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Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2025
Great radio shipped on time
Robin
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2025
Never used one before and it is a bit challenging. Will take time to learn how to use it.
Eric
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2025
I’ve bought a couple of these radios and use them frequently I have absolutely no problem with them and get more range than I thought I would they are great for the time have have had them highly recommend
Vern Hinkley
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2025
Amazing how much these can do and how good they work for such a small price.
Charles Tapp
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2025
Great radio for the price
Verdell Parent
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2025
The raido function works well .
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2024
Not included are programing cable and handset...sent back for credit.
Kwan L. Lowe
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2020
I am writing this as purely a listener as I work on getting my radio license. This review is based solely on using it without transmitting.This UV-5R kit was purchased as a Lightning Deal for about $50. Even at the regular price of about $70 it appears to be a good bargain. When it arrived it was a bundle of shrink-wrapped individual boxes with a sticker informing that it was sold as a kit. I'll take this moment to say that we need to limit plastic packaging as much as possible (or eliminate it entirely) because that wrap goes immediately into the trash.The kit comes with several components including a charger, large primary battery, smaller backup battery, external microphone, programming cable, and another which appears to be for plugging into external speakers. There are also requisite manuals.The UV-5R radio is extremely popular with plenty of other reviews. First impressions are pretty good. The radio feels solid and decently made. The casing lines up, no gaps around plugs, switches do not wiggle, etc.. It is plastic, however, and probably would not survive too large a fall versus some of the other industrialized equipment I have. All said, no faults with the workmanship.Using the device is also pretty simple. I did a Google search for popular channels (NOAA, EMT, etc.) and was able to tune them in pertty easily. Programming these into the unit was also easy enough *once I found a YouTube video that explained the process*. I had some difficulty following the instructions (I'm old and slow) but the videos got me through it.Now for programming: From a CentOS Linux laptop, I downloaded the CHIRP software. With the USB programming cable attached and specifying the correct USB port, I was able to see the device. After reading the configuration then saving, I was then able to program it with a bunch of other useful channels. This was probably the hardest (and ultimately easiest) way to program the device. Harder because of locating the software, but easier because once installed and some tinkering with settings, it was so much faster than manual programming.Other thoughts: Battery life is very good so far, even using the smaller battery. It was on for over a day listening and still seemed fully charged. Sound was very clear for the NOAA and weather service channels.
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