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Reviews For: Baofeng/Pofung BF-888

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

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Review Summary For : Baofeng/Pofung BF-888
	Reviews: 23	MSRP: 30.00 USD
	Description: - Model: Baofeng BF-888S - Color: Black - Plastic material housing - 50 CTCSS / 105 CDCSS - VOX Function / Voice Prompt / Emergency Alarm / Intelligent Charging / Battery Save / Low Voltage Alert / Time-out Timer - Frequency: 400~470MHz - Power: < 5W - 16 channels - Powered by 1 x 3.7V 1500mAh battery
	Product is in production
More Info: http://www.baofengradio.com
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	23	4.1

WA9AFM	Rating:	2021-02-23
Great Radio			Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Our church security team has 12 of the 888's; our Day School also has 12. They are quite reliable and functional. Bought them in packages of six over a period of several months. One oddity, we discovered the radios our Day School (day care) got were custom programmed, i.e. some FRS, some GMRS, and some public service frequencies. We reprogrammed them to match our security team radios which are FRS channels only. Easily programmed with Chirp.

WD0FIA	Rating:	2021-02-22
Works great! Very good quality for low price!			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought some to have for inexpensive loaners. I took the radios to a local dealer to check that they did meet FCC regulations. They passed with no problem. These have been dropped in the mud, dropped from a tower, and fallen into a swimming pool. They still work. They are not my "go to" radio. I carry either a Kenwood D74 or Yaesu VX-6 normally. But for those situations where I am riding a horse, motorcycle, or a boat, these work without worry about a $300 to $500 radio being damaged.

KG5YEZ	Rating:	2018-02-15
$11 each on ebay			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I found these on ebay for $11 each, bought 3, they came with the ear piece and charger and Chinglish manual (with VHF/UHF reciever on the front?). I used CHIRP and a cable from ebay with the correct USB converter and a 4 way pigtail. It worked great and they programmed to 70cm well. Being also licensed for GMRS I added one channel (local repeater) just for grins. I fish a lot and was wanting a radio that if I drop it overboard I do not cry. this price fit the bill. As indicated on other reviews, the radio performs well. With the current CHIRP I have no issues. I also loaded the milcor software and it seems great also. (default is chinese, read on-line instructions to reset this). Additional note, there are a number of reviews where folks have loaded the chirp or Milcor mod and are putting 2M on these radios. The folks are testing Spurious and not finding any. May be something to test...all I could loose is 11 bucks.....maybe?

G7IDJ	Rating:	2017-11-05
actually good value for money			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have bought quite a few of them and experimented quite a bit within an Amateur Radio and also PMR context. Now the BF-888 is a very basic no thrills radio but it works. When they come they are programmed to some random uhf frequencies outside the HAM bands. It is important to realise. So once you order them get a programming lead with them. I did struggle quite a bit to connect the radios with the interface. The key was the data rate and one of them eventually worked and all was fine. Now the radio itself - you got 16 channels only about 2W output power and a reverse TNC antenna socket. Some of the radios you can invert the audio which makes it a bit like a scrambler but since it is an inversion it can be easily decoded but is not easily picked up with a scanner. Note: for HAM radio applications we are not allowed to obfuscate our communication but it may be legal in some countries for PMR applications. The receiver seems to be really good and quite selective. The sensitivity is about the same as the £150 japanese handhelds. The audio is loud and strong and the output power seems to correspond to the 2 Watts advertised. I did manage to access repeaters which were about 20 miles or 30km away without a problem and I used them for car to car communication just using the handheld with the standard antenna and it worked for a few miles from inside the car. Summary: Good Points: - dirt cheap - loud clear audio - scrambler (on some) - 2W output - batteries last a long time - easy to operate - audio description of channel when turning knob - appears to be rugged - strong plastic - got VOX Bad Points: - no s-meter or display of any kind - no possiblity to charge battery from a power lead or to operate radio from a power lead - reverse TNC limitied to Baofeng antennas - not straight forward to program frequencies and no possibility to program the radio without a computer and programming lead Note: Google Miklor for programming software A nice radio for projects such emergency coms, radio is solid and almost ruggedised - but I havn't tried it in bad environments yet. I noticed that armies in Syria and the Ukraine were using these radios. The radios are dead cheap and it might be worthwhile to keep a pair of them in the car just in case you have to deal with coms problem. For under £20 you can't really go wrong with these radios. Not a rollce royce but more like an old Land Rover with all the thrills removed. Mike G7IDJ/DL6MS

WN6F	Rating:	2017-07-17
Tone Squelch Bug			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Audio quality puts high-end scanners, and some amateur transceivers to shame. The big 3 could learn something here. Loud and clean. It can be done so there is no excuse for the big 3. Tone Squelch bug when scanning: Noted that when scanning, unit will not decode on any decode PL of 136.5 or lower. This is a bug shared with another model, but applies to scanning only. Not that I use this as my main scanner. :) Tone Squelch on PL's lower than 136.5 hz does function properly when not scanning. My unit scanned whether channel 16 was populated or not. I did not have to leave it empty. Disabled FM reception mode, and alarm with Chirp software. Used mostly for single-channel operations, keeping in mind what the unit is.

G4EDY	Rating:	2016-12-31
A handy handheld!			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A perfect companion for out door activities! I take mine when I go mountain bike riding and trail running, it's been wet, muddy and at times jettisoned into the undergrowth and still comes back for more! Programming with Chirp was simple and the battery lasts all day. At the price it's a no brainer, buy one, program it then attach it to your belt and go out and have fun!

N1RIK	Rating:	2016-11-28
Poor Squelch			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I'm not sure if they have fixed this in later versions, but for whatever reason, fast motion would severely effect the squelch. If I was driving in my car, strong signals would not open my squelch even with a low threshold set, however when standing still, the squelch would respond perfectly fine. I had two of these radios, and they both reacted the same when it came down to the squelch. Other than the squelch, everything seemed just fine with the radio. What a poor defect.

JOHNR	Rating:	2016-07-11
Great little radio, cheap and simple.			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Decent little radio that is very simple to operate. It's a 16 channel UHF radio that puts out between 2 to 3 watts. You can normally find these little radios from $14 to $18 each. I own one I purchased over 2 years ago from Amazon and it's still running strong and more recently purchased a yellow one from http://www.radioddity.com/ Make sure you have a programming cable because the test channels that come pre-programmed more than likely are illegal to use in your area. I have heard some people say their 888 has a Part 90 sticker but none of mine do so they are not legal for commercial use. Also note that they are not legal for FRS/GMRS either since they are not Part95 compliant. They are great little radio though for a hamfest or close comms with an amateur license.

N4FDG	Rating:	2016-06-09
Excellent for me!			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
For less than $14.00 on Amazon these can't be beat. I use mine for cross banding and the local repeaters. Chirp works for programming. Best money I've ever spent on radios.

G6IYD	Rating:	2016-03-03
Basic 70cm HT			Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
For such a cheap radio, they are surprisingly good value. Useless without the software, but very simple to set up with a suitable programming lead and Chirp. Not as sensitive as a Yaesu or Icom, but what do you expect for the price! If all you want is a simple 16ch 70cm handheld for local repeater use or keeping in touch with nearby hams, they will do the job. Good TX reports through a repeater 17 miles away on the supplied antenna. Mine gives out between 2-3 watts. If like me, you have a licensed XYL, buy two.

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Category:

Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

Product:

Baofeng/Pofung BF-888

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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