NMO mount it is. I am a little leery of the chinese radios for several reasons, but it doesn't seem like there are many options for water resistant HT's.

I currently have a Larsen glass mount antenna on my jeep cherokee, and a cargo basket that covers almost the entire roof. I've been debating punching a hole for an NMO mount and roof mounting the antenna, but I wonder how much the basket will affect the outgoing signal/radiation pattern. Ideas/suggestions?

I also need dual band mobiles for both(wife and I) vehicles. I need cross band repeat, and I've been told that the Yaesu Ft8800 can be set to TX on an invalid frequency to prevent transmissions on the unused TX frequency. I like the look of the Kenwood 710, but the manual doesn't say anything about crossband repeater use. Any recommendations or info on this?

Also in the market for some new HT's since the wife and my mother are getting their tickets. Waterproof/resistant, AA battery case option and dual band, preferably easy to program/clone. The instructor at the class my wife attended today recommended Wouxon, so I looked at those and Boafeng, which appears to be the same thing at half the price. I'd buy a couple more FT60's, but as far as I know they aren't even water resistant. 

Whether you know it or even care, some of those stereo systems cost more than your ham gear. Karma sometimes has a really nasty way of evening things up......

This is certainly the case in my area, although many of them use/monitor simplex instead of the repeater.