Perfect Hiking Radio

When out hiking in the mountains, weather can change in an instant. While I have expensive radios I use on a daily basis, I wanted something rugged, water resistant, and inexpensive to use when hiking. These fit the bill well. They are much more rugged than the typical Chinese radio, can get rained on without worrying about water damage, and are inexpensive enough that if they're lost of damaged, I won't worry about it. The lack of a VFO/Memory key makes it harder to knock the radio off frequency. I also like the standard keypad with the zero at the bottom. The shielded volume knob makes it harder to accidentally change the volume setting, expecially when using an external microphone. Unlike bubble pack GMRS radios, these are dual band and full power. There are times when UHF has better reliability and times when VHF has better reliability. With this radio, you can choose the frequency to suit the conditions. What I don't like about it are: 1) the new speaker-mic connector is a pain to use. You pretty much have to use a screwdriver to take the cover off and mount a speaker-mic. The screw is not captive, so it's easy to drop and lose. Other radios with IP67 ratings use the Kenwood standard connector, so I don't know why they chose to change for this one. 2) the firmware does not report it's revision number, so programming software can't determine the radio model number. This keeps Chirp from supporting this radio. The altered cable stops RT Systems from supporting it. If you only program in a handful of channels, the programming software issue may not be a concern, but I tend to customize my radios for the area we're hiking in, adding repeaters along the way and around the hiking area. A number of our hiking spots are outside of cell phone coverage, so amateur radio repeaters offer us additional safety and I like to program in those which cover the area. Manually entering and checking the frequencies, offsets, and tones is tedius and error-prone, so is not ideal when you can't check the programing before leaving on your trip. Even with the negatives, I do like these radios and, in fact, just returned from a hiking trip where they performed well. If you're looking for a rugged, water-resistant, affordable radio, check out the GT3WP by Baofeng.Read full review

Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New