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Reviews For: Radioddity GA-510 VHF/UHF Handheld

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

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Review Summary For : Radioddity GA-510 VHF/UHF Handheld
Reviews: 5MSRP: $64.99
Description:
Radioddity GA-510 is a dual-band tri-power HT with up to 10W output and 3 way of scanning. GA-501 has functions like dual channel monitoring, VOX, voice prompt, manual programming. The Radioddity GA-510 can be set in 3 power modes (high/medium/low) (10W, 5W, 1W) to give you the best talking quality under different circumstances. Easy Programming:More convenient to manual programming most of settings via the keypad, as well as PC programming with the cable in the box. Download programming software from the dealer's site.
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-ga-510
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
22.553.4
AI7SY Rating: 2023-09-25
Solid handheld; but buy it on sale Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Rather than review the sales brochure, I decided to read the manual and use the radio before writing this. I bought one of these on flash sale for $45 to see if the user opinions I'd read were true. They were. This is a well-built 5 watt radio with "turbo" mode, where the transmit chain runs flat out instead of with APC control. Let me be clear about my opinion here: no one with a brain runs their handheld in turbo mode except in an emergency. Battery. Life. Receiver is fine in low to moderate radio polluted environments. Transmitter is clean (at least in my unit) and audio test and off air reports sound good.

What you get is a good radio execution of the RD1646 transceiver chip with a spare battery. Nothing more, nothing less. Well worth the price, if you wait for a sale (the oddity in Radioddity).
KD2HPQ Rating: 2023-05-29
strange product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My GA510 arrived yesterday. I purchased the radio for the extra 4-5 watts it provides, specifically to use it at the highest point in my state (NJ), for POTA.

This is a strange, strange product. Like the ID-52 the arrow keys are too recessed and uncomfortable to push. Plus two of the keys do nothing at all. Every operation involving the arrow buttons is tedious, slow, and uncomfortable bordering on the painful.

Just 128 channel memories? Handhelds from 15 years ago have more. Do these manufacturers actually understand what these products are used for, who uses them and why?

(I can ask the same question to ICOM, who has left its non-digital users in the dust.)

The manual? Absolutely USELESS. Doesn't even list the xmit frequencies covered, whether it's UHF, VHF, or both. Basically tells you how to turn the radio on, and how to enter the overly-extensive menu system. You can just chuck the manual.

But the killer for me is the lack of a proper VFO knob. Tuning through the frequencies is a horrendous experience, even at the highest step value of just 50 khz. Those damn arrow keys are the pits.

I am puzzled that any real reviewer, anyone who owns any other HT, can give this radio a 4-star review. Any $19 handheld from Baofeng is easier to use than the GA510.

I believe Radioddity's function in this world is to test every radio coming out of China, then repackage and sell the ones that make you pull your hair out least. The HF radios are a good value; the GA-510 is not one of those values, it is a dog.

I will keep this radio for one more day -- up to High Point State Park tomorrow to see if there's any practical difference between this radio and one of my other handhelds.

Then probably -- because I was smart enough to purchase through Amazon (no restocking fee) -- I will return this radio.

Added: Manufacturers have had ENOUGH time to get the basics right but they still swamp us with expensive, poorly documented, dysfunctional garbage. I'm sick and tired of having to go to Youtube to get the information that Yaesu, Icom, etc. can't be bothered to provide on their products.
N5XJT Rating: 2022-06-25
Great performer for the price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Be aware programming this one is not for the young. Otherwise works very well, in fact it is an incredible performer for the price. Receiver works great, transmitter is strong and audio reports are good. Only gave it a 4 because of programming challenges.
KJ4DGE Rating: 2021-01-06
Better tha most for the money Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have owned LOTS of HT's over the years. I wanted a final HT for awhile :) that had a little extra output (9) watts on VHF, a solid construction, larger keypad for older eyes and decent battery life. Researching all this I went with the GA-510. The nice part of this other than the radio itself is it comes with a spare 2200mah battery and a speaker mic. No extra "gotchas" you have to buy once you have the radio. Construction is quality unlike most radios under 100 bucks. It is not a UV5R clone. The firmware is similar but to program it with Chirp you have to go with a GA-510 profile.

The built in mic has given excellent reports on the air while outside pedestrian mobile. The receiver is better than most sub-100 dollar HT's . If you have a price point between a throw-away 25 dollar poorly made Chinese import and a 99 dollar Yaesu or 115 dollar ICOM single band V86 at 7 watts output, this is the radio to buy as you get the "extras" of the spare battery and speaker mic for 65 dollars. Best bang for your buck.
W8IJN Rating: 2021-01-05
Pretty decent dual bander HT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Truth up, this was an impulse buy. Exactly one month before my 75th birthday, this radio showed up in an advert & I thought "Why not?" Then I forgot that I'd bought it. Showed up on the porch a month later.

Not a bad radio for the price. Fits in the hand more easily than the TYT UV8000 series; easier to understand than the Baofeng UV5R; smaller than an Icom T2H (yeah, I have one of those too).
. . . Works pretty well as a ham radio HT. Got it programmed via the computer/software cable to local repeaters. Hits and hears everything that my Anytone AT-778uV can grab in the car or house.
. . . The manual is pretty complete, easy to understand. My copy is in English and German. Leicht zu verstehen. And that said, the manufacturer's programming software is, well, a little clunky, though still easier for hard core set up than going through each frequency setting by hand. So the manual's good & of a size easy enough for old people post cataract surgery to read.
. . . And yes, I tried it out on the FRS &c frequencies and it even works there, though I have to question my sanity for even thinking about it. Being 75, I'm allowed a few moments of not being compos mentis.

So I figure the the money and the impulse and the size and the fact that I can figure out the menu pretty easily, it's a keeper. (I say this thinking back to the days before the T2H when a programmable HT was more cash than I had to fritter away some decades back.) Use it on vacation trips and the like. Small, light weight, easy to use, works.