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Reviews For: Ailunce HD-1

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

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Review Summary For : Ailunce HD-1
Reviews: 9MSRP: 189
Description:
This is a Analogue and Digital DMR HT. This will work on 2M and 70cm bands. 136-174 and 400-480 MHz are the bands. It will receive FM stations.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.retevis.com/hd1/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0093.3
N6DSP Rating: 2021-04-27
Almost Great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Have mine for about 3 months. Except for the issues below, I am happy with this radio
1. Backlight keeps reverting to "CONT" from any setting ex. 10 sec then all of a sudden, the display stays on and checking the main set menu, it shows "CONT"
2. Channel Selector Backlash when turning the channel selector at times, the channels won't advance, except it appears to loop around a few channels. To stop this, I have to turn the channel selector a few complete turns to make it work. This is worse if there is a signal present.
Firmware: 1.5.3
UPDATE: Got another one, looks like the first one was a lemon. Their QC sucks. This second radio works as advertised for me.
KJ6VAP Rating: 2020-07-31
Great rugged DMR Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Ailunce HD1 is the first HAM radio from Retevis. It does not come with everything setup but can be programmed and accessorized to do just about anything; pair it with a Pi-Star and it will bring you hours of enjoyment on DMR or Analog. While Analog is not its strong suit, it will do local repeaters and Simplex easily. The low cost of the radio and its multitude of affordable accessories has made this my favorite HT. The radio and its accessories are well made and feel very sturdy in your hand. The radio has a Motorola commercial radio feel (and connections). You could drop it and run over it and it would survive but it feels so nice in your hand that you will look after it. The stock antenna is better than average and the knobs feel like quality with no wobble. Keys and screen are backlit and the battery lasts for days (even with the optional GPS on). The speaker is one of the loudest I have ever heard on an HT and it has a wideband Dual Watch receiver so you can listen to your favorite FM station while monitoring your VFO's. The belt clip is separate from the battery (nice touch) so you don't have to switch it when you switch batteries but at 3200 mAH I do not see when you ever have to. I leave the screen backlight on "continuous", which is necessary for you to see it as it goes completely black when it's in standby. The menus are easy and not complicated at all to learn and unlike most DMR radios, this one is "field programmable". Programming software and firmware updates are downloadable for free off the Ailunce.com website. The programming cable, AC cable, charging cradle, wrist strap, belt clip and 1 battery are included in the box. Code plugs are a challenge for anyone new to DMR; fortunately this radio has a big following and a very helpful Facebook group that is actively monitored by the Ailunce English speaking staff in China. The manual is easy to follow, well written and firmware updates come out frequently to fix any bugs that are reported by its large user community. Ailunce is the HAM specific division of Retevis and there are many HAM features that set this radio apart from radios that are simply commercial radios modified for HAM use. I would recommend this radio to anyone wanting to get into DMR and look forward to buying new Ailunce models in the future.
W5GNB Rating: 2020-06-01
JUNK !! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Works "OK" on DMR but my CHEAP MD-380 runs circles around it. On Analog, This radio needs HELP !! ~~ Receiver sensitivity is Terrible. The channel encoder is glitchy, you have to fiddle with it to lock onto a channel. Save your money and buy something that actually WORKS as advertised !!!
Gary - W5GNB
VA7EQ Rating: 2020-04-09
Better Options Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I’ve owned this radio for just over a year and it has not been a good experience. There are some good radios coming out of China but this is not one of them. Tech support is amateurish, analog performance nasty, firmware and hardware are buggy and if it brakes it’s not worth fixing which is where Im at.
The speaker mic like the radio is a faux Motorola thing that can't be used on anything else. If you want to get into DMR any other radio would be a better choice.
