so i just passed my technician exam last week (finally lol) and now im trying to figure out what handheld to buy. i've been going down rabbit holes on youtube and reddit for like 3 days straight and honestly im more confused now than when i started.

some people swear by the baofeng uv-5r because its cheap and whatever, but then other people act like you're committing a crime if you buy one. then theres the yaesu ft-60 which looks ancient but everyone says its built like a tank. and then theres the newer stuff like the vx-6r which is waterproof and stuff. my budget is probably around 100-150 bucks, maybe a little more if something is really worth it.

mostly i want to hit the local repeaters and maybe do some simplex with my buddy who just got his ticket too. not planning on going to space or anything, just want something that works reliably. any thoughts from people who have actually used these things would really help, im tired of reading spec sheets

congrats on the ticket first of all. ok so the baofeng debate is basically endless and its never gonna stop but here's my honest take after probably owning six or seven different HTs over the years - for hitting repeaters and simplex with a friend, a uv-5r will absolutely do the job, especially starting out. is it the best radio? no. does it work? yeah it does. the programming is a pain without chirp software but once you figure that out its fine.

that said if you can stretch to like 150 or a little over, the yaesu ft-65r is worth a look. its newer than the ft-60 and has dual band, decent audio, and yaesu's build quality which is genuinely better than baofeng in my experience. the ft-60 is great but it's single band 2m only if i remember right - somebody correct me if i'm wrong on that.

honestly though dont overthink it too much. get on the air, make some contacts, figure out what you actually want and need, then upgrade later if you feel like it. most of us have a drawer full of HTs at this point anyway.

i was in the exact same spot about 8 months ago and ended up going with the ft-65r based on advice from my local club and im pretty happy with it. battery life is solid, audio is loud enough to hear in noisy environments, and it just feels sturdy. dropped it on concrete once and it was fine.

the one thing nobody told me was to make sure you program it with chirp before you go nuts trying to do it manually from the keypad - that part is genuinely terrible on almost every HT. once its programmed though its great. also joining a local club is a huge help cause someone will probably just sit down with you and help you get everything set up which is how i finally got my repeaters programmed correctly