so ive been licensed for about 3 weeks now (technician) and everyone keeps telling me to just get a baofeng to start but then other people say thats a terrible idea and i should spend more on something better right away. honestly im kind of overwhelmed because i dont even fully know what features i actually need vs what sounds cool but ill never use.

mostly i want to hit a couple of local repeaters, maybe do some simplex with my brother who just passed his tech exam too. we're not doing anything fancy. budget is probably around $50-100 but i could stretch to maybe $150 if it was really worth it. i keep seeing people mention the yaesu ft-60 and also the kenwood th-d74 but that last one seems way overkill for what im trying to do. anyone have thoughts? does dual band actually matter this early on or should i not worry about it

Honestly the advice you're getting pulling in two directions makes sense because both sides have a point. The cheap Baofengs like the UV-5R work fine for hitting repeaters and doing simplex, and plenty of people including myself started on them without any real problems. The programming can be a headache and the menu system is kind of a nightmare at first but you figure it out. If your main goal is just getting on the air and talking to your brother and checking into a local net, a UV-5R gets you there for like $25 and you can always upgrade later once you know what you actually want.

That said if you have $100 to spend I'd probably look at the Yaesu FT-65 or the Wouxun KG-UV9D. They're in that mid range where the build quality is noticeably better, the audio is clearer on receive, and programming is less of a headache. Dual band is worth it just because most active repeaters in most areas are on 2m but some are on 70cm and you dont want to miss out. The FT-60 is a solid radio but its a bit older and doesn't do a lot of things newer cheap radios do, though its built like a tank and has great receive.

skip the TH-D74 for now, that's a digital APRS radio and while its incredible it's a different category entirely. start simple.

i was in basically the same spot like 4 months ago lol. ended up getting the UV-5R just to have something and then pretty quickly got a Yaesu FT-70D because the digital (Fusion) stuff seemed interesting and a couple repeaters near me run it. honestly both get used depending on what im doing. the baofeng sits in my car as a backup now.

one thing nobody told me when i started was to download CHIRP before you even turn the radio on, makes programming frequencies SO much less painful no matter what you get