Baofeng UV-5R Ham Radio Handheld, Dual Band Two Way Radio (Black)

I recently picked up the Baofeng UV-5R two-way radio and I’ve been very impressed with it so far. For the price, it packs a lot of features into a compact handheld radio and performs extremely well. The radio supports both VHF and UHF bands and has plenty of programmable channels, which makes it very versatile whether you’re using it for outdoor activities, emergency communication, or general radio use. The audio quality is clear, the battery life is solid, and the radio feels sturdy in the hand. It’s lightweight and easy to carry, which makes it great for camping, hunting trips, or keeping in a go-bag. Programming it can take a little learning at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a very capable radio with a lot of customization options. Overall, the Baofeng UV-5R is a great buy for anyone who is new to two-way radios as well as for more experienced users. It offers excellent performance and features at a price that’s hard to beat. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth the money and a solid addition to anyone’s radio gear.

For the price, the Baofeng 5VR is still one of the cheapest ways to get into listening to scanner traffic and experimenting with radio. I’ve been surprised by how much it can pick up, and in my experience the receive performance is comparable to some much larger and more expensive scanning receivers. It’s obviously not going to replace every dedicated scanner, but for basic monitoring and getting started in the hobby, it’s hard to beat for the money. Definitely recommend it.

Ahoy, fellow Earthlings and radio enthusiasts! If you're looking for a communication device that's more versatile than a chameleon at a color party, let me introduce you to the Baofeng UV-5R Two Way Radio. Strap in, because this little gem is like a walkie-talkie that went to space camp and came back with superpowers! First off, let's talk about the design. This radio is so compact that even your pocket will be like, "Hey, where did you go?" It's like carrying a friendly alien companion in your palm, ready to beam your words to infinity and beyond. Now, onto the features! I'm convinced the Baofeng engineers were on a caffeine-fueled brainstorming session when they packed this thing with more features than a sci-fi convention. It's got more modes than a Transformer: from regular old walkie-talkie mode to emergency alert mode, and even a "I'm lost in the woods and need help" mode. Seriously, if I ever get stranded on a deserted island, I'm convinced this radio will build a shelter and start a fire for me. And the battery life? Let's just say it's so impressive that your smartphone battery will feel personally attacked. It's like this radio scoffs at the idea of running out of juice, and it's ready to keep chattering away long after your vocal cords have called it a day. Did someone say "channels"? Oh, buckle up! With the UV-5R, you've got more channels than a TV remote in a sports bar. Whether you're coordinating an elite ninja mission or just deciding where to order pizza from, there's a channel for every mood and occasion. Who knew radio could be this social? Now, let's talk about the sound quality. I could swear that using this radio is like having a direct line to the International Space Station. I mean, if E.T. was using a walkie-talkie, he'd totally pick the Baofeng UV-5R. Crystal clear reception, like you're chatting with your BFF next door even if they're in a galaxy far, far away. In conclusion, if you want a radio that's more versatile than a Swiss army knife and can handle more modes than a symphony orchestra, the Baofeng UV-5R is your jam. It's like the James Bond of communication devices, minus the tuxedo and the bad puns (although, I bet it could come up with some killer ones). Whether you're exploring the great outdoors or just want to pretend you're an astronaut, this radio has got your back. Get ready to talk the talk and rock the wavelengths with the Baofeng UV-5R!

I would give it five stars, but there’s no charging port. You absolutely have to charge it in the stand that it comes with. You cannot connect a charging cord via charging port with this handheld. Other than that, it’s a rockstar at work. I’ve dropped it multiple times out of trucks onto concrete, asphalt, and off of forklift onto warehouse floors and it just keeps on working. All features are still a GO. From the flashlight, strobe light feature, radio, to volume, and call knobs and buttons. Everything’s all good! I’ve also ordered shorter to stubby antennas for clearance purposes when I put it in my harness… works great.

