thin antenna. I did not buy it for the scanning capabilities, I bought it simply because it was a nice 2m/440 package and it was CHEAP. I drop it from the boat - I'm not gong to weep like it's my VX7R. I DO use it to scan, but only 3 analog frequencies that simulcast broadcasts and tones from the Ohio MARCS-IP local system. Really more of a monitoring option than actual scanning, I have all my local 2m and 440 repeaters and simplex frequencies in it, and it has room for lots more, so I suppose I could load it up with itinerants or something, but the scan rate is pretty slow so trying to utilize it as a primary scanner would be ridiculous and frustrating. Monitoring single frequencies, it performs well and I found the sensitivity to be surprisingly good.

I am quite impressed with the performance of this cheap little radio when used as it was intended. Hitting the same repeaters as I do with my Yaesu VX-7R, and two 440 repeaters that I can never reach with the VX7R. The best thing tho is the price...if I drop it overboard when I am fishing I can order a replacement that very same day.

It's a fun little transceiver, with a built in flashlight that has come in handy several times! Good cheap fun especially if your area still has dispatch channel analog simulcast frequencies!

JD
kf4anc

 

[prcguy]

I have a couple of Baofeng UV-5Rs and think they are great for the price. They are not the best radios I have and they do suffer from some Intermod problems on receive in busy RF areas, but my motivation for buying them is the same as everyone has posted, they are cheap!

I have some of the latest scanners and portable receivers and some of the most expensive hand helds made and I'll reach for the UV-5Rs more than I will some of the expensive stuff. Some people can keep hating them, meanwhile I'll be getting some good use out of them.
prcguy

 

[Citywide173]

As I flash back to this...

 

[scanmanmi]

I appreciate what your saying but you can't not buy Chinese anymore. Electronics manufacture is virtually non-existent in this country, You can't buy radios, TVs, meters, computers, printers, DVD players, video games, etc. made in this country, If it has a capacitor, resistor or diode in it, it was made in Asia, and probably China. Perhaps that's reversible but certainly not in our lifetime and that's unfortunate.

That is why the American experimenet will soon come to an end.

 

[prcguy]

You say don't buy cheap Chinese radios and buy an Alinco instead. Didn't you know the Alinco DJ-500 is a Chinese radio, part of the Anytone UV-3318 series???
prcguy

OK, I'm HYPER opinionated on this subject. Just getting that out of the way first.

I avoid buying Chinese GARBAGE as much as possible. I will do nothing that puts money in the treasury of the Chinese government, a country that is solidly under fully communist rule and does not HAVE an opposition party and executes any who dare to form an opposition party. A country that has expansionist goals and is building its military capability to achieve them. A country that only uses capitalism as a tool to fund its communist expansionist goals while extending no more freedom to the people than is strictly necessary to facilitate the operation of the capitalist-for-funding system they operate under.

I can not understand why people who SHOULD be aware of these facts, and possibly ARE, will still go ahead and buy Chinese junk products.

Fine if you're on a tight budget. Buy an Alinco. DON'T BUY CHINESE RADIOS.

 

[smason]

I bought a UV5R just because I couldn't believe it was so cheap.
For the money, it's actually pretty good. I use it to monitor a couple local ham repeaters. Haven't actually transmitted on it. I can leave it in the car, drop it, lose it, no worries.
It came with a drop on charger, yet It's about 1/3 the cost of the drop in charger alone for the last HT I purchased.
Yeah, it's no Icom/Kenwood/Yaesu, but really not that bad for the price.

 

[pinballwiz86]

I keep a CCR in the glove box of my car as a backup radio. I top off the battery once a month.

 

[paulears]

I have nearly 100 radios in stock here that I hire out. Mostly Kenwood with some Icom and Motorolas. I always buy the cheap Chinese radios when they come out to experiment with. I don't rent them out. I could say that it's because they aren't up to it physically or electronically, but that's not true. I could say it's because they are too prone to users fiddling compared to the hire stock (that one's true), but the real reason is because if one user googled them, they want to know how I justify the hire charge on the others - at least when they google them and see they are two to three hundred or more each, the hire charge looks modest. The weeks hire would buy me new Chinese radio. My test is simple. I pick them up. If they feel like a tool, they're worth hiring. If they feel like a toy, they're not.

Sure the Icoms and kenwoods are better radios, especially in event use where there are lots of other radio users and interference is bad news - but those Baofeng 888s actually would work for many jobs, and after job 2 I could throw them away.

Why is it just radios that get this treatment. If you buy a cheap imported car nobody ever considers it against a Range Rover - which gets you to the shops in exactly the same way?

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I own a couple...don't ever use them but really just to play with on occasion (haven't turned any on it 4 years nearly).

 

[K7MFC]

I keep a UV-5R as a backup HT in my glove box. It's just there in case I need it. And since it was so cheap, I don't really care if it gets broken or stolen or whatever. And I don't feel guilty about having a $200 HT that sits around and never gets used.

 

[boernegang]

We use them at our church for communications between teams. Bought bulk earpieces and lapel mic's.

We had previously purchased some black box radios when we formed or safety team. The Baofengs have much better audio output and clarity for much less cost.

 

[KK4JUG]

We use them at our church for communications between teams. Bought bulk earpieces and lapel mic's.

We had previously purchased some black box radios when we formed or safety team. The Baofengs have much better audio output and clarity for much less cost.

It doesn't seem to matter anymore but unless each of your "safety team" members has an amateur radio license, you're using them illegally.

 

[jonwienke]

It doesn't seem to matter anymore but unless each of your "safety team" members has an amateur radio license, you're using them illegally.

Not if the church has a license for the frequency being used.

 

[KK4JUG]

Not if the church has a license for the frequency being used.

Aren't they "certified" for amateur use only? If not, I apologize.

 

[KC4RAF]

The CCRs have their place in the amateur world. Well also GMRS, FRS, MURS too; although not on the legal side. A whole page could be written about the CCRs and how they are useful.