so ive been licensed for about 3 months now (tech class) and I've just been using my buddy's baofeng to get started but i think its time to get my own radio. problem is every time i start looking i get completely lost. theres so many options and everyone online seems to have a strong opinion one way or another.

mainly i want something for local repeaters and maybe taking hiking with me. dont really need anything crazy. budget is probably somewhere around $50-150 but i could stretch it a bit if something is really worth it. ive heard the yaesu FT-60 comes up a lot and also the wouxun stuff? not sure if the extra money is worth it over just grabbing another baofeng honestly. what would you guys do

the FT-60 is honestly hard to beat for what you're describing. yeah its more than a baofeng but the receiver is way better, you'll notice it immediately if you're ever in a fringe coverage area trying to hit a repeater. build quality is just in another league too, thing is basically a tank. i dropped mine off a tailgate onto pavement and it still works fine years later.

the menu system is a little quirky but once you program it in with chirp its not that bad. for hiking i think the durability alone makes it worth the extra cost. wouxuns are decent too, better than the cheap baofengs, but if youre stretching your budget anyway the yaesu just has that reputation for a reason. thats just my two cents though, plenty of people are perfectly happy with cheaper radios on local repeaters

i was in basically the exact same spot last year lol. ended up going with the baofeng uv-5r just to save money and honestly for hitting repeaters around town it works fine. BUT i did eventually pick up a yaesu ft-65 a few months later and the difference in audio quality on receive is pretty noticeable. so kind of wish i just started there. if your budget can handle it i'd probably skip the baofeng this time around since you already know what those are like