Amazon's $50 dual-band HTs

[KK4MEX]

I got one--not from Amazon, but from a dealer.  When I received it, the darn thing wouldn't work.  Charged the battery, checked and cleaned the contacts, in short, did everything but open the thing up to troubleshoot it.  It still didn't work.  When I returned it, the dealer told me that it was a common problem, but the things worked well.  How they 'worked well' if that was a common problem is beyond me! 

I was offered a replacement, but opted for a refund.  No thanks--I won't order another. 

Care to offer what model and brand? Seems odd because these Baofeng unit have a very reputation for being extremely reliable and worth the 40-60 depending on the model.

[K1CJS]

Ham radio electronics is still a small market--as a lot of US manufacturers found out when Japan's big three got into it.  The Chinese are testing out the waters, but their offerings aren't as widely accepted as of yet, and they won't be unless the Chinese clean up their act and put some real quality--as well as other considerations--into their offerings.

Remember that the Japanese started out the same way--and didn't really make inroads into the world marketplace until they went all out for quality and honesty in their dealings.  The fact that the Japanese did just that shows the results today--just as the fact that a couple of US manufacturers have done so as well shows by their continued market presence.

[MAGNUM257]

I got one--not from Amazon, but from a dealer.  When I received it, the darn thing wouldn't work.  Charged the battery, checked and cleaned the contacts, in short, did everything but open the thing up to troubleshoot it.  It still didn't work.  When I returned it, the dealer told me that it was a common problem, but the things worked well.  How they 'worked well' if that was a common problem is beyond me! 

I was offered a replacement, but opted for a refund.  No thanks--I won't order another. 

So which make and model did you have a problem with?

Just curious...

-chuck

[KD0TSA]

If anyone is thinking about picking one of these HTs up, I would highly recommend checking out the UV-5R group on Yahoo:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baofeng_uv5r/

Personally, I did pick one of these up on Amazon on a whim, intending to use it to mess around with APRS.  Works great from inside of my tiny office, along with a roll up slim jim from N9TAX (http://www.2wayelectronix.com).

You definitely want to check out your other antenna options, as the stock duck isn't the greatest.

[K1CJS]

I got one--not from Amazon, but from a dealer....

Care to offer what model and brand? Seems odd because these Baofeng unit have a very reputation for being extremely reliable and worth the 40-60 depending on the model.

It was a Wouxon UV5R.  BTW, sorry for the delay in the answer, I haven't checked this thread since I last posted, and I missed the second page.