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Reviews For: Baofeng/Pofung UV-5R

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Baofeng/Pofung UV-5R
Reviews: 266MSRP: 60
Description:
Micro sized dual band 2m/70cm radio.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.verotelecom.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
242663.9
K3BEQ Rating: 2013-12-15
Personal Comments on the UV-5 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I own 2 of the Baofeng UV-5R. Completely satisfied and no problems. I utilize it in the house or around my property to access my Echo Link node or crossband to a local repeater. Dropped it once on the kitchen floor. No problem. I did change the antenna to the Diamond RH-771 but it is too tall for the unit. Using the original antenna on low power works fine and I can stick it in my shirt pocket. Paid $35 for one and about $5 for the second. Received a $30 credit from Amazon for joining them. Nice touch.
NW7N Rating: 2013-12-15
Great, cheap little HT Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
For about $45, this is the best entry level HT you're going to find. I love my UV-5R. I have purchased one for all of my friends.

Yes, it's cheap, but it's not garbage. Read up on why the Chinese government has subsidized these radios, you'll see that they are still good quality.

There are only a couple of issues I have, which are common issue. You will need to replace the stock antenna. It's not very good. You will also need to purchase a programming cable. Using the cable, CHIRP, and one of the many, free repeater databases out there, you can program this little guy in under 5 minutes. If you don't have the cable, you will be spending hours programming it.

I get 59 signal reports on every repeater I have hit with my radio. It is my understanding that sometimes quality control isn't what it should be, so if your radio doesn't work right out of the box, just exchange it and it'll likely be fine. I have purchased 4 of these guys now, through Amazon and they have all worked perfectly. It boasts 24hour battery life and I have left mine running for that long and it still keeps going.

For the money, this is the perfect entry level HT!
WD5ACP Rating: 2013-12-12
Junk Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Sorry - but any product that breaks within 2 hours of use = junk. I've had many ham radios over the years (advanced class) - my current HT is an excellent Kenwood TH-F6A.

I paid only $30.00 from Amazon (Lightning-deal, New and with free shipping!) - so I couldn't pass it up thinking I'd use it as a back-up. I spent about 2 hours programming it with CHIRP software and my Kenwood programming cable - and within an hour the internal mic died. External mic that came with it still worked (but sounds very tinny).

I couldn't pass up the cheap price, and I wasn't expecting much, but I did expect it to work, at least for a little while. It seems solid but the material and/or workmanship is suspect.

Stick with the name brands and you can't go wrong.
AA2CO Rating: 2013-12-11
nice HT for the price, with drawbacks Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
at about $35 with free shipping, $50 with an extra battery, speaker mic, and programming cable, this dual-band HT is unmatched for features and functionality. It's a lot of radio for the price.

That being said, it has many drawbacks.

First and foremost, programming from the keypad is a pain, almost impossible to get it right. You NEED a programming cable. Bad news: the inexpensive cables use a clone knock-off PL-2303 chip that the real manufacturer checks in the driver, and it fails to start with error 10. Do not let Windows search for the driver in Windows Update; the one it finds will not work with clone chips. I had success by installing the prolific driver v3.2.0.0 available from http://www.miklor.com/COM/software/Win_Driver_Prolific_3.2.0.0.exe If another driver was installed, remove it. Bad news 2: This driver will not work with the Baofeng factory software. It works fine with CHIRP.

When you download from the radio for the first time, you'll only see about 20 memories. The UV-5RE Plus actually has 128 memories (!) so just change the memory range at the top of the page in CHIRP.

If you use the Baofeng as a combination HT/scanner, as many hams do, just set the public service channel offset ("Duplex" in CHIRP) to "off" to prevent transmitting on those frequencies.

Also handy is the "Channel Name". To enable it, click the "Settings" tab in CHIRP, and under "Basic Settings" set the Display Mode to "Name". I run mine with "A" as Frequency and "B" as "Name".

If you look around, you'll see notes about low audio and lousy sensitivity with the factory antenna. You get what you pay for, but this radio does give you a lot for the money.

It's a good radio, but far from perfect. But for the price, I think it's more features than you'll get anywhere else. Just be ready for some hassles too.
K6ELV Rating: 2013-12-03
Still a good value Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have owned the UV-5RC model, firmware version BFB-297, for about 9 months now and it is still working fine. The only issues I have had so far is that the volume knob fell off of the radio while it was on my side and it got lost somewhere, but it is only cosmetic as I am still able to adjust the volume by turning the shaft.
Another issue I have with the radio is that I sometimes get complaints of low audio on transmit. Apparently this is a common problem with some of these radios.
There is also the programming issue as stated in my previous review when I initially received the radio, but it programs fine using the cable and software.

The reverse SMA antenna connection is also weird and different from other radios, but it is not really too big of an issue as an adapter can be used if you want to use the radio with a different antenna.

I have also noticed that this radio has an awesome battery life on the stock 1800mAH battery, and is better than the battery life of my $300 Yaesu which only has a 1500mAH battery. I am surprised that a radio at this price (I purchased for $40 from a US dealer on Amazon) has such a great battery. Extended batteries are also available at a bargain, but unfortunately do NOT work on any model other than the UV-5R without external modifications.

In addition, this radio has many great features for the price, and suits my needs perfectly. The dual receive display function is nice as my $300 Yaesu only has a single receive display. The flashlight function also comes in handy and I have used it a few times. I also like the wide receive capabilities of being able to listen to weather broadcasts as well as FM radio stations, although I wish it had aircraft band receive, but what more can you ask from a $40 radio?

