so i just passed my technician exam last week and im starting to look at handheld radios and honestly its a lot. ive been reading reviews for like three days straight and i feel like i know less than when i started. everyone seems to have a strong opinion and half the time theyre contradicting each other.

my main use case would be local repeaters, maybe some APRS stuff eventually, and just general learning. i dont really have a budget in mind yet but id rather not spend a ton on something until i know i actually like the hobby. i looked at the baofeng uv-5r because its cheap but then people say the build quality is bad or it'll interfere with other stuff, and then someone else says its fine for a beginner. also looked at the yaesu ft-65r and some icom thing but i honestly cant tell if im paying for features i wont use for years.

what would you actually buy if you were just starting out and didnt want to make a dumb mistake right away

welcome to the hobby, congrats on passing the exam. honestly the baofeng question comes up constantly and my take after years of watching new hams go through this is — get the cheap one first, learn on it, and if you stick with the radio thing you'll know way better what you actually want in six months. the uv-5r gets a lot of grief and some of it is fair, out-of-the-box programming is a pain and yeah you should put chirp on your computer before you try to do anything with it manually. but as a first radio to mess around with and hit your local repeater? it does the job.

the interference thing people worry about is mostly if you're transmitting on frequencies you shouldnt be, which as long as you're paying attention you wont do. the ft-65r is a noticeable step up if you want something that feels more like a real radio and the receive is better, but thats like $100 more and at this stage you probably wont notice the difference on a repeater qso.

my honest pick for someone in your spot would be the baofeng to start, grab the programming cable with it, and just use it. you can always upgrade and it wont sting much if you decide the hobby isnt your thing after a few months

I was in basically the exact same spot about 8 months ago and ended up going with the Yaesu FT-60R (different from the 65 I think, the older one). It's been solid, no complaints. The menu system isnt super intuitive at first but you get used to it pretty quick and the build feels like it could survive being dropped which I have actually done twice already.

the APRS stuff though, if thats a real goal and not just a maybe, you might want to look at the VX-8DR or one of the radios with APRS built in from the start because adding it later as an add on can get fiddly. just something to think about before you commit