I have to admit, for the money, these radios can't be beat but they do come with some operating problems such as using it in a low voltage condition. Down to 7 volts, things may start to happen and around 6 volts, lots of things start to go weird in a lot of these radios.
That's why I never let the pack go below "7.5V". With the battery saver on, the fully charged pack lasts from 12 to 18 hours with moderate receiving activity (no TXing). Doing this, the pack gets only shallow discharges and extends battery pack life. It's been 15 months since I first used it and the pack recharges to 8,5V in a little more than an hour - indicating a good condition pack (if it takes less time to reach 8.2V, this is an indication of pack life wear). From what I read, a lot of shallow discharge cycles is not harmful to the pack and can extend it's life to 5 years+.
But once the radio operates below 6.5 to 6.0 volts, strange things start to happen, like CPU settings changing as the above post states. Otherwise, the radio is well worth the price.