so ive been licensed for about three weeks now (Tech class) and everyone keeps telling me to just get a baofeng to start and thats fine but then i went down a rabbit hole on eham and now im looking at the yaesu ft-65 and the kenwood th-d74 and a few others and honestly i dont even know what features i actually need vs what sounds cool on paper

like i know i want to hit the local 2m repeater and maybe do some simplex with a friend who just got his license too. do i really need APRS on a first radio? the th-d74 looks amazing but thats like 400 bucks and i have no idea if ill even stay that into the hobby. the ft-65 is like 60 or 70 and does what i need i think. just wanted to see what people here actually use day to day

honestly the ft-65 is a solid first radio, dont overthink it. ive handed them to new hams at our club and they hold up fine, audio is decent, the menu isnt a nightmare like some other radios ive used. you dont need APRS right out of the gate unless you specifically want to do that kind of thing and even then you can always add a cheap tracker later or upgrade when you actually know what you want.

the th-d74 is a great radio but its kind of overkill if youre just trying to hit a local repeater. its also D-STAR capable which adds another layer of stuff to learn. get something simple first, actually use it for a few months, then you'll have a much better idea what you wish it could do — thats usually when upgrading makes sense. welcome to the hobby by the way, three weeks in is a fun time

I was in the exact same spot last year lol. Ended up going with the Yaesu and haven't regretted it. The one thing I'd say is make sure whatever you get can do both VHF and UHF because some of the cheaper ones are VHF only and our local club uses a 70cm repeater for nets so that woud have been annoying to find out later.