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Reviews For: TYT TH-8600 vhf/uhf

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : TYT TH-8600 vhf/uhf
Reviews: 20MSRP: 150
Description:
2 meter 440 dual band base radio
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tyt888.com/?mod=product_show&id=39
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
34203.9
VA6KCG Rating: 2019-12-19
Great Radio for the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Awesome Lil Radio , just don't cheap out on the antenna or Coax..nice and clear no issues with mine.
K4RRT Rating: 2019-10-15
Lasted less than a year Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this radio in Nov 2018. The good - programming is easy with the supplied CD. The bad - RX Audio was never very loud, even turned all the way up. Power appeared to be decreasing as I could barely hit repeaters that I easily hit when I first got it and can still hit with other radios. Finally, the microphone died on it last week. I can key the mic and hit the repeater, but no audio is heard on the other end. I would not recommend this radio.
OZ5GOL Rating: 2019-08-17
Great waterproof radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Fine radio, mine is the waterproof model ip67. Not difficult to program. Like to have it in my boat
KB9KQU Rating: 2019-03-07
VERY good for the price! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
** All my comments & numerical rating are predicated on the price (value) compared to the "big 4" (A-K-I-Y).

Pros: Size/Reasonable power/Rugged build/Nice mic/Features/Performance/Programmable W/O computer (I don't even own a Windows machine)/Audio both ways is just fine/Nice display.

Cons: Intermod when in city (minor annoyance)/Slow scan speed(I end up using dual watch instead)/Manual difficult to decipher.

1. Believe I've owned mine close to 2 years & it looks & performs like new.
2. I'm the biggest dunce when it comes to things like computers & radio programming. I programmed 30+/- memories including mostly repeaters with the mic & front buttons. If I can do it, ANYONE can!
3. Is it comparable to a TM-V71a? No! Does it cost over $300.00? Not even close! As I said @ the beginning - VALUE.
VE3PTC Rating: 2019-01-04
works well. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
bought mine from r+l electronics in ohio for $89.
tx audio brings great reports and rx audio is pretty good for low budget radio. i use mine in my suv as connecting it to a good base antenna will bring some problems with intermod, if you live near city centre.
programming is very straight forward, with the supplied disc and cable. i have even programmed frequencies/channels from front panel, although lots of button pushing, but its doable.
if you have ever programmed a baofeng, or a dmr radio, then this will be fairly easy for you.
manual is about as good as a chocolate fireguard ! am i giving my age away here ! hi hi.
for the price, decent performance, although my particular radio struggles to hit 20w output.
KI7SJC Rating: 2018-10-16
IMPOSSIBLE PROGRAMMING Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
WILL NOT PROGRAM WITH WINDOWS 7. IT COMES UP WITH "NO OPENING FILE ASSOCIATED WITH THE TH8600.RAR FILE" AND IF THE PROGRAMMING TABLE LOADS, READS "INSERT FREQUENCY CODE" OR "COMPORT 4 OCCUPE" AND DOES NOT WRITE TO THE TRANSCEIVER.
THEN THE RECEIVER GOES SILENT AT ANY SQUELCH.
YOU CAN FORGET ASKING HESENATE RADIO FOR HELP. THEY WANT A MOVIE OF YOUR EFFORTS AND NO HELP AT ALL VIA EMAILS FROM GUANGZHOU CHINA OR FROM A 400 AREA CODE TELEPHONE..
OTHERWISE NICELY BUILT AND NICE DUAL BAND DISPLAY. JUST HOPELESS PROGRAMMING.
K9XT Rating: 2018-05-06
Surprisingly Good Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I was pleasantly surprised when I purchased this radio. I now own two with one installed in my truck and the other in my RV. I found I had to be patient when reading the manual because some programming steps are not that intuitive. A big "thumbs-up" for a very cost-effective mobile radio.
WD9IQN Rating: 2017-11-05
Working great ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought one of these for the RV. It doesn't take up much space. Receive audio is great. Transmit audio reports are good. The color display looks nice and is easy to read. It has a nice microphone that you can control the radio with.
It has a slight pop out of the speaker when the squelch is first opened. Not too bad but it is there. The radio is rated at 25 watts but mine puts out around 20 watts. The manual is not the greatest. A pretty good deal for under $100 with free shipping from R&L.
N8PMG Rating: 2017-06-13
Reasonably priced Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked one up at Dayton (Xenia) for $100. The receive audio is excellent, better than some much more expensive units. Mine does dual monitoring, so the other reviewer must have something set up wrong or malfunctioning. The included programming cable saves a few of your dollars and works with 64 bit Windows 10. The mike seems large for the radio size but is easy to use. A little surprised to see a cooling fan on a medium power rig. So far no problems and satisfactory performance.
K6ZA Rating: 2017-05-26
newly released Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
You get what you pay for in most of these Chinese imports. This one is no different, however there are some strong points. The xmit audio is reported to be excellent as is the internal speaker audio which is very robust and sounds very good. The TYT website programming software is available, quick and easy to use. Manual is cryptic as expected, and questions arise on feature selections. ISSUE: The feature specs include "dual watch receive", however, it appears that only one vfo can be heard at a time, locking out the audio from the other. Despite choosing the alternate vfo, no sound is heard until there is a carrier or key down. This may be a software bug or some very esoteric setting buried somewhere. If solved, this could be a very nice inexpensive addition or backup radio.