There are many variations of these radios (original UV-5R, UV-5RA, UV-5RB, UV-5RC, UV-5R+, etc.); However, all of the models have the exact same internal circuitry, and the only differences are the external case cosmetics and the firmware versions.

All in all I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of this radio and continue to do so.

VE3TMT Rating: 2013-12-03
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Regardless of the negative comments, it's still a good handheld considering the cost. Like I said, I got mine for $51 delivered with the programming cable. I'm still waiting on the Diamond antenna, because, yes the supplied antenna is not the best. But YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

I had to enlarge the mic hole, use the software to program it and buy a better antenna, but YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. I can throw it in the car, clip to my belt, take it out in the yard to monitor the local repeater or use it for talk-in at a hamfest. It would work in a pinch, but if I was involved in ARES or other emergency relief comms I'd definitely use something else.

I've owned numerous VX150's, a VX7R, and an FT60 and yes they all run circles around this HT. But YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. And for $51, you get quite a bit.

If I dropped it, lost it, run over it with the car, or the dog ate it, I wouldn't shed a tear, because I wouldn't be out hundreds of $$ like you would with the other name brands.
IZ0JGH Rating: 2013-12-03
UV5R Time Owned: N.A.
About the receiver, WA6MHZ on forum QRZ.com wrote "When my UV-5R came in, I put it on my LAB Sig gen and measured the sensitivity. FM signal with a tone modulated. Sensitivity was remarkable. As I remember, I took it way down below -100dBM and it was still copiable. ", of course bad components or manufacture are always possible.

Baofeng performs 95% of what I need in an HT transceiver at a final price with aftermarkets that is below 100 Euros, other transceivers performs 1200% of what I don't need for a price that is over 500 Euros with a spare Hi Cap battery (that is usually half the capacity of the Baofeng 3.8 A Hi Cap battery).

I served during the l'Aquila earthquake having also a Kenwood HT and I cannot see any real need that my UV5 couldn't satisfy equally or even better then my good old Kenwood; I would like a waterproo HT but if I have to spend 400 Euros more to have it, I guess I will just waterproof my UV5 with a 20 Cents plastic bag and some tape.

73 de IZ0-JGH

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Earlier 3-star review posted by IZ0JGH on 2013-11-29

This HT has the possibility to hold a 3.8 Ampere battery, why Baofeng shaped most of other UV5 models in a way that cannot hold such Hi Cap. battery ???


73

N3KVL Rating: 2013-11-30
Junk Radios Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Ok. Before anyone gets upset, I'll say it..."yeah it was cheap."

I own a little everything from $2 re-animated ham fest basket cases to $600 HTs. This I tried BOAFENG because I was just curious. I wouldn't even donate it to a new ham. I'm going to e-cycle it when the battery quits...not investing a single dime more.

My advice to anyone serious about their gear (especially new hams) is to avoid this BOAFENG junk. You are better off buying an old brick or HT from the 80's than to mess with this junk.

This UV5RA deserves a rating of "-5" or less.



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Earlier 0-star review posted by N3KVL on 2013-10-16

I purchased one second hand for 25% off it already lower price.

The audio quality is horrible. The menu system is not intuitive at all. I expected it, not disappointed I wasn't wrong.

Many people remark how its no big deal to buy these cheap radios....and for the price its hard to beat. That is true, can't argue with that logic.

My recommendation is to buy one only if you want a disposable radio to operate maybe on one or two freqs.

If you want a flexible durable full featured radio....and price is a concern buy one of the Alincos.

To me, its disappointing to see these dirt cheap disappointing thing to see in the hobby.

Thanks



NITELITER Rating: 2013-11-24
Ok in a pinch Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am now on my 2nd in 1 month,the first had a charged battery in it when I got it from Amazon,odd because Baofeng states they DONT ship charged battery,it also didnt save menu settins 3, 11,13,25,nor 26 when I tried to save the info to memory,so,I sent that back,and in two days had a new one,THIS one came with not only a charged battery,but it also had about 8 channels programmed in it,now Im thinking that the 2 radios I had,and have were customer returns,I can set the menu up in Freg. mode,and use it that way fine and dandy,but thats not how I want to use a radio,I am thinking of sending this one back and getting a refund and just giving up on Baofeng.
NC0Q Rating: 2013-11-13
Poor Rx Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is the only HT I have used or owned in my 4 years of being a ham. The "dual watch" feature constantly reverts Transmit to whichever receive frequency broke the squelch last, which 9 times out of 10 is not the one I am using, which necessitates looking at the radio to avoid transmitting on the wrong frequency. Even when I have the "unwanted" receiver tuned to a quiet portion of 440mhz, I still end up making unheard transmissions before pushing the A/B button to return to 2 meter simplex. I have to turn the squelch clear down to 1, sometimes even 0, because the receiver sensitivity leaves MUCH to be desired. That's another way of saying the receiver is pretty much junk. I can hear a station 10 miles away on my base rig/J-pole full quieting, and when I swap the Baofeng onto the coax, it hears nothing, until I completely disable the squelch, which then renders a very scratchy signal. The same goes for the mag mount antenna in my mobile. I have tried 3 different brands and styles of SMA female to SO239 adapters suspecting the impedance bump to be the cause of this, but I think not.
Transmit is very good. Apparently I can open repeaters in a 15 mile radius with the stock antenna. Too bad I can't hear them. Also I am told the audio quality is outstanding. So I guess it's the best broadcast HT ever made. The battery lasts for days on a charge, probably due to the fact that it isn't working. Programming is a snap with CHIRP software, so I now have a stored database of repeaters and simplex frequencies for when I get a real HT.
$40 for a worthless HT is NOT a good deal, except for the object lesson on the value of transceivers that function.