So it's pretty China, but it's also pretty solid for the price point. But what about the software and features? Many people online complain about the somewhat unintuitive UX, but I didn't find it any worse than most radios. The menu labels are a bit inscrutable, but consulting the manual fixes this. The basic mode of the radio provides two slot that you can easily toggle between. Each of these slots can be used either in a straightforward tuning manner or a channeled mode in which you can save channels. Toggling between either of the slots or the modes within each slot is as simple as pressing a button.

The radio also has a scanning function, in which a slot will scan until it finds a squelch breaking signal. This is readily accessed with a long button press and an up/down key for direction for the scan. Finally, the radio has an FM mode which takes over the radio to access FM signals. Why this is separate from the normal dual-band functions I couldn't say.

As for frequencies and steps, the radio is dual-band (2-meter and 70cm), with 5khz steps, although you can configure the steps to be greater. The radio allows you to transmit at 5 watts or 1 watt, with a variety of modifications and customizations available. I've been able to do anything I wanted to do within the available bands.

The supplied antenna works surprisingly well for these bands, so much so in fact that I replaced my faulty original one with the same manufacturer antenna. It really is that good. I've seen people with antenna analyzers confirm this, so don't be afraid of the stock antenna. That said, this exceptional performance seems to be unique to to the UV-B5/6 radios, with other Baofeng antennas sucking wind.