so ive been using a borrowed Baofeng UV-5R for about a year now since I got my tech license and honestly it's done the job but I keep reading that there are way better options out there and I think its time to actually invest in something decent. the UV-5R just feels kinda cheap and the battery life is pretty rough especially when im out hiking and trying to hit a distant repeater.

been looking at the Yaesu FT-60R and also the Kenwood TH-D74A but that second one is way outside my budget right now. heard good things about the FT-60R from a couple guys at my local club but wanted to get more opinions. mainly using it for local repeaters, maybe some APRS eventually, just general handheld use nothing crazy. anybody have strong feelings about the FT-60R vs something else in that $100-150 range?

FT-60R is a solid choice and honestly kind of a classic at this point. rugged, great receiver, battery lasts forever compared to most HTs. only thing is it doesnt do APRS natively which it sounds like you might want down the road. if APRS is even a maybe for you, might be worth stretching the budget a bit for the VX-6R or looking used for a TH-D72A which shows up on QRZ classifieds pretty regularly for reasonable prices. that said if budget is the main concern the FT-60R wont let you down for basic repeater work, thing is practically indestructible. i dropped mine off a tailgate onto pavement and it still works fine three years later.

I actually made almost the exact same upgrade like 8 months ago, also came from a UV-5R. went with the FT-60R and have zero regrets. the audio is so much clearer and the battery honestly lasts me a whole weekend camping without a recharge. one thing that threw me off at first was programming it manually is a bit of a pain compared to the Baofeng chirp setup but once you get CHIRP working with it it's totally fine. if you're mostly doing local repeater stuff you really dont need APRS right away anyway, you can always add a TNC or upgrade later when you actually need it.