so ive been licensed for about three weeks now (Tech class) and im trying to figure out what handheld to start with. everyone keeps telling me different things and its making my head spin honestly. some guys at the club meeting said get a Baofeng to start, others were almost offended by that suggestion lol. one older guy told me to just save up and get a Yaesu right off the bat and not bother with the cheap stuff.

i mostly just want to hit the local repeaters and maybe do some APRS stuff eventually? i dont have a big budget, probably $80-150 range. also i have no idea what half the specs mean like i see stuff about dual band, wideband receive, tone squelch settings, all that. is there a decent guide somewhere or can someone just point me in the right direction. dont want to make a dumb first purchase

Oh man I remember being exactly where you are. Honestly the Baofeng UV-5R debate is kind of a rite of passage in this hobby. Here's my take after going through a few radios myself — the Baofeng isn't bad for learning, it's just a bit of a pain to program without the software and cable, and the build quality is what you'd expect for $25. If your budget goes up to $150 I'd seriously look at the Yaesu FT-65 or maybe a used FT-60 if you can find one. The FT-60 is basically a tank and the receive is noticeably cleaner on the local repeaters compared to the cheaper stuff. For APRS down the road you'd eventually want something like the VX-8DR or look into a TinyTrak setup but that's a whole other rabbit hole, don't worry about that yet. Just get on the air first and figure out what you actually need as you go.

i just went through this like two months ago so feel you. ended up getting the Baofeng UV-5R just to have something while I figured out what I actually wanted and tbh its fine for hitting repeaters. programmed it with CHIRP which was kinda confusing at first but there are youtube videos. the main thing nobody told me was to make sure you set the correct CTCSS tone for your local repeater or nobody will hear you even if youre keying up, took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure that out lol