73 de VA7EQ
KS6DAY Rating: 2019-03-12
Steaming pile of fail Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I fell for the hype. I believed all the YouTube review channels that touted their Retevis supplied HD1's as the best thing going in radio. I have no doubt that the units they received from Retevis had gotten a very detailed QC inspection before being sent out. So, given that you received a working unit, one might be inclined to think that this is actually a good radio. However, I spent my own money and bought one off of Amazon like the rest of the peasants and what I received was a steaming pile of fail. To begin with the radio would not turn on. I tried 3 different fully charged batteries and it would not turn on. Just a blank black screen. I installed a battery eliminator and hooked it up to my truck. After cycling the power switch a few times it finally started up. After that it would turn on with a battery installed....most of the time. Every now and then it would still refuse to start up. But if you cycled the power knob a few times it would eventually wake up. Once I got past this, I programmed it using the primitive Retevis software that will not allow you to paste in any data from any other source so you have to type in every digit of every frequency. That was a nice touch. Then it came time to hook up the hand mic and test it. Ooops....I expected the Ailunce hand mic to work with the HD1. What a foolish idea. It doesn't. I tried 2 different hand mics that are made for the HD1 and that are both proven to work on my Retevis RT87. Neither one worked with the HD1. I could transmit but could not receive any audio signal. Okay then. Let's try it without a hand mic. Analog signal reports? - Weak & muffled. Very poor. Receiver sensitivity? - My Yaesu FT-60R is catching all kinds of traffic. The HD1 is mostly deaf. But when it does finally lock on to a signal the audio quality was breathtakingly bad. Harsh is the best way to describe it. Screechingly harsh could also apply. Not a bit of bass. Just shrill and unpleasant sounding. I should also add a short comment about the channel control knob. If you want to turn a knob to get off of an annoying channel and expect that to actually happen, this is the wrong radio for you. If the radio is receiving a signal, for some reason, the channel selector knob lags like crazy. You actually have to cycle the knob a full 360 degrees before it will respond to any input. That is just amazing. I was really stunned by the stupidity applied to that programming decision. So about this time I decided this one is going back and I am officially done with this thing. I don't even want a replacement I just want some justice for being scammed.
KN4DMM Rating: 2018-09-27
Perfect HT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am extremely impressed by this HT. I bought the lapel mic with it as well and both looks and feel it reminds me of the Motorola's we use at the Fire Department. Even though I've only had this radio a few days I am already sold on it and honestly plan to probably buy more. I'll deffinently buy more from this company. To the contacts I've made had said I have crystal clear audio and the Rx is absolutely amazing and as you'd expect from a high quality radio. Big 3 better watch out because there's a new kid in the block.
W4KVW Rating: 2018-09-05
Love it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I love my Ailunce HD1.It does just what I wanted for a great price of just $150 shipped from eBay.I just ordered the H103ML hand microphone & I'm sure it will be great as well from the reviews I have read so far.I get great audio reports on DMR & analog so I am happy with my investment.I works well with my Shark RF Open Spot & at 1 watt output on low power the radio still shows 100% of battery power at the end of the day most every day.I would consider a 2nd HD1 should I need another DMR radio.It is my only DMR radio but I have been having a lot of fun for very little money invested & I do have the latest firmware update installed.Far less expensive than my D-STAR radios were.
WA3CSX Rating: 2018-08-10
GREAT RADIO Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had my radio for about two weeks now.As far as the radio goes,I love it. The thing that sold me the most was the VFO mode.I have owned two TYT radios.I didn't like the whole ball thing on the radio.I was litle put off with trying to program the DMR side of the radio.But after asking questions,viewing videos on youtube,and programming it like 6-7 times....SUCCESS!!! I have not made many contacts on North America or other TGs,but never the less.I am pleased with the radio.The audio is increbidlely loud withand without the speaker mic.It looks like an motorola radio(xpr 7550),good weight to it.
The only thing that I dont like about it is,it does not do Band A vfo,band B memory.But hey other then that A+++
KN4ACT Rating: 2018-08-08
Great DMR Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a great DMR radio. I have other HTs like the Kenwood TH-d74 and some Beofungs. This is built very tough and resilient. Feels weighty. Overall operationally it works very well. It is loud and clear on DMR and analogue. It has 10W output on 2m which is a great benefit when you are at the edge of repeaters like myself. I ordered this through Amazon but you can order it direct from Retevis the manufacturer. The DMR market has a lot of innovation going on and this is a great solid radio.