Program using Bluetooth or usb port rather than using the goofy ear phone mic jacks. Very visible display. Great little gmrs radio.

I really like this radio. Bought it for outdoor activities in the wilderness. Distance is line of sight, so I really only get a couple miles maybe, without a repeater. I do like listening to the user groups on repeaters and I like listening to the airplanes departing and coming in on approach at the local airport— fun to listen to on AM bands if you like aviation. Can also pickup FM Radio stations if I want and the light has been useful. I can get 3+ days off the battery so far. It’s GRMS and one should be licensed to transmit. The U.S. license is a bargain now, good for 10 years, and the family can share it- it’s worth it to get the license to transmit on this product legally in my opinion. It is smaller than other radios too which I also like. Note, if you want to do AM or listen to air traffic or even some HAM you need the right antennae for the frequency you think you’ll be on. Antennae is easy to change on this radio… It also has a decent intuitive interface.

You will no doubt ask yourself, should I get the H3 or the H8 radio? The H3 is the objectively better radio.* Lower price.* Smaller form factor* Better value* More features (H3 has a wider reception range)* USB-C programmingWhat you give up with the H3 is you go from 10 watt maximum transmit power down to 5 watt. But on a handheld, with the middling antennas they all come with, you won't notice the difference. The limit is more the antenna, not the transmit power.The one thing I prefer about the H8 is the button size is easier to deal with, and the layout of the case buttons ever so slightly easier to use.As far as I can tell, other than the antennas included, there is literally no difference in the unit sold as GMRS from the unit sold as HAM. You can easily convert the HAM to GMRS, or GMRS to HAM in about 5 seconds. This does wipe the onboard contents, so clone your radio using CHIRP or the TIDRadio software first.

Have bought 3 and will buy more. Using these for prep and every day use. They are unlockable and you can receive on other frequencies that are not GMRS. Also using it as a scanner for local emergency channels. Can get HAM, GMRS, FRS, MURS, and local EMSThese would be perfect in emergency situation... only two minor gripes1. not waterproof in any way. keep out of rain etc.2. belt-clip absolutely sucks. Radio just pops off belt randomly, falls to ground, and batter skitters one way, while radio goes the other way. had to add my own belt clip ... this one's a bit more than a minor prob.

I've had this less than a day but so far I like it a lot. I assume most people looking at this are familiar with Baofeng's offerings so I'll be making a few comments on the less obvious differences, but I can say this feels like a little step up from the ones I've used, and worth the money. Its smaller than I expected and fits nicely in my hand. Roughly the same size as a UV-5(R/G/etc) but slightly narrower and slightly fatter.Reception is as expected for a handheld, and the longer whip antenna in this kit is pretty nice. The standard rubber antenna isn't GMRS specific but at least its UHF instead of dual band like the Baofeng UV-5G. Some people report having high SWR from dual band antennas on GMRS frequencies but I don't have a way to test that yet. The audio + squelch seems a little better than the Baofeng (doesn't seem to cut in and out, but needs more testing) and this one has a cool if slightly confusing at first feature of dual PTT. The battery should also be a nice upgrade if you're transmitting a lot, and you can actually change saved channel settings from the menu (CTCSS, transmit power, etc).First thing though: throw the paper manual in the trash and get the one from tidradio's website. The paper one is weirdly translated in some parts, contradicts itself, and some parts seem to be written for an entirely different radio. But the online version fixes a lot of that.So far the only thing missing is a timed display brightness setting. I'd personally rather dim it and leave it on than have it completely turn off after a set time, so maybe that would be a nice feature for the next model. I saw some people online talking about issues with programming these but I had no issues setting everything up with CHIRP and my Baofeng cable.Edit 12-17-24: It's been a while since I got this and I'm still liking it. I got a Smiley Slim Duck and Mini Duck tuned for GMRS along with a tool to test the SWR, Slim is great right at 1.1 and Mini seems a little higher but acceptable around 1.5. The antennas that came with the radio have SWR around 1.2, no complaints there. The Mini seems to work about as well as the stock antenna on this or a Baofeng assuming physical height is the same, which is nice compared to other stubby antennas I've tried that are absolutely horrible if you want to transmit at all. To be honest I haven't used the whip much, not likely to put something that big on a handheld but I do keep it in my backpack since I usually have the Mini on the radio now.After using this for a while I can say I'm not the biggest fan of the shape. With the clip on it, it just feels too thick and a little awkward, but not a dealbreaker. I like everything else enough to get over it. The interface and features are nice. I've also recently installed the 3rd party UMod firmware which makes a few minor changes to the radio. Not really in the scope of this review to get into the details but I think it's pretty cool that it's available and easy to install. I haven't messed with air band at all but I have been listening in on VHF and UHF ham repeaters without issue. I found that it's even capable of listening down into the CB band which is a nice touch. Haven't picked anything up in the wild there but I did verify that my handheld CB can break squelch on it and come through clearly at short range. Really cool radio for a ~$35 kit.