Can’t go wrong buying one of these Rough and tumble little HT’s GMRS…..yes Just select frequency in the VFO and your talking Yet programming is there if required Price Is Right if you lose it or drop it in the lake….no big deal This licensed operator has 2 at all times….and am looking forward to giving them away to possible young hams K5HYC

My rating reflects the value for the price and not necessarily a flawless product. At time of purchase in Q4 2025, the cost was ~$16.50. The Baofeng UV-5R is a good entry point into amateur radio. You can fairly easily exchange antennas, and listen to regular broadcast FM with or without headphones/earpiece. It’s both over and under featured and takes some time to get used to. I think I’ll likely purchase an advanced model later that can receive Noaa, aviation bands, etc, but I’m happy with this purchase. UV-5R is compatible with CHIRP, and I have used it successfully with a USB UART to Kinwood style cable to program channels. My only complaint is that this can’t legally be used to broadcast on non Amateur Radio frequencies in the USA, but that’s more of an FCC limitation than a technical one. I have since purchased part 90 radios to use in conjunction with a site license at work and my experience with the Baofeng made setting those up correctly much easier. I like that you can listen to broadcast FM while tuned to other channels and it’ll break away from the broadcast FM to let you hear the transmission, then go back to broadcast FM after a few seconds. You can use this in “channel” or “frequency” mode. I have mostly used it in channel mode as my initial use was just listening to channels at work. Frequency mode is what it says, you can punch in a frequency and it’ll tune to it. Sometimes the best way to learn is hands-on, and for that this won’t disappoint.

Out of all my Baofengs, this is my “experimental” one. Easy to program and conceal.

This little radio is extremely powerful and has a great battery life (multiple days of standby power if you enable power saving mode and don't transmit) and it has a removable antenna so you can attach something like a Nagoya, Yagi, or custom coaxial antenna to it. If you buy the extended battery or even just another standard battery, you'll have more battery life than you know what to do with, unless you are constantly transmitting with VOX or you're constantly listening to FM radio with the volume turned up! The stock antenna is pretty good compared to the other more expensive Baofengs, but upgrading to a nagoya NA-771 removes a ton of the faint background hiss on both rx and tx, as well as increasing the tx range quite a bit. From my bench, I couldn't really pick up any additional FM radio stations when scanning through the entire FM range using the Nagoya vs the stock antenna, but what I did notice was that every single station came through crystal clear after swapping the antenna, whereas before it would pick them all up but some stations definitely had poor reception unless I would walk all around the garage looking for a good signal path. It has quite a few nice features but nothing digital, and doesn't have true dual watch monitoring, but with TDR turned on for me I'm able to monitor two frequencies and pick which one I care about more so if they're both active it will let me listen to the "preferred" frequency. It has dcs and ctcss codes for accessing those repeaters, and supports DTMF codes for dialing into Internet relay repeaters or echolink repeaters. As far as ease of use, you will need the manual to decipher the different options in the settings menu. There are some websites out there that give a more detailed breakdown of the menu options and their descriptions, as well as youtube videos to demonstrate more complicated things like programming or connecting two Baofengs to make a mobile repeater. Both of those capabilities require a different cable, not included. Finally, regarding programming, you DO NOT need to get the programming cable as you can do everything right from the radio. If you want to look up different frequencies of your local repeaters and store them in the memory channels, you can do that pretty quickly and easily right from the radio once you learn the flow. Where the programming cable comes in handy is when you want to add a hinge number of pre-programmed channels to the radio, but IMO there is no need for that. I tried it with all the virginia repeaters and found that only 1 or 2 ever had any traffic, even when I would go driving for hours and leave it on channel scan mode. Where I think the programming cable would come in handy is if you routinely traveled out of state (like from the east coast to the west coast) and you had a different set of frequencies and repeaters and settings for each location that you wanted to be able to swap between easily. When you go to the west coast you can just backup your east coast profile to save any changes you made or any new frequencies you saved, and then restore the west coast profile so you're able to make changes and save any new frequencies you find there. Then when you're ready to come back, just save the west coast profile to the computer and restore the east coast profile.

Excelente opción como primer walkie para adentrarse en el mundo de radioaficionados, muy económico y funcional, aunque transmite con armónicos altos.

Justo lo que ocupaba para el trabajo, ya que son distancias algo largas

Muy buen radio, me ha servido bien

el radio es un equipo muy economico con una excelente cobertura de frecuencias , de facil funcionamiento, en su empaque viene todo lo que debe de traer como : Bateria, clip, cintilla, antena, handsfree manual, garantia y el radio. de ahi en fuera el equipo es de un tipo de plastico que por el terminado se ve economico se ve brilloso es muy sensible a las transmisiones de otros equipos ya que si transmites con un equipo distinto y en distinta frecuencia el Baofeng lo detecta. no he probado la distancia de transmision pero al perecer es muy buena.

Es justo lo que viene en la descripción, lo entregaron exactamente el día que dijeron y llegó en perfecto estado y totalmente nuevo